Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman attacked for use of ‘steroids or HGH or anything else’
In the category of “Every success must be torn down” for the mainstream press, comes an attack on Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman.
The USA Today posted this at 1:30pm “Opinion: Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman shouldn’t even have been playing in the game,” which basically attacks Edelman’s suspension for performance-enhancing substance use by conflating the NFL’s policy to that of MLB Baseball.
“In Major League Baseball, that also would have meant he’d be ineligible for the postseason,” writes Nancy Armour in the hit piece.
“See, when baseball passed that rule back in 2014, it did so because it didn’t seem right to have players ‘coming back and affecting a change in the postseason as a result of the decision that particular player made earlier in the year.’ In other words, you cheat, you pay the price. An actual one with ramifications for you and your teammates, not some slap on the wrist that everyone forgets as soon as it happens.
“That’s the dirty secret of the NFL, though. It doesn’t care about PEDs – at least, not enough to make the punishments tough enough to discourage their use – because the game benefits from them.”
screenshot from YouTube coverage
There is no love loss between the USA Today writer and the NFL, but here the ire is with Edelman: “Edelman never did say what he took, suggesting only that it was inadvertent. Of course it was. No one in the NFL actually admits to using steroids or HGH or anything else that gives him an edge or just allows him to stay on the field.”
Back to the baseball comparison: “If this was any other sport, we’d be howling about the sanctity of the game and how someone who cheats should be branded with a scarlet PED for the rest of his life. It wasn’t even two weeks ago, in fact, that Barry Bonds found himself shut out of baseball’s Hall of Fame yet again because he didn’t come by his home runs, or his expanded hat size, naturally.”
Hating on the Patriots has become commonplace. Here it gets ugly: “If he took a shortcut or two along the way, so be it. In the NFL’s eyes, all was forgiven long ago,” Armour says as she wraps up.
“But as the NFL begins a celebration of its 100th season and touts all the great things about its game, always remember that integrity isn’t one of them.”
Haters will hate.
Just remember: there were never statues erected for critics, only those who have done great things.
