Honesty

Ray Lewis has been accused of taking deer antler spray in order to heal from his torn triceps injury quicker. He has denied taking anything, but if it were to be true, not many people would care. The NFL is basically the only sport that performance enhancers aren't an issue because no one cares.
If the accusations were true, how would Ray Lewis be any different than someone like Andy Pettitte. Both allegedly took banned substances in order to recover from injury quicker. Andy Pettitte is guaranteed to hold that stigma for the rest of his life and will never be inducted into the Hall of Fame. If Lewis were to admit to using a natural supplement that he didn't know contained a banned substance in order to more quickly heal his triceps and help his team, he would still be a Hall of Famer.
NFL players, for some reason are held to a different standard than MLB, or cycling, or track, etc. We see how massive footballers' muscles are and marvel, just as we did when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were jacking home runs. We aren't blind to performance enhancers anymore as we were then, but for the NFL, we don't seem to care.
Footballers are recovering from injuries quicker than Wolverine and we choose to look the other way. Sure, medicine is constantly improving, but when a player is expected to miss a year due to injury, how is he back on the field in eight months? We just marvel at their superhuman ability and ignore what could be the reason behind it. When a guy like Alex Smith, who misses a game due to a concussion, is benched for the remainder of the season,  it's not all too surprising athletes would take supplements to get back on the field from injury as quick as possible, in order not to lose their job as well.
Lastly, regarding these accusations Ray Lewis and Alex Rodriguez are facing; we all assume they're true, right? We live in a country where every citizen is innocent until proven guilty, unless you're an athlete accused of performance enhancing. Once the accusation is brought against you, you're guilty. Just ask Roger Clemens. He never failed a test and won court cases clearing his name. The baseball writers didn't seem to care. Once the association is connected, you're guilty and in every sport except football, you're chastised for the rest of your life.
As Lance Armstrong said in his interview, he couldn't have won the Tour de France without doping. The same applied for baseball players a decade ago. In order to be the best, you have to push your body to it's limit. Once you reach that limit and it still isn't good enough to beat the best, you performance enhance until you can. Of course, not everyone is doping, but the winners are.
We, as fans are as much to blame as the athletes. We want to see bigger, stronger, faster. Initially, we are disgusted upon hearing of athletes doping, but in reality, wouldn't you do the same? With the promise of fame and fortune within your reach, would you take some supplements in order to attain it? It's not as if the athletes are asked to return their fame and fortune if found to be a performance enhancer. Some even rebound from it once admitting; Pettitte, McGwire, possibly Lance in the future.
Our main problem now is the lying. All performance enhancers are liars. Their initial lie is to themselves that doping is OK to do. It is obviously not OK, because it has to be done in secret. Once caught though, athletes are given a chance to change. Most, keep lying; Lance, every home run champion during the Steroid Era, etc. Once they truly come clean and tell the truth, they are given a chance at respect and forgiveness.
While Pettitte will never be forgiven by baseball writers, he is certainly respected and forgiven by NY. If Ray Lewis came clean and said he took deer antler spray to heal quicker and didn't realize there was a banned ingredient in it because it was a natural substance, he would be forgiven (not that it matters because he's already forgiven since he's in the NFL). Even if we can't be honest with ourselves in how we view athletes, we want them to be honest with us.
Didn't 'Liar Liar' teach us anything?

Death of a Sport

I wake up this morning to the news of the Jets being interested in JaMarcus Russell, and of Alex Rodriguez still taking HGH. Can I go back to bed, please?

The Super Bowl is on Sunday. I know, duh. But instead of hearing analysts discuss the Harbaugh brothers facing off, or Ray Lewis playing his last game, or Joe Flacco still trying to prove he is elite, or Colin Kaepernick fearlessly running rampant through the NFL, I have been hearing something else over the past couple of days.

CTE, concussions, and head trauma.

Head trauma may signal the eventual demise to the NFL. Football is a violent sport with collisions happening on every play. The NFL tries to put rules in place to make the sport safer, but completely removing injuries and head trauma is impossible. With more and more former and current players (and the President!) coming out to say they probably wouldn't let their hypothetical sons play football knowing the dangers of head trauma, who will be the future of the NFL?

The future has to decide whether short term fame and fortune outweigh potential long lasting effects on the brain that can result in suicide. As we learn more about CTE and how it is caused and what it causes, the NFL could look very different

The NFL has a dangerously thin line to navigate in the future. As fans, we watch because these athletes are extraordinary. They run faster, throw farther, jump higher than us. But maybe most importantly, they are infinitely tougher than us. We want to see big hits, and players playing through pain but we are also more aware now the damage they may cause. Rule changes down the line may drastically change how the game is played and people at that point might stop watching. The draw right now though is too big. There is too much money and too much glory to be had. For now, I'll gladly keep watching and sadly keep rooting for the Jets (JaMarcus Russell, really???), but it will be interesting to see how the NFL changes over time.

I know if I'm lucky enough to have a baby boy, he won't be encouraged to play football. I'm now happy my mom discouraged me from playing, even if she was only worried about broken bones. But I also know there well be plenty of people drawn to the fame and fortune that will ignore the warnings. If those people keep playing and the hits are still big, we'll all keep watching. The NFL isn't dead yet, but Roger Goodell can't be happy this is even a topic before the Super Bowl when the game should be celebrated, not given a death sentence.

The LOLkers

The Los Angeles Lakers are an absolute joke this year. They are terrible and will not make the playoffs. This is a big deal because they are the Los Angeles Lakers, not the Los Angeles Clippers, and because they stacked their roster with perennial All-Stars. This team actually proves that chemistry and coaching play massive factors into success. It is truly surprising how big a role they actually play in the NBA.

Mike D'Antoni is not a good coach. He was extremely lucky in Phoenix that Steve Nash (in his prime) was there to successfully run the offense. His system, when provided with the right pieces is quite excellent, as his time in Phoenix proved. But his tenure in New York showed that, as a coach, systems and schemes must be adapted to the players on the roster. The Knicks couldn't run the 'Seven Seconds or Less' offense, but D'Antoni couldn't figure out how to make the pieces work. The Knicks have two all-stars, (three if you include Stoudemire), and Melo and Chandler were Olympians. That being on your roster should be enough to win some games.

In LA, the Lakers roster is even more ridiculous. Kobe, Nash, Dwight, Pau. How is this roster not above .500 at least?? Kobe and Nash are guaranteed Hall-of-Famers, and Dwight and Pau could also end up there. With those four on your roster, success should be a given. But as stated earlier, coaching and chemistry matter. The coaching hasn't been able to figure this team out and that's a failure on D'Antoni (and Mike Brown).

The chemistry is a failure on the players.

Athletes should have one goal, and that is winning a championship. When that becomes priority for everyone, chemistry falls into place. Sure, it takes time. The Miami Heat didn't win a title in LeBron's first year there, but they still had a year in which they made it to the NBA Finals. The Lakers are so far from that. This team needs another new coach, though I doubt the owner would be bold enough to fire two coaches in one season.

They also need to revamp their roster. This Steve Nash and Dwight Howard experiment isn't working. Unfortunately for the Lakers, the trade value of their players is low. Pau or Dwight are their most likely players to be traded. Some teams may want them, but won't be willing to give up enough to appease the Lakers. They're in a tough spot now and won't be interesting until the season ends (unless they actually make some moves). Their chances at winning this season are over. They've dug too big a hole and show no signs of turning anything around (even though that's all they keep saying). That elusive sixth ring for Kobe may never happen. The worst part for them during this season though? The Clippers are one of the top five most exciting teams. How the tables have turned.