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?
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