| Pine tar and injuries make up the NFL this week |
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| Written by Matthew Russell | |
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First I would like to start this out with an apology. I am sorry I cannot write about the World Series. While I am writing this, the series is tied 1-1 and the biggest news is that Kenny Rogers needs to wash his hands after using the bathroom. No but seriously, about the only thing I could talk about right now would be my speculation about Rogers’ hand. From everything I have seen, read, and heard it was probably pine tar on his hand, which would allow him to put more pressure on the ball with his thumb and forefinger, and the amount of pressure he can apply with his thumb is vital to his curve ball. Tony La Russa said he did not believe it was dirt, but that none of the Cardinal hitters came back and said that the ball had any unnatural movement on it. That however is the end of that speculation, because by the time this hits the press they will have determined whether or not Rogers was cheating and whether or not he will be allowed to pitch in game six. So since I cannot talk about baseball directly without having my article be completely obscure by the time it hits the press, I am going to talk today about a growing discrepancy in the public perception of each of the leagues. It concerns me that while baseball players are strung up for testing positive for steroids, we (and I use “we” as in we the public fan base) do not really care when football players do the same. Shawne Merriman, last year’s defensive rookie of the year and this year’s one man defensive wrecking crew, tested positive for a banned substance, but I do not hear any cries for him to be kicked out of the league, or anyone saying that he should never be allowed into the hall of fame. So is it true that by and large as long as the American masses can have their fantasy football, their office pools, and Sunday football watching extravaganzas? Yes. In a sport which contains the most freakishly athletic specimens of any sport in the world, we do not care if they use steroids as long as they win, and do not get themselves taken off of your fantasy roster. Moreover every time someone tests positive in the NFL for a banned substance we believe that it is an individual problem, rather than one that spans the league. So what is in store for Merriman? A four game suspension and knowing that he may have cost his team the playoffs this year. One more thing we can be sure of is that his public image will not take too much of a hit as long as he comes back afterwards and starts hitting people again just as he did before this positive test, because in football results are all America seems to care about. Now for other news from the NFL; this week starting quarterback was not that great of a place to line up at. The starting quarterbacks for both of last years Superbowl teams went down this week. Matt Hasselback is likely out for three weeks, leaving former Iowa State dual threat quarterback Seneca Wallace to line up under center for the Hawks. Big Ben Roethlisberger sustained a fairly nasty concussion this week and it is unsure at this point how long he will be out. This should not be too much of a problem for the Steelers as long as he can come back and perform at the level he had the last two weeks. He should not be out more than a game really, and since the Steelers play Oakland I wouldn’t worry too much about sending Charlie Batch, one of the leagues most dependable backups, out under center to give Big Ben a week to recover. With Roethlisberger, a concussion is a slightly bigger issue than it would be with other players due to the major head injury he sustained in his motorcycle crash during the offseason. Injuries were not the only thing that haunted team’s signal callers this week. Dallas’s Drew Bledsoe was benched after the first half of a shellacking of his Cowboys by the New York Giants. When the Cowboys have won this year, Bledsoe has been decent to good, but when they have lost he has simply been awful. His carelessness with ball is what led his getting the hook from head coach Bill Parcells. So will we see Tony Romo under center for the Cowboys next game? I don’t know, but I’m starting to look forward to a Parcells meltdown if the Cowboys keep turning the ball over. I guess this week the Giants just weren’t who he he thought they were. On a different note, get ready because the NBA is gearing up. This should be one exciting year as both sides of the country have more possible contenders in the wings than I can remember. In the West, look out world, Amare Stoudemire is back and Kevin Garnett may finally have a decent supporting cast. In the east, there are these three guys I can’t really remember their names, Lebro-something, somebody Wade, and some weird guy named Arenas. |
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