The Sports Curmudgeon®

The timing for this is perfect. There is a lot of commentary at the moment about Rodney Harrison’s statement that he took HGH to recover faster from injury so he could play but not because he sought to gain any competitive advantage. And there is – simultaneously – a headline at CBSsportsline.com that Roger Clemens will get a cortisone injection in his aching elbow. Don’t look now, but cortisone is a - - gasp! - - steroid. Folks, the end result of both of these actions, once the substance(s) are in the bloodstream, is identical. Both will seek to heal an injury – relieve the pain – faster than would happen absent the administration of the medication. Biochemically, these acts are the same thing.

Here’s the difference. Roger Clemens is getting his shot “in the open” from a physician after medical tests showed soreness in his pitching elbow. Harrison got his HGH from an Internet pharmacy and who knows who administered it or prescribed it or monitored its effects. And lest anyone think that is a trivial difference, it is not.

Rodney Harrison said that he took HGH to heal faster so he could get back on the field to help his team win and he did not take it to gain a competitive advantage in his sport. Excuse me, but healing is an important – if not widely publicized – part of NFL football. And if one heals faster than Mother Nature intends one to heal, then one is gaining a competitive advantage - - unless the pain of the injury is such that one could play with that pain at no decrement to one’s performance.

And therein lies one of the aspects of the “steroid era” that has received little if any attention. Some steroids/hormones when used with workout regimens and diet control can increase bulk and strength and provide the benefits that those two things bring to any sport. Notice, jockeys tend not to partake of these kinds of substances; added size is not helpful in their profession. Other steroids/hormones help the body to heal itself more quickly and more effectively. Now if I am injured and I take those substances to heal more quickly and some other players with the same injuries do not, I have gained a significant competitive advantage. But few people seem to recognize that aspect of the “steroid era” well enough to comment on it.

I am not trying to defend what Rodney Harrison did nor am I trying to make him out to be some kind of horrid creature. I’m trying to explain that what he did to recover from an injury did give him a professional advantage even if he tries to explain that it did not. The NFL is a business and the commodity that Rodney has to sell to the business of the NFL is his healthy physique that is trained to play football. He took HGH to regain that healthy physique more quickly even though what he took is a banned substance – both legally and in the pharmaceutical taxonomy of the NFL.

Rodney Harrison will sit out four games and not get paid because he did not do this with a doctor’s supervision/prescription; Roger Clemens will not be suspended and will pitch again as soon as his elbow will allow him to do so because he was under a doctor’s care.

In sports, there are rules about banned substances that may be trumped if a physician intervenes and directs the use of said substances. And that makes sense - - until even that avenue to rational medical care is abused. And make no mistake, it will be…

Did you know that September is National Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Month - - did you hear those cowbells and can you pass the marshmallows?

The NFL has suspended a whole bunch of players for violation of the league’s personal conduct policy in the past year. Offensive players include Michael Vick, Dominc Rhodes and Chris Henry; defensive players include Tank Johnson, Odell Thurman, Pacman Jones and the aforementioned Rodney Harrison. You know, a GM could do a lot worse than trying to build a team starting with those seven players - - assuming that they “stay straight” and continue to perform at their previous levels of competency. I’m not advocating building a team around miscreants – even though the Raiders made that work for quite a while – but those seven guys are talented football players.

I’ve tried on many occasions to tell you how meaningless the NFL exhibition season is. Here is one more datum. Thomas Clayton (SF 49ers) was the NFL’s leading rusher in the exhibition season. The 49ers cut him to get down to the 53-man roster.

Here is a quote from Keith Olberman (MSNBC) regarding Red Sox manager Terry Francona being “examined” by MLB officials in the tunnel by the dugout during a game to be sure his uniform was a proper one:

“Baseball’s greatest record was just broken by a guy with enough illegal drugs in him to send Keith Richards into a coma, and these morons are worried about what the managers are wearing.”

Put that action by MLB down right next to Nero fiddling while Rome burned and Scarlett O’Hara deciding that tomorrow was good enough to deal with whatever problem faced her. Or maybe it is akin to fluffing the napkins in the dining hall on the Titanic right after the iceberg encounter…

The NCAA’s Humanitarian Bowl is already subject to a bit of mockery because it is played on Idaho State’s blue turf field in the middle of nowhere in weather that is hardly what one would call “balmy”. Now, the Humanitarian Bowl has a sponsor. Roady’s Truck Stops are based in Idaho and the company has forked over whatever fee it took to call the game “Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl”. Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to reduce the mockery level a whole lot…

Finally, an item from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“Soys of Summer: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, in its annual ratings of baseball food fare, has proclaimed Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park as North America’s most vegetarian-friendly ballpark.

“Honorable mention went to the Washington Nationals, just for having no meat in the batting order.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…