The past few weeks of sports news has been a bit dreary. The biggest stories flooding the sports world lately have been Colin Kaepernick's Dolphins Hat, Jerry Jones' distrust in his head coach, and the question of will Lebron stay in Miami or choose Cleveland or Los Angeles when he becomes a free agent a year from now. Anticipation for the upcoming fall has created a barrage of "non-story" headlines that are nothing more than fruitless attempts to fill a void. This void is the result of the dreaded perennial three month offseason without basketball, football, or any sport worth talking about. Yes, I am saying that every other summer sport namely baseball and The Tour de France are not worth the trouble of discussing. Why? Performance Enhancing Drugs.
The need to out perform competitors and the overwhelming desire to meet and surpass career milestones has resulted in the increased use of PEDs or steroids in sports like baseball and cycling. The use of PEDs in both these sports is so frequent that it is almost expected. We don't even feel it anymore, and it almost becomes as much of a non story as Kaepernick's hat. The past two weeks of SportsCenter have featured more insight on Kaepernick's apparent apparel betrayal than the Major League Baseball PED scandal involving big names like Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez. And there is a reason for this. Every year a player in major league baseball takes a whopping 50 or so game suspension because of PEDs. It is almost guaranteed, and it is very unusual if a year goes by and no one is busted. The same is true for bicyclists in the Tour de France.
Upon winning the 2013 Tour de France, Chris Froome was asked if he cheated. Froome responded with, and I am paraphrasing, "I won't let you down like Lance Armstrong." It seems a bit unfair to ask Froome, the man who just achieved the most coveted prize in cycling, if he is a cheater immediately after his win, but what would you expect in the wake of Lance Armstrong? The PED problems in both these sports have significantly crippled their present and future appeal, so much so that the frequent PED issues have faded into the background behind Kaepernick's hat. But what worries me the most is the ever rising PED issue in America's greatest sport: Football.
With increased concussion reports and impending lawsuits, an escalating number of PED users does not bode well for the NFL. If the NFL wants to avoid falling into oblivion with the likes of baseball and cycling it had better find a solution to their PED issue that inflicts a punishment of greater than 4 games. Because as of right now, players are willing to take that risk. I just pray basketball doesn't see this issue anytime soon, otherwise this perennial offseason could get even worse.
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