Brian Cushing, Supersize Me

Hmmmmmm...chicken breast and brown rice? A picture is worth a thousand words

Recently Houston Texans’ linebacker Brian Cushing was suspended by the NFL for violating its steroid-abuse policy. The news within itself is not earth shattering as each year a player is suspended for some sort of NFL banned substance discovered in their urine. Usually the proverbial, “My Muscle Milk was tainted” excuse is enough to suffice as the next wave of NFL news blows in and makes the suspension disappear like David Copperfield. This is the beauty of our modern Ipad, laptop and smartphone laced world. We care for a hot minute but just as Jay-Z so eloquently articulated we are soon, “on to the next one”.

What seperates this latest steroid induced haze surrounding Brian Cushing is layered on many different levels. One being the news couldn’t have been released at a better time because there is nothing going on in the NFL during this time of year. During this post-draft hangover every media outlet is in search of its’ version of the Holy Grail. Secondly, we aren’t talking about a run of the mill NFL player doing all he can to make a roster. This is Brian Cushing the former USC first-round pick turned NFL Rookie of the Year, Pro-Bowler and second team AP All-Pro linebacker in his first NFL season. Lastly, he felt the need to take a lie-detector test in order to prove his innocence. (Please excuse me while I stop laughing) Are you serious?! This is an instant classic much more creative than “my Muscle Milk was tainted”. His efforts to disprove the accuaracy of the NFL standard test have caused more media buzz than ever imagined.

What’s important here isn’t every media pundits well scripted thoughts and conjecture. The real story here is how he will be punished for putting a banned substance into his body. I’m not talking about a slap on the wrist four game suspension from the NFL or being banned from any NFL sponsored post-season honors. Brian Cushing failed the test in September and played the entire season with the suspension looming over his head. It is safe to say that whatever he put into his body during the summer months leading up to training camp aided him in his performance that netted NFL Rookie of the Year honors and a Pro-Bowl berth.

Every young aspiring NFL athletes’ eyes are watching this situation much closer than percieved. They want to know what the real punishment for being a cheater is. If a four game suspension is the price I have to pay in order to achieve goals beyond my wildest dream then so be it! What message would be sent to the youth that are intently watching as this story unfolds that cheaters aren’t only punished but their achievements become null and void? It’s a powerful message of cheating will get you far but it won’t get you to where you want to be.

Should Brian Cushing be stripped of his post season honors, absolutely! What really burns me up is the fact the AP has decided to hold a re-vote on Rookie of the Year and All-Pro for the outside linebacker position. The vote is being held with Brian Cushings name still on the list of nominees! We talk a lot in this country about doing what’s right and bitch about everything that’s so wrong. People want to know why crime is so high, kids are so spoiled and government is so crooked. Well it’s the same kids that don’t end up being the superstar athletes that end up selling you a bad mortgage, robbing you or becoming an elected official. There is no difference between the sense of entitlement shared by Brian Cushing and every Wall Street executive that used our bail out money on fine living. Why his name isn’t flat out removed from the list of potential nominees I can not fathom! What message will be sent if he recieves just ONE vote? The AP is wrong on this one and it’s sad that the Medias goal is to sell news without any regard to the effect it has on our society as a whole. The kids are watching and reading everything about this story. This is a bad message sent to the youth and is doing nothing but breeding an everlasting sense of entitlement within our future generations. Just remember this the next time we get angry over some big shot Wall Street executive found on a private island in the Maldives getting “massages” on our dime. There will be plenty of outrage then but no outrage now?