So let’s start this off properly NFL fans, just so everything is out there.
I don’t like Peyton Manning and I do like Tom Brady.
I think Manning is clearly a NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, I think he deserves every accolade thrown his way and I think he is one of the great regular season quarterbacks in NFL history. What Peyton Manning is not is clutch. That is another piece for another time.
I remember last year at this time when many NFL fans wanted Tom Brady summarily executed for the alleged crime of possibly deflating footballs. Why? Because Chuck Pagano Indianapolis Colts coach said it happened.
Now mind you this was a game that the Indianapolis Colts lost 45-7, but it reigned supreme on sports talk radio, ESPN, social media sports pages and it may have reared its ugly head here in on The Majors Sports Network even.
I heard everything from Brady should walk away from football to “if New England wins the Super Bowl if they had class, they should vacate the title” to “Goodell should suspend Brady forever and his offspring too so they never think of playing football!”
Of course going forward we know NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell didn’t do anything though he tried. When folks notice that Aaron Rodgers admits to overinflating footballs and Brad Johnson admitted prior to the Buccaneers championship that he underinflated footballs and one of ESPN’s own Trent Dilfer did before his Super Bowl victory, to this writer made the protests ring hollow.
And that still is a digression. See I have written for years as a blogger and as a one time athletic competitor that I believe in the concept of getting a competitive edge. I have gone so far as to say “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying”.
Am I going to contradict my long-standing viewpoint? Not exactly. I’m gonna hold up a mirror to you, the alleged sports purist. The one that wanted to see Tom Brady exsanguinated, the one that thought Brady was the worst thing to ever hit sports, that put Tom Brady up with Rae Carruth in character.
Al Jazeera America ran with a story about five weeks ago that Peyton Manning dabbled in HGH. Now being as I believe in the competitive edge and doing all you can to get healthy and, what the hell, if you can, extend that career a few more years I praise the man doing all he can to make all the money he can in his relatively short window.
What I don’t like are idiots that buy into his “aw shucks” persona. The same folks that last year ravaged Brady for a relatively small transgression, are giving Manning the pass because “aw shucks, it’s Pey-Pey, y’all”.
Steroids and HGH have been called the bane of sports since at least the 1970’s. It’s no skin off me, it’s up to the player if they want to be cancer riddled feeble old men at 50-55 years old. If they believe the trade-off is worth it, then it is. BUT don’t talk out of the side of your mouth and tear apart a player that has the venal sin then excuse the player of the cardinal sin.
You’re not a sports pope, you’re a sports fan. Shut up and enjoy the game for what it is.
