Letter to the Editor

For anyone who knows me, they'll confirm that I'm normally a fairly quite and laid back person. Part of that is just my personality and the other part is that over the years I've learned that anytime I open my mouth, I typically say something stupid so its best just to keep it shut. Well, I've opened my mouth again, this time in a "Letter to the Editor" that I sent earlier today to the Akron Beacon Journal. For those reading this who may not live in Northeast Ohio, last Friday there was a report in the Media that one of the Cleveland Browns players tested positive for steroid use and would therefore be handed a four game suspension. I awoke Saturday morning and read the sports page to find the following article.

Akron Beacon Journal Article

After reading it, I was a little discouraged in the fact that the sports writer seemed to care more about the loss of the player for four weeks and what that did to the team in lieu of the fact that here was just one more sports star who was caught cheating. I was also upset that the mainstream media can only discuss cycling when there's a doping story or scandal taking place. When its a mainstream sport, its addressed very lackadaisically in an almost 'oops' sort of way. The difference must be due to the tremendous amount of money that is generated by the NFL versus what is done through cycling. For instance, Joe Thomas's (Brown's first round draft pick) 5 year deal that he signed with the brown is worth $42.5 million, $22 million of that is guaranteed money. Joe could afford to sponsor the Tour de France winning Discovery Squad which is seeking a new sponsor and which would only cost around $15 million. I'm as big of a football fan as anyone (O-H-I-O) but like so many others, I've become turned off by the multi-million dollar athletes who I don't think realize how good they have it. Consider this; Joe Thomas will get more guaranteed money, even if he never plays a game than the average American family will ever see in their lifetime. Forget one family, make that all my aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings and friends combined.

The following is my letter which may or may not be published, but with the power of my blog, I'm able to make it public now.

Saturday’s story of Brown’s offensive lineman Ryan Tucker should have been entitled something more like “Cheater cheater pumpkin eater” since the article seemed to address the seriousness of steroid abuse fairly lightly. Nobody likes playing with the kid who cheats on the playground and that’s what Tucker did; cheat to gain a competitive edge over his colleagues in the NFL. It’s interesting that he was quoted as saying “….I am going to fulfill this punishment, if that’s what you want to call it, and get it behind me.” Ryan should consider himself lucky that he plays in a sport where the punishment for such offensives isn’t nearly as severe as an IOC regulated sport such as professional cycling or track and field. The penalty for such an offense if Tucker was a cyclist is that he would be immediately fired from the team (upon verification of the doping offense) and he would have been served a two year ban from competition. Upon completion of the ban, he then would serve two years playing in the ‘minor’ leagues before he could return to play the game at the highest level. In addition to all of that, professional cyclists are now required to pay back a year’s salary to their governing athletic bodies doping control program. Instead, Tucker will practice with his team, play in some preseason games and then sit out for four regulation games while not receiving a minimal portion of his multi-million dollar contract. You’re not alone Ryan in your assessment, this does not seem like much of a punishment to me either.

In the past month doping stories have plagued the sports world. The Tour De France saw several riders and teams be pulled from competition after riders were shown to test positive for banned substances. Currently on the west coast, Barry Bonds is trying to break Hank Aaron’s all time home record under a cloud of suspicion for using steroids. WWE Wrestler Chris Benoit murdered his family and committed suicide while reportedly suffering the effects of ‘Roid Rage’ and now the Ryan Tucker incident. These are just the latest in a long list of cheaters that begin to make it hard to cheer and support guys making more money in a single year than the average American will see in a lifetime. I applaud the NFL for conducting out of competition testing but as a sports fan I wish that the NFL in addition to MLB and the NBA would do more; certainly tougher penalties would go a long way in this effort.


In the future, I'm going to write an article that illustrates the differences between the UCI, NBA, NFL and MLB in terms of their anti-doping procedures and penalties. Until then.

brian