Football Blasphemy? Not In My Book
Being the biggest fan of football I know(you're reading something from a guy who once said "If the Raiders win the Super Bowl, I'll bang Randy Moss), I aspire to have a career that has something to do with football. Anything from being the Quarterback and leader of a team(my preference, but it may be hard seeing as I lack any physical talent but a man can dream. The one hope I have is that maybe work ethic could make it work since I have an intense amount of it when I really want to do something) to being a football columnist. What I am about to write many of you won't care about or even give a second thought to simply because it's about football and you couldn't possibly care less. For those of you that do care about it, it will do one of two things.: 1. Open your eyes or 2. Piss you off. Some may even say it's blasphemous to the sport I love. But I feel it's something that needs to brought out in the open.
Let me start this where it starts. I was reading an ESPN Page 2 article about football Hall of Famers. According to ESPN Page 2 columnist Jim Caple, all Hall of Fame players from the NFL's steroid era(1979 - 1987) should be kicked out of the Hall because we can never know for sure if they cheated or not. Now, not surprisingly, the steroid era includes the most storied group of Hall members in NFL history in my opinion. Names like Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Franco Harris, Howie Long, Marcus Allen, Eric Dickerson, Ronnie Lott, James Lofton, Steve Largent, Dan Fouts, Tony Dorsett, Mike Singletary, Walter Payton, Earl Campbell, Lawrence Taylor, and Dan Marino. Dan Marino or Joe Montana I would say are probably the most beloved from this era. During this era, Joe Montana led the San Francisco 49ers to 4 Super Bowl victories. In 1984, Dan Marino threw for an NFL record 5,084 yards, and a record 48 touchhdowns. Peyton Manning broke the record for TD passes this past season with 49. Many have said that Peyton's breaking of Marino's record is tainted because of the new rule that was passed that if a cornerback touched a receiver, they would be penalized. But if Marino was, in fact, on steroids, who's the real offender? We don't know if Marino was on steroids, but it is a lot more possible than Peyton Manning being on them. Which makes Peyton's accomplishment all the more amazing. But I think to kick all of the guys from that era is a bit steep seeing as we can't prove that any of them are guilty. Only in this country is the slogan "Innocent till proven guilty" but everyone thinks that someone is guilty till proven innocent. But I digress. It would devastate me if it were somehow proven that Marino was on some type of performance enhancers simply because he's the first football player I ever recognized as an icon in the sport I hold so near and dear to my heart.
One thing is for sure, professional sports leagues couldn't care less about performance enhancers. It's obvious that Major League Baseball has turned a blind eye to this for years. Look at Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds. Those guys went from hitting 25 to 35 home runs a year, to hitting in the high 60's. That jump wasn't over time, it was almost instant.Why don't the leagues care you ask? It's obvious. The more home runs you hit, the more revenue you generate. No one's gonna tune into to a 1-1 score, 9 inning bore-fest. Just the same as most football fans would rather watch a 49 - 42 victory, rather than a 7 -3 defensive football game. Defensive football is gaining appreciation again, but it will probably never have the value it did back in the early 70's. With steroid stories running rampant in the baseball world, no one seems to be very concerned that many of our heroes in the football world could have been doing the same thing. After all, the NFL didn't even start testing for steroids until 1987, didn't start suspending players for using them until 1989, and didn't start testing year around until 1990. Jim Haslett, current head coach of the New Orleans Saints and former NFL linebacker, recently said that he used steroid in his playing days. He also said that he wouldn't be surprised if the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 70's(a team that won 4 Super Bowls in 6 years) were on steroids. He has since backed off from that statement because of all the heat he has drawn from it.
This brings me to John Elway. Another beloved player from the steroid era of football. Elway was taken with the first overall pick of the 1983 draft by the Indianapolis Colts(the same draft that Marino was taken in). Elway refused to play for the Indianapolis Colts and demanded to be traded before he even took a snap with the team. His wish was granted and he was traded to the Denver Broncos. It always irks me when a player does that. Just because you're larger than life in the college ranks doesn't make you worth a damn in the NFL. Who are you as a rookie to call your own shots and think you're above playing for the team that drafts you? The same thing happened last year with Eli Manning. He refused to play for the San Diego Chargers, who help the number one pick in the draft and demanded a trade. San Diego traded him to the New York Giants for two future first round draft picks and Quarterback Philip Rivers. The Chargers had to get at least a little satisfaction out of the fact that they ended up with a record of 12 and 4, while the Giants went 6 and 10, and just 1 and 6 under Eli Manning. But I'm getting off base here. Elway struggled horribly in his first 5 seasons with Denver before he really came into his own. He then became the comeback king, leading Denver to an unprecedented 47 fourth quarter comeback victories. Amazing. But one thing was left unfulfilled when Elway's career was winding down. He had no Super Bowl rings on his fingers.
That changed in 1997 when Denver beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship and advanced to Super Bowl to face the defending champion Green Bay Packers led by Brett Favre. Elway and Denver prevailed, but it by no stretch had anything to do with Elway's performance. He only threw the ball 22 times, complete just 12 of those passes, had no TD tosses and threw a pick. Terrell Davis is the one to thank Bronco fans. He rushed the ball 30 times for 157 yards, and a Super Bowl record 3 TD's. He was rightfully named Super Bowl MVP. After the Super Bowl win, Elway contemplated retirement but decided to go for another run. He came back and the Denver Broncos won the AFC Championship, defeating the New York Jets. Elway won another ring when the Broncos defeated the Atlanta Falcons and Elway was named MVP.
My point? Elway was not mentioned in the article that I read even though he also played most of his career during the steroid era. There are very few player who I would speculate on doing steroids but I will speculate on Elway. Why him? No, it's not my Raider bias. It's the fact that even the casual fan knows that Elway threw one of the fastest, hardest passes the game has ever seen. Almost unbelievably fast. Is it really out of the question to assume that there's even the slightest possibility that one the most beloved players of all time could have cheated? Is it within the realm of possibility that one the most arrogant, egomaniacle players in NFL history could have taken some performance enhancing drug to keep his ability on par with his mouth? That's not a stretch? Not even close to being a long shot. We don't want to believe it because that would make us lose respect for the people who are somehow more than human to us. But it's time to face facts. Many of the people we looked up to in sports, our heroes, our icons, our idols, may have cheated to succeed. Anyone who thinks that's a long shot is lying to themselves.