By Jack Healey
Let me start out with Julian Edelman of the Patriots who will be suspended four games for PED use pending appeal. Let me make it clear that any punishment is fair and he will probably use the same excuses everybody makes like I didn’t know where it came from, it was a vitamin, blah, blah,blah!
All that being said, let me repeat what I’ve been saying for years and that is I don’t think it’s as big a deal as it is in baseball. I’m not condoning it, but I’ve always said if the offensive player is doing it and the defensive player is doing it then so what? I’m not talking about the health implications, I’m talking about the competition. In baseball, it’s about the records etc. and that will be debated for years to come so it’s a little different in that sport.
And to fans who are getting all giddy because it’s the Patriots and there they go cheating again. Not so fast! If you are then you are a hypocrite! There are PED suspensions all over the place in the NFL. Every team in the league has had players suspended for PED’s. The Giants have at least one player on suspension right now. Newly acquired defensive end Josh Mauro got popped just last week. Edelman isn’t the first Patriot to get popped either.Remember Rob Ninkovitch a couple of years ago and Rodney Harrison sometime ago?
As I said it happens all the time! Here are a few more players who have been suspended four games or more for PED use over the years:
The Jets’ Jeremy Kerley who by the way had the best excuse or the worst excuse ever. He said “a ghost did it.”
The Bears’ and former Jet Mark Sanchez. Former Jet Austin Seferian Jenkins. The Chargers’ Antonio Gates. The Giants’ Akeem Ayers. Denver’s Von Miller. Remember the Eagles’ big mouth Lane Johnson? He’s been in the news a lot lately because of his comments about the Patriots not having any fun. Johnson has been suspended twice so he’s a repeat offender.
The list goes on and on and it doesn’t even include suspensions for other reasons. So before you point your finger at Edelman and the Patriots take a look at your own team. You might not like what you see. I saw a Rams fan jumping on the bandwagon about Edelman on facebook.I had to laugh as the Rams had two players who were suspended at the start of last year for PED use. Hypocrites!!!!
By the way Richard Sherman then of Seattle and Wes Welker then of Denver were both suspended for PED’s, but won their appeals. That of course is rare, but let’s see what happens with Edelman.
The Washington Caps have won the Stanley Cup as they won in five games over the Vegas Golden Knights. Alex Ovechkin getting the Conn Smythe Award as the MVP of the playoffs. Great line on social media saying I wonder if Putin will invite Ovechkin to the White House.
Vegas was a great story as an expansion team made it to the Stanley Cup final, but it was unfinished business. It was if the USA didn’t go on to win the gold after beating the Russians or if the Red Sox didn’t go on to win the World Series after coming back against the Yankees. Nice story, but not complete!
Great interview on NESN last night with Dennis Eckersley and Kirk Gibson. it was a classic! If you don’t know the connection you probably aren’t reading this anyway.