Brian Cushing gets four game vacation

The reining NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, Houston Texans OLB Brian Cushing, has been suspended for four games due to a positive test for some form of performance enhancing drugs. The suspension comes from a violation of the league’s policy on anabolic steroids and related substances. We don’t know yet what the substance was, and it looks like Cushing has already gone through the appeals process. What we know is Cushing has become the latest rookie to violate the league policy and miss significant time of his sophomore campaign.

Hopefully this is not another Starcaps situation where a NFL player has taken a supplement that did not list a banned substance, but it seems to indicate that PED’s are still a problem in this league, and the league is going to have to stomp that out. For whatever reason the sporting public is more willing to accept PED use in football say, than baseball. However the integrity of the game must be maintained, and cheating in any from cannot be tolerated.

This situation gets a little more sticker giving the fact that Cushing won ROTY honors in 2009. A positive steroids test calls that award into question, and may have taken it from another player just as deserving who is playing by the rules. At this point all that is hypothetical as we do not know when Cushing tested positive or even what substance set off the positive result.

What we do know is Cushing appears to be a guy who has used these substances to gain an edge, and that simply cannot be tolerated. I was a big Cushing fan, but I now have to add him to an ever growing list of jerseys I will never wear or own.

Related Links:

•Houston Texans news and notes
•The Business of the NFL
•MTR Football.com