Bravo to Jason Taylor

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-sphyde29dec29,0,2313319.column?coll=sfla-sports-front

HYDE: Taylor's comments on Chargers' Merriman right on the mark

Who could be against one syllable of Jason Taylor's comments?

He doesn't like steroids in sports. He thinks players using performance-enhancing drugs are cheaters. He thinks they send the wrong message to kids on how to get ahead. He also thinks such drug use would stop among NFL players if lifetime bans were handed out for positive tests.

"I'm not the smartest man in the world, but I know if you did that it would stop," Taylor said.

Finally, in a month where Mark McGwire is given zero chance of making the baseball Hall of Fame because of piles of circumstantial steroid evidence, Taylor thinks San Diego linebacker Shawne Merriman shouldn't get a postseason award because Merriman was suspended for a positive steroid test.

Again: Who wouldn't look at Taylor's elite standing in the league, his track record through his career and applaud him for discussing one of the NFL's dark secrets so openly?

But because Taylor's opinions came down on Merriman, and because Taylor is the favorite for the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year award over Merriman, the Dolphins star has been called by San Diego players "selfish, a "jerk" and a breaker of "unwritten rules."

No, not rules like "suckers walk" or "winners buy." More like: "Players shouldn't question other players." At least as San Diego lineman Roman Oben sees it.

Oben told The San Diego Union how Taylor is, "obviously saying that because he wants to win (Defensive Player of the Year). It's just selfish. He looks like [a jerk]. It's the most selfish act I've ever seen to make a comment like that."

Point 1: Taylor is the favorite for the award no matter what he says.

Point 2: "It's got nothing to do with Shawne Merriman," Taylor said. "It's the principle. It's more about a moral thing, I guess. The way this game was founded and the rules of the games and really the rules in our society."

Do you understand how unusual it is for a star athlete to say what he thinks on anything beyond playing time and endorsement deals? We're in an age when star athletes run from any hint of controversy. They were raised on the line of Michael Jordan, who never talked politics because, "Republicans buy shoes, too."

..........

 

it'd be a travestly if Merriman won POY over Taylor

 

Why should the Chargers and Merriman be permitten to enjoy the benefits which steroids have given him this season?

 

Boy oh boy, I hope Jason's glass house is squeaky clean.

 

And if it is, if he's never used a substance for which he could be suspended, don't you think he's right?

 

Maybe.
I'm not sure. Merriman got caught, paid the penalty. People should factor that in to their voting.
But Jason better not get caught doing anything untoward for the rest of his career because he's way out on a limb there.

 

Merriman didn't volunartily pay the penalty, he didn't come forward, sans testing, to say "Hey, I fucked up. Just wanted to let you all know that before I was caught." Merriman did the least he could do, served the previously agreed upon sentence, and choose not to appeal the sentence at the most fortuitous time for his team.
As A Terp, I like Merriman. But he cheated. It's not like he got caught with some weed, which is excusable. He got caught cheating the game.

 

It's not important that anyone "voluntarily" pays the penalty, at least not to me. He was punished within the existing mechanisms of the league. That's all that I require.
And I'm not sure that the NFL agrees with you (and me, BTW) about how excusable weed is.

 

What I find interesting is the fact that there hasn't been much of an outcry from NFL writers or columnists about Merriman possibly winning DPOY honors.

Can you imagine the howling that would ensue if Barry Bonds were up for MVP honors in a year he was suspended for failing a drug test?

Really have to tip your cap to the NFL Thought Police on this one. Greatest drug testing program in pro sports indeed.

 

Weed isn't cheating. Weed is good. If it weren't for thestupid people that can't handle their drugs without abuse and violence, he could all get high.

 

I was going to say amen, but I settled on, "Oh, wow."

 

"Can I preach it like I feel it?"

""Testify, Brother Abbott!"