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Proof steroids don’t always help

According to a report by Yahoo! Sports, former first overall pick Tim Couch had been using steroids and human growth hormone while attempting a comeback to the gridiron.

“If I took that much steroids I wouldn’t have passed the steroid test in Jacksonville,” he said last week. “There’s no way in hell. It doesn’t matter what that (steroid regimen) says. It matters what I took. I know what I took and what I didn’t take.”

Well I hope you didn’t take roids Couch, because if you did they certainly didn’t help your career 75.1 quarterback rating or your 17 comeback attempts from first overall bustland. I’d hate to assume guilt from one Yahoo! Sports article, but if he did juice, this is just proof that steroids don’t always boost athletes to Barry Bonds-levels.

Holt ailing

According to the St. Louis Dispatch, Torry Holt states that he’s only 70 to 80 percent healthy while continuing to recover from offseason knee surgery. Holt will probably play Week 1 against the Panthers, but won’t be completely healthy and in fact, he might not be 100% all season.

So if you haven’t already drafted, what round does Holt fall to now? He’s 31, didn’t show the burst or ability to separate from defenders last year like in previous seasons, and now is slow to recover from knee surgery. I would still say he’s a fourth round pick in a 10-team league, falling behind Marvin Harrison, Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens, Steve Smith and probably Reggie Wayne. I would still take him ahead of Roy Williams and the two Cardinal receivers, but obviously recognize he’s much more of a risk these days.

He might start slow, but at least there are other weapons in that offense that defenses have to key on so he’ll still put up decent numbers this year.

Vick’s apology somewhat lacking

Michael Vick officially apologized for his role in dog fighting Monday and while there were some positive things that came out of it, I still felt it was somewhat hollow.

The good thing I thought he did was not read from a prepared cue card like most celebrities do. I’m sure his lawyers instructed him on what to say and not say, but at least he wasn’t a robot. I also think he generally feels bad that he let so many people down and lied to those who backed him.

However, it seemed to me that he’s still confused on what he’s apologizing for and why this is all a big deal. He said he’s owning up to everything and not pointing the blame, but he already did that when he blamed his family back in April. He apologized for, “not (being) honest and forthright” to Roger Goodell and Arthur Blank, but he kind of danced around it like a kid owning up to his parents. Take responsibility for lying, killing dogs and using dog fighting as a way to make money off of defenseless animals. It might not be what your lawyers want you to say, but in the court of public opinion it counts.

I hope people do forgive him because it’s what I would want if I messed up this bad. But first I hope he actually learns from all this before being forgiven. I want him to learn in time that damn it, I not only screwed up, but I really did an inhuman thing and caused a lot of pain for a lot of people. I don’t just want him to be sorry because he was caught.

Team USA cruises to 4-0 record

Team USA beat Brazil, 113-76, and is in the midst of a 4-0 run in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Las Vegas. Brazil was considered to be the toughest test thus far for the U.S., as they had three NBA-caliber players in Leandro Barbosa, Nene and Tiago Splitter. Kobe Bryant was responsible for shutting down the lightning quick Barbosa, who was limited to just four points on 1 of 7 shooting.

Splitter, who was drafted in the first round by the Spurs, led the Brazilians with 13 points and looked like a legitimate NBA player. Since his current buyout is so high, San Antonio is planning to leave him in Spain for another season, but it looks like he’d be an immediate upgrade over Fabricio Oberto and Francisco Elson, and should be a nice frontcourt mate for Tim Duncan.

In recent years, Team USA has been plagued by the ol’ back-it-down offense while everyone else stands around, but for the most part they played good, unselfish offense and tough, aggressive defense. It’s clear that Coach K is getting through to these guys.

LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony led Team USA with 21 points each, while Bryant chipped in with 20.

The next real test comes on Thursday, when they face Argentina.

Falcons want their money back

The Atlanta Falcons are on a mission to try and recoup $22 million already paid to suspended quarterback Michael Vick. To do so, however, Vick would have to still be on the roster, so don’t expect the Falcons to part ways with the troublesome quarterback just yet.

If Atlanta receives the bonus money from Vick, it will be applied to the team’s salary cap for the following season. If, for example, the team recouped all $22 milllion, that figure would be credited to the team for the 2008 salary cap.

Talk about a damaging situation turning into a positive. Instead of losing their starting quarterback plus a ton of cap space, they could essentially start fresh again with millions in the bank. Twenty-two million could net a couple of top tier free agents.

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