ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that Texans linebacker Brian Cushing, the defending defensive rookie of the year, has been suspended four games for violating the league’s steroid policy.

If this doesn’t seem like surprising news, it’s because Cushing was also suspected of juicing in college, although nothing was ever proven. This is a big blow for an improving Houston defense that will have to face the Colts, Redskins, Cowboys and Raiders without their stud outside ‘backer.

General manager Rick Smith had this to say about Cushing’s suspension (from the Houston Chronicle):

“We were disappointed to learn that Brian has been suspended for the first four games of the 2010 season. Brian is a productive member of our team and this is a significant loss, but we have to be prepared to win without him.”

I wonder if there will be backlash from the fans in light of this news. A baseball player gets caught juicing and he shamed the game; a football player gets caught juicing and once he returns from his suspension, nobody ever talks about the situation again (see Shawne Merriman).

Talk about hypocritical.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

A former steroid dealer named David Jacobs (now deceased) has come out and said that he supplied Michael Vick with steroids when Vick was a member of the Falcons.

From the Dallas Morning News:

Authorities said Jacobs ran one of the largest doping networks in the country before he was arrested in May 2007.

The new document, which summarizes Vick’s interview with investigators, surfaced because of open records requests by media outlets.

Agents told Vick that a DEA informant said that Vick was talking about steroids and human growth hormone with someone at the Falcons party and that Vick was overheard saying he “liked his product.”
Vick immediately denied to the investigators that the conversation ever happened and said he did not use performance-enhancing drugs.

Names, other than Vick’s, were redacted from the government summary, so it’s not clear whether the DEA informant referred to was Jacobs.

But in several interviews with The News that took place in the months before authorities say Jacobs killed himself and his girlfriend in June 2008, Jacobs said that at that 2006 gathering he was with Vick and other players who used his drugs.

Baseball has long been the focal point for performance-enhancing drugs in sports, but it would be naïve to think that drugs aren’t being used in other sports. After all, steroids first gained national attention thanks to the Olympics decades again. I don’t want to make generalized claims without having hard facts, but again, it would be naïve to think that baseball players are the only ones doping to gain a competitive advantage.

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