Thursday, August 28, 2008

Shawne Merriman's Not a Warrior

Everyone wants to celebrate what a great teammate Shawne is by risking his career to play through torn knee ligaments.


Is he a great a great teammate for ignoring the Chargers' and doctors' recommendations for him to have the surgery immediately following the 2007 season? He hurt the knee in a game against Tenn. in December. It would have taken 6-7 months to recover which would have him to close to 100% healthy for the start of the 2008 season. This is all according to the ESPN story.

Was he a great teammate when he was suspended for four games due to steroid abuse in 2006?

And is his steroid use to blame for his current injury? Here's a USA Today article that highlights a case study on knee damage and steroids. The Obsessed with Sports Blog has a great post about this.

Was Shawne Merriman a great teammate when he held out of training camp his rookie year due to a contract hold-out? This delayed his amount of playing time until he became a full time starter 3 months into his rookie year.

Lets stop celebrating this steroid abuser's love of the game and warrior mentality. Shawne Merriman is doing what he's done since he came into the NFL - putting himself first.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Steroids may help in the short term, but they are bad mojo.
Doesn't the league have a "If you go under the knife you get tested afterwards" policy?

Maybe that's what good old team-mate Shawne was thinking, "I don't want to get tested yet, I'm still dirty"