Peyton Manning caught using steroids
The Al Jazeera undercover probe, which was posted online early Sunday morning and aired on television later in the day, reported that Manning was given human growth hormone in 2011 while he was recovering from neck surgery. …
[The report] contends that steroids and other drugs were shipped to the home address of Manning in 2011 in the name of his wife, Ashley, so that his name was never attached to the shipments.
(ESPN, December 27, 2015)
The title of this report is “The Dark Side: Secrets of the Sports Dopers.” I watched it. And, trust me, 60 Minutes could not have presented a more compelling report.
Its lead reporter, Deborah Davies, has been all over TV defending it. And she projects conviction and credibility that would make Walter Cronkite proud.
Manning’s fame is his best defense
Yet many in the US media are dismissing this report. But their dismissal seems based solely on cultural bias and professional snobbery against Doha-based Al Jazeera. Moreover, these same biased snobs also dismissed Paris-based L’Equipe’s initial report on Lance Armstrong’s dark side.
Mannning’s defenders argue that his accuser’s lack of fame impugns his credibility. But if that were the case, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein would never have given “Deep Throat” the time of day.
Of course, I get it: Finding out that Peyton Manning cheated in Football is rather like finding out that Jimmy Carter cheated on his wife. And having Tom “Deflategate” Brady defend Manning’s professional integrity hardly helps. After all, that’s like having Vladimir Putin defend Bashir Assad’s democratic values.
Defending Manning hinges on a video of his accuser recanting. Except it features the accuser looking like a hostage reading ISIS propaganda in a hopeless bid to save his life.
Frankly, it takes a willing suspension of disbelief to disbelieve this accuser. Yet such is the emotional interest people vest in superstar athletes that this disbelief has gone viral.
Manning emulates other disgraced athletes
In his own defense, Manning went on TV to deny taking steroids. It’s telling, though, that his indignation mirrored Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro’s when they made similar denials. After all, they lied under oath during a congressional hearing.
So why wouldn’t Manning lie under lights during a TV appearance? Indeed, I need only cite the TV denials of no less an athlete than Marion Jones.
But there’s too much smoke in that Al Jazeera report for there to be no fire. I asserted as much in text messages to an old friend even before Manning’s Armstrongesque denial. I also warned that it would constitute consciousness of guilt if Manning throws his wife under the bus.
Sure enough, that’s precisely what he did. Here’s the specious explanation he gave for those incriminating deliveries of steroids, which his accuser says his clinic sent “all the time, all over Florida”:
Any medical treatments that my wife received, that’s her business. … Nothing that’s been sent to her or [that] my wife has used have I ever taken. … I have my treatments that I do, she may have hers and that is her business.
(Huffington Post, December 27, 2015)
Ironically, Manning’s denial might be even more incriminating than his accuser’s allegations. Not least because his wife would be hard-pressed to provide any legitimate reason for receiving steroids for personal use.
Of course, Baseball superstar Roger Clemens threw his wife under the bus too. He even had her make a public confession about being the only one in their home who took injections of human growth hormone.
But what could be more incriminating than any player’s willingness to incriminate his wife to save his career?
Manning is now threatening to sue. But he doesn’t have the balls to follow through. Mind you, Armstrong did, and he only has one.
Manning has just retained Ari Fleischer. Fleisher served as press secretary for the George W. Bush White House. But he’s probably best known as the PR flak who helped McGwire finally tell the truth about his steroid use. Here’s to Manning’s guilty conscience compelling him to confess sooner than McGwire’s did.
And don’t get me started on the conspiracy of professionals working to protect Manning’s reputation. Members include influential sportscasters like CBS’s Jim Nantz — who took imperious pride in dismissing this Al Jazeera documentary as a “non-story.”
It also includes super agent Sandy Montag — who represents both Nantz and Manning. Montag also helped Fleisher establish his PR firm. See what I mean?
In any event, Manning is playing out the final year or two of his career. In a bit of fateful symmetry, his Football career has been as celebrated and accomplished as Armstrong’s Cycling career. And Manning’s career now seems fated to end in a similar fall from grace.
Legalize drugs
I’ve been in the vanguard of those calling for legalizing all performance-enhancing drugs. I refer you to blog posts like “Barry Bonds Is a Steroid Junkie … Duh,” March 8, 2006.
This Al Jazeera report merely provides more compelling evidence to help us make the case for legalizing steroids in all professional sports. Only legalization will stop making liars and cheaters of naturally gifted athletes like Armstrong, Jones, and Manning.
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