A Theory on How the Baseball Steroid Crackdown reached the NFL

This year you may have heard about the decrease in the number of home runs hit by MLB players. It was a very tangible way to see how the crackdown on steroids affected the MLB. Eventually players and clubhouse managers will figure out how to get around these tests or doctors will create new drugs to make athletes stronger and more efficient. But for now baseball seems to have somewhat of a grip on the problem and the decrease in power numbers is the evidence.

One issue that I think is not getting talked about how the steroid crackdown is affecting sports outside of baseball. For instance, if the leagues imposed much more strict tests for illegal substances in the NFL or the NBA there would not be a way to look at the leagues statistics and see the effect it has had. You can’t say, “ 3-point percentage is down this year, it cause of the enforcement of the steroid tests….” or “So many TDs this year, they really gotta start testing these players.....”

Well, Troy Polamalu made some noise this wee when he called the NFL a Pansy-Ass League. This got me thinking, why is the NFL all of the sudden trying so hard in order to protect its players. Obviously Polamalu is an idiot when he says it’s “all about the money.” The NFL makes an insane amount of revenue and $100,000 in fines isn’t going make a difference to anyone at the league office. Besides I think that money goes to charity.

After thinking about this story for a little bit, I think I figured out a possible reason why the NFL would start taking extra steps now to protect its players. My theory on the reason is that as the steroid use in NFL decreases, the number of injuries will go up. This is the tangible, statistical way to show the affect that steroid testing has had on the league. So the league is trying to do what it can to offset the number of injuries that they anticipate will occur this year. If the number of injuries never dramatically changes, then the NFL will never have to face the questions on whether steroids were as big of a problem for their league as it was for the MLB.

Case and point: that picture attached to this post is of Shawne Merriman last year and Mr. “Lights Out” this year. And for the record he is out for the year with an injury.