Dan Shaugnessy underestimates the integrity of Robert Kraft’s organization
On September 2, Boston Globe sports columnist Mr. Dan Shaugnessy wrote the following regarding the suspension of New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison for using human growth hormones:
The Patriot public relations machine, an estimable force that includes a substantial number of people who speak into microphones and send words into cyberspace, will be in overdrive working Harrison’s defense over the next month.
…there will be carpet-bombing commentary about how Harrison did not actually take steroids and how everybody else is probably doing the same things. We’ll be told Harrison used banned substances only to “get back on the field,” that this is a one-time thing, and that he did it only to help him recover from injuries.
I don’t know which people Mr. Shaugnessy specifically was referring too and I’m not saying there aren’t shills and flacks out there trying to muddy the waters, although I haven’t heard anyone do so in this case, but there was no sugar-coating the issue on this week’s episode of PFW In Progress, a popular podcast featuring writers from Patriots Football Weekly. The hosts made no excuses for Harrison and took on fans who downplayed the gravity of Harrison’s actions. While noting that Harrison had not taken steroids they called HGH “steroids on steroids” and stressed that National Football League doesn’t test players for HGH (mostly because it is very difficult to do so (perhaps impossible: Hey, I’m no expert on these matters. I don’t even know what a “cycle” is, but a “cycle” of HGH costs $1,000, according to one of the PFWIP hosts)).
Furthermore, they said they had noticed that Harrison looked like “a 24-year old” coming into camp last year, which made them suspect that Harrison had been dipping into the jar (they had obviously not reported those observations and hunches prior to Harrison’s admission of guilt). When a caller asked them to take the over or under on the guess that 10.5 current Patriots use HGH they all picked the over without hesitation and with the addition that they would have taken the over in any locker room in NFL. I would, too.
The PFWIW scribes may be total ignoramuses for all I know, but I have never heard the issue of performing-enhancing substances in NFL discussed with such candor and forthrightness on an NFL show on network or cable TV. Not bad for a company show. Not bad at all.
