My Three Cents

Cheaters, Cicadas, and Expansion

1. Cushing still wins ROY - So Houston Texans rookie linebacker Brian Cushing won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award, then was found to have tested positive for a banned substance during the season, but held on to the award despite a revote of Associated Press writers. This, more than any other situation, proves that it is far more acceptable for football players to use PEDs as compared to baseball players. Cushing will be suspended for four games, which is good if you are a Colts fan like me. But the fact that he won the revote is ridiculous. He wasn't by far the best defensive rookie out there anyway. And why have a revote anyway? History should not be rewritten. If it was a baseball player that did what he did, people would talk nonstop on how he "disgraced the game." But the same people will say that football is not stats based, it is winning based, so cheating is fine. 

Cheating is cheating. No matter the sport. And to tell you the truth, more people care about football than baseball so cheating in that sport should be looked at as as bad if not worse. 

2. It is called the Big Ten... - The latest reports are that the Big Ten Conference, which already has an extra team, has sent out invitations to Notre Dame, Rutgers, Missouri and Nebraska to join the league. Is this necessary? What makes the Big Ten believe they are the prime conference in America. Where do they get off stealing teams from the Big 12 and the Big East? And do they actually think Notre Dame is going to give up their TV deal to share it with 15 other teams? It is called the Big Ten for a reason. There should only be ten teams. I understand the Penn State expansion, but why is there a need to break tradition and ruin rivalries from other conferences. For the most part, teams should stay in their own conference. It is better to build long standing rivalries instead of jumping around. If this expansion occurs, the league could have 16 teams by 2014. The Big 16? Too many. That's as many as the NFC and the AFC. Enough of it. 

3. The Phoenix Cicadas? - The Phoenix Suns are on an impressive playoff run, knocking out Portland and San Antonio in quick fashion in the first two rounds. In Game Two against the Spurs, the team donned "Los Suns" jerseys (even though the correct spanish word for sun is "Sol"). They may want another name change for their upcoming conference finals series against the favored Los Angeles Lakers. My choice? The Cicadas? Why? Cicadas show up in different part of the country every 17 years. They were in Chicago's Beverly community, for example, in 1973, 1990 and most recently in 2007. If the Suns pull an upset and knock off the Lakers, they will qualify for the NBA Finals for the first time since 1993, 17 years ago. That year, Charles Barkley and the Suns were making the team's first finals appearance since 1976, 17 years prior to that. Can Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire propel Phoenix to cicada status? I hope so. I hate the Lakers.