LOLOLOL "I had a couple minutes alone in this room before you brought me the test cup, so I, uh, well you know..."
The sad thing is, even if Cushing comes up with very convincing scientific evidence for why the hCG levels in his body were elevated outside of taking a banned substance, there is no way in hell Goodell reverses or reduces the suspension, because it would set a precedence that he doesn't want to deal with. Because then EVERY player that gets suspended and has their appeal rejected will consult with doctors until he finds a few that can come up with something that sounds reasonably scientific (overtrained athlete syndrome?). Goodell wants the final decision his league made to be law, so he'll reject this outright regardless of what McNair presents to him. I'm surprised he was willing to have this meeting at all.
Again, why? It's laughable here in Houston too, I sure as hell don't buy it. But if the NFL does, he gets his suspension overturned or reduced. That's a pretty significant upside. The downside is what... that people are laughing at him? Why the hell would he care? I would hope what random fans around the league think of him isn't among his top priorities. I can't fathom a reason for him to "quit talking", even though I personally think he's guilty. The upside, even if 1%, simply far outweighs the downside.
Don't you love how people just assume our city is full of undereducated homers? Nobody buys it here in H-town, either, Mr. Dave.
Hmm...if I'm Roger Goodell and they are trying to prevent further suspensions if Cushing tests positive for the hCG again, the I probably tell McNair and Cushing that now that they have diagnosed the problem, just don't overtrain your players! Because if they decide not to suspend him in the future, that pretty much means they don't believe they had reason to suspend him for this season too.
Cushing's "tumor" excuse was in Maxim this week...now this? wtf is going on here...just man up and confess and move on...but if this happens again, there will be hell to pay...
Maybe Cush doesn't think he can dominate unless he's "over training". A first round pick that's washed up by the end of his second season?
Oh, it's beyond laughable up here in Dallas. As far as I'm concerned, Cushing can talk all he wants but at some point, the smart thing to do is to just shut up. BTW, his "overtrained athlete" excuse strikes me the same way that Tiger's "My wife went through my cellphone" did.
Do you think it's not beyond laughable down here? It cracks me up the way people think there's some magical divide between perceptions one place and the next. As far as I'm concerned, the smart thing to do is for Cushing to do whatever he can to play the most games he can this season and beyond. Do I expect Goodell to overturn the suspension, or to show increased leniency in the future? No, I don't. But Cushing and McNair aren't idiots, and clearly think they have a case. I probably don't agree with their case, and I doubt it works... but if they do, they would be idiots not to pursue it to the fullest extent. The only thing McNair and Cushing care about, and should care about, is winning football games - Cushing's PR is not a priority. If they think they have the slightest chance of getting Cushing on the field more based on this evidence, I want them to pursue it. That's the only factor that should matter.
What I was referring to was how this story gave all of the Cowsheep idiots (especially those on the radio) a juicy excuse to make more fun of the Texans. All this does is to keep the story going. Let's say that what you (and McNair & Cushing) say is the truth. Why then wait until training camp to offer up this defense? Wouldn't the best time to do that was right after the suspension was levied and not MONTHS later? We disagree on Cushing's level of smartness here: He tested positive, appealed and lost. As I posted earlier in this thread: his "explanation" that his body produces abnormal levels of hCG naturally doesn't appear to have been documented either at USC nor here when he came onboard. Had that been the case, the Texans would have notified the NFL before the testing process began and if that didn't happen, then the Texans need to get themselves some new doctors. Don't know about Cushing but McNair is not that high on my "not an idiot" list. After all, he hired Casserly & Capers and stood by while they turned his football team into a joke. That sort of fits with my definition of idiot.
No one in Houston believes him, either, and I'm quite sure many would leap at the chance to redo that draft. I know I would.
Why? The guy still should come back to be a force. Truth be told, while I don't have an issue with Bob doing what his doing, this would just go away if they let it.
