Peyton Manning allegations are further proof of media in bed with NFL

By now, you have heard that a media outlet called Al Jazeera (very credible, I might add) has a documentary called the “The Dark Side: The Secret World of Sports Dopers” set to air on their website later today. In that documentary, based on an undercover report by a British hurdler, several prominent American athletes are allegedly using sophisticated (and sometimes not so sophisticated) ways to use performance enhancing drugs. Several names have surfaced in the report, both from the NFL and MLB. But the most prominent name being Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos, who of course vehemently denied everything.

I am not here to pick through the weeds on the details here or to slap Manning, or Ryan Howard, or anyone else named on the list on the wrist (although, the past has taught us regarding PED allegations, where there is smoke, there is fire). But what I am here to do is further explain my long-standing theory of how the NFL is a genius marketing machine and has brought itself to major prominence by getting in bed with every major media outlet (except for Al Jazeera, oops) out there to brand the league in to the cash cow machine that it is today.

Roger Goodell (NFL), Bob Kraft (Patriots) and Bob Iger (Disney)

Why is this a big deal?

Because there has been a lack of transparent reporting regarding the NFL for years by media outlets such as ESPN, NBC, CBS, Fox, Turner, Yahoo and many others, all in the name of protecting their own revenue interests and partnerships with the NFL.

Or, as I like to call it, “The Ulitmate Conflict of Interest” better known as: #ProtectTheShield.

Maybe I am a cynic (probably) and maybe I am a conspiracy theorist (definitely) but hear me out for a minute.

Don’t you think that some young and talented journalist at ESPN, if truly motivated to get on a hot story during Manning’s recovery and to see if there was anything fishy happening, would have been able to unlock the details of the Al Jazeera report months ago? Isn’t it strange that anything that happens regarding the NFL in a major negative way is broke by Deadspin, or Al Jazeera, or some other small outfit with credible journalism?

Remember when Antonio Gates, a sure-fire, first ballot Hall of Famer that revolutionized the tight end position and altered the strategy used by NFL offensive tacticians forever, was caught and busted for using PEDs earlier this year? Gates missed the first four games of the season, which is why you had Ladarius Green on your fantasy team earlier this but didn’t know why.  You may have caught the story in passing, as it was discussed for about 48 hours. Meanwhile, how long have we been discussing Alex Rodriguez, who revolutionized the shortstop position and will NOT be a first ballot Hall of Famer because of his PED use?

Manning will likely survive this (guilty or not, again, I’m focused more on the process of the story than the story itself) thanks to some media spin and will still be considered the GOAT (greatest of all time) when discussing NFL quarterbacks. Meanwhile, A-Rod is simply a goat. Isn’t this a double standard?

The reason this is not brought up, or covered as often as say, PED use in baseball, is that the NFL has partnerships with anyone that may do some major investigative reporting. Take a look:

~ Disney owns ESPN and ABC, and has paid $15.2 billion throught 2021 to air the NFL’s Monday Night Football games and a pair of Wild Card weekend games on its network.

~ Comcast owns NBC, who pays $950 million per season to air games on Sunday nights.

~ News Corp owns Fox and Fox Sports, which has the rights to the day-time games of the NFC. News Corp also owns the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and a bevy of other media outlets internationally. Fox Sports also provides the sports coverage for MSN.com as well.

~ CBS, which also owns Showtime, has the rights to the day time games of the AFC.

~ The NFL has a contract with HBO for the hit who “Hard Knocks”. HBO is a Time Warner property, which also owns CNN, Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated along with Turner Sports, home of TBS and TNT.

~ Yahoo started streaming NFL games this season, finally dipping its toes in something outside of Fantasy Football when it comes to the league.

Is there a major media outlet that I am missing from this list that has any sports interest? I’m having a hard time coming up with one, and that is by design. The NFL knows what they are doing. Before anyone else (outside of our federal government), recognized the propaganda machine the media is and always has been dating back to World War II and has figured out the best way to control its image. MLB is catching on, with contracts with Fox, ESPN and most recently Turner, but it still has a long way to go to carry the clout and control the NFL has over the journalistic (or lack thereof) approach of the mainstream media.

~ Other examples remain regarding the integrity of the media when it comes to its coverage of the NFL. Most notably (and you were hoping to get through this without a mention of Tom Brady, I know) with #Deflategate as many outlets (mainly ESPN) received huge doses of criticism for their lack of proactive coverage of the situation. No, Chris Mortensen nor Adam Schefter broke the Deflategate story. Once again, it was one of the little guys bringing down the hammer on the NFL as Bob Kravitz of the Indy Star broke the flattened football story.

Don’t you think a story this big would have been broke by one of the guys with the most resources, contacts and biggest stage and audience to break the story? Yet, it was Kravitz who beat the big boys to the punch. Or maybe that was by design…

~ Finally there is the concussion issue and the NFL. There has been coverage, and documentaries, and of course the Will Smith movie that is out in theaters now, promising to expose the NFL for its negligence on the issue.  The media has done a pretty decent job discussing this and we saw it first hand here in St. Louis when Case Keenum’s head bounced off the concrete floor of the Edward Jones Cave, yet he was allowed to continue playing. The Rams, Jeff Fisher and the NFL all took heat for this, and rightfully so.

But has anybody really investigated the cause, or uptick, in the amount and severity of these concussions? Has ESPN or NBC or even HBO spent the time necessary to draw conclusions on the increase?

I may be reaching here, but I’ve discussed this on Twitter before, and I do see the relevance and correlation. Has anyone (mainstream media) proactively looked into the amount of PED usage as the cause for these concussions? I mean, it does feel like too much common sense for concussions to increase when you have bigger, stronger and faster players that are juiced out of their minds running in to each other and making bigger, more violent collisions.

We have heard about the side effects of concussions and CTE. Here is a list of some symptoms of CTE, from Boston University:

… memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, anxiety, suicidality, parkinsonism, progressive dementia

Here are a list of just a few symptoms and side effects of steroid and PED use from the Mayo Clinic:

… aggressive behaviors, rage or violence, psychiatric disorders, such as depression, drug dependence, joint pain, carpal tunnel syndrome

Am I the only one that sees the similarities?

My point here of bringing up the parallels of CTE and concussions along with steroid and PED use is simple.  How is this not considered a cause and effect situation?  I may be barking up the wrong tree here, but common sense and judgement lead me to think that I am not. At least I am asking why, unlike Mortensen, Schefter, Jay Glazer or anyone else who “works” in the marketing departments of the NFL, I mean for a major media outlet covering the NFL.

~ Why hasn’t the media given more attention to the usage of PEDs in the NFL? That is simple. A dumbed down, less athletic version of the NFL would be bad for ratings and of course, the bottom line. Blasting Antonio Gates for using PEDs may take away the precious eyes that watch hours of commercials every Sunday or play fantasy football and discuss their lineups for hours around the office every week.

Busting Peyton Manning is in nobody’s best interest. Not Manning’s. Not ESPN’s. Not the NFL’s. Not Manning’s, ESPN’s or the NFL’s corporate sponsors best interests either.  Which is why it took Al Jazeera to get the job done, or at least ask the questions of why Manning’s wife was receiving HGH shipments in 2011.

If you can not see the blatant and corrupt conflict of interest that the NFL has created with its “partners” after hearing the Manning story and reading this, than I have not done my job.

Final thought on Manning, the NFL, PEDs and the media: The NFL is an organization of marketing geniuses and before anyone else, realized they could control its branding by controlling the “media” and the “news”. They will continue to do so as this story progresses, likely thumping their chests in intimidation by using the media to discredit Al Jazeera.

Roger Goodell has asked the CEOs of the biggest media corporations to get in bed with him, and all have accepted, making him the richest slut of all.

~ Moving on, I would be disrespectful not to discuss the passing of Joe Strauss for a quick moment. Upon hearing the news this morning that he was no longer with us, I was floored. He was just 54 years of age, only 22 years older than myself. That within itself is scary.

But I also was selfishly disappointed because it is Strauss that had become the single, most important voice on the St. Louis sports scene. Strauss had the uncanny ability to tell the story, but in a way that made you think outside of your comfort zone. He was arrogant, condescending and often a prick to the people interviewing him on the radio and certainly to willfully blind fan bases of the St. Louis Cardinals and especially the Missouri Tigers.  He was an antagonist on Twitter, and in my eyes, a delight all in the same.

Strauss was fair though. He was consistent. He praised as much as he criticized, you were just too busy hearing the negativity to understand that he could sit at both sides of the table and do it very well.

Strauss made you a better sports fan because he didn’t write or say what you wanted to read.  He filled a hole that this town desperately needed filled. A hole that this site, that was launched just days ago, hopes to fill half as well as Strauss was able to for years. I speak on behalf of Art Lippo and Cardinals Farm when I say this, but we pledge to do our best to challenge you as well, to keep you honest and to create a forum of semi-intelligent discussion that will make us all better sports fans.

Here is to you Joe Strauss! Rest in peace.