Courson’s plan could save NFL
As a rabid fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I’ve read numerous books about the team over the years. I’ve enjoyed most of them but none more than “Their Life’s Work,” by Gary M. Pomerantz, which I read recently.
Written in 2013, it chronicles the history of the Steelers, starting with a young Art Rooney buying the team in 1933, through the Super Bowl years, and ending with the concussion revelations of recent years.
With painstaking research and a plethora of interviews, it details the Steelers rise from one of the worst teams in the league to one of the best in the history of the NFL with four Super Bowl wins in six years, which remains unmatched today. But what makes the book really special is the interviews Pomerantz conducted with the players later in their lives and how they talked about their lives after football. In cutting players, Noll often told them they needed to get on with “their life’s work,” thus the title of the book.
The stories are moving, as the players interviewed recall the time they spent with the Steelers and how it affected their lives.
The book is complete, including a lengthy segment on the use of steroids with particular interest focused on former guard Steve Courson.
Courson, who moved to Fayette County after his career ended, was an admitted steroid user in the 1970s. However, he became convinced of the dangers of steroids as they caused numerous injuries for him over the years and jeopardized his health.
He tried to point out the problem in 1985 with a tell-all article in Sports Illustrated and later with a book in 1991. His revelations won him no favors with the NFL or the Steelers and their fans, who largely ignored him after his career was over.
But you had to admire Courson for taking a stand against steroids. It certainly would have been easier for him to just go with the flow but he refused to give in, costing him any chance of getting a coaching or broadcasting job with the Steelers.
Pomerantz also talked about how Courson had been placed on a heart transplant list at the age of 33 and given five years to live. But he wrote about how Courson turned his life around through exercise and healthy living, with his heart eventually returning to normal and being taken off the transplant list.
He also wrote about how at the age of 50, Courson was cutting down a 44-foot tree on his property in November of 2005 when Rufus, his beloved Labrador, moved into the path of the falling tree. Courson saved his dog, but the tree struck him in the back, crushed his chest and killed him.
However, the thing Pomerantz didn’t write about in the book was Courson’s stance that steroid use was still rampant in the league. Despite talk by NFL officials that steroids were under control through testing, Courson would have none of it, pointing out the vast number of bigger players in the game, especially compared to 20 and 30 years ago.
In an interview with the 蘑菇视频 shortly before his death, Courson blasted the NFL’s current testing for steroids, claiming that only the extremely unlucky or stupid fail such exams. He maintained that testing was an exercise in futility because those making the steroids are always a step ahead of those doing the testing.
He maintained that the only way to get steroids out of the game would be to have weight limits for each position. He explained that the league could set a weight limit at each position, such as 300 pounds for offensive linemen and 250 pounds for linebackers.
Courson said the change could be made gradually, giving players three years or less to lose weight. He said such a policy would result in an exciting game with players still able to display their skills and talents for everyone to see, but the players would no longer have to worry about the ill effects of taking steroids.
You have to think that weight limits could also lessen the effects of concussions, which have severely affected the health of many players. In fact, many parents are discouraging their youngsters from playing football because they’re worried about concussions and the problems they could cause later in life.There are some who say that football might go the way of boxing in the future, relegated to the second or third tier of professional sports.
As a football fan, I’d hate to see that happen. I wonder if weight limits could save the game. Of course, that sounds crazy now. But it wasn’t all that long ago that football players didn’t give a second thought to concussions. They were considered as merely part of the game. But concussions are being taken much more seriously now with hits to the head outlawed and other precautions being taken.
Who knows, maybe some day the NFL will adopt weight limits. That would be the ultimate vindication for Courson. It would certainly be a fitting tribute for someone who tried so hard to make football safer for players.
Mark O’Keefe is the editorial page editor of the 蘑菇视频. He can be reached by email at mokeefe@heraldstandard.com.