Patriots Expanded Shots - 2/18/09

Let's see how this goes.  Every few days I'm going to comb through Marima's links and expand on some high profile ones.  There are simply some stories that scream, "Pick me, pick me and talk more about MEEEE!!"  I think you get the point.  I will, of course, blatantly take advantage of Marima's hard work by dancing in and grabbing stories she worked so hard to find, but I don't think she minds...uhhmm not a whole lot...I think.

Larry Izzo

The whole "Larry Izzo testifying in the Barry Bonds steroid case" thingy has, suprisingly, not gotten out of hand.  If you're not, as of yet, caught up, here's where we're at according to Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe staff:

After years of downplaying his role in the steroids scandal, Patriots special teams captain Larry Izzo is prepared to testify at Barry Bonds's criminal trial that Bonds's personal trainer, Greg Anderson, gave Izzo performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 with instructions and a schedule for using them, according to federal prosecutors.

Larry has not been charged with a crime.  The only athletes who have are the ones accused of lying under oath.  Roger anyone?  I have said before that my biggest problem with steroid use in sports is the slippery slope: in order to compete against someone who juices, you have to juice yourself.  The worst part of this is that high school kids see this and aren't stupid, or maybe they are.  In order to gain an advantage, they may start early and that's a highway to hell, if you ask me.  I don't condone what Larry did, but he seems to be the only one with the nads to admit it.

Pacman "Biohazard Waste" Jones

Chris Price from weei.com talks to us a bit about whether or not Pacman Jones would be a good fit for the boys from Foxboro.  I, for one, thing Pacman is like spent rods from a nuclear reactor.  Apparently, he's so gifted athletically that he can cover the fact that he can't understand a playbook.  Can you imagine him on a Belichick defense?   WR Chad Jackson was cut for the exact same reason.  If you can't do the homework, you can't do the field work.  Mike Lombardi of the National Football Post had this to say about Belichick:

Mike Lombardi doesn't think so. Lombardi believes no matter how much the Patriots' need to build depth in the secondary, they're going to stay away from adding Jones. But it's not because Belichick would have any reservations about his toxic history. Instead, it's because Jones simply can't play anymore.

"He would never touch Pacman," said Lombardi, who worked for several years with Belichick before starting the National Football Post. "Pacman can't play. At all. He stinks."

Do juiced rings count?

Mark Kriegel from FOX Sports poses the question, "Do the Steelers reach six without steroids?"

They won four titles in the Seventies. But those teams — the offensive linemen, in particular — had a notorious, and not undeserved, reputation for abusing performance-enhancing drugs.

There will be no outrage.  There will be no investigations.  The same media feeding frenzy that surrounded the Patriots during Spygate will NEVER focus on the Steelers.  They are...the NFL's darlings right now.  6 rings...dynasty in black and gold.  Where are the asterisks for the Steel Curtain?