Sports Bites
All About Timing
By Sean Collier

In the first week of February, hundreds of reporters asked Santonio Holmes the same basic questions: what were you thinking on that drive? What did you say to Ben? Dutifully, Santonio provided the same basic answers: I let Ben know that I was his man. He put the ball right where it needed to be. A well-deserved MVP Trophy found its way to Holmes' living room, and everybody quickly forgot about October 22, 23, and 26 of 2008.

On the 22nd, Holmes smoked marijuana while driving in his SUV, according to a police affidavit. On the 23rd, he was stopped by police, who smelled the lingering odor of the drug in the car, questioned him, and found a small quantity of marijuana. He was charged with a misdemeanor, and the Steelers decided to bench him for that week's contest. On the 26th, Holmes watched as the Steelers suffered a home loss to the New York Giants.

However, a magnificent catch in the waning moments of one of the most thrilling football games in recent memory goes a long way towards making people forget a minor drug charge. Perhaps a Super Bowl MVP trophy would be the remedy for Michael Phelps.

Phelps, he of the staggering eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympic Games just eight months ago, is having a rough time getting past one photograph. Published in a British tabloid in early 2009, the shot of Phelps smoking what we can reasonably assume to be marijuana has cost Phelps sponsorships, time in the pool, and his golden-boy reputation in fairly short order.

The double standard is clear. For Holmes, trouble preceded glory, and he was redeemed; for Phelps, a less significant transgression followed much more significant triumph, and his reputation may be irreparably scarred. This is how the transgressions of athletes are evaluated: we'll forget, if you do something to make us forget.

Batting next in the apologetic lineup, the third baseman, Alex Rodriguez. The exposure of A-Rod's history with performance-enhancing drugs and his subsequent dodgy admission and half-hearted apology dominated baseball headlines during a sleepy offseason. Now, season-delaying surgery has given baseball fans yet more time to think about what Rodriguez did and what it means to a sport struggling to clean up before it's too late.

If Rodriguez comes back in May with a slimmer frame, ignites a struggling Yankee lineup, hits fifty-five home runs and leads the financially enhanced New York lineup to their first championship of the decade, he'll escape being forever mentioned in the same breath as Clemens, Bonds and McGwire. If he re-enters the game with a whimper rather than a bang, however, posting average numbers and slogging along until the Red Sox take the division again, the phrase "admitted steroid user" will firmly affix itself to his name.

Sadly, it'll probably be something close to the former, and A-Rod will be forgiven for defrauding a sport, while Michael Phelps struggles to recover from an insignificant recreational error.

Sorry about that, Michael, but what have you done for us lately?