The Cleveland Browns lost the league's top receiver from a year ago as the NFL upheld its 12-month suspension of Josh Gordon, which also led me to hitting the waiver wire in my fantasy league. Yes, I took a flyer drafting Gordon with my 12th-round pick in the 12-team league, but who wouldn't take guy who recorded 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns in 14 games last season. And, yes, NFL seasons are 16 games long, but Gordon was out the first two after failing a drug test for codeine, which he said was in some cough syrup he had taken. Codeine is a prescription drug used as a pain medication, but is widely abused. But when a guy that failed three drug tests while at Baylor University says it was just in cough syrup, who could argue? After being kicked off the Baylor football team for repeated failed drug tests, Gordon went to Utah, where he again failed a test, leading him to the decision to enter his name into the 2012 NFL Supplemental Draft. Cleveland drafted him in the second round. Getting through his rookie campaign with 50 catches, 805 yards and five scores, things were looking up. Then, he began his second season with the two-game suspension, but that didn't slow him down, as he exploded for huge numbers, all while catching passes from guys like Jason Campbell, Brian Hoyer and Brandon Weeden. To celebrate that breakout season, he tested positive for marijuana, then as he was appealing the 12-month suspension, he was pulled over by a police officer while a passenger in his car was found to have marijuana. That move was followed by a DUI in July. Before worrying about the DUI, Gordon was first battling the NFL's drug-testing policy, which wasn't that bad of an idea. Apparently, the league drug tests its players by putting 'samples' in containers marked 'A' and 'B'. The 'A' sample is the first one tested, and if it comes back positive, the 'B' sample is then tested, to only verify trace amounts of the banned substance. In Gordon's case, his 'A' sample was at 16 nanograms/milliliter, barely over the 15 ng/ml threshold. Going to his 'B' sample, it tested 13.6 ng/ml, which was enough to confirm the positive test. Now, if the league had tested the 'B' sample first, it would have come back negative and the other wouldn't have even been tested. Unluckily for Gordon, the bottle with higher concentration was tested first, leading to his second substance-abuse violation, drawing the 12-month suspension. In the four-month battle to try to cut this suspension down, the testing procedure was the focal point, but in the end, the NFL stuck to its guns. Now, the City of Cleveland has had to deal with the news of Gordon being out for the season just a week after learning Johnny Manziel won't be the Week 1 starter. Devastating. And instead of accepting responsibility for the positive test, which Gordon says was only because of 'secondhand smoke', the dynamic wide receiver had to point fingers. "I am very disappointed that the NFL and its hearing office didn’t exercise better discretion and judgment in my case," he said through the NFL Players Association. Oh, he was disappointed the NFL didn't use better judgment. That makes sense. A guy who was busted driving someone with weed in his pocket THEN getting busted for a DUI – all while appealing a positive drug test – is disappointed in someone else's judgment. Lovely. Look, I think the guy probably got the short end of the stick, and in a country where marijuana is legal for medical reasons in 21 states, as well as the District of Columbia, and all-in-all legal in two, maybe restrictions could be loosened. These guys get pounded day-in and day-out, so maybe a substance that soothes them isn't all that bad. However, it is against the rules, so you can't do it. Following Wednesday's ruling, Twitter was abuzz with people talking about how ridiculous the suspension was, especially in light of the two-game suspension Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice received for domestic violence. The suspended games are way out of whack for their offenses, but there's a rule against marijuana and a suspension for domestic violence isn't so clear-cut. With all the trouble this guy's been in, maybe taking a year off from football isn't the worst thing. Maybe he should concentration on getting his act together, but of course he's probably going to sue the NFL instead, allowing him to get more time on the field this season. Any why not? It wasn't his fault he broke the rules, the rules just aren't fair. Guess Gordon left both colleges he went to before he could attend “Rules 101: What they are and what they mean.”
