Mr. Bubble Goes Pop?

With the basketballs out of the way, we’re free to focus on more important things, like NFL training camp. To that end, let's drop in on burly ex-Buckeye and New York Jets first round pick Vernon Gholston. According to this recent New York Post report, he's behind most other rookies in learning the Xs and Os due to Ohio State's late graduation date, and an NFL/NCAA rule that prohibits rookies from participating in training camp until their class graduates.

Jet's coach Eric Mangini is unsympathetic: "It's not his fault that he couldn't be here, but it's not like he was getting his master's . . . He had plenty of free time. In between 'Judge Judy' and what is it, 'Days of Our Lives,' whatever is on during the daytime, you can study. There are enough hours in the day regardless of how many curls you're going to do."

We think that the Mangenius touches on something important with that last comment about curls, as does Jets safety Kerry Rhodes, who astutely observes about Gholston that, “he’s a big dude.” Indeed. We wonder how he can even move through all of that muscle. We can’t remember ever seeing a rookie enter the NFL looking as muscle-bound as Gholston. We don't think that this portends well for his NFL future.

We generally like Gholston, based on what we read about him. Word is, he’s a good kid. And whether or not he’s used steroids, he obviously has a strong work ethic. While we wish Vernon the best, we’re afraid that his hard work on his body has been largely misplaced. This is because he looks like the prototypical product of an American athletic training culture that grossly overemphasizes a build-up of the muscular system at the expense of all of the other human body systems -- skeletal, circulatory, nervous, all of them. This starts in high school, where the athletic training of football teams is focused almost entirely on lifting weights and running, with little to no attention paid to the underlying structure that holds the muscles together. A little bend over and (try to) touch your toes, maybe a few jumping jacks, then hit the weights, kid. This is why there’s more snap, crackle and pop in American football training camps than in a bowl of Rice Krispies. Take a look at the NFL injured lists in August and you’ll see.

Yet this culture prevails, despite the fact that it might take years of focused exercise, say yoga practice, for example, for one to achieve the alignment of the arms, legs, and spine that is necessary for optimal health. Binding one’s self with one’s muscles moves one in exactly the wrong direction here. Leaving aside the lack of mobility and the resulting risk of long term back problems, how long before one of Gholston’s tendons or ligaments snaps under the pressure of all of that beef? Our guess is not very long. This is why we’ll be shocked if Gholston makes it through his first season or two in the NFL without losing a significant amount of time to a major injury. LeCharles Bentley, Kellen Winslow, and Braylon Edwards are recent local examples of this ligament-snapping phenomenon, and these gents weren't nearly as overloaded as young Gholston.

One might suggest that becoming bound with muscle and the attendant injury risk is the price of success in the National Football League. But young folk in Ohio and elsewhere who want to get in good shape to play football might look at the divergent examples of two recent Ohio college football stars as proof that this is not the case. Miami Dolphins defensive lineman, perennial Pro-Bowler, 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and Dancing with the Stars Finalist Jason Taylor (pictured at left, too sexy for his shirt) provides convincing proof that a musclebound physique is not required to achieve NFL greatness, even in the trenches. In fact, Taylors lithe physique likely contributes to his success.


And surely we remember the last former Buckeye to get carried away with building his musculature. Ease up on the iron kids. Choose life.