Dwight Howard admits to cheating, doesn't like being called a cheater
I don't think he understands what "banned substance" means.
By
Zach Harper
•
1 min read
Over the weekend, Houston Rockets' center Dwight Howard found himself in a humorous fiasco. He was caught spraying his hands with Stickum, a substance that is supposed to improve your grip. It's most useful in a sport like football in which a wide receiver would have an advantage in catching a throw fired his way. In basketball, it's a bit hard to get away with because once you touch the ball, you're going to make it stickier for everybody. That's how he got caught this weekend.
Howard used the banned substance and then when the ball went to Paul Millsap of the Atlanta Hawks, he showed the referee the "doctored" basketball. Since then, Dwight has been scrutinized for saying he's been doing this for five years and doesn't see what the big deal is. Now he's sort of being labeled a cheater for using the banned substance, and he doesn't like being labeled a cheater. From ESPN:
Howard said Monday that he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.
"I just think that it's getting overblown, like I'm doing something crazy," he said. "But again, I've never been a cheater, never been the type of player that has to do something illegal to win. It's upsetting, but I can't control it now."
Here's the problem, Dwight: you've admitted to using a banned substance for years! This isn't a one-time incident. You've made it quite clear that this is an every game type of situation for you. Now maybe you sprayed too much on your hands this time, and that ended up being the biggest issue. It was too noticeable and it caused a warning from the referee. But if you're using a banned substance and you admit that you do it, that's kind of cheating.
It's not like you were caught using steroids or HGH or something. It's not like you've been caught implanting a microchip in the ball that corrects its accuracy on shots only when it's in your hands. This isn't egregious cheating but it is technically cheating. That shouldn't be the issue though. The issue should be how you don't understand what the "banned' in "banned substance" means. That's really the most embarrassing part of this entire hilarious ordeal.
