That would be this steroids story, which came out last week, and has been largely ignored.

An anonymous survey of 2,552 retired NFL players released today found an association between joint and ligament injuries and use of steroids. Just over 9 percent of the former pro-athletes, who played as far back as the 1940s and as recently as the 21st century, admitted using the drugs during their careers, the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation study showed. Doping was common among players in positions requiring size and strength, with 16 percent of offensive linemen and nearly 15 percent of defensive linemen fessing up to the practice.

ESPN’s Jayson Stark (insider required) is perturbed at the inequality between that report and the media’s reaction to the NFL report.

Funny how the most monstrous baseball story of the year so far involved a baseball player who tested positive for steroids, then admitted he used them, before baseball imposed a system of random testing and stiff punishments.

Yet the national sports audience has just about no interest in a revelation that hundreds of football players were using steroids before the NFL imposed a system of random testing and stiff punishments.

We will attempt a brief list of reasons why this story is DOA:

1) If a list were made public with the names of all the steroid users in the NFL from the 1980s, there are probably less than 10 players that fans/media would get worked up about.

2) Offensive lineman don’t generate stats so when there’s a suspension or drug revelation by an offensive lineman, at best you’ll get a shoulder shrug (perhaps there would be a reaction if Anthony Munoz were named; John Madden might cry if Larry Allen’s name popped up).

3) Some of baseball’s biggest names in the last 15 years have been associated with cheating (or accused of it): A-Roid, Sosa, McGwire, Bonds, Palmeiro, Clemens. Unless there are popular NFL names that emerge – Shawne Merriman barely counts; the guy had two good seasons – the reaction isn’t likely to register. For people to sit up and pay attention, you’d need names on par with Manning, Brady, Tomlinson, Moss or Owens.