Williams boys

[Stratosman]

So anyone hear anything on Kevin and Fat Pat getting named in the illegal substance investigations....?

Suspension probable? Just when I thought the Super Bowl was ours!

[Wadinator]

Water pills. Seems to be the new fad in the NFL. Now the league has caught on and is busting everyone for them.

[nofishfisherman]

Looks like a 4 game suspension is likely. All the players are appealing but another Saints player who tested positive for it early this year lost his appeal and has already served his suspension so I doubt they will win their appeal.

Game over, season over, here comes a top 5 draft pick.

[Loos15]

ya, vike's season is over. This is the nail.

Guess I'll be fishing and look for AP highlights when I come back.

[so haaad]

Geez. Assuming it's true, it will mean that every one of the Vikings front four will have been hit with suspensions for substance abuse. Come on, how dumb can they be?!?

Good thing we've got the winning Gophers to cheer for!

[nofishfisherman]

I think the Williams boys are in a differnt category with this substance however.

Its a water pill, used to loose weight. It is on the band substance list becuase it can be used to mask other steroids. But if you look at Pat and Kevin I can believe they were using it to loose weight versus using it to bulk up. If Fat Pat was going to bulk up any more he'd need to start wearing 2 jersey's.

I guess there is some talk about whether any of these guys actually knew it was a banned substance. I guess it is a very common pill available almost anywhere (health stores, grocery stores, Target, etc.) Nothing illegal about it to the general public.

[Whisker Trout Slayer]

If they didn't know I guess they could have done the easy thing and just ask.

[nofishfisherman]

Yeah its no excuse, I should clarify that. But I can also see how they might not have even considered the fact that a legal weight loss pill might be on the list.

I would like to know how well the banned substance list it published for the players.

[Wadinator]

If you're an NFL player and you're taking ANYTHING other than aspirin without checking first to see if it's on the banned substance list.... YOU'RE AN one-who-thinks-I-am-silly. "Here's your sign."

If they knew they were breaking the rules, they should get a four game suspension.

If they didn't know they were breaking the rules, they should get suspended for the rest of the year and sent back to grade school. Then once they learn how to read they will see what a huge issue drugs in sports as become and realize what complete idiots they were for not knowing.

[nofishfisherman]

How do you really feel about that?

[snoozebutton]

Unless they have a weight clause in their contract I doubt very much they'd be taking them to lose weight. It's not like they're jockeys trying to get down to riding weight.

[so haaad]

Now that's funny!

[so haaad]

I do have to agree that they have team doctors and health experts at their finger tips, so I don't think they can argue ignorance.

[PierBridge]

If the Williams sisters are suspended for the Green Bay game at the dome I am rescinding my guaranteed Viking victory prediction!

[Badger]

If the Williams sisters are suspended for the Green Bay game at the dome I am rescinding my guaranteed Viking victory prediction!

Why would you guarantee a win even if they did play? Do you think the Vikings are a better team right now, or is it the home field advantage? Will they destroy the Packers or win by a field goal?

[Wadinator]

Remember the Dwight Smith issue that Fat Pat was (not) involved in last year?

Makes me wonder if them taking water pill was for hiding another illegal substance.

[nofishfisherman]

I wonder what pills the Willimas boys took.

I guess Jamar Nesbitt, one of the Saints players who already served his suspension admitted to taking a product call StarCaps. They are a weight loss pill designed to rid the body of water and salt.

The problem with it is that he looked into the product before taking them and nothing listed in the ingredients was on the banned substance list. However after he tested positive for Bumetanide (an NFL banned substance) he had his pills lab tested and they tested positive for Bumetanide despite not listing it as an ingredient on the label. Nesbitt is now sueing the manufacturer of the pills beucase they did not disclose all of the contents of the pills.

If this is all true then for once ignorance may be an actual defense. Apparently Nesbitt new what was on the banned list, carefully selected a pill that did not include a banned substance only to find out later that the manufacturer didn't properly disclose the ingredients.

Duece McCallister said he was using the same StarCap pills so he may have been duped as well.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this. The player can't know whats in the pill if the manufacturer is intentionally hiding ingredients.

[Sandmannd]

I agree with you if that is true. Then they shouldn't be banned either if. If they produce the bottle and it doesn't show that on there, how are they to know?

[ozzie]

The NFL says they should have anything they put in their body tested by a lab......sounds spendy eveytime a new supplement comes available to have it tested

[nofishfisherman]

Duece McCallister said he did have it lab tested the first time and it came back clean. But when they lab tested the same product after they failed the drug test the new tests came back positive for a banned substance. Sounds to me like either the drug maker changed it ingredients without updating the label or there was a contamination that they didn't know about.

Sounds to me like Duece did everything he could to follow the rules. Before he started taking it the article said he had it lab tested and it came back clean. I'm sure he assumed that since the first bottle came back clean then it would be reasonable to expect subsequent bottles to also come back clean.

Hopefully they can get to the truth here. If a drug company either hide ingredients by not putting it on the label or was responsible for contamination of the product then there was no intent by these players. In that case I don't see a 4 game suspension fitting the crime.

What do you all think about the weight control clauses in the contracts? If these guys don't make weight they get fined, so the teams are motivating them to take diet pills essentially. These guys are working out all the time so I don't see them being fat a product of laziness.

[Wildabeast]

Weight clauses in contracts shouldn't trigger a fine, which encourages the use of quick weight loss products, but rather trigger nutritional help (private chefs, nutrition classes, weight watchers, etc). The goal should be to help the athlete maintain healthy food intake consistent with their trainging and playing needs. These guys have probably developed rather unhealthy eating habits. It's hard work to change.

[Gary Crichton]

No more betting on the vikes after this weekend. You know its funny, there is a list of what you can or cannot take, and every year the players go out on their own and try to find that extra edge. And now Duece goes out on is own to have it tested, without checking with their own team Doctors. B.S.B.S and more B.S. And Childress is playing dumb about it. More B.S. He knew.

G.C.

[nofishfisherman]

Gary, Do you think the team doctor would know exactly what is in every supplement on the market, even the ingredients that are not listed on the label like they are required to be?

I'm not trying to make excuses for these guys but what do you reall expect them to do. Duece looked at the label and it was void of any banned substance, he then even went and had it lab tested just to be safe, again it came back clean. Then a later supply of it was found to be contaminated. What more would you have him do?

Why do you think Chilli knew. DO you think he knows every pill all 52 players on the team take?

[JollyT]

Supplements aren't regulated by anyone, so no quality control. Not even any real proof what is in them, unless you do have the stuff independently tested. Odds are they make a supplement with the banned substance in it and didn't completely clean their equipment between products. This has happened before with the supplement industry.

[Gary Crichton]

Maybe not , but in this day and age, the only people I would think you could trust to disperse drugs would be the team doctor. I would think any pills you take would and should be okey dokeyed by someone other than the PLAYER. Since this drug is also a coverup for other banned drugs, your are assumed guilty right off. Well I hope Childress would have some knowledge of what his players take, or everyone would be running around scared all the time of being caught.

All the players should be allowed to take is a 1 a day. I wonder what a player would do playing on just vitamins.

G.C.