Williams Wall Suspended

[Scott K]

To many grey ares in the rules, they need to fill in those grey areas before they can enforce any punishments in my opinion. The NFL's system was to open for errors like these, and was bound to have problems like this sooner or later. Now that it has happened the NFL just needs to fix the system, then enforce it!

Just like our legal system, there is no cut and dry, that is why we have court rooms, and that is why laws are added, removed and changed all of the time. The NFL shouldnt be above the law!

[Scott K]

Quote:

A federal judge has ruled in favor of the Saints and Vikings' players in regard to their temporary restraining order against the NFL, pending a full hearing.

The Williams Wall, Will Smith, and Deuce McAllister will be available for the rest of the regular season. The judge won't hold a "full hearing" until Dec. 22, or possibly later. If not, the four-game suspensions could still kick in next year, but that now seems less likely. The players appear to have federal jurisdiction on their side in their argument against the NFL. Dec. 11 - 5:27 pm et

[Windy City]

I can go with that, Fish. You know I was just using that big ole Chicago Spoon!

Windy

[pinkfloyd4ever]

Good to have the old Windy back with his big old pot stirring utensils.

Why didn't the NFL suspend them right away? They waited 3 months to come to a decision.

I get a kick out of that too: tested in training camp, results in december? Heck in olympics and that tour de france, they have the results in like 48 hours.

[Scott M]

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota judge extended his preliminary injunction against the NFL’s suspension of five players for violating the league’s anti-doping policy, a move their lawyer said will let them play the rest of the season.

In his ruling Thursday, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson asked both parties to propose a schedule by Dec. 22 for further proceedings that would lead to an eventual hearing on the merits of the case, a process that could take months. The regular season ends Dec. 28.

“The players and the union are thrilled,” Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney for the NFL Players Association, told The Associated Press. He said the judge’s timeframe is long enough that the two Minnesota Vikings and three New Orleans Saints can finish the season and go to the playoffs if their teams make it that far.

“Since there has to be discovery and other proceedings it’s unlikely we would agree on a schedule for a trial until sometime after the Super Bowl,” Kessler said. Papers will have to be filed and witnesses interviewed, he added. “It will take some time.”

Kevin Williams and Pat Williams of the Minnesota Vikings and Charles Grant, Deuce McAllister and Will Smith of the New Orleans Saints were suspended last week for four games each. They tested positive during training camp for a banned diuretic, bumetanide, in the dietary supplement StarCaps.

Bumetanide can be used as a masking agent for steroids. Diuretics are also used to quickly shed weight. The StarCaps label didn’t list the diuretic as an ingredient.

Magnuson issued his initial injunction Dec. 5 after hearing arguments from the league and the NFL Players Association. That move came two days after a Minnesota state court judge had issued a restraining order in a lawsuit brought by the Vikings players.

The union argued the NFL didn’t properly inform players about what it knew about the product. The NFL’s attorneys argued that that claim, and others, had been considered and rejected in a process set out by the league’s collective bargaining agreement.

Magnuson urged both sides to negotiate a solution. But in case they can’t, he said, he will preserve the status quo until he can hold a full evidentiary hearing on the case. He gave both sides until Dec. 22 to try to negotiate a proposed schedule for filing papers ahead of that hearing. If they can’t, he said, he would determine the schedule himself. He did not set a hearing date.

The judge said the players union had shown it will likely succeed on its claims that NFL breached its duty to the players by failing to share what it knew about StarCaps. Another issue is whether Jeffrey Pash, the NFL’s chief legal officer, who upheld the five players’ suspensions, was too partial to be an arbitrator.

Because there are substantial questions about the process used to suspend the players, Magnuson said, they would suffer irreparable harm by being suspended. And if the suspensions are improper, he said, allowing them to go forward would violate the public interest.

“We are extraordinarily pleased for Kevin and Pat as well as for the Vikings fans,” Peter Ginsberg, an attorney for the Williamses, said in a statement. “We appreciate the court’s decision to allow us to conduct a full and fair hearing to explore the full extent of the NFL’s failure to live up to its obligations to the players.”

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league accepts the decision.

“This is consistent with the approach the judge has taken in giving careful consideration to these issues, which we fully respect,” Aiello said in a statement.

[boatfixer]

I see those Starcaps helped out Berrian, Peterson, and T-jack quite a bit yesterday. That punt return for a touchdown all the way to AP's 165 and T-jacks 4 TD's definitely need a big fat "*" next to it. All because the Williams Wall took starcaps. I'm so ashamed to be a fan.

[Windy City]

What was that song in the 80's, you know, the one by Soft Cell....Tainted Victory....no wait it was Tainted Love. That's right. I guess one of the Williams sisters got his justice, injury that knocks him out of the rest of the season. Somebody is watching!

Windy

[Wadinator]

What was that song in the 80's, you know, the one by Soft Cell....Tainted Victory....no wait it was Tainted Love. That's right. I guess one of the Williams sisters got his justice, injury that knocks him out of the rest of the season. Somebody is watching!

What a whiner, and a bit pathetic to think Pat getting hurt is "justice".

[boatfixer]

You're right Windy, without them taking a diuretic, theres no way the rest of the team could ever do so well. That must explain the leagues leading rusher's success.

[Hammer Handle]

Windy needs something to blame it on. Can't be that the Vikes may have more talent.

[snoozebutton]

You wonder why this is going to be postponed until after the season? Magnuson's a Vikings fan.

Quote:

Education:

Gustavus Adolphus College, B.A., 1959

William Mitchell College of Law, J.D., 1963

Professional Career:

Private practice, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1963-1981

Adjunct faculty, William Mitchell College of Law, 1982-1989

Instructor, Hamline University School of Law, 1987-1989

And how about him and that wonderful Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Quote:

In the latest indignity heaped upon pro se litigants in the Eighth Circuit, Dale Korkowski and his daughter, Sherry, tried to mount a 42 U.S.C. � 1983 action for Fourth Amendment violations in order to recover $4,000.00 in cash and tools that were taken from their home by state law enforcement officers acting pursuant to a search warrant that authorized the seizure of neither $4,000.00 in cash (which was never returned) or the tools.

Judge Paul A. Magnuson of Minneapolis, after talking to and treating the Korkowskis like dogs (talking to them in a snide and sarcastic tone of voice), then dismissed their case because only a small number of items were taken outside the scope of the search warrant. I.e., a district court judge over-ruled the United States Supreme Court in Marron v. United States, 48 S.Ct. 74, 76 (1927) (nothing is to be left to the discretion of the officer executing the warrant) and this nonsense was then upheld by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, 95-4147 only because the Korkowskis were proceeding pro se.

[PierBridge]

[Flinny]

LOL!!!!

[HaveBaitWillFish]

Windy, are you still upset that we took Berrian from you? Or are you upset that your rag-tag quarterbacks are worse than T-Jack and Ferrotte? I can hardly fatham that. Maybe your upset because your defense is getting older and not quite as good as all you Bear fans think? I am not huge on the Vikings, however, if I had to place all my money on one team, it sure wouldn't be Da Bears.

[boatfixer]

That pretty much says it all!!

[fishyguy]

Originally Posted By: PierBridge

That pretty much says it all!!

Couldn't agree more.

[SledNeck]

hahahaha

OWNED!

[Hammer Handle]

Are you sure that is not a Packer Fan?

I am getting tired of hearing how the Packers were such a letdown this year on ESPN. Give it a rest. They are right where I thought they would be (or close to it).

However, I thought the Bears...Vikes...and Pack would all be .500 teams at best.

I can't believe people are crying...and the Bears season is far from over!

[SledNeck]

Good to see Brett Favre having a good year!

[MuleShack]

Atleast no one is bashing Chilly anymore

[Windy City]

Hammer,

Check with Fishyguy and he will tell you that what you see is not "whining" it is "stirring". Lovin' every minute of it!

Windy

[Wadinator]

Sounds like whining to me.

[fishyguy]

Hammer,

Check with Fishyguy and he will tell you that what you see is not "whining" it is "stirring". Lovin' every minute of it!

Windy

I feel like I just got hired to defend that guy on the front page of the paper that everyone wants to be guilty and now I have to stand in front of the news cameras and try to claim he didn't do it while keeping a straight face.

In this case I believe he is trying to get everyone worked up (mostly) but we all know that when Windy isn't "stirring", he is "spinning" the topic at hand. The only thing out of the ordinary is that he usually saves the big stirring utensils for baseball season. He has learned his particular style from the best of those Illini politicians.

[Windy City]

Thanks Fishy, Am I still on retainer or do I owe you the usual per hour fee? LOL

Windy

[Wadinator]

I apologize Windy. You're just pushing buttons for entertainment purposes. I knew that, but you got me anyway and I resorted to name-calling. Hook, line, and sinker.

My bad.