This is a good thing, this ruling that came down Saturday in the StarCaps case. You may not see it that way if you're a fan of the Minnesota Vikings, who now face the first four games of their season without their Pro Bowl defensive tackles. Or if your team is the New Orleans Saints, who've likely lost their starting defensive ends for those first four games.
But if you're the kind of person who thinks pro athletes (and, by extension, the children who admire them) should be discouraged from taking drugs to cheat at their games, you have to look at today's development as a positive.
Those five players -- well, four if McAllister doesn't sign somewhere -- will be forced to sit out the first quarter of the season for their respective teams.
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.
Gregg Williams hasn't informed a free agent decision for New Orleans yet, hasn't hand-picked the inevitable defensive playmaker the Saints choose with their 14th-overall selection this year, hasn't installed a single scheme in a minicamp. Yet Williams' reputation has preceded him to the Crescent City, and his hiring as defensive coordinator is already considered one of the most important moves in team history.
After almost two decades of guaranteed defensive putridity, the last three of which have revolved around Gary Gibbs' lack of talent identification and bland scheming, the idea of Williams and his history of intelligent, hard-working, active, complex defenses coming to the Superdome is music to the ears. It also might finally push the Saints over the top.
Great news for Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints fans. Maybe.
A federal judge has blocked the suspensions of five players, including Vikings Pro Bowl defensive tackles Pat and Kevin Williams. The five were banned for the last four games of the NFL regular season after testing positive for a banned diuretic over the summer and eventually having their appeals heard and denied.
The legal process started Wednesday, when the Williamses (not related) took their case to a district court in Minneapolis. There they convinced a judge to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the suspensions and allowing the two to return to practice.
Both tackles have returned to practice, and actually were at the Vikings' facility Friday instead of at the hearing over this latest legal action.
As expected, the NFL Players Association has filed suit in federal court asking that suspensions of six players be overturned.
From the Associated Press story via Access Vikings:
The NFL Players Association is suing to block five of the six player suspenions for violating the league's anti-doping policy. The suit field in federal court is on behalf of Kevin and Pat Williams of the Vikings and Charles Grant, Deuce McAllister and Will Smith of the New Orleans Saints. The five players were suspended for testing positive for a banned diuretic that can be used as a masking agent for steroids. The diuretic was in a supplement that did not list the diuretic as an ingredient.
ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports the union is going to ask for a ruling by Friday, meaning that the involved teams are left twisting in the wind regarding the availability of their players.
Houston's Bryan Pittman isn't included in this lawsuit.
This filing comes less than 24 hours after a Twin Cities judge issued a temporary restraining order to block the suspensions of the two involved Vikings.
The players all tested positive for the banned substance Bumetanide. They all appealed the suspensions, saying that Bumetanide is an ingredient in the over-the-counter supplement Star Caps, and that the NFL did not tell players that Star Caps is banned. But the NFL turned down their appeals.
Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jackson was not suspended even though it has been reported that he also tested positive for Bumetanide. The NFL did not explain why Jackson was not suspended.
The NFL used to be about football. Recently, it's been more about punishing players for any number of transgressions, many of them bordering on the ridiculous.
What isn't ridiculous, at least in theory, is keeping performance-enhancing drugs out of the league. But the devil, as they say, is in the details.
In an effort to educate players about what they can legally put into their bodies, the NFL set up a telephone hotline. Seems simple enough: have a question about a supplement, get somebody on the horn and get an answer.
I'm from New Jersey and have seen every episode of The Sopranos, so I like to fancy myself an expert in the field of keeping information "in the family." Roger Goodell, apparently, is not.
Time and time again, the shroud of privacy that the NFL promises its players in certain situations turns out to be as thin as tissue paper; players are held to the tightest-lipped of standards while seeing that courtesy unrequited with every bolded headline exposing a player's "private" matters.
It started with Josina Anderson of FOX 31 Colorado reporting that there were a "rash of positive tests" for Bumetanide, a diuretic used to help people lose weight as well as mask the use of drugs, including steroids. Her report indicated six to 10 positive tests and named two New Orleans Saints, Will Smith and Deuce McAllister, specifically. Her source believed that the players were taking the diuretic to make weight; some of those affected are linemen who have weight clauses in their contracts.
Chris Mortensen of ESPN has thrown more fuel on the fire by backing up the initial report on Sportscenter, also saying that the number of positive tests is "more than 10 and may exceed 15." He also spoke to an attorney who said that several players have retained his services to fight the charges on appeal.
A first offense of the league's steroid policy carries a four-game suspension. Clearly this is a story that's going to have more developments in the next few days as details emerge and as players, teams and the league begin to comment.
This is a good thing, this ruling that came down Saturday in the StarCaps case. You may not see it that way if you're a fan of the Minnesota Vikings, who now face the first four games of their season without their Pro Bowl defensive tackles. Or if your team is the New Orleans Saints, who've likely lost their starting defensive ends for those first four games.
As you may recall, five NFL players were slapped with respective four-game suspensions late last season -- though they never served them while their legal claims were being heard in court. Friday, a 
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 
When it comes to golf, I dare you to think of a more famous twosome than this one.
Great news for Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints fans. Maybe.
The NFL has suspended six players for four games apiece for using a banned substance.
The NFL used to be about football. Recently, it's been more about punishing players for any number of transgressions, many of them 
I'm from New Jersey and have seen every episode of The Sopranos, so I like to fancy myself an expert in the field of keeping information "in the family." 
An NFL week filled with 
