Jun 12 2009
Vikings Williams Tested 3 Times a Month for Steroids by NFL
If the NFL can’t beat the Williamses in court, testing them for at least 3 times a month for banned substances is a show of power over their players. Since February, Kevin and Pat Williams were tested for banned substances specially anabolic steroids. The Vikings defensive tackles believes that this is a retaliation by NFL for the lawsuit filed by them.
Before they were tested for a banned substance, the league is conducting a random test 3 times a year but after they filed the suit they are being tested the same day every week as if they were suspended. Their four day suspension is still being heard in the Hennepin County District Court.
Their lawyer, Peter Ginsberg, asked the court to stop this action by the league saying that it violates Minnesota law governing how employers can test employees for drugs. They want Judge Gary Larson to block the league from disciplining or further testing them until their state claims can be heard in Hennepin County. This is again a move to challenge and nullify the four game suspension imposed by the NFL last year to the Williamses.
Ginsberg also argued that, “Pat Williams and Kevin Williams have been subjected to increased — more than six — purportedly ‘random’ off season testing which is indicative of the fact that, while the Williamses have not been officially ’suspended,’ they are being treated as if they have been suspended.” According to Ginsberg, if the court will not issue an injunction barring the suspensions, the Williamses risk having their reputations permanently tarnished.
Moreover, Ginsberg said that his clients have been heckled while walking down the street. “Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities dropped Pat Williams from its public service campaigns because his status as a role model is under scrutiny, and his children are teased about their father’s alleged drug habit.”
They were tested for a banned substance last year which can mask the use of steroids. Although they were not directly accused of taking steroids. This legal battle was the result of their taking of a weight-loss supplement Starcaps. It contains bumetanide, a diuretic, which can mask the use of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. In the hearing, NFL acknowledged that they knew StarCaps contained the banned drug but failed to inform their players. However, they insisted that it is still the responsibility of the players to know what they are taking even if these are supplements only.
The league, through its spokesperson Greg Aiello, denied that these frequent testing is a retaliation of the NFL. “We have taken no such punitive action,” he said. “Under the collectively bargained Policy for Anabolic Steroids and Related Substances, the Williamses are subject to “ongoing reasonable cause testing” for failing a prior drug test.”
Even if these issues are still being tackled in the court, the NFL still plans to implement the suspension on the Williamses for the first four games of the 2009 regular season. Although they are still allowed to participate in team activities, training camps and exhibition games.
[...] the case of Pat and Kevin Williams of the Vikings is still being fought in court, another Vikings player was suspended for violating [...]
[...] from the Hennepin court about their right to impose sanctions, the imposition of the suspension for Pat and Kevin Williams was still on hold because of pending [...]