The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : The NFL Sucks Eggs

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Just to vent a little here, off topic.... I think sports leagues are absolutely right to crack down HARD against steroid use. But the NFL, in doing so, has shown the common sense of a horse's rear end and the fairness of a Soviet commissar. New Orleans Saints players are afraid to voice their opinions on the issue, so I'll voice it for them: The NFL can go straight to Hades, and its enforcement people can $@&^&*$^@*^$(&..

There.

So, you ask, why so angry? Because one of the classiest players in the entire league, EVER, has been suspended from the league, for NO GOOD REASON. Here's the story of Deuce McAllister, a warrior's warrior, a guy who plays hurt, who has returned from two knee surgeries and another serious leg surgery without complaint, who is an incredibly generous public citizen with his money and especially his time, and who did as much as anybody anywhere to rally to the aid and emotional support of New Orleanians after Katrina when almost nobody else, including the owner of the team, was willing to do so.

Why suspended? NOT for taking steroids. There doesn't seem to be a soul alive, including at the NFL offices, who thinks Deuce took steroids. Instead, he took a diuretic -- a weight-loss pill -- that turned out to contain an ingredient that can be used to mask steroid use, and the ingredient itself is banned by the NFL for that reason. But there is ample evidence to support Deuce's contention that he had no way of knowing that the pill contained that banned ingredient. Why? Because the pill packaging claimed that the product was "all natural," and listed all its supposed ingredients on the package -- and did NOT list the banned ingredient among them. In other words, the makers of the pill lied about what was in it. Now, here's where it gets even more interesting. Deuce had taken the pills a few years before, and had sent them off to the league itself to make sure it was okay, AND had called the league's hotline to double-check -- and the league did NOT object to the pill.

So, the question is, if Deuce did all that due diligence, and then the pillmaker subsequently started including an ingredient that it didn't acknowledge including (apparently the ingredient enhances the weight-loss results), how in the Lord's good name was Deuce supposed to know it had become illegal?

Yes, the NFL rules say players are responsible for what they put in their bodies, no matter what caused it. But in this case the substance involved gave Deuce no competitive advantage, AND he didn't know it was in there. And he was taking it in a diligent effort to rehab after surgery -- and everybody knows that if you have a bad knee you want to have as little weight to carry around as possible so as not to put too much prssure on it as you are beginning to walk and then run again. There is NOTHING else, nothing at all, that Deuce could have done to be more careful about not breaking league rules. For the league to nevertheless impose a four-week suspension, without pay, is not just wrongheaded, it is morally obtuse, indeed it is sick.

View all comments (7) | Leave a comment

jojo| 12.4.08 @ 7:37PM

I think everyone in the NFL should be encouraged to use as may steroids as their bodies can handle. We need a league of the biggest steroid gorillas imaginable battling it out on any given Sunday. Who's with me?

danny| 12.4.08 @ 9:23PM

i'm with you jojo, but looks to me like thats what we've already got.

boinkity| 12.5.08 @ 4:42AM

I disagree. I agree that Deuce McAllister is one of the classy players in the NFL. However, it is imperative that every player knows exactly what the rules are, and not make assumptions when it comes to supplements they are taking. It really isn't as difficult as you seem to be making it sound, Quin. Deuce messed up. He has the ability to go to his players union to fight this suspension. He also has the ability to file a lawsuit against the company that mislabeled the ingredients on the packaging of this supplement. These professional athletes make hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars a year to know this stuff. I don't see any excuse why they shouldn't be able to avoid these stupid suspensions.

Peter| 12.5.08 @ 5:14AM

This is the tyranny of zero tolerance. Good judgement is nowhere to be seen.

J David| 12.5.08 @ 9:30AM

This is the same mentality that tosses school children out of school for having an aspirin, or drawing a picture of a gun while doodling, or other such utter lunacy.

Quin Hillyer| 12.5.08 @ 9:43AM

Boinkity, ordinarily I would agree, except that in this case Deuce actually asked the NFL specifically if this particular supplement was okay, and was told it was okay. How is he to know that in the three years in the meantime the makers of the supplement would start secretly including a new chemical that hadn't been there before? Peter is right in his comment that "this is the tyranny of zero tolerance. Good judgment is nowhere to be seen," and J. David's follow-up comment is right. I have written a number of editorials on the idiocy of zero tolerance policies that cannot make any distinction between harmless error and intentional misbehavior. To fail to make the distinction is to become monstrous, inhuman.

boinkity| 12.6.08 @ 7:06AM

Thanks for the reply Quin. I generally agree with your position too. However, my only disagreement comes because of the fact that NFL players make a extreme amount of money for the work that they do, and it is incomprehensible to me that any player in this profession would not take the necessary measures to communicate with any company that provides their supplements. If this had been an NCAA player in college, I would completely agree with your position. However, Deuce McAllister has a salary in the millions of dollars to be on top of these details, in my humble opinion. In addition, if he does not want to do the work of knowing what he is taking in his supplements, he easily can assign someone to look out for his best interests. I can understand that mistakes can be made, but he ultimately is responsible to follow the rules put forth.

I will, however, relent to the title of your article. Incidents like these make the NFL suck eggs. :)