The finishing out of the year is not yet decided. I read what is available so far as to what was said in that courtroom... :icon_smile: (again in Minnesota) :icon_smile: The judge was irked with the NFL for taking so long to suspend them. The judge was irked with the player's attorneys for dragging a collectively bargained suspension situation into the courtroom. The NFL lawyer (and this is ominous if you are a viking fan) refused to acknowledge that this was not a case of possible steroid use. The players attorney was outraged at that position taken by the NFL. The NFL lawyer explained that the reason it took so long had to do with the appeals process. The judge made NO RULING other than that they are allowed to play until he has time to review the merits of the case(s). That may or may not give these boys a reprieve this year.

This is bigger than the Williams' boys and star caps for the NFL. They will not want everybody going into court everytime they suspend someone. There are a lot of ways this could go. Because the NFL did a crappy job of giving actual notice in the legal sense, if I were them I would negotiate an immediate drop of this whole deal. My bet is that will not happen. Here is where it could get ugly for the Williams' boys. The NFL could decide to press them in Federal Court on the why behind taking these pills. Lying in Federal court is a bad thing. The penalty for perjury is 5 years imprisonment. Before this possibility is dismissed out of hand, remember that the NFL can force them to testify in this civil matter. If they lie under oath, the penalty is the same as in a criminal proceeding. If the NFL gets a hard-on for these two, they just might (or may have already) figured out where these boys learned of star caps. If, for example, these boys learned about them on Steroids.com 
a website dedicated to the useage of an illegal substance, the suspension would no doubt be upheld and these boys would be in perennial hot water with the league. If the NFL were able to discover and prove that these boys didn't find out about starcaps from some hollywood bimbo and that they are lying about it...perjury charges are a possibility...because, IMO, they are gonna lie their asses off...I know I would :icon_smile:

I still think this whole thing is funny as hell. They are trying to get guys suspended for taking diet pills but the guys busted for drugs just keep on playing. Is the NFL rigged like the NBA? Just some food for thought.

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What are the chances they took them knowing they would mask a substance? And now they got caught and are playing dumb?

The weird thing that I don't understand is what all these people have to do with these suspensions? If the NFL wants to suspend them, they can do that, if they don't like it, the AAFL is starting soon. Always thought It'd work more like that.

And with all the people around these high profile guys, there ought to be someone that said that these pills are just crap, like Fosterf pointed out. I don't believe they 'accidentaly' buy pills that don't work and cover up substance abuse. Seems like quite a concedance to me.

Because of the total lack of "efficacy" of these pills, for the stated purpose as presented, coupled with their great value as a masking agent, a logical conclusion is that they knew EXACTLY what they were taking and why. Honestly, I was bored and went in depth into this whole deal, I would now be very surprised to learn that these pills were taken because of some word-of-mouth endorsement of them as a weight loss pill vs. word-of-mouth endorsement as a masking agent. There is also what is known as a "protein cleanse" aspect to these pills, and this gets complicated also, but just be aware that this is a "plan-B" argument for both the NFL and the players.

my question was more for DH cuz he is trusting they did nothing wrong

I know that LT, most folks don't read my long-winded crap, and I know that, too. (hell, I wouldn't read it either, :icon_smile: ) someday, all you guys will be retired and understand... or not, dependent on the economy.

Can someone explain why a federal judge has jurisdiction over this NFL policy matter? Or what his interest in the matter is?

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Because the agreements between the NFL and the players fall under the auspices of federal labor law. The players are members of a union. The union and the NFL negotiated the rules by which players must abide, hence the term, "collective bargaining agreement".

In effect, once things are negotiated and agreed upon, they are contractual obligations, again under the auspices of federal labor law.

Andrew Brandt feels exactly like I do..