The StarCaps issue still has not been resolved as of the moment, and yet the National Football League faces another case of their player violating their policy on anabolic steroids, other performance enhancing and related drugs.

David Vobora, linebacker for the St. Louis Rams, has been suspended for four games, according to the league.

According to Marc Lillibridge, Vobora did everything “by the book”. He called the NFL supplement hotline to check the ingredients in his nutritional supplement. He even read the list of ingredients to the employee and he was told that the product was safe. He was confident that none of the product’s ingredients would yield a positive result for drug tests. He eventually began using the product.

Although they have contested the test result, Vobora still faces suspension because according to NFL rules, every player is responsible for his own body and for whatever supplement or substance that he ingests.

Lillibridge and Vobora are currently in the process of filing a case against the manufacturer of the supplement that Vobora took.

Vobora started his football career in NFL as a rookie on July 22, 2008 under the St. Louis Rams. During the 2009 season, he was named as the starting strongside linebacker.

From National Football Post:

While the StarCaps suspensions hang in the balance, the NFL has cracked down on another player for violation of the league’s policy on anabolic steroids and related substances. St. Louis linebacker David Vobora has been suspended for four games, the league announced.

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The NFLDraftBible.com published a report that Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews were tested positive of steroids and tested positive for marijuana were Boston College’s defensive tackle BJ Raji, Florida’s wide receiver Percy Harvin, and Illinois cornerback Vontae Davis during the NFL combine. But the National Football League released a statement saying that the stories were malicious and ‘self-serving.’ There was no way anyone would know what the results were because they were confidential. The NFL officials did not even know them. Only the players did because the medical supervisors emailed the results to them. The league further said that it was expected that rumors like this would circulate during the annual combine. These reports should be investigated to avoid any embarrassment on the players because being linked to steroids these days is not a joke.

From The USA Today:

A string of denials and admonishments followed the NFLDraftBible.com stories, particularly in defense of the USC linebackers.

USC coach Pete Carroll called the report “absolutely false.” He told the L.A. Times, “This is an [sic] major example of irresponsible reporting, and the site that published this report should be ashamed of themselves.”

Cushing’s agent, Tom Condon refuted the story and called it a “vicious and false rumor.” Matthews’ agent, Mark Humenik, called for NFLDraftBible.com to retract the report, which he called a “grossly irresponsible and unfair accusation.” As of late Sunday, there had been no change in the reporting by NFLDraftBible.com.

Davis’ agent issued a similar denial. “Neither Vontae nor our office has received any notification of any positive test whether for marijuana or any other banned substance,” the agent, Todd France, told the Rockford Register Star.

The yearly combine is a crucial time of the year in which agents and the players try to gain advantage over the other to be drafted in the teams. The reports could be a ploy to discredit those players who were mentioned.

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Six players of Real Juventud, the first division club of Honduran got a clean chit in a doping scandal on Mrach 21. The players were accused by the Honduran Football Federation’s anti-doping commission under the charges of using banned substances.

Dr. Gisel Torres of the commission alleged last month that the Real Juventud players had used medicine that contained steroids. But Mario Garcia, a member of the federation’s disciplinary commission, declared the charges untrue. He said that no evidence of banned substances was found in doping tests.

The news was a big relief for the players and Real Juventud. The club officials said that they knew that the players, Carlos Navarro, Dionisio Mejia, Jose Medina, Jorge Funez, Luis Castro and Ronald Maradiaga were innocent.

From CNN:

Six players with Honduran first-division club Real Juventud were cleared for play after being accused of using banned substances.

Dr. Gisel Torres of the Honduran Football Federation’s anti-doping commission last month alleged the Real Juventud players used medicine that contained steroids.

But Mario Garcia, a member of the federation’s disciplinary commission, said on Saturday that testing found no evidence of banned substances.

Real Juventud welcomed the news, saying it knew that Carlos Navarro, Dionisio Mejia, Jose Medina, Jorge Funez, Luis Castro and Ronald Maradiaga were innocent.

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Athletes from professional sports like the NFL, NBA, MLB, and the NHL are providing our evening entertainment by playing on the court, on the field, or on the ice. It is reminiscent of the era of the gladiators in the Roman Empire when they are brought into the arena to kill each other. Nothing much has changed today. The NFL jocks, for example, may be consider the gladiators of the 21st century. They are big, muscular, weighing over 200 pounds, loaded with testosterone aggression and when they are out on the field to determined to “kill.”

With the huge following and excitement generated by one season of football and the millions – no, billions – of dollars it makes in revenue, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell proposed that 1 or 2 more games should be added to the NFL’s regular season. Kevin Van Valkenburg of the Baltimore Sun reacted to the proposal saying that the players should be given the freedom to use steroids, human growth hormones or even marijuana to deal with the pressure that comes with the game.

From The Baltimore Sun:

If the NFLPA does go ahead with Goodell’s proposal, they ought to, at the very least, ask for this concession: If we want to take steroids or human growth hormone to stay healthy, or smoke marijuana for medicinal reasons to deal with the pain, let us.

You might laugh, but that’s the only way to make this proposal work. It’s ridiculous to pretend that drugs aren’t already a major part of life in the NFL. Teams could literally not field a full roster each week without painkillers, legal or otherwise. Marijuana isn’t just a recreational drug for a lot of NFL players, it’s the only way they can get out of bed on Monday mornings. And it’s much less addictive than a painkiller like Vicodin, which is legal.

The NFL boasted that they conduct regular drug test and are able to monitor the use of performance enhancing drugs. But these efforts are useless because to meet the people’s expectations of making every game better than the last and to rake in more income the players would need to use the PEDs or at least some drug for the stress that their bodies and their minds are going through every season.

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And NFL’s big burly guys don’t get slammed at all when it is so obvious that their quarterbacks reek with PEDs. One would wonder why the media isn’t cutting the Major League Baseball some slack when the NFL is equally guilty of having players on dope.

According to statistics in an anonymous survey 16% offensive linemen and 15% defensive linemen have admitted to using performance enhancing drugs. If the NFL officials rounded up the players that represented the numbers it would cost the sports industry its business.

The nature of both games make the big difference. NFL is a contact sport where you see tackles and muscled creatures wrestling each other on the field. Their use of the steroids seems valid. With baseball, players hardly need the brawn to be able to pitch or bat. The extra muscle could hamper their performance in the game.

From USA Today:

No one is screaming “Kill the pitcher!” in baseball. A much more refined, nuanced game, baseball doesn’t cover its players’ faces (other than the catcher’s), allowing the one-on-one, pitcher-hitter matchup to become a masterpiece played over and over. When the pitcher leans in to get the sign, we can see his eyes narrow. The batter, too, is on display for all to see in a way an NFL player never is, be he the quarterback, the kicker or the return man.

Thus, we feel we know the baseball player better than the football player. It follows that those we know better, we care more about, and perhaps even begin to trust more. So if they cheat, it bothers us more.

“In baseball, it’s one person,” said Michael Yessis, a specialist in athlete training. “In football, it’s the entire line buried in there somewhere. We look at them and judge them very differently.”

NFL at least had tested their players to find out who’s on the “juice.” Major League Baseball had to wait til a big story like Alex Rodriguez leaks out to the press.

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The use of anabolic steroids in sports has been present for decades and Matt Chaney writes about it in his book, “Spiral of Denial: Muscle Doping in American Football”. Chaney used to be involved in the sport as a player for Southeast Missouri State and as a student assistant coach. He writes that he first experienced steroids when he entered football in school back in 1982. He used one cycle of testosterone which successfully gave him power and mass. Fortunately (or unfortunately for him), he suffered a severe knee injury which cost him his life as a player and also prevented him from using stronger steroids. Chaney was hired soon hired as a student assistant coach where he noticed that several football players were using steroids. Everyone, even the coaches, knew and everyone just kept quiet. There was an unwritten “don’t tell policy”. Chaney ended up as a writer and that was when he started writing about steroid use. According to him, only little can be done to prevent steroid use. Even tests are not enough because there are still many steroids that remain undetectable. It would take too long and too much money to create a test that would be able to detect everything.

From Southeast Missourian:

Chaney said he has proposed — along with others — that the only immediate way to help curb the use of performance enhancing drugs is to put a cap on the weights of players based on their height and body type.

“It’s a terrible problem and there is no solution in terms of the absolute,” he said. “There will never be technology or laws that will stop this. One thing we can do is limit the sizes of the players. It’s not my idea, it’s been around. Right now that’s the only immediate prevention anybody knows.”

Chaney said it’s foolish to think coaches on all levels don’t know what’s going on, but as he mentioned earlier, he does not blame coaches — past and present — for the steroids problem in football. In fact, he doesn’t blame anybody, instead calling it a cultural issue

Chaney points out that you can’t blame the coaches or the athletes since their hands are tied. He said that the problem is the culture. If you don’t use steroids, you won’t be able to play in the sport that you love or at least, most players won’t. Chaney’s book has received an incredible support by the public. This was not his goal however.

“My major point is that this it not an individual problem or a school problem or a team problem,” he said. “My point is this is a general problem that needs to be out there for people to know about.”

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A local high school athlete revealed a shocking practice in a local varsity football. Apparently, their coaches are promoting the use of legal supplements that allows them to gain more muscle bulk and enhance their performance. These supplements serve as alternative to anabolic steroids and also act as pro hormones.

From Las Vegas Now:

A varsity football player says coaches are encouraging players to turn to quick fix, “What they’ll do is know it’s going on, but they won’t say anything bad about it, like, ‘You should stop that.’ They’ll act like it’s not going on.”

Due to fear from what his team will think, the athlete chose to remain anonymous. The problem is that the entire team, teammates and coaches alike, pressure him to take the supplements are strong. Although the coaches claim that the supplement will do them good, they want everyone to keep it a secret. Everyone knows what’s happening but no one is telling anyone to stop.

A parent who found about this was rather shocked at how their coaches handled things and chose to report this to Nutritionist Michael Konowalski. The later said that the coaches are giving out the wrong message. They are, in fact, promoting a quick fix to improving one’s body. Even if it is not steroid use, these supplements tells the student athletes that it’s okay to use such things—that the end (or rather, the championship) is more important than the means.

Local officials plan to talk to Konowalski in order to make plans on how to address this problem.

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Sports organizations net two athletes for violation of anti-doping policies.
Soccer player Eduardo Carlos Morgado Oliveira tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone after the Russia-Italy matchup at the FIFA Futbal World Cup Brazil 2008 on Oct.18.

From Web News Wire:

Italian player Eduardo Carlos Morgado Oliveira was suspended for two years after testing positive during a doping control after the match for third place at the FIFA Futbal World Cup Brazil 2008 between Russia and Italy on 18 October.

The substances found were the two major metabolites of the synthetic anabolic steroid nandrolone, which appear on the list of “Prohibited Substances” of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The sanction for such a case is two years and applies for all matches, whether friendly or official fixtures, at domestic and international level, from 6 November 2008, the date on which the player was first provisionally suspended by the chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

Meanwhile Liberian player Melvin King received a five-month ban subsequent to a positive test at a doping control after the match of the preliminary competition of the 2010 FIFA World Cup between Senegal and Liberia. The match took place on 21 June 2008. King was discovered of using a glucocorticoid, which is a medication included in the list of specified substances of WADA.

The use of such a substance requires a therapeutic use exemption, something which the player did not have. The sanctions for such an anti-doping rule violation range from a warning to a two-year suspension, and the FIFA Disciplinary Committee decided to impose a sanction of five months starting on 2 October 2008, the date on which the player was first provisionally suspended by the chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee. The sanction applies for all matches, whether friendly or official fixtures, at domestic and international level.

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Grady Jackson, Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle, has followed the example of New Orleans Saints Jamar Nesbit.

Jackson is also suing Nikki Haskell’s StarCaps for getting him banned for four games, the typical penalty for first time offenders of the NFL’s policy on anabolic steroids and related substances.

Jackson and Nesbit are just two of the several NFL players who got suspended for doping for testing positive for bumetanide. It was alleged that StarCaps diet pills were tainted with the loop diuretic.

Bumetanide is among the NFL’s prohibited compounds since it is sometimes used as a masking agent for performance-enhancing drugs including anabolic steroids.

From the StarCaps.com is this statement: “We’ve received notice of a problem with an NFL player.We have referred the matter to our counsel and are taking all necessary steps to ensure that our customers receive product that is safe and effective. We have temporarily suspended shipping of StarCaps pending the results of our investigation.”

The other players who got involved in the bumetanide controversy were defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams of the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints trio Deuce McAllister, Will Smith and Charles Grant.

There was discussion that Grady Jackson was going to buy steroids and diuretics, but is now blaming starcaps on his problems.  Grady Jackson has been known to buy steroids in the past in the fairly open, which he shouldn’t do.

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You must have read by now countless blogs tackling the latest controversy in the National Football League re several players testing positive for Bumetanide. The controversy arises not on the number of players; it was significant based on either report – Fox 31 television in Denver says there are between six to10 players who tested positive for this masking agent while ESPN.com says the number may exceed 15 – but on the way the names of the two athletes had popped out in the media reports.

Fox 31’s Josina Anderson reported that three or four positive tests emanated from the New Orleans Saints and named two athletes from that team. Saints’ Deuce McAllister and Will Smith are among the players who may face suspension, said the Fox 31 report.

The NFL is yet to react on the reports; however, sports and entertainment attorney David Cornwell has taken umbrage at the leaked information. It has been reported by AP that Cornwell will facilitate the appeal cases of some of the athletes involved.

“The author of the first report should be denied credentials and access to NFL games and other league events until she discloses her source.  Protecting players’ rights to confidentiality under the Policy is far more important than protecting the First Amendment rights of the coward who leaked confidential information or the competitive interest of a writer who is trying to scoop her colleagues.  The source knew he/she was doing something wrong and the writer encouraged it by offering anonymity.  They have no legitimate interests to protect,” Cornwell said in his email to ProFootballTalk.

“Everybody involved knows the confidentiality rules,” Cornwell added.  “The right to confidentiality overrides a reporter’s desire to break a story.  There is no public interest or public right to know.  The confidentiality rule presumes that nobody has right to know while the process moves forward.  Confidentiality is the cornerstone of every workplace testing program. It must be protected against any perceived competing interest — especially an unrelated party’s interest.”

But do you think sports fans, particularly football fans, are really that concerned about use of steroids and masking agents by the players? Or about whether or not a player’s privacy has been breached? We think not! Sports fans want to be entertained.

Remember what happened in the Major League Baseball. During the McGwire-Sosa race to beat Roger Maris’ homerun record stadiums were easily filled to capacity. When the MLB adopted a stricter anti-doping policy, and sluggers’ home runs dwindled, there had been a significant decline in the ticket sales. Obviously, baseball fans spend their legal tender to see home runs. Similarly, football fans want to see more touchdowns, and more forceful bumps-and-runs and aggression on the field. If players are using steroids and other performance enhancers, fans couldn’t care less. Fans buy tickets to see action and do not mind if players have receding hairlines, zits or zilch testosterone level. Fans just want to shout: “Let’s get it on!”

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