Did Ray Lewis use banned deer-antler spray to return from triceps injury?
Sports Illustrated has published an in-depth examination of Sports with Alternatives to Steroids (S.W.A.T.S.) and the company's relationship with high-profile athletes, including Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis
Did Ray Lewis use banned deer-antler spray to return from triceps injury?
Sports Illustrated has published an in-depth examination of a company called Sports with Alternatives to Steroids (S.W.A.T.S.) and its relationship with high-profile athletes, including Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis.
S.W.A.T.S. is an edgy sports science company run by a gym owner/former stripper. The company specializes in holographic stickers, deer-antler pills, and other, um, progressive means of enhancing a player's performance.
David Epstein and George Dohrmann write that S.W.A.T.S. owner Mitch Ross recorded a phone conversation with Lewis after the linebacker's injury in October.
Hours after he tore his triceps during an Oct. 14 home game against the Cowboys, Ravens All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis and Ross connected on the phone. Again, Ross videotaped the call.
On the call, the two allegedly discuss the treatment that Lewis would undergo in order to return to the field as quickly as possible.
Ross prescribed a deluxe program, including holographic stickers on the right elbow; copious quantities of the powder additive; sleeping in front of a beam-ray light programmed with frequencies for tissue regeneration and pain relief; drinking negatively charged water; a 10-per-day regimen of the deer-antler pills that will "rebuild your brain via your small intestines" (and which Lewis said he hadn't been taking, then swallowed four during the conversation); and spritzes of deer-antler velvet extract (the Ultimate Spray) every two hours.
"Spray on my elbow every two hours?" Lewis asked.
"No," Ross said, "under your tongue."
Toward the end of the talk, Lewis asked Ross to "just pile me up and just send me everything you got, because I got to get back on this this week."
The deer-antler spray contains IGF-1, which is on the NFL's list of banned substances. Christopher Key - one of the S.W.A.T.S. guys - described the company's products to a group of Alabama football players before the BCS National Championship in 2012. He recorded the conversation.
"You're familiar with HGH, correct?" asked Key, referring to human growth hormone. "It's converted in the liver to IGF-1." IGF-1, or -insulin-like growth factor, is a natural, anabolic hormone that stimulates muscle growth. "We have deer that we harvest out of New Zealand," Key said. "Their antlers are the fastest-growing substance on planet Earth . . . because of the high concentration of IGF-1. We've been able to freeze dry that out, extract it, put it in a sublingual spray that you shake for 20 seconds and then spray three [times] under your tongue. . . . This stuff has been around for almost 1,000 years, this is stuff from the Chinese."
Epstein and Dohrmann walk you through the background on S.W.A.T.S., the company's alleged relationship with numerous NFL players, the scene prior to the BCS Championship, and Ross' ties to Ray Lewis.
- What could be worse than correcting someone, only to find out that you were wrong, only to find out that you too were wrong?
Somebody's got to feel like a penny asking for change. 
Wow...I just thought he ate still beating baboon hearts.— Hobo Floto Voto- After all that crying on the damn field...— kandykakes77
- One thing is for sure ... the NFL will do NOTHING about this before Sunday ... he got away with murder and they raised him up and worshiped him ... what a league honoring a cheating murderer ... but wear funky socks or the wrong shoes and you will be punished !— FatBoy90
- It won't matter even if he shot up the real thing. The NFL will make sure he plays due to the story of a future hall of famer's last game being the super.
Not a fan of Lewis, but how come this supplement guy brings this up this week? Could it also be possible that it is not Lewis on the other end of the line? It will be a ton of free advertising either way.— Saver - Ross is a quack. Test Lewis for banned substances. If he fails, suspend him & make him find the missing clothes from the night of the stabbing. End of stupid story.— paulie
- @johnny rotten... Your talking about Rae Carruth idiot.
Ray Lewis, although I am tired of all the Saint Ray stuff, wasnt accused of that. Get you facts straight simpleton.— tootuff - Yes. He used it. A lot of other guys used it. I think that we should be embracing "alternative" cures and supplements. We should be having them certified for use for everyone. Especially in light of the Lance A thing. Looks like LOTS of pros use stuff. Who can blame them. Let's embrace it instead of making crooks and liars out the ones that get caught. That makes a lot more sense.— truthfirst
- He was charged with murder though. Still haven't found that suit!— Ino_Karate
- Awww, poor Tootuff; Just the same. Besides someone like you never made a mistake right? Oh you did! You used "Your" when it should be the contraction of "You are" as in "You're" So "You're" the uneducated blowhard - must be inbred in your herd of high school dropouts. Also you don't know what an apostrophe is, do you7 Maybe I "wasn't" right.— johnny rotten
- Ray Lewis is a murdering, lying piece of s#@t. Go 49ers!— lulu
- So, if the substance is banned and he is taking it, is that not "DOPING"?— ricciaje
- The killer is at it again!— Dolly92748
- I take that deer antler stuff when I go to the gym. It works really well.— cuso20
- Guy sounds like a witch doctor. Only thing missing in his treatments is an aluminum foil helmet.— Barbouze
