Minnesota Judge blocks NFL suspension of Vikings linemen
A judge yesterday blocked the NFL's plan to suspend Minnesota Vikings linemen Kevin Williams and Pat Williams for violating the league's anti-doping policy, a move their attorney said should let them start the season with camp beginning in just 3 weeks.
Hennepin County District Judge Gary Larson granted the players' request for a temporary restraining order that keeps the NFL from suspending them until their case is decided.
Peter Ginsberg, an attorney for the two players said that at a minimum the order should allow them to play for the early part of the upcoming season.
The NFL still wants to enforce the players' four-game suspensions at the start of the season. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the court order "effectively exempts" the Williamses from the league's collective bargaining agreement.
The defensive tackles, who are not related, tested positive last summer for a banned diuretic that can mask the presence of steroids, though they've never been accused of taking steroids. They took the weight-loss supplement StarCaps, which contained a diuretic, bumetanide, that wasn't listed on the label.
The NFL has acknowledged it knew StarCaps contained the banned drug, and the players say the NFL wrongly failed to share that information.
Noteworthy
* Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth has pleaded no contest to a reckless driving charge in Tennessee and will be on probation for 3 months.
* Former NFL star Bruce Smith was convicted of drunken driving by a judge who rejected his claim that old football injuries, not alcohol, were responsible for his poor performance on field sobriety tests. *
