…or, “Sometimes those guilty jerks who claim they’ve never done steroids are actually telling the truth.”
In a case that should be considered a landmark and a new way to report sports (but will probably just get looked over), a federal judge supported and paid out $5.4 million to St. Louis Rams linebacker David Vobora in his lawsuit against a firm that manufactured the tainted supplements that got him suspended for a substance-abuse policy violation back in 2009.
Vobora has been claiming “tainted supplements” since his suspension, and I think most people would read about a pro football player getting suspended for steroids and dismiss their claim of tainted supplements with, probably at best, a wanking motion. As it turns out, sometimes when an athlete says something he’s telling you what actually happened and isn’t spinning stuff to fit his image or “brand”. Huh.
“It is a landmark decision, not only in the industry but in the ongoing controversy that has dominated sports for the past 10 years with athletes testing positive for steroids,” said R. Daniel Fleck, a Spence attorney. “So many of the athletes are claiming that they haven’t cheated and the supplements have been tainted. And it’s true. They are getting caught in the middle.”
The former Mr. Irrelevant from 2008 seems to be making a career out of beating raps, making it into a starting position on his team despite being drafted last and now overcoming steroids charges, and as we’ve all learned, if you want to have a Sandra Bullock or Denzel Washington movie made about your life you’ve got to overcome these kinds of odds.
Of course, like I said, this will probably get skimmed over so we can get back to comfortably condemning Drug Kingpin Barry Bonds and Statutory Rapist Roger Clemens for the crimes and bloody swabs of their life, but it’s nice to know that sometimes “tainted supplement” really means “tainted supplement”, and isn’t just code for donkey-something.
