FINALLY!.though stinks took this long Starcap

Kevin Williams ends legal fight
March, 11, 2011 Mar 11
7:45
AM ET

By Kevin Seifert

We're Black and Blue All Over:

Only 50 percent of the Williams Wall is expected to return to the Minnesota Vikings next season, and that half has given up his 27-month legal case against the NFL to overturn a four-game suspension for violating the league's policy against performance-enhancing drugs.http://assets.espn.go.com/i/teamlogo.../trans/min.gif

Indeed, as Chip Scoggins of the Star Tribune reports, the attorney for defensive tackle Kevin Williams confirmed he allowed an appeal filing deadline to pass Thursday, essentially exhausting his legal avenues. Attorney Peter Ginsberg said Williams "has had enough with the lawyers, the courts." It's not immediately clear how the NFL will proceed given its current labor battle with the NFL Players Association, but Williams could be subject to a four-game suspension in 2011.

Nose tackle Pat Williams has decided to continue his legal attempts to avoid his suspension, which the NFL handed down in 2008 after both players tested positive for a banned diuretic found in a weight loss supplement. Pat Williams and Kevin Williams claimed they were unaware they were ingesting the diuretic and challenged the legality of the NFL’s testing program under Minnesota law. Pat Williams is expected to sign elsewhere as a free agent this spring.

While some judges agreed to delay the suspensions along the way, ultimately neither player has succeeded in getting them permanently blocked. I'm guessing we won't know Kevin Williams' fate until after the NFL and its players agree to a new collective bargaining agreement.

This whole thing has been an ongoing joke as far as I'm concerned. Too much football being played in the courts rather than on the field.

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Originally Posted by soulman

This whole thing has been an ongoing joke as far as I'm concerned. Too much football being played in the courts rather than on the field.

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yep and that 50% of them are not impacted because not on team anymore

Should have done the time when it mattered period.

Agreed. No one cares 2 years after the fact. It isn't even worthy of a news article. Either do it when it happens or not at all.

WTF???!!


Goodell told Minnesota reporters that he will enforce no discipline on any participants in the StarCaps case until all appeals are exhausted. Essentially, that means Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams -- who gave up his legal case earlier this month -- will remain eligible to play until former Vikings nose tackle Pat Williams' latest appeal is decided.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth

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Originally Posted by dabears54

WTF???!!


Goodell told Minnesota reporters that he will enforce no discipline on any participants in the StarCaps case until all appeals are exhausted. Essentially, that means Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams -- who gave up his legal case earlier this month -- will remain eligible to play until former Vikings nose tackle Pat Williams' latest appeal is decided.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth

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Maybe not. It may mean that he won't enforce discipline on Pat W until his case has lost all it's appeals but for Kevin, his is a done deal. He threw in the towel so he won't even be appealing any longer. Otherwise it makes no sense to delay discipline against Kevin unless Ziggy Wilf has photos of Goddell giving head to Jeff Pash. LOL

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Originally Posted by soulman

Maybe not. It may mean that he won't enforce discipline on Pat W until his case has lost all it's appeals but for Kevin, his is a done deal. He threw in the towel so he won't even be appealing any longer. Otherwise it makes no sense to delay discipline against Kevin unless Ziggy Wilf has photos of Goddell giving head to Jeff Pash. LOL

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Goodell told Minnesota reporters that he will enforce no discipline on any participants in the StarCaps case until all appeals are exhausted.

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No saying on *Any*.. which means kevin is not being discplined, which is why the WTF?

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Originally Posted by dabears54

No saying on *Any*.. which means kevin is not being discplined, which is why the WTF?

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Guess I misread that. Goodell does some really strange shit from time to time. Fines for questionable hit's but no fine or suspension for violating the rules on performance enhancing sustances. No wonder the players can't figure him out.

the never ending Story maybe ends? looks like NFL won and williams will be suspended 4 games

Pat Williams could face suspension

Associated Press


MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Supreme Court has cleared the way for the NFL to suspend Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Pat Williams, perhaps the final chapter in the closely watched anti-doping case.


In a one-page order without comment, the court declined to consider Williams' appeal of a decision that had gone against both Pat Williams and teammate Kevin Williams. The order was signed Wednesday by Chief Justice Lorie Gildea and made public Thursday.

Justice Alan Page, a former Viking, did not take part in the decision.

The Williamses, who are not related, were initially suspended in 2008 for taking a weight-loss supplement called StarCaps that contained a banned diuretic called bumetanide, which can mask the presence of steroids.

They waged a long fight against the suspensions through federal and state courts, and the league allowed them to play pending a final resolution of the case.

Kevin Williams gave up the fight last month because his attorney said he was tired of the litigation.
The Williamses' attorney, Peter Ginsberg, and NFL spokesman Greg Aiello did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The NFL said the two players violated its anti-doping policy and sought to suspend the Williamses for four games each. The Williamses were not accused of taking steroids and said they didn't know StarCaps contained bumetanide.

The case was watched by other major sports leagues -- including the MLB, NBA and NHL -- which supported the NFL and said their drug-testing programs would be at risk if players were allowed to challenge drug-testing policies in state courts. The NFL has argued its anti-doping policy was a product of its collective bargaining agreement with the players' union and was governed by federal law.

Saints defensive end Will Smith and former Saints end Charles Grant tested positive for the same substance, but were not involved in the Minnesota lawsuit.

The NFL had held off on enforcing their four-game suspensions until the Minnesota case is resolved. Grant is currently a free agent.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press