Injunction Junction, What's Your Function?

The six players suspended yesterday for taking the banned diuretic Bumetadine will, as we expected, be applying for an injunction against the league.  The matter could go before a judge as early as this morning with a decision to be rendered later in the afternoon.  Should the injunction be granted, Pat and Kevin Williams would not be suspended for this weekend’s game against Detroit.  A federal court would then take up the matter, a prospect that doesn’t seem to faze NFL VP of Law and Labor Policy Adolpho Birch who said:

"We don’t think that would have any merit to it.  But they certainly are free to file whatever they choose."

Attorney Peter Ginsberg, who is representing both Williamses, used strong words in denouncing the league’s action against the players:

"The players will take proactive steps to correct a harm suffered as a result of actions by the league and its arbitrary and inequitable administration of the program.  Neither Pat nor Kevin has ever used steroids and do not warrant this kind of treatment."

The whole case hinges on whether the players actually knew what they were taking when they ingested the diet supplement StarCaps, which failed to mention on its label that it contained Bumetadine.  The league claims they told its employees not to take StarCaps as far back as 2006, but lawyers for the suspended players say there was never adequate notification.  It all boils down to the judge now – whether he buys that the NFL didn’t make sufficiently clear what was okay to take.  All the experts I’ve heard say this is a Hail Mary pass at best, so don’t look for Pat and Kevin to be uniform in Ford Field come Sunday.