Kevin Williams May Face 2 Game Suspension For StarCaps
By Dan Zinski
We still have no official word on whether Kevin Williams will be suspended this year for testing positive for a banned substance way back in 2008 (what a ridiculous sentence to have to type). We do however have a report, from Brian Murphy of the Pioneer-Press, saying that when the suspension is finally handed down it will only be half as long as originally feared – a 2-game ban instead of the original 4-game one.
Murphy says the 2-game suspension – which, like I said, is still not official – would fall in line with a new two-tiered punishment system for players who violate the league’s banned substance policy. Under this new plan, diuretics like StarCaps, the stuff for which both Kevin and Pat Williams tested positive all those years ago, would garner only a 2-game ban, with more serious things like steroids resulting in a 6-game suspension.
It had been thought Williams would receive the original 4-game suspension regardless of any new league policies, the logic being that Williams was caught under the old policy and should therefore receive the punishment called for in the old policy. But Murphy’s report shoots that down entirely.
So it looks like Williams will likely miss the first two games of the season. Funny thing is, with Williams currently battling plantar fasciitis, there was already a good chance he would miss those games anyway. So, after all these years, all that legal maneuvering, all the endless back-and-forth in the courts, it appears this whole thing will at last be resolved by having Kevin Williams sit out two games he probably wants to sit out anyway so he can rest and get his foot right. Awesome.