NFL's Goodell testifies before Congress in StarCaps case

November 3, 10:25 PMMinnesota Vikings ExaminerJoseph Oberle

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Minnesota Vikings defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams after the Detroit Lions game.
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

Roger Goodell and the NFL testified before Congress about the StarCaps issue on Tuesday, asking them to sort out the conflict between the league's collective bargaining agreement and a Minnesota state law regarding drug testing. Thus far he has struck out trying to get a court to agree with his attempt to suspend Pat Williams and Kevin Williams, who, among other NFL players, admitted taking the StarCaps supplement with a banned substance in it (the substance was bumetanide, a diuretic that can mask the presence of other banned substances). The Minnesota courts ruled that the Minnesota statue supersedes the NFL and its Players Association's CBA, and Goodell would like to see it the other way around.

It's hard to argue with him. If Minnesota has laws that allow for things that other states don't, it creates an unlevel playing field for a league that, by its very nature, competes across state lines. As it is, players for the New Orleans Saints who took the same ingredient as the Williams Wall did and are subject to the suspensions because Louisiana law doesn't protect them in this case. (Goodell has not carried through with their suspensions and won't until this case runs its course.) Therefore, the NFL had a problem because it could not enforce its laws in a uniform matter. And over and above that, substance abuse laws in other professional leagues were subject to the same Minnesota exception.

As a logically thinking human being, I can understand Goodell's concerns. You can't have players on one team skating on penalties while players on other teams are suspended without pay. Then again, as a Minnesota sports fan, who for years has heard how the weather in this area has scared away more than one free agent, suddenly Minnesota might look like a pretty good place to land.
I am kidding, of course.

I certainly hope Goodell's issues are heard and they can fix the problem. A uniform policy for banned substances is important to the health of the league (leagues) and its (their) players. But I hope it doesn't revert back to retroactively penalize these players. There is still the little problem of what the NFL knew regarding StarCaps and bumetanide and when did they know it and how well did they publicize it. Because if they are culpable in poor practices in this regard, those practices need to be fixed, as well. You certainly want to catch cheaters in your league, but if you have to do it by withholding information (that may ensnare the unknowing) to do it, it is only going to cause more problems and court time.

If Goodell doesn't want to sort through that part of the situation and just move on to fix the CBA in regards to state rules, so be it. Then it all has come about for a good reason. If he still wants to win in his long, protracted battle against the Williams Wall, then I want to know where that is justified. As I have said in the past, if they are guilty of knowingly masking banned substances, then prove it and penalize them. If not, then fix the system and live to fight another day.

For more learned information on this ongoing saga and links to Goodell's comments, check out National Sports Examiner Paula Duffy, who has been following this case quite closely.