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StarCaps case ruling leaves the Williams Wall standing and the NFL still battling

What happened: National Sports Examiner Paula Duffy sums up the saga and cuts to the chase very well here, but suffice it to say thatthe ruling allows the players to continue playing while the issues remained unresolved. In addition, the NFL won't be allowed extra drug testing of the two players (as they would if the issue was resolved and the Williamses were found to have taken banned substances)--which was something the Williamses had accused the NFL of doing.

What happened next: The NFL responded to the ruling with the following statement sent to ProFootballTalk.com from NFL spokesman Greg Aiello: 

"Today's decision, which effectively exempts two players from the NFL-NFLPA collectively bargained program, further illustrates the critical importance of a uniform policy for all teams in the league and why this matter should be governed exclusively by federal law," the statement reads.  "The Court's interim decision regarding the suspensions has no immediate practical impact since the suspensions will not take effect until the beginning of the regular season in September.  In the meantime, our appeal to the United States Court of Appeals, which argues that the players' state claims are barred by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, should be resolved before the start of the season."

As Duffy stated in her piece, it has been seven months between the time of the story originally appeared and this ruling today--the wheels of justice do turn slowly. While the NFL certainly has a lot at stake in this case (as one can clearly see from the NFL's statement that the players are now being considered exempt from the CBA), Vikings fans are probably looking at it a bit differently. Some of them measure things in how many games will the suspension be and when will it take place and can it affect the team in the playoffs? For the players, it is entirely possible that at least Pat will be retired by the time this is all sorted out. At that time, practical application of justice and punishment would be moot and the sake of all will be an argument of principle.

But the NFL is going to be around long after the two Williamses are done playing football, so the league is in for the long haul. If they cannot enforce the banned substance policies, then the league's troubles is only beginning. And I support them for that stance. I want a league that punishes its cheaters (even those on my favorite team) and creates a level playing field. But at this point, I simply want to know if the enforcement of the policy was just and whether or not the players were taking a diuretic to lose weight and were unwittingly caught taking something they didn't know was in the supplement.

If everything was on the up and up with the league, and the players knew what they were doing and were trying to mask something, then by all means slap them with a suspension and let's move on with the season and our lives. But if not, then the NFL should alter its procedures to give the players full disclosure on everything they know about supplements and go after those who are knowingly and willingly subverting the process.

Unfortunately, I am not sure what, if any, of that will ever be known. Thanks to months and months of legal posturing and wrangling, the Williams Wall case is becoming aTower of Babel, and it is becoming increasing difficult to determine what is going on.