NFL: Challenge us and you shalt continue peeing in cups

By Nate Sandstrom

This story in the Star-Tribune has the latest in Pro-Bowl Vikings DT Pat and Kevin Williams's court challenge to the NFL's decision to suspend them for 4 games for a banned substance.

At isssue is that the Williamseses took a weight loss supplement that could mask the use of steroids, not that the NFL is officially accusing them of using steroids. However, due to its masking ability, it is banned.

Now that you have the main issue down, the interesting twist this story takes today is that the Williamseseses' attorney says the NFL is singling the Williamseseses out for me tests since they challenged the suspension. From the article:

Ginsberg alleged that the increased testing amounts to retaliation against the defensive tackles and violates both the NFL's policy against performance-enhancing drugs and state law. He said he's still trying to get the testing records to be sure, but he said it appears they have each been tested more than six times since the Pro Bowl and that the frequency has increased.

"They seem to be testing them about three times a month if not more, which is far in excess of what the testing policies allow. ... It's not being done randomly. Kevin and Pat are being singled out," Ginsberg said.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello denied that the league is retaliating against the Williamses, but declined to comment on how often they've been tested.

So is this purely punitive? Is the NFL trying to bust them with steroids to get them to drop their challenge the current 4-game suspension that would begin in Week 1? Stay tuned.

Less than one hour to the official release of the Phil Steele College Football Preview

By Nate Sandstrom

Just in time for the hours I will be spending on planes next week, my favorite stat-packed college football preview officially hits the racks tomorrow.

Apparently though, you can already find Phil Steele's National College Football several places, as my cousin's boyfriend already sent me a message today about Steele pegging our UW Badgers sixth in the Big Ten (although they are his #38 team talent-wise nationally).

I'll be picking up a copy from Rite-Aid after work tomorrow, but in case you can't wait he has added much more new content to his Web site this year, including a daily blog and Facebook and MySpace pages. He is also releasing a PDF file each day for each Top 40 team. Tonight he has LSU, who is picking to find improved QB play and improve on last year's disastrous 8-5 season.

Steele's even more detailed regional magazines, which include FCS teams, are slated to go to press next week.

Yay, college football!

I am so smart: s-m-r-t

Al Davis had Lane Kiffin dead on. Read the latest debacle here. Meyer will have the last laugh.

If I don't get money, kids with Downs Syndrome don't either

Read more Brian Waters' about douche-baggery here.

Redskins '09 roster: About the same as '08?

By Nate Sandstrom

With RT Jon Jansen being cut on Friday (more on this below) and the calendar flipping to June 1st, the Washington Times' Ryan O'Halloran put out a mock 53-man roster for the upcoming season. Check it out here.

In case you don't want to bother clicking, it can be summed up as pretty much the same. Yes, they've added Haynesworth, brought back Dockery and drafted Orakpo (who is projected at LB here but some expect to play DE), but it otherwise appears that there will be little difference from last year's squad on most downs.

For that reason, unless the OL has some kind of major turnaround, this seems like an average team that will continue to be between 6-10 and 10-6 depending on how injuries (their own and other teams') unfold along the schedule and how lucky bounces affect the turnover margin.

As for Jansen, he seemed to be a good guy who had a decent career that could've been better were it not for some major injuries. He signed with the Lions today, perhaps not suprising since he is a Michigan native and alum.

I'm not sure if Lions GM Martin Mayhew still has Redskins' connections that affected this deal; the article doesn't mention it. I also recall Jansen getting in a fight with the Lions during a 1999 playoff game, but I couldn't find anything to back up that memory.