It's official: Von Miller suspended six games

[Steak Snabler]

Breaking now on Twitter, but here's a link with most of the details:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/broncos/2013/08/20/von-miller-suspension-denver-broncos/2678349

This is one of the best young players in the league suspended for 37.5 percent of the season, a move that could really torpedo the chances of a Super Bowl contender.

I'll be interested to see what the level of outrage among the media and fans is, though I suspect PED-related middle-aged white guy anger only applies to baseball home run records.

 

[Mark2010]

If he's guilty, suspend him. Don't go making exceptions because someone is a good player on a good team. Hell, if Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers is guilty, suspend them, too.

 

[LongTimeListener]

The silver lining is this can be the built-in excuse when Manning blows it in January.

 

[MileHigh]

After listening the past month to this stuff, all the ins and outs, all the semi-good and bad reporting and in the top three Broncos fans on this board ... I'm fine with this.

He's an irresponsible knucklehead. Clean up your act and grow the F up.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Yeah, but A-Rod.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

The USA Today story danced around the issue, but isn't it believed that this is for recreational drugs? I just remember him being asked the marijuana question earlier this year and if he was technically suspended for "overhydrating" that makes it sound like this is for pot.

He sounds like a colossal dumbass, but people will forgive recreational use a lot quicker than they will PED use.

 

[heyabbott]

amazing how many baseball players use PEDs in a sport with almost no physical contact yet almost no one uses PEDs in football where the injuries are more severe and the ability to comeback is more difficult.

Looks like the NFLPA and the Commissioner of the NFL have an excellent handle on this problem, or lack of a problem. Bud could take lessons from Pope Roger

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It will be interesting to see if the NFL can avoid the PED issues that baseball has dealt with for the last decade. Anyone who thinks NFL players aren't using anything is kidding themselves, but I get the sense that most use what they know they're not going to be tested for? I remember a player who was suspended for taking Nandrolone and another player basically said, "Why would you take that when you can take stuff they're not testing for?"

 

[Steak Snabler]

It will be interesting to see if the NFL can avoid the PED issues that baseball has dealt with for the last decade. Anyone who thinks NFL players aren't using anything is kidding themselves, but I get the sense that most use what they know they're not going to be tested for? I remember a player who was suspended for taking Nandrolone and another player basically said, "Why would you take that when you can take stuff they're not testing for?"

Adrian Peterson is an amazing athlete who simply outworked and out-desired everyone else who ever tore their ACL.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I tend to think Peterson is clean. He strikes me as one of those "freak of nature" guys that we see once or twice a decade.

These days who knows where the athletes go to get an advantage while coming back from an injury. You always hear about guys going to Europe or other places to get procedures that are not allowed in the US. If it's not (technically) a violation of the rules and they can get an advantage by doing it, why not do it?

 

[LongTimeListener]

If this bust was pot-related, it's just stupid. Marijuana is as good a painkiller as the addictive, liver-destroying prescription drugs half the league is using by Week 4. At the risk of sounding like Bodie here, you're talking about something that is either legal or slightly illegal, and it does a lot less damage than the stuff they're allowed to take.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Yeah, I have a problem with pot suspensions and Adderall suspensions... I know what the rules say, but that doesn't make them any less stupid...

 

[Steak Snabler]

Not sure how many of those Adderall suspensions are legit. Since the NFL doesn't disclose the substance that triggered the failed test, players are free to craft whatever narrative they want. Many of them "cop" to taking Adderall because there's no stigma.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Not sure how many of those Adderall suspensions are legit. Since the NFL doesn't disclose the substance that triggered the failed test, players are free to craft whatever narrative they want. Many of them "cop" to taking Adderall because there's no stigma.

That's a good point.

 

[MileHigh]

All indications are that he didn't try screwing with the tests because of PEDs. He already had a failed pot test and was in the second level of the drug program. Tester comes along and he knows he's going to test positive and get a suspension. So he drops the urine sample. Then goes and works out and overhydrates as a way to beat the test.

Again, he's a knucklehead.

As for whether he should get a six-game ban (indications are it could have been a lot longer) for pot (as opposed to players getting fined or one-game suspensions for excessive hits), that's another story. But the rules are in place (and agreed to by the players) and have to be followed.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

All indications are that he didn't try screwing with the tests because of PEDs. He already had a failed pot test and was in the second level of the drug program. Tester comes along and he knows he's going to test positive and get a suspension. So he drops the urine sample. Then goes and works out and overhydrates as a way to beat the test.

Again, he's a knucklehead.

As for whether he should get a six-game ban (indications are it could have been a lot longer) for pot (as opposed to players getting fined or one-game suspensions for excessive hits), that's another story. But the rules are in place (and agreed to by the players) and have to be followed.

I think you could justify the suspension just for being a pain in the ass to the testers.

If he cared, he would have gone LT and had clean urine injected into his urethra. :D

 

[old_tony]

amazing how many baseball players use PEDs in a sport with almost no physical contact yet almost no one uses PEDs in football where the injuries are more severe and the ability to comeback is more difficult.

Looks like the NFLPA and the Commissioner of the NFL have an excellent handle on this problem, or lack of a problem. Bud could take lessons from Pope Roger

I hope you meant to type that in blue. Four-game PED suspensions in the NFL are so routine that everyone yawns. Any PED suspension in baseball is major national news and a story for the rest of the season.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

But how many NFL superstars have been suspended? I think Jim Miller is the only QB to ever be suspended for violating the drug policy and that was over a decade ago.

Shawne Merriman, Aquib Talib, Tamba Hali, Santonio Holmes, Justin Blackmon... Good players, but other than Merriman, probably not household names... Miller is probably the biggest name to ever get suspended.

 

[Morris816]

Regardless of the pot issue, Miller still needs to get his act together, given that he was also arrested for failing to appear in court on traffic charges (careless driving, driving without a license and no proof of insurance).

So make marijuana legal everywhere and Miller still has problems he has to address.

As far as the NFL's policies go, between the fact players get notified in advance they will be tested and reports that some of the guys who collect samples are incompetent at their jobs, the NFL's drug testing policy is terrible. It's past due for the NFL and NFLPA to get better testing guidelines in place. Making it truly random (in other words, testers show up unannounced) would be a start.

 

[old_tony]

But how many NFL superstars have been suspended? I think Jim Miller is the only QB to ever be suspended for violating the drug policy and that was over a decade ago.

Shawne Merriman, Aquib Talib, Tamba Hali, Santonio Holmes, Justin Blackmon... Good players, but other than Merriman, probably not household names... Miller is probably the biggest name to ever get suspended.

And despite him being a big name, the story has already died nationally. Next time we'll hear Miller's name is when he's back to practice after the suspension.