According to Judd Zulgad over at ye olde Star Tribune, the law firm of Williams & Williams has yet to have their appeal hearings over their positive tests for Bumetanide. This is good news for the 2008 Vikings, as it means that the heart of the best run defense in the National Football League is going to stay intact for at least a little while longer.
No appeal date has been set for Falcons' defensive tackle Grady Jackson, either. Jackson, who also tested positive for Bumetanide, has filed a class-action suit against the makers of StarCaps, a supplement that had been approved by the National Football League back in 2004. StarCaps had advertised themselves as being "all-natural," yet has now been found to contain the offending diuretic that the players in question have tested positive for.
Pro Football Talk speculates that the hearings and subsequent suspensions might not happen until after the season is over, due to scheduling issues and getting a complete grasp of the information presented. They also say that rival teams like the Bears and the Packers would likely be ticked off at such a development, as it would allow the Williams brothers to play out the season for the Vikings as all three teams pursue the NFC North title and a playoff berth.
To the latter point, allow me to express my thoughts in this way:
Boo. Freaking. Hoo.
The fact of the matter remains that nobody should have any idea what Bumetanide or StarCaps are as of right now, because nobody should know that any of the players whose names have been leaked tested positive for anything. The National Football League has a confidentiality agreement in place for these sorts of things. That agreement was violated by somebody (whose name escapes me at the moment) that made the decision that "breaking" this story or "getting a scoop" was more important than the rights of the players involved. Just another fine example of how the media in this country now has absolutely zero integrity. . .but that's another debate for another time and another forum.
So, basically, anyone that wants to complain that Pat and Kevin Williams haven't "gotten what they deserve". . .be they Packer fans or Bears fans or Colts fans (who took a creepily inordinate amount of joy in this news, for some reason). . .can feel free to, in the words of noted American philosopher Peter Griffin, kiss the fattest part of my ass. Nobody should know what they "deserve," because nobody should have any inkling that any of this has taken place.