You know what, against my better judgement, I think I might be liable to put some stock in this. Now, admittedly, a small part of the reason I'm willing to do so is because I'm a Saints' fan and thus inclined to give a veteran Saints' player with with no history of wrongdoing the benefit of the doubt. However, the much more influential aspect of this rebuttal is that it claimed a lack of clarity on the part of the NFL. A flat out denial of test results would have only been more cliche than it would be difficult to believe, but a deference of blame to the multibillion dollar operation that's as cautious and structured in their handing of discipline as an alcoholic father with whiskey on his breath? That, I may be able to get on board with. To be clear, I'd have to be extremely biased to say I didn't still think it was very possible that Mark Ingram took something illegal in hopes of gaining a competitive advantage. If you take out of the equation the likability of the person, the current circumstances of the player's career could easily fit the bill as a motive. That said, as someone who suffered through the bullshit of BountyGate, who am I to rule out the idea of Roger Goodell and the gang handing out penalties for the use of a substance that they, themselves, have both deemed harmless and circumstantially thrown under the libelous label of 'PED'? Taking excessively self-important measures to protect the shield is very much on-brand for the NFL, and what's more excessively self important than temporarily taking away someone's livelihood for failing to ask if they could use something that you would have allowed them to use anyway? Having wildly different definitions for 'banned' and 'illegal' makes about as much sense as an insanely violent sport's stance against marijuana usage. Therefore, only the league with an opiate dependency that governs itself about as well as North Korea could ultimately come to the conclusion that what essentially boils down to a lack of manners is punishable by a 4-game suspension. After all, the NFL would rather its players take the field with needles sticking out of their ass than sacrifice a sliver of pride by indirectly admitting their system is flawed at the expense of said players.
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