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Author Topic: Raji fail drug test!  (Read 183 times)
draft jedi
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« on: April 03, 2009, 03:18:22 AM »

Who but a total retard smokes a joint before the combine!

report complicates matters
By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 1:41 pm in Oakland Raiders.

CNN-SI is reporting Boston College defensive tackle B.J. Raji tested positive for drugs at the NFL scouting combine and that teams were already aware he had tested positive for marijuana at Boston College.

There are some mock drafts, including one by former Raider exec Mike Lombardi, which have the Raiders taking Raji in an effort to shore up the NFL’s 31st-ranked rushing defense.

Drug test stories always make me a little uncomfortable. It’s a mine field fraught with the possibility of error, with those who want to float information for their own purposes and reporters eager to be the first to a story.

I’ve heard rumors before, but nothing close to the reporting stage. Frankly, without the drug test directly in front of me so I could see it with my own eyes (and someone who could help me understand what I was looking at), I’d just as soon take a pass.

It’s like one of those occasions where I run into a Raiders player out on the town during a road game. “You going to write about this?,” they’ll sometimes ask.

My answer?

“Not unless you wind up on a police blotter. Then I’ve got no choice.”

Listen to Warren Sapp talk about how he was linked to cocaine by ESPN, a story which caused him to fall in the first round. Charlie Garner, an affable sort, never did truly trust the media again after a false report in a Philadelphia newspaper chronicled a positive drug test for marijuana.

It usually turns out that most of the stories linking athletes to drugs are true. The NFL seems to have a pipeline regarding its allegedly anonymous drug and steroid program which runs straight to ESPN, Fox, etc.

It makes the league look as if it is serious in cleaning up the problem.

Whether Raji truly has a problem or not, or whether he ever failed a test, is not known.

But it’s out there now, and it could cost him. I’m sure there are teams that fully realize there are players who may go Michael Phelps from time to time, and they’re more worried about the positive test and the negative spin then they are the fact that the drug was actually consumed.

The Raiders are known for going their own way and not concerning themselves with what people think. They had the information anyway. The story alone isn’t going to alter their perception.
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It just the force really! But watch me bugger up the next 6 rounds!!!
R8RMR
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« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2009, 07:10:44 AM »

True or not it will make little difference. His stock will have dropped dramatically as soon as this was released.

Difficult to imagine how stupid you have to be to do this sort of thing at such a critical time. Also difficult to determine exactly how much money it will cost him in the long run.
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draft jedi
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« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2009, 01:48:56 PM »

True or not it will make little difference. His stock will have dropped dramatically as soon as this was released.

Difficult to imagine how stupid you have to be to do this sort of thing at such a critical time. Also difficult to determine exactly how much money it will cost him in the long run.

It's now being denied

 A website that focuses on the NFL draft recently reported that some draft-eligible players had tested positive for drugs. However, an NFL spokesman refuted that report Friday, saying “neither the 32 clubs nor the league office know the results of drug or steroid tests taken at the 2009 Combine.”

“The independent medical advisors who administer the tests have notified in writing those players –- and only those players -– who tested positive at the Combine,” the spokesman said in a statement. “Unfortunately, rumors about draft-eligible players, including rumors about test results, begin to circulate every year at this time. Many of these rumors are circulated for self-serving reasons, and they are terribly unfair to the players and their families.”

USC coach Pete Carroll was quick to defend Trojans LBs Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews, both of whom were named in the report. Carroll said he had talked to the drug-testing service and that Cushing and Matthews were cleared.

“These rumors are absolutely false,” said Carroll, according to USC’s official website. “If they were found positive, Clay and Cush would have been notified three weeks ago, which they weren’t, and all of the NFL teams would have been notified, too, which they weren’t.

“They’re both men of outstanding character and they never tested positive for anything here,” Carroll said. “This is an major example of irresponsible reporting, and the site that published this report should be ashamed of themselves.”

A lawyer at Athletes First, which represents Matthews, sent an e-mail to the website in question, saying, “Neither Clay nor our office has received notification of any positive test, whether for steroids or any banned substance.”

The lawyer also pointed out that the league hasn’t received the results of the drug tests and that teams haven’t been notified either.

Illinois CB Vontae Davis was also mentioned in the report. His representatives at France All Pro Athlete Management Inc. issued the following statement: “Neither Vontae nor our office has received any notification of any positive test, whether for marijuana or any other banned substance. In addition, we have been informed by several of our NFL contacts that they have not been notified of any drug testing results from the combine.”
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It just the force really! But watch me bugger up the next 6 rounds!!!
R8RMR
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« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2009, 07:12:07 AM »

Is this a matter of slinging mud to see what sticks?

Neither Raji or any spokesperson for his college or management team appear to have refuted this allegation though.
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draft jedi
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« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2009, 04:42:12 AM »

NFL network was really upfront about this. Mayock the NFL expert and Mal Kiper the BSPN expert have been back pedeling
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It just the force really! But watch me bugger up the next 6 rounds!!!
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« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2009, 07:05:35 AM »

So they should! If it were proved correct then they have justification. But if not what harm could they have done to these players career prospects and the remuneration that they could have gotten? Too many journalists want to get the scoop, without confirmation of the information they receive. But how do you stop them reporting it?

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« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2009, 07:16:42 AM »

Raji denies drug test reports


B.J. Raji and his agents say Raji, who is considered the top defensive tackle eligible for this month's NFL draft, has not received notice of a failed drug test, and they are disputing reports that Raji had a positive test at the scouting combine.

"The biggest thing is trying to figure out how this started," Raji told The (Santa Rosa, Calif.) Press Democrat. "I couldn't understand how this rumor became such a big splash in the media when there was no evidence -- there was no substance to believe it. The last couple days, I was just trying to figure out: Who? What? Basically, why?

"Now, I'm happy the truth is out. Obviously, it's not going to be as big of a splash as the negative part. But as long as the coaches and the decision-makers know what is true, then I don't need to be concerned with everybody else," he told the newspaper.

Raji's Athletes First representatives, Mark Humenik and Brian Murphy, issued a statement Monday denying the reports.

"On Friday, the NFL issued a statement challenging the foundation for these reports and indicating that neither the league nor its member clubs know the results of drug or steroid tests taken at the 2009 combine and that the independent medical advisers who administer the tests have notified in writing those players -- and only those players -- who tested positive at the combine," the statement said. "B.J. Raji has NOT received any letter from the NFL or the Independent Administrator indicating that he tested positive for drugs at the combine."

In a statement released by the NFL last week, the league said neither its 32 teams nor the league office know the results of drug or steroid tests taken at the combine. "Unfortunately, rumors about draft-eligible players, including rumors about test results, begin to circulate every year at this time," the league statement said. "Many of these rumors are circulated for self-serving reasons, and they are terribly unfair to the players and their families."

Raji, who was meeting with the San Francisco 49ers on Tuesday, has also visited the Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Denver Broncos.

NFL scouts were made aware before the 2008 season that Raji tested positive for marijuana during his time at Boston College. Teams expect to receive the official report of who tested positive during the combine around April 20.

Raji, rated seventh on Todd McShay's projected list and No. 6 on Mel Kiper's most recent Big Board on ESPN.com, missed the 2007 college season with academic problems.


NFL draft: Defensive tackle B.J. Raji denies reports of failed drug test - ESPN
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