Quote Originally Posted by Patler View Post
I haven't been following the details. What did the league do wrong?
Applied a no imagination reading of their rules to his results. His A test was positive (over the limit), his B test sample was negative (under the limit). Under Baseball, Olympic or US Military testing, the B sample would clear the subject though there is some debate about the B sample because the NFL doesn't routinely measure concentrations in the B sample (just uses it to confirm presence of objectionable material). I presume from what I have read that Gordon's team insisted on a concentration level measure for the B sample.

It looks bad for the League to have Rice back by Game 3 and Gordon gone for the year. The League is dumb for taking the black eye when it might have been avoided. Gordon would be at fault if he refused to deal, not to mention the original problem of inhaling the weed.

The reason the decision took so long, it would seem, is that the parties were negotiating something less than a year. Oddly, however, there were reports today that said Gordon's side refused to negotiate. That would leave open the question of why a formulaic ruling took so long to conclude.

Unfortunately for Gordon, compared to Baseball, Olympic or US Military testing, the threshold is very low. This was the carrot the NFL was dangling in front of the NFLPA when trying to get HGH testing rolling with Goodell still hearing appeals.