Super Bowl XLVII: Ray Lewis May Have Taken Banned Substance
By Eric He
Jan 6, 2013; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis (52) reacts in the fourth quarter of the AFC Wild Card playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts at M
Baltimore Ravens’ linebacker Ray Lewis may have taken a banned substance in order to recover from his torn triceps. Lewis missed the majority of the 2012 season, but is now fully healthy for the postseason and the Super Bowl.
Lewis used hologram stickers and a deer antler spray during his recovery, our partner site SI reports.
Josh Sanchez of Fansided fills us in:
"The antler spray is an interesting discovery, because it has traits similar to human growth hormone and contains IGF-1, which is on the NFL’s list of banned substances."
Here is the scoop from SI:
"Hours after he tore his triceps during an Oct. 14 home game against the Cowboys, Ravens All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis and Ross connected on the phone. Again, Ross videotaped the call.“It’s bottom, near the elbow,” Lewis said of the tear. After asking a few pseudo diagnostic questions, Ross concluded, “All right, well this is going to be simple. . . . How many pain chips you got around the house?”“I got plenty of them,” Lewis replied.Ross prescribed a deluxe program, including holographic stickers on the right elbow; copious quantities of the powder additive; sleeping in front of a beam-ray light programmed with frequencies for tissue regeneration and pain relief; drinking negatively charged water; a 10-per-day regimen of the deer-antler pills that will “rebuild your brain via your small intestines” (and which Lewis said he hadn’t been taking, then swallowed four during the conversation); and spritzes of deer-antler velvet extract (the Ultimate Spray) every two hours.“Spray on my elbow every two hours?” Lewis asked.“No,” Ross said, “under your tongue.”Toward the end of the talk, Lewis asked Ross to “just pile me up and just send me everything you got, because I got to get back on this this week.”Ross says he provided the products free of charge. He even trotted out a novel S.W.A.T.S. technology for the star client: undergarments — black with Lewis’s name and number in -purple — drenched in pungent menthol liquid that Key and Ross exposed to radio waves. All Ross wanted in return, he told Lewis, is for the future Hall of Famer to tell the truth — that he used S.W.A.T.S. products — when he returned to the field.On Dec. 5, Lewis practiced for the first time. He did not play in the final regular-season games, but remained a boisterous sideline presence and joined the jubilant locker room celebration after Baltimore routed the Giants 33-14 on Dec. 23 to win the AFC North.Lewis had not talked to media for 10 weeks while he rehabbed his injury. Asked by SI if he had worked with Key and Ross during his recovery, he initially demurred. “I didn’t work with them personally this time,” he said.When pressed, Lewis said, “Nobody helped me out with the rehab. I’ve been doing S.W.A.T.S. for a couple years through Hue Jackson, that’s it. That’s my only connection to them.”"
Lewis has revealed that he plans to retire following the Super Bowl against the 49ers on Sunday. Under those circumstances, it is understandable why he would turn to banned substances for help with recovery, but in no way should even a star like Lewis get special exemptions.
The NFL should undoubtedly investigate this situation and punish Lewis accordingly.