When the Minnesota court that is presiding over the StarCaps litigation recently ruled that Vikings defensive tackles Pat and Kevin Williams will have the ability to prove that the NFL violated state law by leaking the fact that they had tested positive for a banned substance, the reporters who broke the story immediately came into focus.
The best way to establish the source of the leak is to grill the person to whom the information was leaked. In this case, they were Jay Glazer of FOX and Josina Anderson of FOX31 in Denver.
But Brian Murphy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press has advised us that neither Glazer nor Anderson appear on the witness list submitted by the Williamses. This means that their lawyers either are confident they can prove the information through other means or that they realize that the reporters are likely to choose sitting in jail over spilling their guts.
Of course, it’s possible that the league will call Glazer and/or Anderson, especially since one possible defense to the claim of breached confidentiality is that the information came from the NFL Players Association -- an intriguing concept that, if true, could have ramifications in the ongoing labor tussle.
Regardless of which persons testify and what they say, the confidentiality allegation represents an intriguing piece of a compelling case that goes to trial on Monday.