Getty ImagesThe good news is that linebacker Ray Lewis may not be facing many questions about a 13-year-old controversy during media day. The bad news is that there’s a fresh topic into which the assembled reporters will want to delve when Lewis and the Ravens gather at the Superdome for the annual exercise in journalistic hysteria.
According to Sports Illustrated, Lewis contacted a company owned by a former male stripper to obtain a deer-antler velvet extract after tearing his triceps in October.
Mitch Ross of S.W.A.T.S reportedly videotaped the phone call from Lewis.
“Spray on my elbow every two hours?” Lewis asked Ross regarding the extract.
“No,” Ross said. “Under your tongue.”
Later, 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.”
The problem for Lewis is that the extract contains IGF-1, which is on the NFL’s list of banned substances. For the NFL, the problem is that Lewis will retire after Sunday. So there’s really nothing that can be done — unless Lewis admits to it on Tuesday and the league puts the investigative process into the highest gear possible.
Even then, it’s impossible that the matter would progress through all available appeals before Sunday night.
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Man Florio, you really are on a mission here with all the anti-Raven articles.
I was just thinking to myself… man I wish there was another Ray Lewis story. You turds in the media writing these nonsense stories need to stop.
no suprise that this guy is doing something shady…AGAIN. It’s his MO
Deer antler extract? Not exactly as sexy as Charlie Sheen saying he has tiger’s blood, is it?
What a shame! He’s been such an upstanding citizen all these years?
God told him it’s okay
So Ray Lewis is a murderer AND a cheater? What a shocker!
He is becoming a sideshow.
Deer velvet extract…I knew it!
I’m guessing he stabbed the deer and threw away the orange hunting coat.
So unless Lewis admits to taking a banned substance, there is nothing the NFL can do and he skates and gets away with murder, I mean using a banned substance?
Sounds like a Bud Selig policy.
If anyone deserves to be suspended for his last game/super bowl, it’s the murderer
Here all this time I thought it was Jesus who was healing him.
Awesome. Cheers Ray, nothing they can do.
SF is still gonna throttle the Ravens though, unless Kaepernick starts playing horribly all of a sudden. Certainly possible, lot’s of pressure… including deer antler power…
shocked he didnt just kill the deer himself.
uh-oh
Can the stripper give dancing lessons too?
You’re really reaching for a story huh? This is old news, very old
Is anyone surprised by this? He recovered from an injury that lands many on IR in a matter of weeks.
What a guy.
Now I am really confused……. I thought the Lord healed him.
Wow. Awfully nice of the dude to videotape the call….
It would be karmic justice if Lewis was suspended for the Super Bowl.
Its funny. He got accused of using this substance last year, but suddenly it comes up again right before the Super Bowl
Not surprising. I don’t understand why everyone makes such a huge deal about the PED problem in the MLB but nobody seems to think it goes on in the NFL.
Jeeze, let it go… The fact that the NFL has banned deer antler velvet is absurd. Its all natural and non toxic to the system. It is NOT igf-1… deer antler velvet naturally contains a wide variety of amino acid profiles. igf-1 is one of them, but its far from the lab engineered version, and dosed at a level so low that studies and scientist claim it should have ZERO effect on muscle development.
How about you give a guy some credit for bein a warrior and working through an injury everyone wrote off as season, maybe career ending. The guys a beast, i doubt a little bit of deer antler velvet spray is the reason he is what he is.
Is it illegal to sell? There should be consequences for selling these products if there are consequences for using them. If an NFL player cant take something then should the general public be taking it?
No big surprise coming from Mr. Pillar Of The Community.
Wow. Fitting end to a career that began with a murder that he got out of by flipping on his boys and paying people off. Yeah, he still believes in the “good book”.
Eh, my opinion is a lot of these banned substances will one day not be a huge deal. Once society is cooler with different medical techniques for healing. I still do not get why allowing for some of these subtances to be adminstered by a trained doctor to help repair major body parts is illegal. If a doctor is watching every step and its only being used to heal the one part of the body.. Well.. Maybe i’m just a little a head of most with that thought process.
Roger will never go after his favorite player on his favorite team… move along nothing to see here.
Ray Lewis only reports to god (who is Ray Lewis) so he does not to explain this to anyone.
You don’t think a male stripper would be trying to con someone for money right before the Super Bowl, do you??
Nah, too good of character for that…
As a Niner fan, this is infuriating. Be prepared for Ravens fans to deny, deny, deny like they always do with Ray.
Oh and btw, Niner fans are usually Giants fans too, so we know a thing or two about banned substances affecting players’ chances of getting into Hall of Fames.
Dear Antler Velvet Extract is more of a herb then anything else.. comparable to fish oil. Ray Lewis didn’t do anything wrong, the Leagues and the NCAA’s banned substance policies are ridiculous when it comes to tweeners like “IGF-1″
Suggs probably told him about it
Yeah…ummm based on how quickly he returned
from this injury, I’m thinking this really ain’t
earth-shattering news, is it ?
Really? How can anyone question this mans integrity ….after all he is a Raven….please of course he did whatever he could to cheat the system…comes from practice…
It was always questionable how he came back so quickly from an injury that has knocked numerous other players out for months at a time, but at this point it doesn’t really matter. He would be an idiot to incriminate himself a few days before the Super Bowl, and from his past, we know he is willing to roll over on anyone else in order to keep his name cleared.
Due process has never stopped Rog from suspending a player for a game or season before, and no one deserves such tyrannous punishment as Ray Lewis. C’mon Rog, do what’s right FOR ONCE – suspend him for the SB! (Don’t let him go out like Favre.)
Ray Lewis a cheater and scumbag?
Shocking
So what’s stopping everyone from roiding up before the big game and then denying it? Being immortalized in the SB is sure worth the 4 game suspension next season to those not retiring. Goodell will botch this one like always.
as if rayray’s name wasn’t already tainted, if this proves true, this seals it.
Ray may of used a knife to kill two people..oh wait that is so thirteen years ago..
I know this will get plenty of thumbs down and I’m not saying guilt before innocence but I’m still waiting to hear a story similar in regard to Adrian Peterson.
Notice that I did not change the third letter of his last name this time.
How big a story would it be if they suspended him the night before the game… WOW…
So, if this is true, I don’t understand why EVERY player on the verge of retirement doesn’t just start pumping themselves up on everything under the sun their last 2-3 games… just appeal and draw the process out. Why the hell not, right?
This is intriguing..
At least this time it was only a couple deer that died.
Just a phenomenal human being.
Scumbag human being on a scumbag, dirty team. If (and I highly doubt) the Ravens win on Sunday, you might as well throw an * at the end of that one!
Why didn’t he just talk to god and have HIM heal him?
I wonder how many Deer Ray Lewis then murdered to get more of the drug made?
Lance Armstrong wrapped himself in Cancer to protect himself, Ray Ray has done the same with God. Both are frauds.
I have a feeling we haven’t scratched the surface on what is going to eventually come out about “Ray-Ray”.
I thought it was a bit odd that both him and suggs, and justin smith for that matter all had season ending injuries, yet all came back obviously much faster than that. well this explains why ray did.
all his preaching is just a distraction from what he really is; murderer, and now possible cheater. just because someone is a great talker does not mean they are great, and usually when they start talking loudly about something they are trying to compensate for something else.
i was a loose fan of ray for what he had accomplished on the field, but after this, and his constant preaching, and diarrhea of the mouth (half the time he simply doesn’t make sense) i just can’t even respect the “player” anymore. never respected the “man” though.
Could they still fine him, even after he retires?
The Steelers win every game when there is no intervention. Unfortunately, intervention is greater than ever and the Steelers are forced to play by mortal rules.
Don’t you worry; Steeler Nation is alive and well. Our magnificent trophy case is unblemished. Many of you have questioned our present strength. I will only tell you that we are now reaching a climax in our efforts against an ancient nemesis. This Nemesis’ only goal is to see the Steeler Nation (in all its glory) fail.
Let me provide some background for those with feeble grasps of history. Since the dawn of man, there have been two kinds of men: the common man and the divine man. The common man is the typical one you see today. Their leaders are very cunning and have sought to rid the world of their superiors – the divine man. You would better know this group as the Steeler Nation. We have a lineage of God-blood in our bodies that allow for amazing things in the presence of you mere mortals. We autonomously gather to this group and know our cause, as birds flying south. Our goal is to eventually start our own league – the SFL – to fully express our divine abilities without the taint of rat-like humans, but feel an obligation to defeat or at least paralyze our ancient foes before we set off.
Be assured, we will defeat them and their political games. Wow, we are amazing. Wow, you look up in awe of our splendor. We bathe in confetti while you bathe in tears. Wow, it must suck to be you and your empty trophy case.
This news shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody (at least anybody outside the Baltimore area).
An NFL player? Never. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if north of 80% of the league was on steroids, let alone “performance enhancers”.
I just can’t imagine karma working out to this guys as advantage.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. There is no way possible that even with the finest athletic specimen that a comeback from muscle tear of that degree can be achieved in the short amount of time that Lewis had done it, naturally.
While I particularly don’t care if athletes use, for him to thank God about his road back and credit it to heart and things like that, it’s a slap in the face to any honest thinking person.
A few more question marks should be a fine bow on top of his career.
What’s the big deal? It’s not like he murdered someone.
I’m not surprised. People don’t just play with a torn triceps without some kind of “boost” Justin Smith is probably doing something similar.
The NFL wouldn’t do anything anyway. They’ve had the refs call the games so that the ravens got into the Super Bowl so Lewis can go out a winner. I don’t know why. They should’ve done it for Tony Gonzalez a football player with some real class.
Hey Roger show some guts and suspend him ASAP. Yeah right.
Do we really care right now if he did or not? He’s retiring.
It wasn’t for his torn triceps. It was for his week morning wood. How’s he suppose to make those cheeks clap? Look guys “No Hands!” Everybody likes no hand cheek clappin.
Wouldn’t that be some story…Ray Lewis getting banned right before the Super Bowl.
In all seriousness, I think the NFL should investigate this quickly and decisively. If Lewis did take it then he should not play in the Super Bowl.
Why can’t athletes use the best available medicine to heal themselves. It’s common practice to use these growth hormones, steroids, and their derivatives in medicine. They are truly miracle drugs unlike the rest of the garbage that gets pushed on us.
So because he can’t get the best treatment he has to use deer antler extract? Does anyone else find it absurd that these million dollar athletes can’t get the best treatment available during their limited careers?
If he did not get it quick. He was gonna have to go out and stab himself a velvet racked deer.
Who cares! Enough about HGH & steroids!
It’s in every gym across the country! All these vitamin stores carry certsin supplements locked up in there cabinets.
Whether you are an athlete or a regular person off the street everyone wants to get an edge to there workout & what they look like!
Whether it’s football or baseball who cares! Half of the sports reporters probably never threw a football or baseball?
If you ever looked at some of these reporters they are out of shape! Maybe they should look into HGH or steroids? Lol!
Now I am worried.
I used Accent Meat Enhancer on my hamburger the other night. I got a drug test on Thursday!
DANG IT!
a leopard never changes his spots
He had to thank god, all right: thank god that he didn’t waste his money and apply the stuff topically.
This is the biggest crock of fecal matter I’ve heard in months. Who honestly believes this heap of garbage? A video of the phone call? Ray Lewis called this sketchball himself?! haha anyone that believes this is a moron.
Known side effects to this are lots and lots of crying.
One game left? I’d cheat all I could. They can’t take that title away. It’s one game. It’s not like people are going to question his stats for his whole career. He’s still one of the best ILB in the game.
Typical evil media bloodhounds. You should all burn in hell forever. Ray Lewis has come a long way and now he’s going back to the game that’s the mecca of all sports players in his last season of a hall of fame career. He has a patchy past but he moved past that and has done a lot for the community. Now, when hes reached the pinnacle of his career, his final game, something he’s worked to reach on for over a decade, the media has to knock him down. He wanted to fix his elbow for gods sake. He wanted to play! He wasnt trying to beef himself up or get an unfair advantage over other players! He just wanted to get healthy again. and now, 5 days before the last game of his career, you are going to bring this up? Really? You take the first amendment and crap all over it. Evil. Leave the guy alone.
Quick to judge people, just like the Crabtree story… how did that work out?
How sweet the Karma would be if Lewis was suspended 4-games, beginning with the SuperBowl. It would almost be like his murder victims getting at least one little stab back at this monster.
plumbstupid says: Jan 29, 2013 12:33 PM
Why can’t athletes use the best available medicine to heal themselves. It’s common practice to use these growth hormones, steroids, and their derivatives in medicine. They are truly miracle drugs unlike the rest of the garbage that gets pushed on us.
So because he can’t get the best treatment he has to use deer antler extract? Does anyone else find it absurd that these million dollar athletes can’t get the best treatment available during their limited careers?
___________________________________
There is a very fine line between saucing to heal from an injury and saucing to be a better athlete. Where do you draw the line in those kinds of cases?
And not every athlete makes millions of dollars. A lot of players can’t afford to do it all the time. A lot of athletes also don’t have access to the best available substances.
And Roger Goodell wants to keep Ray around as an adviser? lol
I’ve never seen so much hate for a person… Unreal amount of venom.
Deer antler velvet extract? Maybe I’m just totally ignorant on these kinds of substances but this sounds silly to me. Is there nothing else to talk about? Why do we have to completely throw him under the bus right before it’s all over? I want to believe that Ray Lewis is practically super human and did what no one else could to recover. I want to see this great defensive icon ride off into the sunset with all his glory hat in hand and retire on top. Why the hell are we doing this to him now? Let’s repeatedly bring up a murder from over a decade ago that nobody cared about a month ago. Why does it matter now what happened thirteen years ago? We don’t know any more now than we did then about the murder, but we know plenty about ray lewis. The man has lived to the fullest and accomplished quite a bit in the past thirteen years. Are we going to turn him in the the NFL’s version of Lance Armstong now? Why? This sucks and I think it is all a waste. Ray is 37 years old for crying out loud. I don’t know what the hell deer antler whatever is but I don’t know why it matters if he used it.
u know what else contains igf-1? Milk and colostrum… neither is banned by the NFL or even the Olympic committee to my knowledge
Well since he’s pretty much been a non-factor in the playoffs, can we figure that it didn’t work?
Wish they could suspend his ass before the SB, though. That would just be awesome.
Wow. So even if the Ravens win the Super Bowl, it’s already TAINTED! Haha…2012 Ravens*
Can the Pats show up Sunday and play now?
Ray-Ray gets away with it again …
Wow. So even if the Ravens win the Super Bowl, it’s already TAINTED! Haha…2012 Ravens* CHEATERS!
Can the Pats show up Sunday and play now?
Since someone mentioned Justin…..
His injury isn’t healed and he is pushing back the surgery to after the end of the season. He is only playing because it was the playoffs otherwise his season would have ended after New England. He didn’t miraculously quickly it healed as quickly as a partially torn bicep could in the span of a month.
so this brings up the question…how did justin smith recover from his torn tricep?
60% of the time it works every time.
Even if Lewis did take this, do you really think he would personally call this guy for the stuff??
What a joke…
And to everyone calling him a cheater, wait to see the list of guys are on the HGH list when that comes to light. Probably includes everyone’s favorite player, including mine.
This is part of what makes Ray Lewis who he is– rising above all of the idiotic media coverage and ignorant accusations that he is a murderer.
Mrs. Welk may now rest her case….
this story goes back more than a year with this non story, good reporting. way to authenticate your garbage before you print it
You’re lying to yourself if you thought he played 17 years and didn’t cheat before this. Suddenly this year he decides to play at a “lower weight.” Sounds like he feared they might actually install HGH testing so he stopped.
by the way, the photo of the deer is, as always, top notch!!
May have? Definitely did, but I don’t care about PED use. These guys make too much money not to. If I have to pay these stupid prices they owe it to me.
This is ridiculous to make premature judgements on this topic for the simple fact that Lewis’ quotes nor do Ross’s quotes conclude what the “PED” was and nothing specifically points out how he cheated, so until there is enough facts to prove otherwise, you ignorant minds saying Lewis is a murderer/cheater should take a seat!
The male stripper is the same guy that taught him the squirrel dance.
No different than what Peterson took
When a guy goes soooooooo public with his church views there is usually a reason, …now we know why with Ray.
That’s really a “I want to get into the pearly gates dance” each week.
The gig is up……
Not a fan of either team, but all players are subjected to banned substance tests. Unless Mr. Lewis fails one, then this is all pure conjecture. I seem to remember this story from about 2 or 3 years ago, and nothing came from it. So yet again, someone is accused of something and found not guilty and it haunts them forever. It seems like it’s almost better for someone even if they are truly innocent to admit that they are guilty and we will forgive and move on, rather than assert their own innocence.
“The fact that the NFL has banned deer antler velvet is absurd. Its all natural and non toxic to the system.”
Testosterone and HGH are “all-natural” too.
Suddenly a 37 year old rebounding from a torn tricep so quickly makes sense.
the media, and others hate ray lewis, thats fine. this will get the team fired up. al these crazy comments about steroids, do you football fan think 90% of the players in the NFL dont use something. look at bret favre, Adrian Peterson, peyton manning, calvin johnson, the sport is very tough, and your body need to recover from all of the hits and pain. so dont judge ray Lewis or any other players, we all have skeletons in our closet no one is perfect. if he cheated oh well, no one expected roger Clemens the boy wonder to have cheated but he did. no one is perfect . the owners and the league make billions of dollars of player putting thier body on the line. dont judge
I guess AP told him to use it..
The Ravens are going to win this one easy and there’s nothing the Haters can do to stop it.
Ok, kinda makes sense now why Reed would say he might come back and play 10 games next season!
anyways, keep it real Ray!
Here is some logic for everyone:
The Ravens turned their season around because Ray Lewis returned and said he would retire next year and that motivated the team. Hard to deny that as that’s what nearly everyone said over the last few weeks including the Ravens players.
If Ray Lewis did take a banned substance that allowed him to return early from what was initially thought to be a season ending injury, then that had a major impact.
Maybe the Patriots or Denver would have won and maybe Baltimore wouldn’t have even beaten Indy.
It’s never to be proven, but if he did cheat it definitely has had more impact than a typical case of PED usage.
His bust in Canton should have antlers.
Who cares. Is it really a big deal? I understand most of you are sore losers like I am, but stop acting like its cheating and that the commish is helping him win and that the refs lost the game for the broncos and patriots. You look stupid
if this was a pats player there wouldve been a screamfest everywhere. But since its the great reformed ray lewis, this will get pushed under the rug.
David Vobora of the Rams already had a 4 game suspension for the same substance and won a $5.4 million award against SWATS
it stings the nostrils in a good way
Its a miracle, praise Jesus, ahem praise the illegal substance.
The NFL knows and wont do anything? Test now and if he fails no Super Bowl.
Come on Roger be a man.
Why wasn’t this reported on back in October?
I wonder how many bucks he paid for this stuff.
Doesn’t matter, won’t give him speed to catch Colin Kaepernick, 49ers = 6 time Superbowl Champions; only team undefeated in Superbowl appearances. Thank you Ravens.
I wonder what ailment the human blood was for???
canehouse says: Jan 29, 2013 12:40 PM
I’ve never seen so much hate for a person… Unreal amount of venom.
_________
I think people are done giving him the benefit of the doubt.
That deer in the picture is 1/4 towards with the shoulder blade in the way of the vitals.
Not going to harvest much velvet with that shot!
They should test Reed, Pollard, and Lewis now…guarantee they wouldn’t pass.
None of those quotes prove anything. No reference to a drug or time frame. Good journalism.
Go cry again since you’re so good at it when you lose the Superbowl Ray Ray.
just cover the 4.5 okay?
Now we know why he’s retiring. Can’t they just test him now
Recorded conversations do not prove that he actually used the substance. While he probably did, the NFL should be extremely wary of prosecutions short of a slam dunk thanks to bounty gate.
Meh, they’re all doing it. I mean really, look at the size of these guys and how fast they heal.
Considering how fast he came back, I’m sure some science helped. So now does PFT call him Cheat Lewis? or is the the Cheavens?
No real story here.
In 08 Aaron Smith had the same injury.
He rehabbed 7 months for a chance to play in the Super Bowl but could not make it.
Ray Lewis did in 8 weeks what an honest man could not do in 7 months.
Just the facts. Make an example Goodell!!
Who cares! It’s not like Lewis is video taping other teams signals or anything.
All the money in the world says the league won’t even bother.
Ray Ray is somehow a league darling. If this was any other player, they would suspend first and ask questions later, which is has become their M.O.
But the league just loves storylines so darn much!
To be perfectly fair, I bet Justin Smith did, too. People don’t come back from injuries like that…especially not when they’re nearing 40.
Many foods also contain IGF-1 (Milk and chicken contain high levels).
So the controversy in this article is that Ray Lewis took a supplement that contains a fairly common organic compound.
the media can’t have it both ways.
here’s the deal. last week, you go off on lance armstrong about his lying in regards to his PED usage. then, today, this report about A Rod comes out from this story in miami’s new times. not long after that, we hear about this ray lewis story.
you can’t minimize the ray lewis story, and simultaneously trump up these other stories. if he used banned substances, he deserves as much scorn and as much scrutiny as any of these other guys.
pot -> kettle -> black
And Adrian Peterson came back from a torn ACL in less than 10 months and almost break the rushing record? Why does Ray Lewis have to be vilified. Because your arrogance will spew hatrid and its down right sad. You don’t live in Baltimore you don’t see the good this man does everyday for his brother and his community. Love you Ray.
Justin Smith probably hunted and killed a dear with his bear hands but he is not a cheater. He’s an honest cowboy!
Justin Smith had the Same Injury and Came back Quicker, Why is Nobody Accusing him ?
Am I the only one that thinks it’s odd that someone would videotape a phone conversation then run to the media about it?
I read a little about this. When the antler falls off a deer, they harvest the antlers and create the extract from that. Why would they ban this? Who thought this should be banned? It’s not a chemical that is bad for you. This is odd. It feels like a non story.
“ravensfan19 says:
Jan 29, 2013 3:02 PM
Justin Smith had the Same Injury and Came back Quicker, Why is Nobody Accusing him ?”
umm…because nobody has a videotape of him on the phone ordering a PED? did you read the story? oh that’s right, you are from Baltimore….
Ray Lewis during AFC Title game during National Anthem:
“Thank you, Father, Thank you, Father, Thank you, Father”
*****F R A U D******
38-19 Frisco nabs # 6
“ravensfan19 says:
Jan 29, 2013 3:02 PM
Justin Smith had the Same Injury and Came back Quicker, Why is Nobody Accusing him ?”
umm…because nobody has a videotape of him on the phone ordering a PED? did you read the story? oh that’s right, you are from Baltimore….
———————————————————-
If there was a tape, why not produce it?? They supposely had reciepts 2 years ago, and that NEVER materialized. This is a well planned smear job on Ray Lewis.
@ Dolphindad
Where is this Videotape ?
Justin Smith had the Same Injury and Came back alot Quicker. If that doesn’t raise Suspicion among you, then You Must be a Delusional Niner Fan
Justin Smith’s injury was only a partial tear, barely a tear.
Asterisk for this Ravens run……
Antler-Gate cost the Manning a Super Bowl!!
Yes, I am a bitter Steelers fan.
Its not smear job on Ray Lewis. Its a smear job by ray lewis. He is a shady figure! So is john harbaugh. Im not sayin its them, but they sittin back smilin, and that says alot right there!!
Sheesh…one Super Bowl he is involved with a murder, the other PED’s. Just go away ray.
Ray must have learned about the benefits of deer antler dust in all those Science and Biology classes he attended with Warren Sapp at the University of Miami.
Oh deer.
The courts wouldn’t stop him, the NFL wouldn’t stop him. Looks like the 49ers have to be the last line of defense and teach Ray Ray some humility.