Hire Some Athletes' Excuses for Drug Test Failures

Athletes who fail drug tests are usually liars, except when they aren't. Rams LB David Vobra was recently awarded $5.4 million in a lawsuit against a Florida supplement maker that was found to have intentionally misled Vobra to believe that a supplement he took contained no banned substances. It's pretty rare that an athlete doesn't know when he's cheating, but the next time some presumed drug cheat says "I didn't know!" it could be believable.

Vobora's lawyers said he used "Ultimate Sports Spray" in June 2009 without knowing it contained the banned substance methyltestosterone. He later failed a drug test and was suspended. Vobra accused the supplement maker of intentionally misleading him, damaging his reputation, and costing him money. Vobra lost about $250,000 due to the suspension, plus the court awarded him damages and lost future earnings.

Although Vobra has sort of been absolved of wrongdoing (he still failed a test), the NFL will not be expunging his record. That's a shame, because people make mistakes and it seems like in this instance Vobra really was not trying to cheat. This almost never happens, and the NFL should make a good-will gesture in this case. The next time we hear someone like Floyd Landis say he failed a drug test because he drank too much the night before peeing in a cup, we're not going to believe him. Sports fans are just too cynical. But now that at least one athlete genuinely did not know he was cheating, there is a glimmer of hope that the public will reserve some benefit of the doubt because not everyone who fails a test is guilty.