Ray Lewis Denies PED Use Alleged In SI Article
NEW ORLEANS (CBSMiami) – Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis will play his final game this Sunday in Super Bowl XLVII. But instead of basking in the glory of the Super Bowl festivities, Lewis is in the middle of a controversy surrounding a banned substance.
Sports Illustrated alleged that Lewis was one of several players who received a banned substance from a sports science company in Birmingham, Alabama called S.W.A.T.S. (Sports with Alternatives to Steroids).
The company claims its spray utilizes the same chemical used in human growth hormone, or HGH, which they harvest from deer antlers and called deer antler spray. The chemical, IGF-1, is banned by every major sports league and the NCAA, according to the SI.com report.
The company also pushed the benefits of holographic stickers and chips to be placed on acupuncture points. One of the owners also allegedly praised the benefits of "negatively charged water," according to SI.com.
The SI.com report alleged that Lewis, who tore his triceps during an October 14th game, called one of the company's owners after the injury and said at one point in the conversation, "just pile me up and just send me everything you got, because I got to get back on this this week."
SI.com described the scientific problems behind the company thusly: "In truth, there is not a crumb of accepted scientific backing for any frequency technology." The report continued saying that "No such thing as negatively charged water exists"…and "the idea that hologram stickers or deer-antler extract will encode radio waves emitted near them defies basic physics."
Lewis denied using the company's products to ESPN through a team official. When questioned by the press at Super Bowl media day, Lewis channeled his inner Drew Rosenhaus and simply said, "next question."
