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After the Seahawks' win over the 49ers last Sunday, Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman, who was still waiting for the ruling on his appeal for a positive drug test, said the league "broke rules you can't break." On the day before the decision was announced, he said he planned to sue the league if his four-game suspension was upheld.
Even after Sherman announced on Twitter that he had won his appeal on Thursday, he's not necessarily finished with the fight to clear his name.
When asked Thursday if he was still frustrated that his drug-test result was made public before the appeal was complete, he said (via Sport Radio KJR), "Oh, that's going to be dealt with also."
Not sure exactly what that means, but it sound ominous.
All along, Sherman maintained that the urine specimen collector used a container that had a leak and then tried to use a second container that had a broken seal. Basically, Sherman and his lawyers said the collector didn't use the correct protocol during the entire drug-testing process.
"The decision really relied most heavily on the collection problem, and it comes down to that the arbitrator believed Richard Sherman over the collector's recounting of the facts," one of Sherman's attorneys, Maurice Suh, told USA Today. "This is a case in which there were two different versions -- the collector tried to refute what Richard had said about what had happened, and frankly, we didn't feel the collector was believable and we tried to bring that up in cross examination."
Sherman found redemption on Thursday, when arbiter Robert E. Wallace Jr. wrote in his decision, "In this case, after weighing the differing testimonies of the only two people with first-hand knowledge, Mr. Sherman and Mr. [Mark] Cook [the tester], I do not believe the burden has been met that the departures, especially in the actual collection of the sample, did not materially affect the validity of the positive test."
In other words, Wallace granted Sherman's appeal and reversed his discipline.
"I'm just excited, just knowing for sure I'll be able to go out and play with my teammates," Sherman said. "I think we have a great chance of making a pretty good run. And the way everybody is rolling right now -- the way Russell Wilson is playing, our offense, Marshawn, and our defense is playing -- I think we have a shot to go out there and play some good ball."
By Josh Katzowitz
Even after Sherman announced on Twitter that he had won his appeal on Thursday, he's not necessarily finished with the fight to clear his name.
When asked Thursday if he was still frustrated that his drug-test result was made public before the appeal was complete, he said (via Sport Radio KJR), "Oh, that's going to be dealt with also."
Not sure exactly what that means, but it sound ominous.
All along, Sherman maintained that the urine specimen collector used a container that had a leak and then tried to use a second container that had a broken seal. Basically, Sherman and his lawyers said the collector didn't use the correct protocol during the entire drug-testing process.
"The decision really relied most heavily on the collection problem, and it comes down to that the arbitrator believed Richard Sherman over the collector's recounting of the facts," one of Sherman's attorneys, Maurice Suh, told USA Today. "This is a case in which there were two different versions -- the collector tried to refute what Richard had said about what had happened, and frankly, we didn't feel the collector was believable and we tried to bring that up in cross examination."
Sherman found redemption on Thursday, when arbiter Robert E. Wallace Jr. wrote in his decision, "In this case, after weighing the differing testimonies of the only two people with first-hand knowledge, Mr. Sherman and Mr. [Mark] Cook [the tester], I do not believe the burden has been met that the departures, especially in the actual collection of the sample, did not materially affect the validity of the positive test."
In other words, Wallace granted Sherman's appeal and reversed his discipline.
"I'm just excited, just knowing for sure I'll be able to go out and play with my teammates," Sherman said. "I think we have a great chance of making a pretty good run. And the way everybody is rolling right now -- the way Russell Wilson is playing, our offense, Marshawn, and our defense is playing -- I think we have a shot to go out there and play some good ball."
By Josh Katzowitz