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Ray Lewis denies using banned substance to hasten recovery

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Ray Lewis has been the feel-good story of the NFL postseason. The soon-to-be-retired Baltimore linebacker returned from what appeared at the time to be a season-ending torn right triceps in time to help the Ravens win three playoff games and advance to the Super Bowl.

But a Sports Illustrated story released Tuesday linking Lewis to a substance banned by the NFL cast a cloud of the veteran player’s media day news conference. According the story, Lewis used deer-antler velvet extract to help speed up his recovery from the injury.

Mitch Ross, the owner of the company that allegedly provided Lewis with the substance, told SI that deer-antler extract contains IGF-1, a banned substance that would put any user in violation of the NFL’s steroids policy.

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During the news conference, Lewis declined to respond to the SI story twice, both times saying it’s not worth the press. When asked directly if he had ever used deer-antler velvet extract spray, Lewis replied, “Nah, never.”

Yet the SI story describes in great detail a conversation in which Lewis talks to Ross about how to use some of the products and asks Ross to send him a supply. That includes deer-antler extract pills, four of which Lewis allegedly swallowed while talking to Ross hours after suffering the injury back in October.

True or not, it’s a very interesting, and bizarre, story.

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