Yesterday, news agency Al Jazeera reportedly had a second source that would back up claims that Denver Broncos quarterback received shipments of HGH that appeared in a documentary on the network. Other names mentioned in the report on camera by Charlie Sly, a pharmacist trying to sell performance-enhancing drugs to former British Olympian Liam Collins, included Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard and Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman.
A wire report on ESPN.com says that Howard and Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman were filing suit against the news agency:
Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman and Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard have filed lawsuits against Al Jazeera, which reported in a documentary that the two, along with several other professional athletes, allegedly received shipments of performance-enhancing drugs.
In the lawsuits filed Tuesday, Zimmerman and Howard claim the Al Jazeera report on doping, titled "The Dark Side," contained false statements and was inaccurate, unsubstantiated and reckless in nature.
Howard and Zimmerman share the same lawyer, which explains why they would file suit together.
Sly, unaware he was being recorded when he included the names of Howard and Zimmerman when trying to sell the drug Delta-2, quickly retracted what he said when he learned they were going to broadcast his words on television. While the words are indeed Sly's words, Howard and Zimmerman's camp likely will argue that Al Jazeera should have never broadcast a reckless claim by someone of low character trying to sell someone performance enhancing drugs. Besides showing video of Sly claiming that both Howard and Zimmerman used the drug Delta-2, the network added graphics and pictures of each athlete to highlight their names being involved.
Unless Al Jazeera can somehow find proof that either Howard or Zimmerman used the drugs, they may have a hard time dodging legal culpability. If their one and only source, Charlie Sly, says that he completely fabricated the names unaware they were going to be broadcast, then their one and only source is not valid. Like a used car salesman might suggest that Jon Voight drove a 1989 Chrysler LeBaron to sell it to an unsuspecting fool, Sly could easily have fabricated some names in order to help his sales pitch.
Deadspin reports that the lawsuit is based on Sly personally recanting the story. The embattled Howard, in his last year of a highly-scrutinized five-year, $125 million deal, could be a target for criticism after the report. But, if a network is going to air such claims, they had better be ready to back them up. Howard's lawyer knows this and is going to go after them.
