The New York Times reported last night that the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating (without their horses) Dr. Anthony Galea for possible smuggling and selling of unapproved drugs, including human growth hormone and other performance enhancing drugs. Dr. Galea is a Toronto sports physician known as the "Miracle Man" for his innovate rehab treatments and whose client list includes Olympic superwoman Dara Torres, former fastest man alive Donovan Bailey, NFL players Javon Walker and Chris Simms, the Argonauts, billionaire vigilante Bruce Wayne, Mighty Mouse and, of course ... one Eldrick Woods.

Now before you call your local sports talk show, let's step back for a second. Even though the second sentence of the article says that Dr. Galea is "suspected" of giving athletes PEDs—and the rest of article discusses many of his high profile patients—none of the athletes mentioned in the article are accused of receiving PEDs. The investigation started when Galea's assistant was stopped at the border with HGH and Actovegin, which is basically purified calf's blood. HGH is legal in Canada and the doctor insists he has never given either drug to athletes. (He does admit to injecting himself with HGH for the last ten years, which is just bizarre, but we'll move on. The guy on the left is supposedly 50 years old, btw.) The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has heard "intelligence" that athletes are using Actovegin, even though there's no evidence it does anything and the World Anti-Doping Agency hasn't banned it.

What Dr. Galea is known for is being a pioneer in "platelet-rich plasma therapy" (which is what he did for Tiger) as well as "other pioneering procedures, on knees, elbows and Achilles' tendons." He's a legend in pro athlete circles for his ability to help injured players heal quickly from serious injuries. He treated Bailey's ruptured Achilles, Torres' bad knee, and helped Javon Walker get surgery in Israel, because the procedure was not approved in the U.S.

He also makes house calls. He flew to Orlando "four or five times" to do platelet replacement therapy on Tiger's surgically repaired knee.

Two days after the first treatment, Woods texted him, Dr. Galea said: "He said he couldn't believe how good he feels. He'd joke and say, ‘I can jump up on the kitchen table,' and I said, ‘Please don't.' "

Hey, that's sounds ... suspicious? The story makes it sound like Galea is either a crazy genius or a provider of a little something "extra"—although in the world of cutting edge medicine, there's no reason he can't be both. A colleague is quoted as saying, "Ten years from now, they are going to say, wow, this guy was a pioneer."

There could be more to this, but based only on what the Times is saying here, there isn't much meat on this story. Galea may have violated some obscure Canadian customs laws, but there's no direct accusation of illegal or suspicious treatments. He does things that a lot of other doctors won't, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's wrong to do so. His clients love him (of course), other doctors talk about him glowingly, and Tiger Woods can jump on tables. What's the big deal?

Oh, right. Tiger.

Everyday for the past two-and-a-half weeks has brought a new revelation about his shady cougar-hunting ways. Might as well throw this on the horndog pile too. But it does seem a little out of character for the Paper of Record to print this pathetic plea from his agent.

When asked for comment about Mr. Woods's involvement with Dr. Galea, Mark Steinberg, of I.M.G., responded in an e-mail message: "I would really ask that you guys don't write this? If Tiger is NOT implicated, and won't be, let's please give the kid a break."

Yeah, good luck with that.

Doctor Who Treated Top Athletes Is Subject of Doping Inquiry [New York Times]

Because, honestly, who among us hasn't been overwhelmed by the powers of persuasion of Al Davis? Not that Raiders fans were that optimistic about this season to begin with, but the receiver you just signed to a six year $55 million dollar deal wanting to quit doesn't instill a lot of pre-season confidence.

Walker, who had a rough offseason what with the beatdown and robbery in Las Vegas, was supposedly upset with his performance in camp and offered to return his $11 million signing bonus. Al Davis persuaded him otherwise and all now claim that things are fine. But Lane Kiffin didn't get the memo. Telling ESPN:

"I worry a lot about it," Kiffin said. "For someone to discuss retirement, and then to come back and change his mind a day later. I'm worried a lot about it. I'm worried about where he's at mentally, because these things happen sometimes and they come back up again, because maybe they come back and maybe it isn't necessarily for the right reasons. So were going to continue to communicate with him and push him out there on the field and get him better."

At least Jamarcus Russell has proven himself.

Al Davis talked Raiders WR Walker out of retiring

Police are still searching for the second man involved, but believe he's still poking around Vegas. Here's some semblance of how Walker got robbed:

[T]he 29-year-old Walker got into a vehicle with the two men early June 16 before he was found beaten and unconscious on a side street near the Las Vegas Strip.

So, if that's the case, then why on earth would Walker make that crackheaded, "Three men came to my hotel room door brandishing guns"- shit statement to The Dirty last week? Maybe he was still suffering from the effects of the concussion.

Police: Arrest Made In Walker Case [SI.com]

As far as the investigation, Las Vegas police say they have "two possible suspects", but have yet to identify them. Two? Wait. Didn't Javon say there were...

I was just back at my room and at about 5:30 in the morning I got a knock at the door. I opened it and 3 guys with guns were there. They cracked me in the head a few times, knocking me unconscious. They then robbed me of everything I had; my watch, money, everything! Somehow they got me to a car and dropped me off in the street. That’s what happened.”

Right. That's what happened.

Walker released from hospital [SF Gate]
Javon Walker Speaks Cryptically, Nonsensically About His Violent Night In Vegas [Deadspin]

Okay, this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but it is "a statement" from Javon Walker about what he says happened during his infamous champagne-spraying night in Vegas. And which lucky media outlet gets the first quote from Walker? TheDirty.com, of course. Here's what Javon told the venerable +2 blog of record:

“I was just back at my room and at about 5:30 in the morning I got a knock at the door. I opened it and 3 guys with guns were there. They cracked me in the head a few times, knocking me unconscious. They then robbed me of everything I had; my watch, money, everything! Somehow they got me to a car and dropped me off in the street. That’s what happened.”

What's that smell? Did I just ride by an open pasture?

Regardless of what transpired that evening or how Walker ended up in this predicament, this statement is riddled with holes, which Florio pointed out in his item thanks to a little help from Jason Whitlock:

Also, and as our buddy Jason Whitlock has pointed out via e-mail since we initially posted this item, there are surveillance cameras everywhere in Vegas. So if Javon was staying at the swankiest hotel or at the Motel 6 at 707 Fremont Avenue, chances are that there’s footage somewhere of the marauding gang of thugs who accosted Walker at his room and dragged his unconscious body to their car. The likely absence of such video evidence will blow his story out of the water.

To top it all off, the San Jose Mercury News' Tim Kawakami is already speculating that Walker could be one of Al Davis' greatest mistakes.

Can't wait to see how this plays out.

Exclusive: Javon Walker talks to The Dirty [TheDirty.com]
Raiders' Walker releases statement on robbery [AP]
Walker Speaks, Makes No Sense [PFT]

TMZ is now running photos of Walker seemingly in the middle of his $15,000 champagne splashdown party, and the site also suggests that he may have doused the wrong patron with his pink bubbly, which, as we all know, is an offense that may result in an overnight hospital stay with an orbital fracture.

The photos were first spotted by the crafty Unsilent Majority at KSK, who also took the time to cull the message board rumors and ended with this wild speculation about why Walker possibly got his face smashed — Floyd Mayweather:

You see, Vegas is Money May’s town, and when he’s giving his people a champagne shower you really shouldn’t try to upstage the recently retired pound-for-pound champion. According to message boards, the only source less reliable than those ne’erdowell bloggers, Walker thought he could outdo Mayweather, who reportedly went through 50 bottles of Cristal. As the story goes, somebody (or bodies) from Mayweather’s group of friends ran into Walker later that evening morning and gave him the old “keep your ugly fuckin’ goldbrickin’ ass out our desert community” speech. I can safely say that Mayweather himself was not personally responsible for any assault seeing as how he’s yet to surface at any area hospitals with a broken hand.

And that's how a bill becomes a law...

Anyway, for the latest updates on Walker's status and more unfounded rumor-mongering about all this, hit up Florio, who is, of course, covering this from every angle, real or imagined.

Sorry, Javon — Vegas Is Money May's Town [KSK]
Javon — Sprayed Out Before He Got Laid Out [TMZ]
Police: Cash Taken From Walker [AP]

Walker was taken to a Vegas hospital, where he was being treated for "significant injuries." The Raiders aren't saying anything until they gather more information, but it appears Walker won't be back on the field for mini-camp this summer.

Remember, as a member of the Denver Broncos, Walker sat next to Darrent Williams in the limo the night the Broncos' safety was killed. To add some disturbing conspiracy theories to the equation, we'll go to Rob Calonge of MVN, who pieces together these bits of information:

According to various sources, Javon Walker was on his second straight night of spraying Dom into a crowd at a night club (isn’t he supposed to be getting ready for the season?). As reported earlier, he had also done this at Tryst early Sunday morning, while Monday morning it was Body English. According to some reports, he was racking up $15,000 tabs on both nights.

What makes this all the more troubling is that it has been reported that Brandon Marshall and his cousin had sprayed the crowd at a night club the night that Darrent Williams was shot and died in Walker’s arms. This ’spraying’ of champagne is the suspected impetus of the drive by shooting.

When Darrent Williams was put to rest, Walker begged out of going to Texas for the funeral and instead was later seen at Tryst in Las Vegas.

So, did Walker's beat-down have anything to do with the Williams' case? Or did he just make himself an easy target for a robbery because he was flashing his money around and spraying pink champagne all over people?

Raiders' Walker apparently victim of robbery [ESPN]
Thoughts From The Dark Side [MVN]
Javon Walker's Bloody Shirt [Deadspin]

Here's the updated photo of Javon Walker post-limo shooting. Obviously, this sheds a little bit of light that Walker was in the vacinity of Williams as he died.

So What Was Javon Walker's Involvment? [Deadspin]

Williams' mother also seeks to speak with Walker about the incident to find out what happened and offer some clues as to what prompted the incident.

Darrent Williams Killed [SI.com]

We have sympathy, though, for Walker. Rosenhaus' problem has always been one of overambition. His goal has been less to get his clients more money and more to change the entire pay structure of the NFL, which, as has been well documented, is the least fair to its athletes in all of American professional sport. What Rosenhaus was trying to do for Walker was grab him an extension after his best season in case he ended up injured and unable to play and earn money. And you know what? That's exactly what happened to Walker. Rosenhaus might not have been successful — which is certainly becoming a trend — but it's difficult to blame Walker for what he was trying to do, considering what happened. The real question will be if Terrell Owens drops Rosenhaus in the offseason. If that happens, well, we suggest Rosenhaus strap himself up to an e-meter, consider Scientology and finally go the Jerry Maguire route, full bore.

Rosenhaus Dropped By Walker [Madison.com]