The news on this story first broke weeks ago, but after appeals and a lot of hemming and hawing the league finally handed down its punishments in the final month of the regular season. The suspended players are Deuce McAllister, Charles Grant and Will Smith of New Orleans; Kevin and Pat Williams (no relation) of Minnesota; and long snapper Bryan Pittman of Houston. They all essentially claim that they were taking an over-the-counter weight-loss supplement that they believed was safe and that the banned chemical in question isn't even listed on the ingredients.

To which the NFL says, "Nuh-uh. We totally told the Players Associations about this two years ago, and you should really read those brochures they (hopefully) give you." Then they really said this:

"You and you alone are responsible for what goes into your body. Claiming that you used only legally available nutritional supplements will not help you in an appeal. ... Even if they are bought over-the-counter from a known establishment, there is currently no way to be sure that they contain the ingredients listed on the packaging or have not been tainted with prohibited substances ...

"If you take these products, you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK! For your own health and success in the league, we strongly encourage you to avoid the use of supplements altogether, or at the very least to be extremely careful about what you choose to take."

So remember kids, don't put anything in your body unless you're 100% certain of what it is and what it will do to you. Unless you want to be like Braylon Edwards or Osi Umenyiora, in which case you should be chugging those "5-Hour Energy" drinks like they're going out of style. Nothing "performance enhancing" about that!

NFL suspends six players for four games each [NFL]
Six suspended NFL players had plenty of warning [Examiner]

• True Hoop: "I guess the one [argument] that has all of us motivated is: because it means so much and because what they did was so harmless. All true, but that's an impossible standard to maintain consistently in the future. Who wants to decide who's harmless and who isn't? Who wants to say which games are really important next time?"

• 100 Percent Injury Rate: "If it's clear that the NBA doesn't care about the fans, likes to enforce a rule that makes NO sense, and has made a mockery of justice in this incident, then why even play the game? Robert Sarver, the current majority owner of the Suns, should tell David Stern to stick it where the sun don't shine and tell him the Suns won't play Game 5. I have no doubt that the people of Phoenix would rally around that cry seeing as they just wound up on the wrong side of one of the most uneven judgments in NBA history."

• Pounding The Rock (Spurs blog): "Horry loses his cool and arm checks The Great White Symbol. An inexcusable cheap shot that leads to the unfortunate suspension of two vital Suns players. And with that the litmus paper has been turned and there's no going back. There's no pointing at Baron Davis' elbow to the head of Derek Fisher and questioning his free pass from the masses, no remembrance of a Raja Bell clothesline. The Spurs are thugs. The series is tainted and the indelible dye has been cast upon the postseason. The only happy ending, the only way to clean this up is David casting down the Goliath and retaking his seemingly ill-gotten gains. No matter the outcome tonight, the Spurs will walk away losers."

Our favorite notion, though, is from a True Hoop reader: "By this logic, if James Jones had noticed that Duncan and Bowen had wandered on the court in the second quarter, he should have immediately decked Francisco Elson. There's your altercation. Mr. Commissioner! Presumably Jones, Duncan, and Bowen would have all been suspended for Game 5 — a big win for Phoenix." It would be incredibly fun to watch a team deploy this strategy.