SUPERBOWL XLVII:Amid the tumult at the Super Bowl media day, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis (right) dismissed a report he had used a banned performance-enhancing substance this season to help recover from a torn triceps.

In an article Sports Illustrated posted on their website about the company Sports With Alternatives to Steroids, the firm’s owner, a former male stripper named Mitch Ross, was quoted as saying Lewis had taken a deer antler extract that contained IGF-1; an insulin-like growth hormone banned by the NFL. It can be detected only by a blood test, which the NFL does not perform.

Ross told the magazine Lewis “went through about 40 bottles” of the extract contained in a product known as the Ultimate Spray.

When asked about those assertions, Lewis curtly brushed them off.

“Two years ago, that was the same report,” he said. “I wouldn’t give that report or him any of my press. He’s not worthy of that. Next question.”

Ravens Coach John Harbaugh was asked about the allegations and said Lewis passed every drug test he had taken.

The Sports Illustrated report said Lewis denied working with Ross while rehabilitating . The magazine reported he acknowledged he spoke to Ross the night he was injured and asked him “to send me some more of the regular stuff . . . or whatever”.

In a videotape Ross made of the call, Lewis told him about his injury. Ross then told Lewis to use the company’s “holographic stickers”, consume large quantities of a “powder additive” and sleep in front of a beam-ray light to promote regeneration.

He also told Lewis to spray the extract under his tongue every two hours. Lewis then asked Ross to “just send me everything you got”.

New York Times