Michael Koenen blames tainted water for losing roster spot

Michael Koenen has an odd explanation for why he lost his roster punter with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: he drank some contaminated water which affected his health, he told Fox Sports.

Koenen, who declined to name the water company because of pending legal action, said he began feeling ill during the 2014 season. En route to posting a career-low in gross punting average and having his touchback percentage on kickoffs take a sharp decline, Koenen received a recall notice at his house for the product because of the possibility it was contaminated with mold and yeast spores.

Perhaps the tainted water did contribute to his poor performance over the past year. But there's a rather more simple explanation for his losing his roster spot: he'd been declining as a punter for years on end, and his top-of-the-market salary was completely unjustifiable even if he'd simply performed at his 2013 level. Jake Schum, who took Koenen's roster spot, hasn't even been all that much better -- but he's represented far better value for money.

Koenen's turning to some weird miracle water reinforces one other fact: professional athletes are just as prone to falling for bogus miracle cure scams as anyone else. From Russell Wilson's $3-per-bottle water with "nanobubbles" and electrolytes (it's what plants crave!) to Tom Brady's personal guru selling "Supreme Greens" to cure everything from cancer to arthritis to Ray Lewis allegedly indulging in deer antler spray, these guys will believe a lot of nonsense as long as someone tells them it'll keep them healthy. And that's no wonder in a profession where being in optimal shape is the difference between a million dollar pay check and being out of a job.