CONTRITE ANDERSON READY TO GO

An apologetic Mike Anderson rejoined his teammates Wednesday after
serving a four-game substance-abuse suspension, and talked openly
about the blemish that will forever be on his record.

"It's something that I will always have to live with," Anderson said.
"And even when I'm done playing the game, it's something I'm going to
have to explain to my kids as they get older - what daddy did and what
happened.

"So it's never going to go away. It's always going to be there. That's
the saddest part of the whole thing. It's always going to be there."

The league announced Anderson's suspension Nov. 10. Anderson
subsequently admitted he had tested positive for marijuana but claimed
he was exposed through secondhand smoke - an argument the league
rejected as implausible.

A four-game suspension indicates he was in Stage 2 of the league's
program - and that there had been at least one earlier violation.

Despite being away from the team for a month and dropping some weight,
Anderson said he is ready to go.

"It's a matter of getting back in the swing of things," he said. "I
don't want to be the one to take away from what (the team is) doing
right now. I want to make sure I'm ready to go, 100 percent, and my
wind is up there like it needs to be so I can go out there and perform
at the level I was performing at before."

With Reuben Droughns hobbled by an ankle injury, Anderson likely will
have to step back into his starting fullback job.

His teammates were glad to have him back.

"Once you're a part of this team . . . it's a brotherhood,"
quarterback Jake Plummer said. "We missed him when he was gone and
felt for him."

Anderson, as a former Marine, is a part of a larger
fraternity.

And he admitted that letting the Marines down weighed on
him.

"The Marines are held in such high regard, and then for a Marine to
make a mistake and to be embarrassed like that, you are not only
embarrassing yourself, you are embarrassing what the Corps stands
for," he said.

Anderson said he received many letters from current and former
Marines.

"Some of them were saying, 'How could you do it, you let us down?' And
some would say, 'We are still behind you and still pulling for you.'
Like I said, it will never go away and it's something I've got to live
with."

While Anderson declined to discuss the specifics of his case, he said
he has made changes in his personal life to prevent another positive
test - one that could result in a yearlong suspension or lifetime ban.

"I have already started doing that, making those kind of changes,"
said Anderson, whose suspension cost him $317,647. "At a point and
time in your life, you have to make changes. Sometimes change is good.
For me, it's definitely a good thing."

Anderson met with reporters Wednesday, hoping he could move forward
and not be a distraction to the team's run for the playoffs.

Before that, he apologized to his teammates, particularly the running
backs.

"I wanted to let them understand that I'm sorry for what happened, and
not being there with them," he said. "I know a lot of those guys were
looking up to me. Like I told them, everyone makes mistakes. But at
the same time I wanted them to learn from my mistakes and not walk
down that same path."

He said it was tough being away from his teammates, but said he has a
new appreciation for this opportunity.

"What's done is done," he said. "It's in the past. I served my four
games. I lost the money that I lost. That, I can never get back. And I
can never get back the four games. Right now, I am just trying to move
forward."