Mitch Ross, owner of the SWATS supplement company that allegedly provided Ray Lewis with a deer-antler spray that contains the banned substance IGF-1, joined Mut & Merloni on Thursday to talk about this week’s Sports Illustrated story that put him in the spotlight.

“You know what I’ve learned about print media, media in general? They do their best to destroy whatever they find that is good,” said Ross, who added that he plans to travel to New Orleans and hold a press conference Friday. “They say antler velvet doesn’t have IGF-1 in it. Then they say it does. Either it does or it doesn’t. Which is it? Well, we know it does. Should athletes be able to use natural things to recover their body, or should they do it the Lance Armstrong way, or the Barry Bonds way. Which way should they do it? The government, the Mitchell Report, wanted alternatives and education — alternatives, that’s what this is. That’s what my company is all about, providing alternative performance enhancing. And do you think I got to this stage by lying, giving things that don’t work?”

Ross insisted that the deer-antler spray he sells does not deserve the bad name it’s getting. He agreed that HGH should be banned by the NFL, “in its synthetic form, absolutely.” But he compared his product to getting IGF-1 from eating venison.

“If you eat steak you get creatine in steak. … It’s the same exact process,” he said. “They couldn’t ban it. It’s a naturally occurring substance. That’s the whole problem here, where you cross hairs with synthetic and natural. That’s the problem. The education’s not there.”

Ross said he worked with then-Devil Rays first baseman Carlos Pena in 2009 after his product was tested and cleared.

“[MLBPA assistant general counsel] Bob Lenaghan tested this in 2009 for Carlos Pena. I worked with Pena in 2009. Lenaghan says, ‘Fine, use it.’ In 2010 1/2-11, they banned it. I’m currently suing the Major League Baseball Players Association as we speak.”

To hear the interview, go to the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page.