When the NFL Lockout ended, one of the issues agreed upon was for HGH testing. This was in August of 2011. Now we are heading into February of 2013 and the NFL and NFLPA are no closer to coming to agreement as to how the testing for HGH will be conducted.
Enter the halls of Congress to help push the two closer together.
“We are disappointed with the NFLPA’s remarkable recalcitrance, which has prevented meaningful progress on this issue,” Representatives Darrell Issa (R-Cal.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said in a letter to the NFL Players Association. “We intend to take a more active role to determine whether the position you have taken — that HGH is not a serious concern and that the test for HGH is unreliable — is consistent with the beliefs of rank and file NFL players.”
The letter continues.
“Despite being the first of the major professional sports leagues to agree to test for HGH, the NFL has now fallen far behind its counterparts in implementing the agreement,” the letter continues. “While NFLPA management may not believe that HGH is a problem in the NFL, the words of your athletes suggest otherwise. We hope the facts collected by the Committee will provide you and the NFL with the information necessary to resolve this matter.”
The letter goes on to request the NFLPA to bring forth any documentation, information, including their latest proposal for HGH testing.
Congress has stated during the hearing that NFL players may be asked (or forced) to testify should come as a great concern for the NFL and NFLPA. One needs to look no further than the results of the Congressional hearings with Major League Baseball and its players’ testimony in regards to steroids. As they have showed what will happen if you lie to Congress, under oath, you will face criminal charges. The NFLPA has stated previously that it will accept the HGH testing standards currently used by Major League Baseball.
The league is trying to move forward from the negative backlash in regards to Bounty-Gate, player safety, the lack of effort in the Pro Bowl and now comments about the future of the NFL from President Obama and Baltimore Ravens Safety Bernard Pollard and now Congress is back.
