HGH: The NFL's Elephant In The Room

Beyond current flawed drug testing as evidenced by the whole Cushing affair recently:

[url=http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=cr-inconvenienttruths121609]http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=c ... uths121609[/url]

Ties to the Argonauts, Tiger Woods, Dana Torres, and others just waiting for some media muckraker again here ...

Key development today with Dr. Galea's criminal charges in the US:

[url=http://forums.cfl.ca/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=55317#p893311]viewtopic.php?f=1&t=55317#p893311[/url]

Soon this will be also the CFL's elephant in the room too. :frowning:

[url=http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/2010/05/19/2010-05-19_nfl_needs_to_tackle_hgh.html]http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/footb ... e_hgh.html[/url]

Excellent article, with testimony from a 10-year former NFL player, that now given the criminal charges the NFL must confront here with the issue apparently still under the rug in the CFL and it seems a whole lot of oblivious Argos fans to the fact that Dr. Galea worked for them. :roll:

This evidence is especially for the folks who insinuate somehow that the CFL is so much more squeaky clean than the NFL in this regard, even without the random drug testing, for various reasons including "well we have not found enough recent evidence."

Just plain reality above and beyond the integrity of both games demand better random drug testing, but some will even protest that matter or just agree yet decry any meaningful measures.

I have no doubt in my mind that if an American doctor, formerly employed by an NFL team, were busted in trafficking 'roids or illegal drugs into Canada and working with CFL players including Canadians, we'd be hearing far more about THAT on this forum and associated "ah those Americans are messing up our league" rants from fortunately only a small minority of folks. :?

This fine article, a bit more pessimistic than I think reality will turn out, includes some information about HGH testing via blood testing as just one of many contentious items on the table between the NFL and NFLPA.

[url=http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/labor-issue-about-to-blow-up-on-nfl]http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/labo ... -up-on-nfl[/url]
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"NFL File Folder" & "CFL Folder" seized in raid on Dr. Galea's office in Toronto. :expressionless:

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The plot thickens with now an assistant to Dr. Galea to testify as well as court filings about multiple trips to New York, Boston, Tampa, and Washington to treat athletes with HGH.

So now before too long either we see who else in any of those towns besides Santana Moss is in the web of HGH in the NFL. :expressionless:

With blood testing coming to the CFL in 2011, now the NFL is looking at it as well due to the looming large HGH problem:

[url=http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extra_points/2010/07/post_12.html]http://www.boston.com/sports/football/p ... st_12.html[/url] [url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/cfl-institutes-drug-policy/article1623750/]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/f ... le1623750/[/url]
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Deer antler velvet? Interesting as this plot will thicken to involve more than just Ray Lewis I think ...very telling is how quickly the NFL moved in to try to cover this up too.

Many months later here we are as just one major item of contention in the NFL lockout:

[url=http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/hgh-testing-by-nfl-makes-sense-to-doping-expert-032611]http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/hgh- ... ert-032611[/url]

I side with the owners on nothing but on this issue.

If players are demanding lavish health benefits extending beyond their careers, the owners ultimately paying for them have every right to demand certain controls on what players use at least when they are playing.

Those controls disappear afterwards and of course are not in place right now during the lockout.

I have a good feeling this is one issue that will only make an agreement that much harder, but in about four months I also think the owners will back off for just one season in order to re-visit this one again next year.

No one wants to see a year of football missed if a patchwork agreement for one season can take place in the worse case.

More here on the NFL owners position on the matter as well as how it is handled in the CFL:

[url=http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81f0aab7/article/league-sees-hgh-testing-as-critical-part-of-new-labor-agreement]http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8 ... -agreement[/url]

Great reads Paolo.

[url=http://www.macsfootballblog.com/2011/04/report-federal-agents-raid-florida.html]http://www.macsfootballblog.com/2011/04 ... orida.html[/url]

NFL, CFL, and some NCAA players apparently were either at the facility or train there -- I see no follow-up yet which means either the report is a merely a rumour (i.e. the media cliche` "developing story" will be next) or a media cover-up (i.e. silence but no explanation to actually defy the report).

As I live here, I'll be interested of course to hear just what part of Florida.

As much info as you put on here about it you could have done just a little research yourself and come up with the answer that it was apparently

All-Star Sports in Paisley little east of DeLand … North of Orlando … it’s in Lake County

Toronto-based Dr. Galea, with mostly Canadian and American clients apparently too, is to plead guilty in Buffalo next week:

[url=http://gridironfans.com/forums/latest-nfl-headlines/158603-dr-anthony-galea-expected-plead-gulity-injecting.html]http://gridironfans.com/forums/latest-n ... cting.html[/url]

On a broader level, this is also a major sticking point in the NFL lockout (no pun intended).

The owners demand blood testing for also HGH, and the players' union says no way will players become pin cushions as they demand more health insurance benefits paid by the owners after a player's career is over.

On only that single item I am with the owners. If the players want even more health coverage after their playing days, they better give up their arm to the needle too or just p1ss off.

[url=http://theredzone.org/BlogDescription.aspx?EntryID=18246a]http://theredzone.org/BlogDescription.a ... yID=18246a[/url]

It looks like they will be testing for HGH via random blood tests down here and rightly so if the players want longer-term health benefits.

There was an agreement when the season started such that HGH testing would be implemented, but then there was disagreement about methods and absolutely nothing was done.

I have no doubt everyone is kicking this can down the road and many players would be nipped by tests, and with the league riding record numbers, why would anyone want to ruin the party now?

Ah, but the players are demanding greater health benefits of course, and the owners are absolutely in the right on this issue if they are to be paying for them. This is probably the only issue on which I agree with the owners and the league rather than the players.

Just sayin' as clearly this issue will not go away ...look how similar issues will affect MMA now for example.

Drug testing for anything other then performance enhancing drugs actually causes much more serious recreational drug use then if there was no testing at all....
Basicly it is easier to pass a test for Coke then for Weed, so people who do weed then switch to coke, crystal etc

[url=http://gridironfans.com/forums/latest-nfl-headlines/179664-roger-goodell-says-nfls-proposed-hgh-test.html]http://gridironfans.com/forums/latest-n ... -test.html[/url]

Note here straight from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. I'm not sure this testing will happen next season, but it will happen by 2013.

I do not think Congress will mess around if the players protest in 2012 given that it's an election year.

Well I got it wrong on my last post in January, for now Congress indeed has weighed in with this final step before Congress would take the matter to action and likely air it loudly and publicly for sake of any electoral benefits of political hot air:

[url=http://gridironfans.com/forums/latest-nfl-headlines/195015-congress-asks-nfl-nflpa-begin-hgh-testing.html]http://gridironfans.com/forums/latest-n ... sting.html[/url]

This news means either the NFLPA and NFL come to an agreement, or Congress will decide the matter and probably sanction punishment via changes in the law that would hold either group more liable for issues as arise out of the use of HGH.

Here you go dude for your overdue inspiration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FtNm9CgA6U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDoIM1dRzGo