Aren't NFL players supposed to be some of the biggest, baddest dudes on the planet? They're now fainting at the sight of their own blood.
Not the sight, exactly. The mere thought of giving blood has players jumping up on kitchen tables like housewives (or husbands) who've just seen a mouse.
Eeeeek!
To be fair, what really scares them isn't the mouse. It's the mouse carrying an HGH testing kit.
The league wants to start checking for Human Growth Hormone. Until Monday, that seemed pointless since the tests seemed as legit as Vince McMahon's biceps. Then a British rugby player became the first pro athlete to test positive for HGH.
It was one small step for British rugby. One giant leap for catching cheats.
Just don't tell that to the NFL Players Association.
"At this point, there's no reason to believe that blood-testing for NFL players will or should be implemented," George Atallah, the union's assistant executive director for external affairs, told the Washington Post. "We should instead focus on preserving the drug-testing policy we now have in place."
No reason?
How about players saying 20-to-30 percent of the league is HGH doping? How about the fact even baseball is suddenly getting serious about HGH testing? How about a jaded public believing every pro athlete is guilty until proven innocent?
Wouldn't players want to do everything possible to show they're clean?
Not if it means giving a teaspoon of blood, which is currently required to detect HGH. Considering the average NFL lineman is now the size of a beluga whale, you'd think they could spare it.
But critics have always said blood-testing is too "invasive." This from people who routinely parade around naked in locker rooms while TV cameras roll.
I don't like having blood drawn any more than the next wimp. But I'd do it if I were succeeding thanks to talent and hard work, and my competition were succeeding thanks to a good pharmacist.
Just look the other way when they stick the needle in, guys. The players' union would rather just look the other way. Period.
It's standard operating procedure. Unions don't want to give up any of their membership's rights. Baseball did such a fine job of it that Chico Escuela almost hit 60 home runs one season.
Now even the Selig Circus seems to be getting it. Baseball said it hopes to implement HGH testing in the minor leagues this season. The players' union didn't react with its usual Sky-is-Falling shrieks, though it remains skeptical about the test.
That's not without reason. The International Olympic Committee has been testing athletes since 2004. In 900 tests heading into the Vancouver Games, no one has failed. If you believe the Olympics are that clean, I have an Iraqi bobsled gold medal to sell you.
Everything changed this week when the United Kingdom Anti-Doping Agency suspended Terry Newton for two years. Proponents say that proves testing has advanced to where the bad guys should be worried.
The NFLPAs of the world say it proves nothing, and that the test is still too unreliable and easy to beat.
Fine, beat it.
Not just football players, but baseball, basketball, hockey players and boxers. A test doesn't have to be infallible to be useful.
Manny Pacquiao dodged his mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather because he didn't want to give blood. Pacquiao preferred urine testing, but that excuse/defense won't last forever.
Urine tests for HGH may not be far away. You'll know they're here when unions start saying that peeing in a cup is too "invasive." Until then, there's another reason athletes should be subjected to blood testing.
You can store the samples and test them as science improves. Wouldn't you love to have a teaspoon of Barry Bonds' blood from 2001?
He fancied himself as big and bad as any NFL player. But something tells me Bonds wouldn't have been any more willing to give blood then than they are now.
And it's not because they're scared of needles. They're scared of what would be in them.
Source: nfl.fanhouse.com
***
No comments:
Post a Comment