First signs that NFL players are using Human Growth Hormone???

[Ebenezer]

OK, let's file this one under the "where there's smoke..." catagory but....

Why would Gene Upshaw be so against this type of testing if there wasn't a significant number of players using HGH???

Upshaw tells newspaper he doubts WADA's credibility

If the World Anti-Doping Agency produces blood-test kits for HGH, NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw told The Charlotte Observer he doesn't want to see them used in the league.

"I have no confidence in WADA or their kits," Upshaw told the Observer in an e-mail. "I have my doubts about WADA and their history. I am not willing to accept them as an authority on this.

"The league may have some interest, but it will not be done without approval of the players."

WADA science director Dr. Olivier Rabin told the newspaper that WADA will release the commercial blood-testing kits before the end of the year.

The NFL currently only uses urine tests, which can't detect HGH, but The Observer reported that NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league is "open to considering" the blood-testing kits if WADA made them available.

WADA president Dick Pound defended the tests.

"I don't know where he's coming from," Pound said of Upshaw in a telephone interview with The Observer. "The HGH test is good. The science is good. It makes it look like he doesn't want blood testing.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2738172

[YardRat]

He's the union president. He gets paid to attempt to ensure nothing gets done without the members input, or in a manner that is ultimately non-damaging or beneficial to them.

[jmb1099]

You might be on to something. The more resistance, the more is looks plausible.

OK, let's file this one under the "where there's smoke..." catagory but....

Why would Gene Upshaw be so against this type of testing if there wasn't a significant number of players using HGH???

Upshaw tells newspaper he doubts WADA's credibility

If the World Anti-Doping Agency produces blood-test kits for HGH, NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw told The Charlotte Observer he doesn't want to see them used in the league.

"I have no confidence in WADA or their kits," Upshaw told the Observer in an e-mail. "I have my doubts about WADA and their history. I am not willing to accept them as an authority on this.

"The league may have some interest, but it will not be done without approval of the players."

WADA science director Dr. Olivier Rabin told the newspaper that WADA will release the commercial blood-testing kits before the end of the year.

The NFL currently only uses urine tests, which can't detect HGH, but The Observer reported that NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league is "open to considering" the blood-testing kits if WADA made them available.

WADA president Dick Pound defended the tests.

"I don't know where he's coming from," Pound said of Upshaw in a telephone interview with The Observer. "The HGH test is good. The science is good. It makes it look like he doesn't want blood testing.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2738172

[Dr. Lecter]

Well duh.

Of course they are on HGH. It acts similar to steroids and is not tested for.

[Ebenezer]

Well, to be fair urine tests do not detect HGH...it would need a blood test.

[MikeInRoch]

Did anyone see "Outside the Lines" on ESPN this morning? They talked a great deal about HGH. Specifically, it seems that athletes that get head injuries (in both football and boxing) have a very high rate of damaging one of the glands in the brain that controls HGH production - and those athletes have much, much lower than normal HGH levels. So the debate is - should those players be allowed to get treatments to get up to 'normal' levels?

[Ebenezer]

Did anyone see "Outside the Lines" on ESPN this morning? They talked a great deal about HGH. Specifically, it seems that athletes that get head injuries (in both football and boxing) have a very high rate of damaging one of the glands in the brain that controls HGH production - and those athletes have much, much lower than normal HGH levels. So the debate is - should those players be allowed to get treatments to get up to 'normal' levels?
I didn't see that but it is interesting...I wonder...growth hormone is made in the anterior lobe of the pituitary...as are thyroid stimulating hormone, the gonadotropins (those hormones that cause the ovaries and testes to mature) and ACTH (regulates repsonse to stress). I wonder if there is a decrease in the amounts of these other hormones...

[MikeInRoch]

There is an article in the latest ESPN the Magazine about it as well. It's probably still on the news stands...

[TigerJ]

He's the union president. He gets paid to attempt to ensure nothing gets done without the members input, or in a manner that is ultimately non-damaging or beneficial to them.

More than that, he's paid to be an obstructionist when it comes to anything that would require players to be more accountable.