Although he follows and wagers on NBA games, I think it’s fair to say that Manny Pacquiao doesn’t know if the Dallas Cowboys play football or participate in rodeos. For that matter, Pacman knows a lot more about cockfights than he does rodeos. My point is that Floyd Mayweather Jr., who does follow (and bets on) the National Football League, should be asking himself right now whether his blind trust of the United States Anti Doping Agency and its parent, the World Anti Doping Agency, when it comes to HGH testing is misplaced. Boxers don’t have any players association, any union, to protect them individually or as a group. Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, the ex-light heavyweight champ who was previously known as Eddie Gregory, and his Teamsters connected JAB (Joint Association of Boxers) got a bit of traction but seems to have faded away. But American pro athletes in baseball, basketball, ice hockey and football do have strong unions and one storyline that refuses to go away in connection with the NFL and the NFLPA is the union’s public distrust of the implementation of testing for HGH for NFLA members. First, some background. Back in July, the gridders union agreed in principle to screen players’ blood for HGH–the same growth hormone that Mayweather and others believe and or fear that Pacquiao has used to compile his great ring victories. The NFLPA agreed to this when it signed the collective bargaining agreement with the league. Now an NFLPA spokesman says a letter endorsing the blood screening for HGH signed by 23 scientists is wrapped in self interest. “Every quote, unquote, scientist that signed that letter is a WADA lab director or affiliated with WADA in some way,” NFLPA mouthpiece George Ataliah told the New York Daily News on Thursday. “We didn’t put a lot of credence into it.” Keep in mind, blood testing fans, that if the NFLPA members do start getting HGH screen testing, they will become THE FIRST American sports league to test for the drug. NFLPA officials distrust of WADA was exacerbated when the drug testing agency refused to share all information requested by the players union during a meeting in Montreal on Aug. 24. For its part, the NFL is trying to, pardon the expression, muscle the players into HGH testing by leaning on Congressman Darrell Issa and Congressman Elijah Cummings. Issa and Cummings, a Republican from California and a Democrat from Maryland respectively, run the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. A second group of scientists sent a similar “yes, the test is OK” letter USADA official Larry Bowers. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello seized on the second letter to back the league’s push for HGH testing now. “There is simply no excuse for delaying the start of HGH testing in the NFL. The scientific validity of the test is unquestioned,” Aiello said. The House committee is also pushing for NFL HGH testing as soon as possible. But the NFLPA remains skeptical. Pacquiao would do well to remain skeptical and so would Brother Mayweather. ([email protected])
