NFLPA Still Fighting Against HGH Testing

Here's a pretty undeniable fact. People don't like cheaters and people regard those who use steroids as cheaters. Look at the reputation of any athlete that's been caught as evidence of that. Generally, it can't be denied that using steroids is seen as wrong.

So why is the NFLPA so against HGH testing in the NFL?

The union managed to get HGH testing set to the side during the CBA negotiations last summer. Then they dragged their feet through the year and managed to put it off more. Now, with the season virtually over, the owners have renewed their push for HGH testing and as you can imagine, DeMaurice Smith and his guys are still fighting it. The pretense he's using is that the owners are trying to "bully" the union into a testing program.

"No one will bully us into a test," Smith said Thursday. "No one will force the players to accept something that's unfair. How could we?"

The union has raised questions about the detection methods and appeals process.

"We are going to continue to fight and ensure that due process is something that is not thrown away at the expense of just having the test," said Smith, who is up for re-election in March.'

What he never explains is why the owners would want to "bully" the players into getting tested or how they'd stand to gain. Probably because there is no good reason. Plus, that's really a side issue that has nothing to do with the reason why the players refuse to get tested for HGH.

His excuse about science does address that issue, but is even more absurd. The Olympics, most of other American sports, most other global sports all are comfortable with the standards in HGH testing, but somehow the NFL players aren't? They want us to believe that they're reluctant to submit to HGH testing because they're not sure enough about the science? Seriously?

Dick Pound, who used to be the head of the World Anti Doping Agency isn't buying it. He says that "there is known and suspected use of HGH" in the NFL (as evidenced by the Carolina Panthers scandal) and that the players are dragging their feet because of that and inventing the excuse about science as cover.

"Even more resourceful off the field than on it, the players, acting through their union, the NFLPA, have turned to their ubiquitous lawyers to throw as much sand as money can buy into the gears of an effective testing program," Pound wrote in his op-ed. "So, the lawyers, in a feat of self-generated alchemy, have turned themselves into scientists and now spout supposedly principled concerns about the reliability of scientific tests for HGH."

I'm pretty sure I know why the players are doing whatever they can to avoid having HGH testing in the game, but I'm curious as to what you all think. Do they just want to keep cheating and getting away with it? Should they submit to HGH testing ever?