Ron Borges

NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw and outgoing NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue or his replacement should have their PR men go back into their clip files and pull up the sad story of Eric Moore and Mark Duckens. It is 13 years old, but if they don't want to see it repeated, they had best learn from history rather than run from it.

In 1993, Moore, a starting offensive lineman with the New York Giants, and Duckens, a defensive end with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, pled guilty to charges of possession of both anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, also known as HGH. They pled those cases down to misdemeanors, but their careers quickly dissipated while the NFL intensified its testing for steroids to the point where it is seen as the leader in pro sports in that regard.

Yet when Congress began to look into the use of steroids, HGH and other performance enhancing drugs in professional sports last year in the wake of the BALCO scandal and the shocking revelations in Jose Canseco's book about steroid use in the major leagues, the NFL ran into a skeptical critic of its success with drug testing in Congressman Henry Waxler (D., Calif.).

The league has been widely praised for the effectiveness of its testing program, which tests all players for steroids during training camp and seven players per week during the season as well as conducting random tests in the off-season. However, Waxler noted they do not test for human growth hormone, the drug Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jason Grimsley was found to have a season's worth of in his possession several weeks ago, according to a federal indictment.

As Waxler said at the time of the hearings last year, “The percentage of NFL players who test positive for steroids is very low. Is this because the policy is working or is this because players have figured out how to avoid detection?”

Tagliabue and Upshaw took offense at that and have continued to beat their chests over their league's leadership role in testing for performance-enhancing drugs. Although it's true they are by far the best in professional sports, when you consider the head-in-the-sand approach in baseball, for example, what is that compared to? Ostriches?

Of greater concern is that in the wake of the Grimsley revelations and the recent confession by at least two other former major leaguers about their HGH usage, Upshaw and his counterparts in NFL management said they were still not in favor of instituting the only known test for HGH, which is a blood test used at the Olympics in Athens in 2004.

HGH, which builds bone and muscle at a rapid rate, is a banned substance in the NFL and Major League Baseball, but neither tests for it.

That's like saying you can't speed in this town, but we're not going to check anyone's speed as they pass through.

Professional athletes long ago proved they don't deserve to be on the honor code. Many of them will take whatever someone is willing to sell them if they believe its effects will enhance their careers. For the NFL to think none of its players are using HGH is to insist that their players are not possessed of the same human nature and craving for success found on the Olympic track or the Major League Baseball field or anywhere else where sports and money are intertwined.

Last week, Upshaw emphatically opposed blood testing of his players for HGH, saying there was no reliable test. What was more shocking, though, was his assertion that even if there was, he would oppose it.

“When you start talking about coming in to take a person's blood, that's different than taking someone's urine,” Upshaw said with somewhat fractured logic. “I know personally I would have a problem with someone coming in and trying to take the players’ blood. I'm not ready to make that leap.”

At around the same time as Upshaw's comments, the NFL issued a statement through league spokesman Greg Aiello reiterating its belief that there is no reliable test yet for HGH.

“We have no current plans to implement blood testing, and we have concerns about the reliability of the blood test that currently exists,” the statement read.

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