Although there is no urine test that will detect the presence of HGH, there are blood tests that many experts such as Gary Wadler, an associate professor of clinical medicine at New York University School of Medicine, feel would detect the illegal usage of HGH. Wadler, who is a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency that oversees Olympic drug testing programs, testified before Congress last year about the ways in which players are trying to manage their testosterone levels to avoid detection. He then urged the NFL and other leagues to begin performing blood tests for HGH on its players, saying he and other experts strongly feel the tests are reliable.

Although the two sides can dispute that if they'd like, focusing on the test rather than on the problem will only lead to more abuses of the system and eventually more scandalous headlines because one thing is beyond dispute: If the NFL doesn't want to face the stark reality that some of its players are probably finding ways to avoid the present testing program and are very probably using HGH, just like baseball players have been, then they are engaging in a dangerous dance with deception.

Their players' deception and, worse, their own.

In the midst of the hearings last year, the NFL was faced with the embarrassing revelation that three members of the Carolina Panthers — including the punter — filled testosterone prescriptions from a South Carolina doctor within two weeks of playing in the 2004 Super Bowl. None had ever tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs despite the league's superior testing program.

As testing on more conventional steroid use improves and intensifies, more and more professional athletes will seek an edge on other ground. For now it appears that ground lies is in labs that produce HGH, which can only be detected by a blood test. As long as the NFL refuses to implement such blood testing, it is sitting on a time bomb that is sure to explode one day when federal agents burst into someone's home or office and seize the kind of evidence you can't make go away with press releases or self-congratulatory pats on the back.

Was what happened to Eric Moore and Mark Duckens so terrifying that it has scared NFL players straight ever since? Because you'd be hard-pressed to find a dozen players in the NFL today who have ever heard of them, that's as silly a concept as one that bans HGH and then doesn't test for it.

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