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The negotiations over a new NFL collective bargaining agreement may just have gotten a bit more interesting given the recent developments in the league of our northern neighbors.
According to the Toronto Globe and Mail, the Canadian Football League has written into its CBA a drug policy that allows for blood testing for human growth hormone, an issue the NFL Players Association has steadfastly rejected. The CFL will have year-round, random testing of 80 to 100 athletes with only 24 hours notice, along with urine analysis for steroids.
Here's the whole story. The number of tested players goes up to 400, or 25 percent of the league, in 2011, and rises to 35 percent in 2012 and 2013.
This blog has long been a proponent of players submitting to HGH testing, even if it means getting their fingers pricked or a needle stuck in their arm. And believe me when I tell you this, nobody is more scared of needles than I am. But if someone was paying me millions to do what I do and wanted to make sure I was doing it clean, I'd stick my arm out in a second.
Not that the CFL wags the NFL's tail in any way, but now that the precedent has been set, perhaps the players will be more amenable to at least considering blood tests for HGH. It's not a perfect solution, but it could help clean up a sport where undoubtedly many are getting help beyond the strictures of the drug policy. Would love to be in the room when those talks occur.
What do you think?
EP
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I don't think CFL setting this precedent is going to affect the NFLPA at all. Matter of fact, is there even a CFL players union, and is it all that powerful? If it were, I don't think it would accept terms such as you have reported.
ReplyDeleteThis should not even be a part of the negotiations but then again I am not a scientist and the argument is that the test isn't accurate. TRAINING CAMP IN ONE MONTH!!!!!!!!! FANTASY DRAFTS IN 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GIANTS FOOTBALL IN 2 1/2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time to step up ur game Ern because I am going to need a whole lot of Ern to not run thru a wall this summer.
ReplyDeleteFOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!! LETS GO!
ReplyDeleteCanadian content on Canada Day. Nice touch Ernie.
ReplyDeleteChris B.
Oh Canada, went up to Montreal, girls were smoking! Hotter than south beach la and vegas.
ReplyDeleteI think all sports need to check for steroids and HGH and the collective bargaining agreements have got to permit it if we're ever going to make any sense of competition. Unless and until these substances can be proven to have no serious deleterious effects on the mind and body, they have to remain banned. And if they're banned, they have to be able to screen the athletes.
ReplyDeleteIf however the FDA conducts scientific case studies over the long term and concludes that they're basically safe, then lift the ban and let's be done with the asterisks and hubbub.
Seriously, Wayno? Your standards must be really low. I would call the women of Montreal handsome, at best.
ReplyDeleteu are sooooooooooooooo wrong, every one was in great shape, long legs, miniskirts, fashionable and quite attractive. Check again, 4 real. I live in NY, I know what Im talking about, my head was on a swivel.
ReplyDelete