NEW ORLEANS — When the Super Bowl ends Sunday, the NFL will have completed two seasons without a single HGH test, even though the league and players' union paved the way for it in the 10-year collective bargaining agreement in 2011. Since then, the sides have haggled over various elements, primarily the union's insistence that it needs more information about the validity of a test that is used by Olympic sports and Major League Baseball. HGH is a banned performance-enhancing drug that is hard to detect and has been linked to health problems such as diabetes, cardiac dysfunction and arthritis. Count Baltimore Ravens defensive end Arthur Jones among those NFL players who want the blood testing resolved. “I hope guys wouldn't be cheating. That's why you do all this extra work and extra training. Unfortunately, there are probably a few guys, a handful maybe, that are on it. It's unfortunate. It takes away from the sport,” Jones said. “It would be fair to do blood testing,” Jones added. “Hopefully they figure it out.” At least two members of Congress want to make it happen sooner, rather than later. House oversight and government reform committee chairman Darrell Issa and Elijah Cummings wrote to NFL Players Association head DeMaurice Smith this week to chastise the union for standing in the way of HGH testing and to warn that they might ask players to testify on Capitol Hill. In December, their committee held a hearing at which medical experts testified that the HGH test is reliable and that the union's request for a new study is unnecessary. Neither the league nor union was invited to participate in that hearing; at the time, Issa and Cummings said they expected additional hearings. “We have cooperated and been helpful to the committee on all of their requests,” NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said. “If this is something they feel strongly about, we will be happy to help them facilitate it.” “I feel like some guys are on HGH,” said San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Anthony Davis, who would rather not speak to Congress. “I personally don't care if there is testing. It's something they have to live with, knowing they cheated, and if they get (outplayed) while they're on it, it's a hit on their pride.” — AP
