Getty ImagesTo date, two Congressional committees have expressed an interest in taking action aimed at forcing the NFL and NFLPA to implement an August agreement to conduct HGH testing. Now, former Presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.) wants a Senate committee to get in on the act, too.
Senator McCain told Dan Patrick earlier today that public hearings should be held promptly to ensure that testing will commence.
“I always worry about Congress being involved in things, because I’m a conservative,” McCain said. “But I think that if I were chairman of the Commerce committee, which I . . . I’d be hauling these guys up before Congress to explain why we are not enforcing an agreement” to conduct HGH testing.
The Commerce committee currently is chaired by John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W. Va.). Senator Rockefeller expressed concern regarding the NFL’s labor situation before the lockout commenced. He has yet to make any comments about HGH testing.
“It seems to me since they made an agreement, they have to come up with compelling proof that these tests shouldn’t be conducted, rather than saying it has to be proved that they can be,” McCain added.
He’s right. And we’ll separately explain soon what could happen if the NFLPA and NFL don’t turn their agreement to conduct HGH testing into actual HGH testing. Even though it’s the NFLPA that seems to be dragging their feet, the situation could play out in a manner that harms the NFL’s interests significantly.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, let’s focus on jobs, reducing the deficit and ending the wars, John…
Doesn’t McCain have “job creators” to protect from taxes, or something else to do? I guess it’s a win for the 99% when one of these yahoo’s is doing something else other than creating more serfs.
I want “Integrity” testing on all U.S. Senators.
Is it just me, or do some people never go away.
I always worry about Congress being involved in things, because I’m a conservative
Keep saying that Johnnie. Maybe someday someone will believe you.
Congress stay out of football.
I’m completely ignorant about this whole situation, by why the hell does Congress care so much about whether the NFL does HGH testing or not? Aren’t there more important things to worry about?
Congress needs to worry about everything but Sports!!!
Why? show us side effect. There are no hearings on players taking an ungodly amount of pain killer, which are drugs that actually have real life consequences. People die from Norco’s and OC but no body dies from HGH. waste of time
I’m SO GLAD he’s on top of this vital issue since all of the countries problems have been solved.
Got the economy all figgered out, eh? Nice work!
Maybe he can get Palin on it.
What a disgrace this man has become.
Doesn’t Congress have more important things to figure out? This is not a priority for the American people
I don’t support this at all, and I’m a fan of McCain. Congress has no business getting involved with sports.
Oh, please ….. Not the government !! …..
All due respect Senator (and admittedly, you’re not due that much respect), don’t you have much bigger fish to fry?
Because Senators these days have nothing better to work on.
How about you morons keep an eye on the banks that our screwing this country vs. watching entertainers health habits?
I assume this is because he thought Rockefeller was trying to turn the management-labor issue into a political football.
The truth is neither one of these issues merits Congressional attention, unless one is of the view that we are all better off having Congress distracted from the real issues because they would only make a bigger mess of anything, which is a view not without some merit.
If they didn’t want the government involved they should have never invited them in by asking for and getting an antitrust exemption.
C’mon John… go away already! Everyone knows you’re a POW hero. You will never be President so there is no need to try a flex your old wrinkly muscles. Congress needs to focus on getting our troops home and control spending, NOT sports.
the NFLPA didn’t appear in front of Congress when asked and have been foot dragging…
nothing bends Congress out of shape more than being ignored…. another dumb NFLPA move….
bend over Players, here it comes… oh and thank De for that…
these storied/reports irritate me. i mean this is really why you were voted into office? to worry about pro athletes taking peds? no what you are paid to do and get the economy budget and spending on track.
IDIOTS!
Better question is why Dan Patrick is giving McCain time on his show. I guess that’s why I don’t listen to it.
I hate grandstanding…all of them need to go away!
If Congress is going to get involved in football, how about they focus on getting rid of the BCS?
John, the thumbs up numbers on these comments doesn’t look good for your view on this issue. Don’t you have a few houses that need cleaning or something.
Yup… regulate football but let Wall Street run wild. Good thing we have our priorities straight in Washington D.C.
Honest to Heavens they are just idiots.
Senator John McCain needs to put this issue about 105 on his list of things to do, and worry about encouraging the rest of congress to give our economy some help.
Ten million people are out of work. Screw HGH testing.
as mccain gets older and older and sees his time expiring it’s funny how he becomes less and less of a “maverick” and more and more of a pandering conformist seeking the constant approval of his political betters.
Worry about the freaking economy first. Balance the freaking budget. Stop the trillions of debt. Then maybe go after the NFL.
C’mon gov’t how about spend your time trying to fix the mess you have this country in, instead of trying to break one of the things that is working. This post pi$$es me off more than anything I have read in a long time.
“Aren’t there more important things to worry about?”
Everybody asking this question is not seeing the situation clearly. Football is not just a sport, it’s a $10 billion dollar business. Remember during the lockout how the biggest outcry was for the regular people that got laid off? This is not about Super Bowls, Pro Bowls, and Fantasy Football. This is about protecting a $10 billion (and growing) business from itself.
What does the fact that the two sides came to an agreement have to do with the government getting involved?
It wasn’t like they made a binding agreement with the government- it’s two private entities doing a business deal.
This is strictly a political move. If the Chairman of the Commerce Committee was a Republican, McCain would never have opened his mouth.
Not one penny of taxpayer money should be spent intervening in professional sports issues.
OWS needs to protest the gov’t getting involved in sports
Oh and by the way John, my neighbor agreed to return my leaf blower after he was done with it but he is dragging his feet apparently because i don’t have it back yet. Can you send me the number for congress I am supposed to call……because you are telling me here that congress should be enforcing an agreement….. You have no more business in my yard than you do in the NFL….
I doubt McCain is reading this forum.
Copy and paste your comments, print them out and mail them here…
•Washington Office:
241 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Main: (202) 224-2235
Fax: (202) 228-2862
If McCain is a conservative than I’m the Prince of Wales.
Like everybody else is saying, fix the economy and stop worrying about enforcing a private contract. HGH hasn’t even been proven to be a performance enhancement.
b7p19 says:
Nov 3, 2011 4:29 PM
“Aren’t there more important things to worry about?”
Everybody asking this question is not seeing the situation clearly. Football is not just a sport, it’s a $10 billion dollar business. Remember during the lockout how the biggest outcry was for the regular people that got laid off? This is not about Super Bowls, Pro Bowls, and Fantasy Football. This is about protecting a $10 billion (and growing) business from itself.
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How about he concentrate on protecting Wall Street from itself instead. It’s obvious that it needs much more rules and regulation.
b7p19 says:Nov 3, 2011 4:29 PM
“Aren’t there more important things to worry about?”
Everybody asking this question is not seeing the situation clearly. Football is not just a sport, it’s a $10 billion dollar business. Remember during the lockout how the biggest outcry was for the regular people that got laid off? This is not about Super Bowls, Pro Bowls, and Fantasy Football. This is about protecting a $10 billion (and growing) business from itself.
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I’m pretty sure HGH has improved the business. Big guys hitting each other only stands to benefit from HGH.
b7p19 says:
Nov 3, 2011 4:29 PM
“Aren’t there more important things to worry about?”
Everybody asking this question is not seeing the situation clearly. Football is not just a sport, it’s a $10 billion dollar business. Remember during the lockout how the biggest outcry was for the regular people that got laid off? This is not about Super Bowls, Pro Bowls, and Fantasy Football. This is about protecting a $10 billion (and growing) business from itself.
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When did it become Congress’s job to protect businesses from themselves?
And in an (un)related story, Clay Matthews’ ‘lingering quad injury’ continues to limit his sack total.
McCain needs to investigate what they put in the McRib at McDonalds next, he is really on to something..
Dear Senator:
We as fans just don’t care, and quite honestly are tired of Big Government meddling in professional sports. Look at how the whole thing with MLB and ‘roids worked out, for example.
If there is a problem with steroids in the NFL (which we all have to assume there is) it will rear its ugly head before long, trust me. And when it does, you may have at it.
Meanwhile, how about focusing time and energy legislating MORE important subjects, like jobs, the economy, fighting terrorism and the like?
Signed: The voters.
I’m of the opposite opinion on all the steroid and HGH testing accross all professional sports. Stop testing and let the legal system handle issues with illegal drugs. If people get caught buying, selling or using HGH or steroids or any other prescription drug illegally (whether it is performance enhancing or not) they should be legally prosecuted. Once procecuted the league should suspend them severely for the first offense and expel them fromt he league on the second offense and ban them from HOF consideration. Having a witch hunt isn’t going to make it go away. Players will just use the next undetectable drug that comes along. Right now it’s just a slap on the wrist vs. Millions of dollars for better performance. It’s a no brainer for some players to take a chance on the drugs. Consequences have to be more severe for behavior to change.
Just once…would love for someone powerful in NFL…to tell politicians to go EFF themselves.
All HGH does is help heal injuries….god, half the supplements out there have more ‘performance enhancement than HGH
If McCain really wants to help the children watching sports, he should ban those “magic” Power Balance bracelets that have no scientific backing other than some old parlor tricks performed by guys in the mall, yet every athlete wears them, which prompts kids to go out and spend $40 on them.
Does anyone still wish that cranky old man had been elected president? Give it a thumbs up!
he needs to shut the hell up – i think the cards could use a little HGH right about now…
The “doesn’t congress have better things to worry about than HGH testing” argument is so naive and childish. Obviously it goes without saying that on the grand scale, there are more important things than the NFL, that doesn’t mean that they should only be focused the one and only single issue that is the absolutely most important thing in the world.
By the way, what is the most important thing congress should focus on? There are many issues that are important to different people. So there is no concensus about what is the single most important issue. Secondly, this is why we have hundreds of congressmen and different commitees, etc. so that they can actualy work on more than one thing at a time.
Lastly, you all act like every congressman and senator is stopping everything they are doing and demanding HGH hearings. Far from it. There have been two congressmen who have briefly met with NFL officials about it, and now a third senator who simply said that he supports hearings on it in a radio interview. All of this hardly means that the US Government is halting all business so we can get to the bottom of the HGH stalemate (as some of you would think is happening).
All issues are important on some level. Or maybe the next time you need to call the police because someone is burglarizing your house or raping your wife, they will tell you sorry, we only investigate murders only – since it is the most important crime.
Are you kidding me? Really? Once elected as a politician, politicians automatically use all their power to get re-elected, become dense to real needs of people and become dishonest on the first day of their new “job”. I’m a vet, Johns’ a vet, and I commend that but now he’s a politician. ‘nough said. Stay the **** out of sports.
And I want hearings regarding the drug testing of Congress.
McClown is trying to become as big an idiot as Henry Waxmen with his baseball steroid hearings. Or Arlen Spector when he wanted the Senate getting involved in spy-gate……
We just want all of them to go away…..
Congress just spent a day making sure “In God We Trust” Is the motto, even though it already has been since they decided to put it on every form of currency we have and is in the preamble of every State Constitution. Now they want to waste time on this?
Sweet…makes me happy my tax dollars pay these bafoons….
I’m for HGH. McCain is for himself.
Smacklayer says “All issues are important on some level. Or maybe the next time you need to call the police because someone is burglarizing your house or raping your wife, they will tell you sorry, we only investigate murders only – since it is the most important crime.”
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Guess what. Congress already has a head start by cutting off funds, which results into lay-offs. There was just a story in he news that in some town cops will no longer respond to calls, because they don’t have gas money to patrol the streets.
HGH should be avalible for everybody not just football players
How about they worry about the country that is about to go down the tubes.
kibawib, cherry picking one stat to to get to a pre-determined and incorrect conclusion might make you feel better but it doesn’t make it true.
McCain only wants a hearing so he can learn the tricks of taking HGH. He is worried he may actually not be immortal.
From the man that abandoned his wife after he found out that she was disfigured in a terrible car crash while he was in Viet Nam, thinks that the middle class is people that make a million dollars a year and gave the country Sarah Palin.
With 20 million people out of work and the economy poised to take a global nosedive, this a**hole is pushing for HGH hearings? Out of touch, tone deaf congress hard at work! Why do you idiots in Arizona keep sending back to Washington? Must be that desert heat.
Good to see goldfinger is still yapping.
cowboyhater says: Nov 3, 2011 3:35 PM
I want “Integrity” testing on all U.S. Senators.
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Repeat for accuracy.
a zillion thumbs up.
Keep John McCain the hell away from the NFL. McCain is the guy who lead the attack on the UFC in the 90′s as his grandstand anti-violence crusade when he actually knew nothing about the UFC.
Thankfully the UFC weathered the storm until the heat died down and McCain and others backed off, but if he’s going to get fixated on a new sports related crusade the NFL better beware. I don’t know exactly how, but McCain will just ruin things. Politiicans needs to stay away from sports!
Attention to ALL POLITICIANS ! , stay the HELL out of the NFL and all sports for that matter you mamby pamby meely mouthed pieces of s—-t! You have screwed the country up enough, you dont need to be meddling into the one thing that keeps us from going insane. JERK-OFFS !!!!
You know these guys are ridiculous they shouldn’t even be taking time to intervene in the Football sector when they can’t take care of their own Country! Which should be #1.
All senators should have term limits just like a president 4yrs.
He also wanted to be President… do you think this will work out any better for him?
McCain claims to be one of those “less government” guys – and says industries can police themselves.
Guess that only applies when a corporation wants to pollute or engage in collusion.
But this does kind of follow the GOP philosophy of legislating how individuals are allowed to live their (no longer) private lives.
Government is a form of cancer—it keeps trying to grow and grow unless you fight it.