If nothing else, Texans linebacker Brian Cushing’s explanation for testing positive for hCG has introduced “overtrained athlete syndrome” into the lexicon and provided a lot of too-easy jokes. (We’ve determined all my typos are the result of overtrained blogger syndrome.)
The linebacker said he has the science to back up his claims, but Peter King of SI.com relays a conversation with an industry expert in hCG research. The expert remains skeptical.
We recommend checking King’s entire article out, but the quotes provided by Laurence A. Cole are straightforward. Cole is an hCG researcher at the University of New Mexico and director of the hCG Reference Service. He says Cushing’s explanation “sounds like a far stretch . . . I have never seen a case like that.”
Cole comes up with a few scenarios for false positives in men, but they are very unlikely.
“All these things are rare and remote. The honest truth is that 999 times out of a thousand, the test gives a correct result. If they’re positive, they’re taking hCG.’'
Based on what we know, it’s hard to imagine the NFL concluding anything else.