As promised last April, U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said Thursday that the NFL and NFL Players Association should prepare for hearings on Capitol Hill to explain why they haven't implemented human growth hormone testing, The Associated Press reported.
The negotiations over implementation went public Thursday when NFLPA president Dominique Foxworth told USA Today that the holdup was the union wanted Commissioner Roger Goodell out of the appeals process for violations other than a positive test.
Adolpho Birch, the NFL's senior vice president for labor and law policy, fired back in a statement that the NFLPA needs to stop stalling after what he termed were fair negotiations. Birch told NFL.com on Thursday afternoon that the league would not take Goodell out of the appeals process, a position that was built into the collective bargaining agreement, although NFLPA executive George Atallah said neutral arbitration is a must for the union.
-- Bill Bradley, contributing editor