Another wintry storm Friday

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support


      MANKATO, Minn. (AP) - Donovan McNabb took the reins of
Minnesota's offense on Thursday, practicing with the Vikings for
the first time since he was acquired in a trade with Washington
last week.


      But like the rest of this wacky NFL summer, it didn't go as initially planned.


      McNabb and the rest of the veterans with new or restructured
contracts missed the first three training camp practices in Mankato
while the new collective bargaining agreement was being finalized.
McNabb came out to the field for the afternoon practice on Thursday
thinking he was ready to go, but he ended up having to sit out the
first 40 minutes while the votes were tallied.

      And then, shortly before 5 p.m. EDT, the good news came: The
wait was over. The NFL officially was back in business, CBA and
all. That 4½-month lockout? A thing of the past in every way.


      "Were we going to have the opportunity to step on the field
today? Was this thing going to linger?" McNabb said, explaining
his thoughts while on hold for word of a completed collective
bargaining agreement. "Good thing we got this thing settled. And
now here we are."


      Players ratified a new, 10-year CBA on Thursday, hours after it
was finalized, and two people familiar with the negotiations told
The Associated Press the contract allows the NFL to eventually
become the first major U.S. professional sports league to use blood
testing for human growth hormone.


      They spoke on condition of anonymity because no formal
announcement had been made about the details of the CBA.


      Players would be subject to random testing for HGH, in addition
to annual checks - as is the case for all banned substances in the
league's drug-testing program - only after the union is confident
in the way the testing and appeals process will work.


      "We have to see if we agree with the test," Jacksonville
Jaguars cornerback Rashean Mathis said. "If we agree with the
test, then it's legit. If not, they have to come up with another
one."


      The aim is to have everything worked out in time to start HGH
testing by Week 1 of the regular season, but that is not
guaranteed.


      "Everyone in this game has championed making sure drugs aren't
involved in our game. So we are finding our way through this,"
said Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday, who was one of the
players' key negotiators in recent months. "It hasn't been easy,
just understanding all the ins and outs of it."


      Most of the deal to end the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987
was agreed to last month, but certain elements still needed to be
ironed out after the NFL Players Association re-established itself
as a union. The union - which dissolved itself in March, when the
old CBA expired, allowing players to sue the league in federal
court - was again formed by last weekend. Final CBA language was in
place Thursday afternoon in talks between the sides' lawyers in
Washington.


      Not every player welcomed the new CBA with open arms.


      "We felt like it was getting shoved down our throats,"
Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Willie Colon said. "Our
players reps (weren't) comfortable with it ... We're not going to
just file it away the way other teams do."


      When the union informed the league that the NFLPA's team reps
voted to approve the final agreement, it meant players who signed
contracts July 26 or after - and had been forced by NFL rules to
sit out practices for days - could join teammates in drills
Thursday, as the new "league year" officially began.


      "We were like little kids in Pop Warner who didn't make weight,
just standing around," said McNabb, who restructured his contract
when he was traded to Minnesota by the Washington Redskins.


      A little after 5 p.m., the NFL's website about the labor dispute
was shut down. Later Thursday evening, the federal court in
Minnesota that was the venue for the antitrust suit filed by Tom
Brady and other players, as well as a TV networks "lockout
insurance" case, officially deemed those cases dismissed.


      As a final, formal step, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and
NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith will sign the CBA at the
front steps of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, on
Friday morning. That's where the only game canceled by the lockout
was supposed to be played Sunday between the Bears and Rams.


      Among the CBA elements that were settled this week: parameters
for penalties associated with on-field discipline and new
disability program guidelines. Under a new neuro-cognitive
disability benefit, for example, players do not have to prove that
their mental disability was related to playing football.


      For on-field offenses - which grabbed headlines last season when
the league made a point of enforcing existing rules about illegal
hits more strictly - the NFLPA must be consulted before a player is
suspended or fined more than $50,000. And players now will be able
to argue on appeal that a fine is excessive if it exceeds 25
percent of one week's pay for a first offense or 50 percent of a
week's pay for a second offense.


      The off-field conduct policy remains largely unchanged and in
Goodell's hands.


      The most significant new item in Thursday's agreement, though,
is the HGH testing, which was the last topic holding things up.


      Goodell has been keen to have players tested for HGH, saying in
an interview with the AP in August 2010: "It's about the integrity
of the game."


      "We think it's important to have HGH testing, to make sure we
ensure that we can take performance-enhancing substances out of the
game," Goodell said then.


      Preventing athletes from using HGH is considered a key target in
the anti-doping movement. The substance is hard to detect, and
athletes are believed to choose HGH for a variety of benefits,
whether they be real or only perceived - including increasing speed
and improving vision.


      Last year, Major League Baseball implemented random blood
testing for HGH in the minors, making it the first U.S.
professional sports league to take that aggressive step against
doping. Baseball was able to impose that on players with
minor-league contracts because they are not members of the players'
association, which means blood testing is not subject to collective
bargaining.


      Gary Wadler, who until this year led the World Anti-Doping
Agency's committee that considers which substances should be banned
in sports, cautioned Thursday that it will be important to find out
the specifics that eventually are agreed to by the NFL and players.


      "You can get a sound bite out of saying the NFL and NFLPA have
adopted a blood-testing policy. You can say, 'That's pretty good,'
and forget the rest of the story," Wadler said in a telephone
interview. "But the devil's in the details. The rest of the story
might be equivalent to having no testing at all."

Gallery

Sports

Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota News

Greater Minnesota

Donovan McNabb eagerly bounded onto the practice field with the Minnesota Vikings, before being told he still needed to be patient.

False start on the practice field for McNabb

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox