While the NFL has yet to disclose exactly what substance Texans linebacker Brian Cushing tested positive for, earning him a four-game ban to start the upcoming season, ProFootballTalk via ESPN’s Adam Schefter delivers the goods.Turns out Cushing tested positive for elevated levels of hCG, which is the same substance that got Manny Ramirez a fifty-game vacation over in the MLB for merely being in possession of a prescription. Some notes from PFT:
Adam Schefter of ESPN was the first to report, via Twitter, that Cushing tested positive for elevated levels of hCG. According to Wikipedia, hCG is commonly used during and after steroid cycles to maintain and restore testicular size as well as normal testosterone production.
Schefter also Tweeted that hCG is in seminal fluid, and slightly elevated levels can be discovered in the event that a test occurs soon after ejaculation.
So who knows, maybe Cushing was trying to mask a juicing cycle, or maybe he simply engaged in some Chamberlain-style “juicing” prior to his test. Cushing, as Tweeted by Adam Schefter, claims to have taken and passed a polygraph test where he stated he didn’t use any PEDs. I’m guessing we’ll have a few more turns to go through before the full facts are known.