Brian Cushing And The Greatest Excuse Ever

dannywest

dannywest

Florida Skunk Apes
This poor guy, he's not a cheater, he's sick, and we should be sympathetic.

Mr. Cushing, the 2009 Defensive ROY, tested positive for hCG last September, claims to suffer from overtrained athlete syndrome, which can trigger hormonal spikes after training, thus causing him to test positive. And Cushing has found several MDs to backup his claim.

Overtrained athlete syndrome causes you to test positive for a league banned substance.

If this excuse flies this could be a very slippery slope for today's NFL, just imagine, a league full of guys suffering from this rare and unfortunate chemical imbalance. Sound unlikely? Let's rewind the clock to 1990, when Emmitt Smith was the ROY and the documented cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder could be counted on a single hand, then comes along Spring Shadows Glen Hospital in Houston, Texas with their newly opened Dissociative Identity Disorder unit, Dr. Judith A. Peterson, and 22 suffering patients to fill the unit. A handful of people worldwide diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder to 22 in a single city? Peterson and several others would eventually be sued for fraud and generalized bullshit and the wing closed down, but the point is, for two years, they got away with it, it happens.

Now before someone is quick to defend Mr. Cushing and his disease, let's not forget that back in May his excuse for testing positive for hCG was due to the fact that he must have a tumor. Unfortunately for him, he was quickly called out by Dr. Gary Wadler, an adviser to the World Anti-Doping Agency, who pointed out that a tumor capable of producing hCG would have caused Cushing to test positive consistently, Cushing, however, only tested positive once.

Roger Goodell, instead of giving Cushing his rightfully earned four-game ban, has claimed that he's "open-minded about reconsidering Cushing's case".

For me, it's pretty open and shut, Cushing took a banned substance, got caught, and is now throwing out every possible excuse to avoid a suspension, but alas it's not up to me and we'll have to wait around and see what happens with the sickly Brian Cushing.

Brian Cushing: Overtraining caused positive test - ESPN

Texans LB Cushing using the tumor excuse

By the way, has anyone looked and recent pictures of Cushing compared to just one year ago? Guy must be hitting the gym hard...funny, I would have thought that overtrained athlete syndrome would inhibit that a bit.
 
Being a Texans fan... I look at it this way. He got caught with something. Now, deep down my opinion is the kid is a "natural" work out freak. The gym that he worked with in Jersey is drug and roid free. I can't see how he would go against that training.

No one will ever truly know what went on. Even the evidence on him is conjecture at this point. Look at the testing last September. Sample A tested negative. Sample B tested positive for slightly elevated levels of hCG. Secondary test came up Sample A negative, Sample B negative. All tests after that have come up negative. But he gets popped on the one positive test from way the hell back in September, the worst month of his performance last year.

Understand that this kid is such a health nut that he bought a hyperbaric chamber for his house! I would love for the guy to release his medical records, but honestly that's a privacy issue.

With the Tumor issue, perhaps some doctor mentioned it as a possibility. If the kid is a health nut like I think he is, I'm sure it freaked the hell out of him. It would freak the hell out of me if I put that much training, blood, sweat and tears into being the best athlete only to find out my body was failing me.

But what do I know. Does it sound like a lame excuse? sure, but let the kid get to the bottom of his own issues.:xpopcorn:
 
Didnt he take a lie detector test and pass? If multiple doctors are backing him up i have to give him credit. Not one but multiple doctors wouldnt put their reputation on the line if they didnt believe in it. The body is still a mystery even to doctors. New things come out all the time. To automatically assume that he is guilty and a liar is agnorrant and foolish. He may or may not have taken ban substances but I will keep an open mind to it. I will definitely not say he is giving lame excuse if doctors are saying his condition can be medically proven. Put yourself in his shoes. For now lets assume that he is not guilty. Then one day you get tested positive for a ban substance. You would be fustriated and curious why it would happen. you would want to find out what cause this so it wouldnt happen again. you would go to lots of efforts to restore you name and prove your innocense. Lie detector test, retest, tumor, etc... Doctors claim by over training, it can cause a spike naturally. To you its the only possible reason. You take that to the bank. Getting your coaches, doctors, trainers, etc... to help get your punishment over turn.
This is exactly whats going on.
 
You've both made some good points, and brought to light things that I, personally, was previously unaware of. Texan, do you have links to those test results? Jack, any link about the lie detector test?

And perhaps my assumption of his guilt is arrogant, even foolish, however, that's the way it reads to me, though, links to what you've both written may force me to reevaluate my opinion.
Still though, there are a few things I find odd. Firstly, Jack, I understand what you're saying about multiple doctors putting their reputations on the line, however, thus far, the only thing that I can find is that "multiple doctors" have backed his diagnoses, not Dr. Whatever and Dr. Whomever, just the term "multiple doctors", thus, nobody has staked their reputation - of course, this is not to say with absolute certainty that the doctors are not named somewhere, just nowhere that I can find, and I suppose they would have to have provided written documentation of their diagnosis if Cushing is to present Goodell with this information.
The second thing that I find odd is how long this has taken. These results came in September and it has taken nearly a year for this information about his possible illness to come to light. Seems a bit fishy as his suspension date draws near - of course, that could very well be the reason we're hearing about this now, perhaps it's been an ongoing battle but is only now being reported. I don't know, but it is something that sticks out to me.

One particular reason that I'm not particularly buying the overtrained athlete syndrome is that it would seem that this should have been caught earlier on in his career (keep in mind that, again, this is merely an assumption, I'm not a doctor nor do I have any medical training), but if Cushing is a health nut and one of the most common side effects is uncommon fatigue, it seems like this is something he would have had checked out. Then again, it could have been missed, as conditions of this nature often are.

To me though, it seems that there is a possibility that overtrained athlete syndrome could become the professional's ADD, easy to diagnose, difficult to prove. To me, that opens the door, for banned substance abuse - is this the case with Cushing, I don't know, but there is the possibility that some out there could use this as a loophole.
 
I heard that he took and pass a lie detector test on the news here in houston when this story first came out. I actually have not heard of it since. I want to believe him and I still will not be surprise if he actually took ban substances. If he played for the Dallas Cowgirls I probably would of said the same thing about him giving lame excuses. LOL... Since the very first day I saw him play I became a Cushing fan. As a rookie he was dominating and seem to work hard. Thats probaly why I am more on his side. If he did take it and is fighting this hard to cover it up it will be hard to stay a fan. Even when trying to be a non bias person I will stilll give him the benefit of the doubt. As of now I believe that his condition does exist but its hard to prove and very rare.
I also agree that this could be a problem for others to take advantage of, but I also believe there could be an easy solution to that. I just dont know what it would be.

Just found a link

http://www.sbnation.com/2010/5/10/1466375/brian-cushing-lie-detector-test-steroids
 
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