According to an Associated Press story published Tuesday, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the review has been going on for weeks and "involves reviews of records, interviews and coordination with other agencies." The NFL has not, however, asked the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to help investigate, ESPN.com reported. Major League Baseball has asked for help from the USADA in investigating its players named in the Al Jazeera report.
Al Jazeera released a report in late December, mostly reported with use of a hidden camera, in which an intern from an Indianapolis anti-aging clinic claimed HGH was sent to Manning's wife in 2011. The report inferred that it was intended for Peyton Manning, who missed the 2011 NFL season with a neck injury. There was no direct evidence linking Peyton Manning to the HGH, and the intern in the report, Charlie Sly, recanted his story afterward. Manning called the Al Jazeera report "garbage."
The NFL had to investigate the claims. There were other NFL players implicated in the report, including Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison and multiple members of the Green Bay Packers, although the allegations against them were mostly ignored because the allegations against five-time NFL MVP Manning overshadowed everything else in the report. All of this might not matter much anyway. The AP report said the investigation isn't expected to be done before Manning and the Broncos play in the Super Bowl on Feb. 7. There have been many signs that the 39-year-old Manning will retire after this season, so it's possible the story might fade away. Not much came of the banned deer antler spray controversy surrounding Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. That story broke right before the Super Bowl three seasons ago, and that ended up being Lewis' last game.
It won't be easy for the NFL (or media looking into furthering the story) to come up with enough evidence to prove Manning did anything wrong. Manning hasn't said anything more about it. He hasn't failed a drug test. The clinic hasn't said anything about Manning. Sly said everything he said on the hidden camera was a lie and he hasn't been heard from since. In early January the New York Times found a link between Sly, some of the athletes he named (but not Manning), and a nutritional supplement company, but that didn't add much to the Manning part of Al Jazeera's claims. And there hasn't been any breaking news on the issue since then.
The HGH claims could be one more story line in the run up to Super Bowl 50. Just don't expect the NFL's comprehensive review of the entire situation to be resolved before kickoff.
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