Hollis Thomas Suspended for Steroids, But Is This the Face of a Cheater?, By: Michael David Smith

12/6/06

The NFL has suspended Saints defensive tackle Hollis Thomas four games for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Thomas lost his appeal and says he accepts the suspension, but it's hard to escape the idea that he got a bum rap. Thomas has asthma, and as the Times-Picayune reports:

Thomas tested positive for clenbuterol, which is a Beta-2 agonist, part of a daily prescription regimen that helps facilitate his breathing and allows him to partake in the physical activity necessary to play professional football.

Clenbuterol was only added to the NFL's banned list on June 20, 2006, and Thomas tested positive during training camp. He has known of the looming suspension since September, but the appeals process was only exhausted this week. The NFL is certainly lucky that word of the positive test didn't leak out earlier, or it would have had a tough time spinning the Saints' return to the Superdome in quite so positive a light. The Saints' team doctor says Thomas was using it strictly for medicinal purposes, although as Bodybuilding.com notes,

In 2000 60% of US Olympic athletes claimed to have exercise-induced asthma and ALL of them were prescribed clenbuterol for this condition.

So athletes sometimes claim to have asthma just so they can get the prescription for the drug, which can help in their training. Wikipedia says that "Its ability to induce weight gain and a greater proportion of muscle to fat makes its illegal use in livestock popular," and its use on livestock led to the rather bizarre headline, "Pigs fed on bodybuilder steroids cause food porsoning in Shanghai."

So was Thomas cheating by taking the drug because of that ability to induce weight gain and a greater proportion of muscle to fat? I have no idea. Mike Golic said on ESPN Radio this morning that Thomas doesn't look like a steroid user, but the eyeball test isn't particularly reliable. Thomas seems like a good guy and I want to believe him. I also want the NFL to make its steroid policy clearer, so players don't have accidental positive tests for legitimate medication -- or convenient excuses for cheating.