Saints lineman suspended - STEROID-RELATED

Often times, if you want to get the salary and years on a deal first, the agent will give it to you. Using quotes from an agent would be like using quotes from anyone else: whatever passes your b.s. detector should be considered based on relevance and interest. And in this case, you do need the player's side, and the agent is the only one you'll get it from. And in this case, who else is going to talk? It's a league matter, and the league isn't going to comment further about an employee drug issue. And the agent's quotes are interesting in their effort to desperately weave a tale.

 

Fixed

 

Ok, I'm probably going to come off naive here, but...

Are we completely dismissing the possibility that the only thing this guy was using was asthma medication? Many asthma medications do contain steroids and he was going through a training camp in Mississippi for the first time. That means the kind of hot, humid weather that makes breathing extremely difficult for an asthmatic.

Yes, the Thomas should have made sure the team doctor ran this by the league before taking the medication, but if that is really all he took, the suspension is a bit troubling.

Go ahead. Bash away if you must.

 

The Times weighs in:

Football Officials Dispute Thomas's Drug Defense

Contrary to the explanation by New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Hollis Thomas that his positive drug test resulted from asthma medications, two football officials with knowledge of the case said a performance-enhancing drug was to blame.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/sports/football/08steroids.html

 

He's guilty, and he should get the chair. [/ragu]

 

Just to clarify. Clenbuterol is not a steroid but instead a beta agonist drug related somewhat to albuterol.

As a bit of background, adrenalin has two receptors in the body. Alpha receptors are located in the heart and beta receptors everywhere else, including lung and muscle. Agonists are drugs that stimulate an action (antagonists block it)

Clenbuterol by itself is a long acting beta agonist that can be used in a calorie restricted starvation diet to mobilize fat preferentially instead of muscle. However, historically, it has been used along with anabolic steroids to protect muscle from damage. Clenbuterol cannot be used in high dosage because it has a dose related muscle damaging effect, increasing creatinine kinase by products in the blood and may cause kidney failure.

It has been out of favor in the body building community for awhile.