Is this really fair? (Saint's Thomas suspended for 'roids)

ESPN.com - NFL - Saints' Thomas slapped with four-game 'roid suspension (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2687451)

Does anyone else agree with me that this is a stupid ruling by the NFL? For those of you who don't want to read the article I'll sum it up. The Saint's defensive lineman Hollis Thomas failed a steroids test this summer because of asthma medication that he needs to take. The NFL felt that even though doctors say Thomas shouldn't be suspended they have to hold him to the same rules as everyone else.
This will probably be a good thing for the Skins in 2 weeks, and I like that, but still, this really doesn't seem fair to me. Anyone else agree?


Mods- please move this to a different forum if it should be somewhere else

"According to the doctor, Thomas needs a long acting beta agonist and a short acting beta agonist to control his asthma."

That's good enough for me.

This is very Bogus. Should be done on a case by case basis and not a "rules apply to everyone" policy. I guess they didn't want to open up any loopholes, still seems kind of hearltess, but alas, that's the NFL.

Quick question... If the same thing happened to Peyton Manning, do you think the NFL would have suspended him? I'm no expert, but I don't think they would.

If the league isn't going to back off in this case, and if Thomas does indeed need steroids to breathe, then his career is essentially over, no?

Quick question... If the same thing happened to Peyton Manning, do you think the NFL would have suspended him? I'm no expert, but I don't think they would.

That's a really good point. If that were to Manning and they did suspend him ESPN would bitching all over Outside the Lines, First and 10, PTI, Around the Horn, NFL Live, etc, etc, etc about how unfair this is.

But I guess he should have just risked DEATH rather than taking the medication that he needs because he knew it'd get him in trouble.

That's horse-poo. Did anyone at the league actually look at this case, or did they just see "steroid" and then red stamp it?

Wow that's total bullhooey.

NFL needs to think about the spirit of the rule. The no-steroids policy is designed to prevent players from taking stuff to get an edge. Hollis Thomas is just taking medicine to keep himself healthy, not get an edge. There's no cheating here.

The poor guy gets suspended for using Advair, so that he can breathe. It's a shame, but as stated, I guess the NFL doesn't want the floodgates to open. I wonder if it's something they can work on for next season.

Wow that's total bullhooey.

NFL needs to think about the spirit of the rule. The no-steroids policy is designed to prevent players from taking stuff to get an edge. Hollis Thomas is just taking medicine to keep himself healthy, not get an edge. There's no cheating here.

I guess, technically, breathing is an "angle". I could play in the NFL if I were the only one who could breathe.

The possibility of having a positive steroid test from inhaled steroids is virtually impossible for a few reasons. I say this as a physician and former asthma researcher.

Firstly, inhaled steroids for asthma have minimal systemic effects due to their absorption at the local level (the lungs) to provide better targeted therapy. Therefore, their detectable blood level is null, unless I suppose you inhaled a tremendous dosage, which in any case would not be a clinically feasible approach to treating asthma.

More importantly, steroids used in asthma treatment are related to a certain hormone, cortisol, and not androgens (like testosterone-another hormone), which are anabolic (muscle building). The steroid testing done in the NFL looks for sources of anabolic steroids and not those steroids used to treat asthma.

And I agree that it will bode well for the Skins' running attack to have him out for this game...

I've taken Advair. Guess this explains why I'm not in the NFL.