Sue the commish
The NFL’s position in the Hollis Thomas case (Thomas’ asthma medicine causes drug policy violation) seems to be saying that you’re not welcome in the league if you have really bad asthma.
Look, I’m all for keeping the game clean, but if I’m Thomas, me and my lawyer are currently having a serious chat about suing the league under the Americans With Disabilities Act. I’m not an attorney and don’t know how much of a stretch this would be, but if I’m being penalized over an issue that’s straight-up about my health, we’re gonna find out.
If anybody here is a lawyer, please let me know how far off-base I am.
:xpost:
lullaby pit 
IANAL
I’m with you. “Performance allowing” is not “performance enhancement”. Certainly, I can use a nebulizer to enable my lungs to work more effectively, but it wouldn’t be a replacement for hard work and talent.
As an aside, I’ve been watching “Everest” and one of the climbers is a severe asthmatic. His plan is to summit without O2. During the last episode that I caught, he was at camp 2 and still going pretty strong – the only one w/out O2. Earlier he made it from Advanced Base Camp to camp 1 in near record time.
He’s amazing. I can’t even watch the show without experiencing altitude sickness.
IANAL
I’m with you. “Performance allowing” is not “performance enhancement”. Certainly, I can use a nebulizer to enable my lungs to work more effectively, but it wouldn’t be a replacement for hard work and talent.
As an aside, I’ve been watching “Everest” and one of the climbers is a severe asthmatic. His plan is to summit without O2. During the last episode that I caught, he was at camp 2 and still going pretty strong – the only one w/out O2. Earlier he made it from Advanced Base Camp to camp 1 in near record time.
He’s amazing. I can’t even watch the show without experiencing altitude sickness.
Re: IANAL
That guy is flat-out nuts, sounds like.
Re: IANAL
That guy is flat-out nuts, sounds like.
Re: IANAL
He’s Dutch…
He’s amazingly dedicated and well-trained, handsome as hell, and has a great sense of humor. He is the “compelling viewing” (along with the guy with prosthetic legs), as if a show documenting an Everest climb can’t stand on it’s own – so to speak.
They’re all fucking nuts, if you ask me. $50,000.00 to potentially die, absolutely freeze your nuts off, hurt like hell, vomit all the time, and go loopy from lack of oxygen. No thanks.
Re: IANAL
He’s Dutch…
He’s amazingly dedicated and well-trained, handsome as hell, and has a great sense of humor. He is the “compelling viewing” (along with the guy with prosthetic legs), as if a show documenting an Everest climb can’t stand on it’s own – so to speak.
They’re all fucking nuts, if you ask me. $50,000.00 to potentially die, absolutely freeze your nuts off, hurt like hell, vomit all the time, and go loopy from lack of oxygen. No thanks.
Yeah, I thought the same thing … but then I felt like I saw the logic. So, if this guy can use steroids for his asthma, what prevents other players from getting a semi-crooked doctor to sign off on an asthma diagnosis? If players start realizing that all they have to do is inhale their steroids (or even just claim that they do), they can make a mockery of an already weak steroid policy.
As it stands now, these guys can have something like 5 times the average person’s level of steroids in their system without being labeled “positive”. I agree that this case is probably clean, but where do you draw the line?
Yeah, I thought the same thing … but then I felt like I saw the logic. So, if this guy can use steroids for his asthma, what prevents other players from getting a semi-crooked doctor to sign off on an asthma diagnosis? If players start realizing that all they have to do is inhale their steroids (or even just claim that they do), they can make a mockery of an already weak steroid policy.
As it stands now, these guys can have something like 5 times the average person’s level of steroids in their system without being labeled “positive”. I agree that this case is probably clean, but where do you draw the line?
Well, the potential for abuse is always there, and there are no doubt people who would do exactly what you’re saying. However, there is some question as to whether asthma steroids are even the same in terms of performance enhancement – not sure here -and second, I’m pretty sure I’d be arguing that other people abusing the system has not a goddamned thing to do with me and my legit need for the medicine.
Well, the potential for abuse is always there, and there are no doubt people who would do exactly what you’re saying. However, there is some question as to whether asthma steroids are even the same in terms of performance enhancement – not sure here -and second, I’m pretty sure I’d be arguing that other people abusing the system has not a goddamned thing to do with me and my legit need for the medicine.
Case closed….
Hollis Thomas is a spokesperson for the Asthma Foundation. So what if crooked guys abuse the system? This guy’s meds were prescribed by the TEAM DOCTOR. If I were either the player or the team physician, I’d be hunting for the meanest land shark I could find – and I might own my own NFL team by the time it was over.
I’m so fucking sick of morality being legislated I can barely type for stiffening with righteous indignation.
Barry Bonds get $15 mil to flout the MLB system? And this guy gets a 4 game suspension without pay?
I’d also like to thank John McCain for creating this McCarthyist atmosphere that punishes the innocent and lets the guilty walk free. Stupid grandstanding politicians….
Case closed….
Hollis Thomas is a spokesperson for the Asthma Foundation. So what if crooked guys abuse the system? This guy’s meds were prescribed by the TEAM DOCTOR. If I were either the player or the team physician, I’d be hunting for the meanest land shark I could find – and I might own my own NFL team by the time it was over.
I’m so fucking sick of morality being legislated I can barely type for stiffening with righteous indignation.
Barry Bonds get $15 mil to flout the MLB system? And this guy gets a 4 game suspension without pay?
I’d also like to thank John McCain for creating this McCarthyist atmosphere that punishes the innocent and lets the guilty walk free. Stupid grandstanding politicians….