Yesterday, TSN.ca was reporting that an NHL hockey player who had been on the long list of potential Olympians had been caught in a drug screening. Apparently it was a "masking agent" used to hide the use of steroids. That's pretty serious stuff. Today they announced the culprit: Jose Theodore. Being a Habs fan this is of particular interest to me, but it should be interesting to all sports fans really, since doping in sports is a major issue. And with the Olympics just around the corner, it's an even more serious issue. We'll undoubtedly hear about a number of Olympians doing God-knows-what to themselves to shave a millisecond off some time in some race that almost no one really even cares about. But the atheletes do, and they've trained their whole lives, so they take what they can to improve their chances. Enough about that though... So on TSN's website today, here's the headline: Theodore's hair tonic causes positive test. Say what now? Are we on a satire site here or is this a sports news site? It's not April Fool's Day is it? No friends, it's not. This is a real headline - and once again proof that life is often funnier than the fun we make of it. Anyway, here's the scoop -- Theodore uses a hair product called Propecia which is designed to slow down hair loss and help with hair growth. I guess it's like Rogaine. He's been using it for 8 years or so, and truth be told, Theodore does have some nice hair. Probably spends more time combing his hair than doing anything else which would explain why he's been stinking up the joint since the hockey season started. Goalies often experience hair loss (just look at a lot of goalies), and I think a lot of it has to do with wearing a helmet all the time, sweating in there. I'm no doctor mind you, but goalies (and hockey players) are often going bald pretty quickly. So I can understand why Theodore uses such a product. But still, this is about as funny as it gets -- a hair product used as a masking agent for steroids -- well there's no way he's on steroids, they're supposed to enhance performance right? It does make me wonder though...I can't help but notice when I look in the mirror that there's less hair there than there was before. Maybe I should get my hands on some Propecia? I'll need a prescription but that shouldn't be too hard...I really wonder if it works. Doctor Mulder (not from X-Files, the Canadiens' team doctor), is quoted in the article as saying, "And he has had very good success and he feels it has helped hair growth and prevented further loss and he has taken it with my knowledge." Well that's all I need to hear. Theodore's got great hair. I need to get me some of that! And I guarantee sales of Propecia go through the roof (at least in Canada where we care about and read the news on hockey). Plenty of bald people, and plenty of people who are now thinking, "I can use steroids too!" Of course they won't totally understand the concept of "masking" and most will probably think it relieves the bad symptoms of taking steroids, like shrunken testicles. "So my balls will stay the same size AND my hair will look great? Did I just die and go to heaven?" P.S. I just came across this auction of washed up Jose Theodore on eBay from a link at shakylegs. The auction is a bit old, and according to the listing, "the seller ended this listing early because the item was lost or broken", which cracked me up. (Technorati Tags: propecia, hair loss, hockey, jose theodore)