Odell Thurman is currently sitting out his second straight NFL season. After a DUI arrest and a missed drug test, Thurman was suspended for the 2006 season. That suspension has been extended without explanation for a second season, though Thurman has been in the news since that original suspension. Now his quest for reinstatement is trying a new tactic. The Orlando Sentinel reports,

Tampa Bay Buccaneers CB Torrie Cox and Cincinnati Bengals LB Odell Thurman have filed discrimination claims with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to have their NFL suspensions overturned. The players contend they have been viewed as alcoholics by the NFL, and that perception is the basis for the action imposed by Commissioner Roger Goodell, ESPN.com said.

You see? They contend that their "alcoholism" is a disability. They are leaning on a case from the 1990s where the "EEOC ruled that NBA violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when it did not reinstate (Roy) Tarpley even though he apparently passed drug screenings for four straight years."

There seems to be a genetic component to alcoholism where the condition is passed through heredity, but scientists may be shocked to learn that DUIs can also be transmitted.

Kara Braxton, Thurman’s girlfriend and mother of his child, recently plead no contest on a charge of "operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol." It shouldn’t be a surprise that Braxton’s charge came as a result of "a Sept. 25, 2006, arrest in Cincinnati." Braxton’s not a stranger to the wrong kind of headlines – the WNBA all-star was dismissed from the UGA basketball program several years ago – but DUI is new territory for her. She was suspended for just two games by her league and did not seek any EEOC sanctuary.