TOP CURLER SUSPENDED FOR TWO YEARS

Ontario's Frans Tests Positive For Cocaine

One of the country's top curlers has been suspended from the sport for two
years after testing positive for a banned substance.

Joe Frans, who played second for Wayne Middaugh's since-disbanded Ontario
team at the Tim Hortons Brier last March in Edmonton, was found to have
cocaine in a urine sample he provided during a random sampling at the
Brier, making him the first curler ever to test positive for a banned
substance.

He did not return phone calls Tuesday.

The 29-year-old golf course superintendent cannot participate in curling
events that lead to the Brier or Olympic Trials. In essence, that keeps him
out of all World Curling Tour events, because they are part of the Trials
points ranking system.

Under Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports guidelines, he's also
permanently ineligible to receive government funding, even if a team he
curls on wins at the Brier or the Trials.

"It's too bad this occurred, but when you're part of the Olympic family,
and testing occurs, and human nature being what it is, sometimes these
things happen," said Neil Houston, Canadian Curling Association manager of
championship services and special programs.

Houston said Ontario's 6-5 Brier record in Edmonton will not be affected by
the suspension.

Middaugh had heard rumours of the positive drug test, but insisted Tuesday
nothing about Frans's behaviour at the Brier indicated he was high.

"I'm totally caught by surprise, 100 per cent," said Middaugh, who has
since formed a new team.

"We had no clue," said Middaugh. "We'd never been to a national
championship with him, and everybody reacts differently under different
situations, and we just thought, 'Hey, that's Joe.' He's pretty much acted
the same away around us the whole time we played together."

Another former teammate, Calgary's John Morris, said much the same thing --
that Frans has long been known for quirky behaviour, but not drug use.

"He's a good dude," insisted Morris, who played two seasons with Frans as
his vice-skip, finishing second in the 2002 Brier in Calgary. "I know when
he was younger, he did his partying, like everybody does, but I never heard
that he was into cocaine. When we played together, it never came up once.
Never saw it once, never even heard the word come out of his mouth once. I
never would have guessed.

"There's definitely some mysteries about Joe that I didn't know, even after
playing with him for two years. I guess that might have been part of the
mystery. But I really doubt that he did it while he played with us. If he
did, he hid it really well."

Frans, who skipped Ontario at back-to-back Canadian junior championships,
finishing with a 6-5 record in 1993 and a 7-4 log a year later, is the
second curler this year to be caught on a doping violation. Last January,
Mitchell Markes of the U.S. was suspended for two years, but in his case,
it was for refusing to take an out-of-competition drug test.

With Canadian curling in a state of flux thanks to sponsorship and
television issues, the timing of the Frans suspension couldn't have been
worse, but six-time Brier champ Randy Ferbey of Edmonton doesn't think the
sport will be negatively impacted.

"I don't know if it's a black mark for the sport," said Ferbey.

"He got caught doing something that he shouldn't have been doing, and he's
involved in our sport. Now, it had nothing to do with
performance-enhancing. It's not a black mark on the sport, it's a black
mark on him, that's the way I look at it."

If there's anything positive, said Morris, it's that other curlers will
recognize the risks of using banned substances.

"It's just a shame someone had to be a guinea pig and learn a tough
lesson," said Morris. "I feel bad for the guy."

"I'm worried about him. I want him to get everything straightened out,"
added Middaugh, who hasn't spoken with Frans since the team broke up. "I
think he has a great future in front of him, and it's just unfortunate that
he's gone down this road. I want him to get his life straight, and as past
teammates, we'll do what we can to help him out."