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rick_chasey
Posts: 53,348 Lives Here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24329252
Might be tantamount to trolling but I'm glad a journalist has actually come out and said it.
I've certainly asked the question before myself.
(keep it clean people.....*ahem*)
Might be tantamount to trolling but I'm glad a journalist has actually come out and said it.
I've certainly asked the question before myself.
(keep it clean people.....*ahem*)
0
Posts
Too right. All hail the internet chatroom.
1. If we don't regulate doping/cheating in any sport then national squads dedicated to winning at all cost (used to be the East Germans etc.. now it's the Chinese) will not only win everything and deprive clean exceptional athletes from ever winning but they'll also raise the standard and world records to levels that no clean athlete will ever attain.
2. Doping is extremely harmful for the athletes. The East German shot putt woman who had her hormones changed to such an extent that some 10 years after the fall of the wall she had a sex change. She/he today is deeply unhappy and firmly blames the State for manipulating her chemistry without permission. Check out the number of WWF/WWE wrestlers who have died prematurely etc..
3. Joe Public has to believe in heroes. Seb Coe, Steve Ovett, Daley Thompson, Bobby Charlton, Barry John were gods because they were normal. 80% of Wiggo's public appeal is he is normal (as screwed up as we are). We don't want human powered Power Rangers, who look different and achieve silly standards, we want to see Mary Decker fall in the Olympic final and cry, we want to see the technical skill of a pole vaulter climbing to unbelievable heights. We do NOT want to see a 14 year old Chinese girl come out of nowhere to knock 3 seconds off the 400m freestyle world record whilst visibly slowing down at the end.
4. The fact it makes a good story is a by product and in being so, gives global attention to the fact that if you cheat, you might get away with it, but be aware the authorities are doing everything possible to catch you.
If we condone drugs you basically kill sport in a generation.
If we condone drugs you basically kill sport in a generation.
Don't forget the Americans, if you want a study of a 'Win at all costs culture'. Remember Armstrong / USP / Discovery?
No mention of Tammy Thomas, the American female track sprinter?
That is exactly what many people do want to see - Riis powering away up the Hautecam, Froome accelerating away at 130 Rpm on Mount Ventoux as though he were riding a motorbike, that sort of thing...
This ends with 'issues' like the growing evidence of inevitable repeated head trauma leading to early suicides. It's early doors but plenty of diehard NFL fans can no longer watch, unwilling to condone real-life gladiators.
Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
The man has often been portrayed as being crazy, but Matt DeCanio talks a lot of sense here.
http://www.veloveritas.co.uk/2013/10/03 ... unchained/
It's more whether, with hindsight, the factor of doping, (and therefore anti-doping, scandals, insinuations etc) has made it more exciting or not?
Rather like football fans deep down love the fact that referees get stuff wrong and it can be fundamentally unfair - if it was it'd be a fair bit duller. Talking about close decisions, dodgy decisions is big thing for football fans.
Just a thought.
I can't see how doping made racing more exciting. What's exciting about having indestructable runaway winners? The only thing doping brings to the party is the titillation of the scandals
Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
No doubt, you could make a case that drugs have been the catalyst for many dramatic moments. But the ring-masters don't get to call it a sport, the circus act isn't a race, and the performers aren't athletes.
I see. I understand your point now. Perhaps a bit of a dope overload at the moment making each new revelation a bit meh.
Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
They even Fecked up the coverage of the WC.
You must be hard up to troll there for your kicks.
Well said. Personally I dont need dodgy decisions to make sport interesting, sport is the drug as far as I am concerned. I get enough off the wall comment on this forum when there has been no controversy in the race.
What's less easily quantifiable is what doping takes away from the sport. Certainly, I've found my interest in cycling decreasing, or rather my interest in the grand tours, but whether that's because I'm no longer a student, and can't afford to spend as much time following a three week sporting event.
- @ddraver