A sports writer who actually gets it

donrhummy
donrhummy Posts: 2,329
edited July 2008 in Pro race
Cycling usually gets called the most drugged up sport and a joke by sports columnists around the world because so many guys test positive. But as fans of the sport, we understand that it's only because the other sports aren't actually testing their athletes. (Sure, the NFL American Football players are all drug free. It's completely natural to weigh 300 lbs, run a 40 yard dash in 4.3 seconds and weigh the same amount on the final day of a season as on day 1. Yep, no one doping there.) But Bob Ford gets it.
For the third straight year, the first-place finisher from the previous Tour won't be in the peloton when it pushes off in Brittany on Saturday...In fact, of the nine men who climbed the podium in the previous three Tours, only two are expected at the starting line Saturday.

For another sport, this kind of upheaval would be mayhem. For cycling, it's just another year.

It is the price that cycling pays for having the most stringent testing and punishment in sports. Cycling doesn't just test guys. It catches guys, and even a positive test isn't always necessary...Things like that do not happen in the NFL, just for instance.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/2 ... rance.html

Now I don't agree with everything he says. I do think that the cycling org's sometimes go overboard (see Iban Mayo for example) and I think Vaughters was exactly right to point out the famous quote (which pro cycling needs to think very deeply about):

(Originally from Voltaire and then adapted by William Blackstone)
It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one

Unfortunately, in pro-cycling, they clearly believe it's better to ruin five innocent men's careers as long as you're also catching the guilty man as well.

Comments

  • Salsiccia
    Salsiccia Posts: 405
    donrhummy wrote:
    Cycling usually gets called the most drugged up sport and a joke by sports columnists around the world because so many guys test positive. But as fans of the sport, we understand that it's only because the other sports aren't actually testing their athletes. (Sure, the NFL American Football players are all drug free. It's completely natural to weigh 300 lbs, run a 40 yard dash in 4.3 seconds and weigh the same amount on the final day of a season as on day 1. Yep, no one doping there.) But Bob Ford gets it.
    For the third straight year, the first-place finisher from the previous Tour won't be in the peloton when it pushes off in Brittany on Saturday...In fact, of the nine men who climbed the podium in the previous three Tours, only two are expected at the starting line Saturday.

    For another sport, this kind of upheaval would be mayhem. For cycling, it's just another year.

    It is the price that cycling pays for having the most stringent testing and punishment in sports. Cycling doesn't just test guys. It catches guys, and even a positive test isn't always necessary...Things like that do not happen in the NFL, just for instance.

    http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/2 ... rance.html

    Now I don't agree with everything he says. I do think that the cycling org's sometimes go overboard (see Iban Mayo for example) and I think Vaughters was exactly right to point out the famous quote (which pro cycling needs to think very deeply about):

    (Originally from Voltaire and then adapted by William Blackstone)
    It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one

    Unfortunately, in pro-cycling, they clearly believe it's better to ruin five innocent men's careers as long as you're also catching the guilty man as well.

    One of my pet peeves is how non-cycling enthusiast friends say 'Oh, they're all on drugs' but cannot even consider that people in their sport could ever do PEDs.

    By the way, who won Euro 2008? What is the possibility some of those players could have been on the Puerto list?
    I was only joking when I said
    by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Yes but few players, managers and fans of the NFL are in the same denial about doping. Look at Barry Bonds in baseball, a doper but few cares.

    Cycling's problem, and to a similar extent athletics, is that doping is widespread and completely distorts the results but at the same time, everyone making money from the sport, from riders to managers to the governing body and most of the dedicated media (eg glossy magazines, websites) are in denial of the problem or just sweep bad news under the carpet.
  • Garry H
    Garry H Posts: 6,639
    I think that part of cycling's problem though is that it is condoned a little bit more. Champions of the sport that have admitted to cheating, or have been caught cheating (Eg Pantani, Anquetil, Coppi etc) are still held up as heroes by a lot of us fans, including myself. I've never heard anyone call Ben Johnson anything other than a cheat, pure and simple.

    Very few in the sport actually speak out against it an any meaningful way. Those that do are viified by their fellow professionals.

    I long for the days when I knew no better :cry:
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,388
    Salsiccia wrote:
    By the way, who won Euro 2008? What is the possibility some of those players could have been on the Puerto list?

    oooohhhh should have said that on 606 :P :P
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • Salsiccia
    Salsiccia Posts: 405
    ddraver wrote:
    Salsiccia wrote:
    By the way, who won Euro 2008? What is the possibility some of those players could have been on the Puerto list?

    oooohhhh should have said that on 606 :P :P

    And what about a certain tennis player? As fast around the court and hitting the ball as hard at the end of 3, 4 or 5 sets as at the start...
    I was only joking when I said
    by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Garry H wrote:
    I think that part of cycling's problem though is that it is condoned a little bit more. Champions of the sport that have admitted to cheating, or have been caught cheating (Eg Pantani, Anquetil, Coppi etc) are still held up as heroes by a lot of us fans, including myself. I've never heard anyone call Ben Johnson anything other than a cheat, pure and simple.

    Very few in the sport actually speak out against it an any meaningful way. Those that do are viified by their fellow professionals.

    I long for the days when I knew no better :cry:

    Coppi doped, but never cheated. It was permissable back in his day (and for most of Anquitel's career).
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.

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