Warm nuts, idle time and yes, yet another blog post from 30k
feet. Ah, the simple pleasures eh?
This post was spurred from an intense discussion with Marc
last night about the Tour de France, and more specifically the doping and dopes
running the international cycling association.
Now normally I would prompt my brothers for their views on my blog
posts, but this one is different. Marc
and I are light years apart on this issue and I’m not really interested in
hearing any more of his views on the topic.
I’m not sure where Brad stands on this issue, but one thing is for sure
– I’m right and any other opinion contrary to mine is … wrong. It’s that simple!
Ok, to give you a sample of how animated and worked up Marc
got during the conversation, at one point in the conversation he referenced the
most deplorable athlete on the planet in his eyes. Yes, Ray Lewis. For Dad it’s Dennis Rodman, for Marc its Ray
Lewis. According to Marc most of
society’s ills, and all of professional sports ills are the direct result of
something Ray Lewis did or didn’t do.
How do I feel about Ray? He would
be part of my golf foursome wish list!
I’m laughing just writing this.
More warm nuts please.
Ok, so back to the subject – professional cycling and the
doping issue that plagues the sport.
Since Marc was rambling and ranting so much about this topic
I can’t begin to logically articulate his argument, I won’t. He can attempt that.
My opinion, and most certainly the most credible one, is
this:
·
Professional cycling has a PR issue (the rampant
doping) that needs to be addressed by the governing bodies of the international
cycling world. Sticking your figurative
head in the sand just doesn’t do it for me, and pisses me off. Do something … announce changes to the
testing procedures, or just drop the façade of acting like you can catch those
who are doping because it’s obvious you can’t.
I don’t really care, just don’t act like it isn’t going on.
·
The powers that be (I’m not really sure who) has
successfully taken down the greatest athletes of the sport over the past 10-15
years, proving that they were doping during the peaks of their careers and
while winning every award and accolade that can be achieved in the sport. Confessions and athletes ratting out others
actually was the way most got caught, not the testing procedures. Congratu-frickin-lations.
·
The confessions of these athletes came well
after their achievements, and it appears that the “rigorous testing” to keep these
athletes clean was, well, BS. After all,
it didn’t catch anyone during the actual Tour, did it? At least not the highest profile ones, most
notably Armstrong.
So what now, you ask?
Marc did, emphatically. What do
you want them to do Ed!?! Call a spade a
spade and quit with the façade of acting like the sport has miraculously
transformed itself into anything other than a drug race. A race of who has the best chemists, and the
most lucrative access to drugs that can’t be detected by any of the tests
employed by governing bodies of the sport.
Now I can hear the argument (and Marc made it too) that you
could pump 99.9% of the population with all these drugs and we still couldn’t
hang with the peloton through even one stage, and that’s true. But among the top 0.1% of the riders if you
aren’t doping you aren’t going to be able to compete. That’s what the best in the sport are
saying. I believe it to be true.
So whether the governing bodies of the sport level the
playing field by allowing doping, or whether they choose to make an honest
attempt at winning in the drug race by altering the detection/testing
procedures, I don’t care. Just don’t do
nothing. That’s a decision that I can’t
stomach.
I hope the winner of this year’s TDF gets accused of doping,
denies it, and gets proven wrong and stripped of his victory just like most of
those winners of the past 15 years.
Would that actually prompt a more serious attempt at addressing the issue? Who knows.
So who is more to blame for the state of the sport – the athletes or the
governing bodies? Oh that’s right it’s
neither … it’s Ray Lewis!
Maybe they ought to put Lance Armstrong in as the Chairman
of the International Cycling Federation, let him attract his star cycling
friends, and attempt to turn the table on the sport. Marc referenced during our discussion that
the only way to catch bad guys is to think like bad guys. That would be worthy of me watching.
Until then I could give a shit who wins the Tour de France
or any cycling event other than to put them at the end of a long list of fallen
heroes who cheated to get to the top … literally!
Me, I’ll be golfing with Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong and
Ray Lewis. Dennis Rodman is my
alternate. Fore!
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