http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693 Always select Genuine Rant™ Brand. Everything else is just words. Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:38:51 -0400 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-45017 Professional Cycling is Synonymous with Doping | Steroid Report Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:52:43 +0000 http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-45017 [...] Daniel Rosen asked the question “Will it ever be possible to have a Tour de France… that is [...] http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44921 William Schart Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:04:12 +0000 http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44921 OK, I must be too old. What is the Roseanne Roseannadanna Principle. http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44917 Rant Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:25:04 +0000 http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44917 Morgan,<br /> The Roseanne Roseannadanna Principle: "It's always something." ;-)<br /> Larry, <br /> Well said.
The Roseanne Roseannadanna Principle: “It’s always something.”

Larry,

Well said.]]> http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44916 Morgan Hunter Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:45:26 +0000 http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44916 Larry - It would seem that - the Rosanne Rosannadana Principle is at work here and most of us are just not getting the joke. Glad you survived Bastille day - sorry with the "undue influence" - a-hem - did it "for your own good"................you like the rest of us should be used to it by now - the "authorities" are doing what's best for us! Sure they are. You hit the nail on the head pal - win something and if you're not on the "list" of who SHOULD BE WINNING - you be a doper! Me, I'm boycotting it...and have started "co-dependence therapy" to free myself!
It would seem that – the Rosanne Rosannadana Principle is at work here and most of us are just not getting the joke.

Glad you survived Bastille day – sorry with the “undue influence” – a-hem – did it “for your own good”…………….you like the rest of us should be used to it by now – the “authorities” are doing what’s best for us!

Sure they are.

You hit the nail on the head pal – win something and if you’re not on the “list” of who SHOULD BE WINNING – you be a doper!

Me, I’m boycotting it…and have started “co-dependence therapy” to free myself!]]> http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44915 Larry Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:36:43 +0000 http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44915 Morgan, to be honest, yesterday was a day that I would have liked to watch the Tour. You've compared the Tour to reality TV, and there's some truth in that, because the Tour is highly addictive, and if I watch once, there will be no going back to a boycott. I might have cracked if it wasn't for Beltran. It's not that Beltran's alleged doping means much to me. So long as there are rules, there will be people who will break the rules, and others who will stretch the rules. No, it was the way that the Beltran case was handled that gave me inspiration: 1. There's the smug way that the authorities come out in public view, pound their chests and proclaim that the positive "A" test is proof that the system works. This makes me crazy. These are the same people who, when it serves their interests, will come out and say that much of the peloton is doping. Remember, Saugy from Switzerland told us that 80% of the 2007 Tour peloton was doping. 140 riders or so. And last week, the ADAs allegedly caught ONE of them! Yeah, the system is working great. 2. When the authorities are through chest-pounding, they commence with the head-smacking. What was Beltran THINKING? Here's what he was thinking: "Saugy said that in 2007, 140 riders were doping, and the in-competition tests caught three of them. So, thanks to Saugy, I know that if I dope, there's like a 2% chance that I will be caught. If I don't dope, I somehow have to keep my 37 year old butt in a peloton with 140 guys who ARE doping, and how am I supposed to do that?" If Beltran was doping, then putting aside issues of honesty and fair play, he was probably thinking that he'd be a crazy moron not to dope. You can agree or disagree with this kind of thinking, but it's an insult to our collective intelligence when the authorities and the press fail to acknowledge that doping might be the smart thing to do even if it isn't the right thing to do. 3. Then there's the Lance Armstrong thing. Seems like if anyone dopes, it's Lance Armstrong's fault. Amazing guy, that Lance - I bet you thought he had nothing to do with pro cycling any more. In any event, the press and the authorities cannot have it both ways. If Beltran's doping is somehow Lance's fault, then it means that Beltran has been doping since Ronald Reagan was President, that he's peed into thousands of cups and they've only just caught him now. In other words, this is proof that the ADA system doesn't work. Alternatively, if Beltran's "A" test is proof that the system works, then Beltran just started doping yesterday, and Lance deserves credit for keeping Beltran on the straight and narrow path for so long. Personally, I don't care which of these stories the ADAs and the press decide to tell us, but they can't tell us both stories at the same time unless they think we are completely clueless. 4. But what really keeps me from Tivoing the Tour is wondering which rider is next to fall. I can try to live with the uncertainty that an occasional Landis or Vinokourov is going to get an in-competition AAF. What I cannot abide is this business where the Tour seems to be filled with Rasmussen types, who have run afoul of the ADAs without actually getting AAFs, who ride under suspicion, and who are allowed to race so long as they do not win. Valverde appears to be one of these "under suspicion" guys, as does Ricco. We don't know who these guys are until they win something, and then the knives come out. If a rider is allowed to race, then he should be allowed to win. The fact that these guys are racing at all seems to me to be a tacit adminssion on the part of the race authorities that they don't think they can put 180 clean professional quality riders on the roads of France. I think this last point explains why there was so little excitement about Beltran's being tossed from the race. He was an expendable guy, a domestique, not a GC threat or even a threat to win a stage. Guys like that can ride doped up to the gills, for all anyone seems to care. This year's goal is to have a clean competition for the podium. Maybe next year, we can find 160 other clean riders to fill the field. Doncha just wish that once, one of the people in authority would step to a microphone and be honest with us?
You’ve compared the Tour to reality TV, and there’s some truth in that, because the Tour is highly addictive, and if I watch once, there will be no going back to a boycott.

I might have cracked if it wasn’t for Beltran. It’s not that Beltran’s alleged doping means much to me. So long as there are rules, there will be people who will break the rules, and others who will stretch the rules. No, it was the way that the Beltran case was handled that gave me inspiration:

1. There’s the smug way that the authorities come out in public view, pound their chests and proclaim that the positive “A” test is proof that the system works. This makes me crazy. These are the same people who, when it serves their interests, will come out and say that much of the peloton is doping. Remember, Saugy from Switzerland told us that 80% of the 2007 Tour peloton was doping. 140 riders or so. And last week, the ADAs allegedly caught ONE of them! Yeah, the system is working great.

2. When the authorities are through chest-pounding, they commence with the head-smacking. What was Beltran THINKING? Here’s what he was thinking: “Saugy said that in 2007, 140 riders were doping, and the in-competition tests caught three of them. So, thanks to Saugy, I know that if I dope, there’s like a 2% chance that I will be caught. If I don’t dope, I somehow have to keep my 37 year old butt in a peloton with 140 guys who ARE doping, and how am I supposed to do that?” If Beltran was doping, then putting aside issues of honesty and fair play, he was probably thinking that he’d be a crazy moron not to dope. You can agree or disagree with this kind of thinking, but it’s an insult to our collective intelligence when the authorities and the press fail to acknowledge that doping might be the smart thing to do even if it isn’t the right thing to do.

3. Then there’s the Lance Armstrong thing. Seems like if anyone dopes, it’s Lance Armstrong’s fault. Amazing guy, that Lance – I bet you thought he had nothing to do with pro cycling any more. In any event, the press and the authorities cannot have it both ways. If Beltran’s doping is somehow Lance’s fault, then it means that Beltran has been doping since Ronald Reagan was President, that he’s peed into thousands of cups and they’ve only just caught him now. In other words, this is proof that the ADA system doesn’t work. Alternatively, if Beltran’s “A” test is proof that the system works, then Beltran just started doping yesterday, and Lance deserves credit for keeping Beltran on the straight and narrow path for so long. Personally, I don’t care which of these stories the ADAs and the press decide to tell us, but they can’t tell us both stories at the same time unless they think we are completely clueless.

4. But what really keeps me from Tivoing the Tour is wondering which rider is next to fall. I can try to live with the uncertainty that an occasional Landis or Vinokourov is going to get an in-competition AAF. What I cannot abide is this business where the Tour seems to be filled with Rasmussen types, who have run afoul of the ADAs without actually getting AAFs, who ride under suspicion, and who are allowed to race so long as they do not win. Valverde appears to be one of these “under suspicion” guys, as does Ricco. We don’t know who these guys are until they win something, and then the knives come out. If a rider is allowed to race, then he should be allowed to win. The fact that these guys are racing at all seems to me to be a tacit adminssion on the part of the race authorities that they don’t think they can put 180 clean professional quality riders on the roads of France.

I think this last point explains why there was so little excitement about Beltran’s being tossed from the race. He was an expendable guy, a domestique, not a GC threat or even a threat to win a stage. Guys like that can ride doped up to the gills, for all anyone seems to care. This year’s goal is to have a clean competition for the podium. Maybe next year, we can find 160 other clean riders to fill the field.

Doncha just wish that once, one of the people in authority would step to a microphone and be honest with us?]]> http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44914 illinoisfrank Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:45:22 +0000 http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44914 Maybe this news might help? All top teams to leave cycling's ProTour series http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=reu-protour&prov=reuters&type=lgns All top teams to leave cycling’s ProTour series
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=reu-protour&prov=reuters&type=lgns]]> http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44913 Rant Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:22:50 +0000 http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44913 Well, I have a friend who swears by Jack Daniels. But that got him into all sorts of trouble a couple of years back. Me, I swear by single-malt -- in moderation. The best thing, I've found, is to actually go ride a bike, wind things up as fast as you can, and just enjoy the feel of the wind rushing by. http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44912 illinoisfrank Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:17:35 +0000 http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44912 Rant, Is there something I can take to alleviate doping fatigue? Is there something I can take to alleviate doping fatigue?]]> http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44911 Rant Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:58:46 +0000 http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44911 I've haven't downloaded the reports, yet, actually. But I do need to. I agree, making the information publicly available is an important step towards rebuilding confidence in cycling.<br /> Beats me why the UCI doesn't have a comprehensive list of bans handed down. To be charitable, it might just be they don't think it's their job. But, really, there ought to be a master list for cycling, and the UCI is the right place for it to reside. They'd probably pass the buck and say it's up to each member federation to do that.
Beats me why the UCI doesn’t have a comprehensive list of bans handed down. To be charitable, it might just be they don’t think it’s their job. But, really, there ought to be a master list for cycling, and the UCI is the right place for it to reside. They’d probably pass the buck and say it’s up to each member federation to do that.]]> http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44910 fmk Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:43:14 +0000 http://rant-your-head-off.com/WordPress/?p=693#comment-44910 Have you downloaded the CSC anti-doping reports? I think publicly making such information available is what's needed, if we are really to regain confidence in this sport. As regards the disposition of such cases - why, when you go to the UCI site, can you not find on one page a list of all the bans they've handed down in a single year? Why do we bury this information? You'd need to be a multi-lingual statto-type to be able to keep track of all the bans handed down, the information is so dispersed.
As regards the disposition of such cases – why, when you go to the UCI site, can you not find on one page a list of all the bans they’ve handed down in a single year? Why do we bury this information? You’d need to be a multi-lingual statto-type to be able to keep track of all the bans handed down, the information is so dispersed.]]>