Poor Oscar

The danger with reading or listening to one news outlet is that you only get information that’s passed through their filter. The filter, as it were, in the world of journalism is most frequently the writer or editor of a story.

Compare this story of Oscar Pereiro’s woe from Cyclingpost.com:

PAMPLONA, Dec 26 (CP) – Spaniard Oscar Pereiro Sio expressed his dissatisfaction about still be called “virtual Tour de France winner”.

In this year’s edition of the French Grand Tour, the Caisse d’Epargne rider finished second after Floyd Landis, who delivered a positive doping test after the seventeenth stage and risks to lose his victory.

“If the decision finally comes that I have won the race, then I prefer to know it today unstead of in some years so I can still enjoy my victory,” he told the Spanish sports paper Marca.

“Everybody gives me the feeling of having won the Tour de France, but I haven’t and I am still ranked second,” Pereiro concluded.

© Jeroen Michiels

To this quote, from a recent interview of Pereiro published in the Spanish sports paper Marca, at PezCycling News:

I don’t see that there is a will to rule over the problem. Even the organizers of the Tour de France are lost, disoriented, and can’t do anything. The people give me the feeling that I’m the winner, but I’m not. If I am eventually the winner of the 2006 Tour, I’d like to know today, so that I can profit from it, not sometime in a few years.

In one, Pereiro sounds like someone who just wants to move on. In the other, he sounds crass, wanting to profit from the whole mess as quickly as he can. Which is the correct view of Pereiro and what he said? Hard to say. Even if you read the original, you’re still getting information that’s been passed through someone’s filter.

Try as one might to be “fair and balanced,” there are times when a journalist’s personal biases come through. But what bothers me most is poor Oscar’s whining.

Has he not received his big check for placing second? Did his team not give him the bonus due for placing so well? Does he forget who put him into that position in the first place? I think it was some guy named Floyd, and some team called Phonak that let him gain so much time on the peloton that he was catapulted into the yellow jersey. Had Landis and Phonak played out their strategy differently, the only people in the world who would’ve heard of Oscar Pereiro Sio would be die-hard cycling fans. Because little old Oscar would’ve been an also-ran finishing way down the list.

I had a fair amount of respect for Pereiro when he first refused to be dragged into the mud of this whole affair. But reports of him complaining that he’s being slighted and losing valuable deals while this drags on get me riled up.

Suppose, for a minute, Mr. Pereiro that your friend in California is ultimately cleared of any wrong-doing. He’s lost endorsements, prize money, and legal fees. Regardless of the truth or the outcome, he will be condemned by many as a cheater for the rest of his career. Even if he’s cleared during the arbitration process, there’s going to be an asterisk by his name in the record books as far as many fans are concerned. And it’s going to say, “but he could’ve won by doping.”

You, my fine Spanish friend, will also have an asterisk by your name, should the result go the other way. And yours will say, “won only due to the disqualification of the actual winner, due to a positive doping test.” A win may be a win, but I don’t think you’re going to find that kind of notoriety to be very personally or financially rewarding.

In the meantime, what exactly have you lost, Oscar? Not much from where I see it. Let the process run its course, stay above the fray, and comment on the matter only when it’s finally resolved. Then you’ll look like a true champion, rather than a crass whiner.