YMMD with that anesr enviado por Dilly a las 2014-02-02 20:17:39
YMMD with that anesrw! TX
I feel that this tim enviado por Neng a las 2014-02-03 09:11:12
I feel that this time it is necessary for I am a huge cicnylg homer and the sport needs a little defending in this case. Yes, three riders have been kicked out of the Tour de Framce thus far this year. But these are all riders that were targeted as possible dopers because of abnormal blood work in the pre-race tests. I am not sure how I feel about targeting specific riders but that is neither here nor there . . .Ricco was caught using Cera, a very new form of EPO that before this morning nobody realized they even had a test for. (Because of its newness nobody is certain if the test result will even hold of in the CAS or subsequent appeal hearings). Cera is so new that many riders were not even familiar with it. This just shows that the scientists are finally starting to catch up to the dopers, which is nothing but good news for cicnylg and all other sports that actually test. 5-7 years ago there is no question that many of the great cyclists were doping, but that is no different than any other sport (before you ask what about Lance, well he was tested more often than the next top 2 riders combined so yes their might be a cloud of suspicion above him but he passes every litmus test he can be given.) Just like in the 50s and 60s most cyclists were on speed (as were must US pros), but once they began testing for that people largely stopped taking speed to prepare for a race/game. Now the majority of the peloton is clean, with at least two teams (Garmin/Chipotle/Slipstream and Columbia/Highroad built around the ideals of clean cicnylg). The riders have begun to realize that the various organizations, sponsors, testing agencies, and team are not fooling around and if you are caught doping you are given a two year suspension (in all cases) and your team is out of the race (in the majority of cases).The 2-year ban for one positive result is something that is unheard of in most American professional sports. If the "four majors" in the US followed this guideline for a first time offense, Shawn Merriman would still be serving his suspension.Cycling might appear dirtier than all of the other sports, outside of track and field, but that is because of the full extent of the testing that is done. If this same level of testing happened for football, baseball, hockey, or basketball, the American public would be stunned. Or would they? Which is where the problem really lays the American public gets such a level of tired head when it comes to doping that they prefer not to think about it. It is so much easier to just look at the stupid Euro sports and make fun of them for their problems without recognizing that we have the same problems at home. The cicnylg organizations have done the right thing and have tried not to hide from their problems (like Bud Selig did) but rather face them head on and attempt to fix the problems, which has resulted in several scandals through the years but because of their dedication to a clean peloton the sport is better for it.So all of that is to say, yes it is just you. The problems in cicnylg make baseballs problems look much bigger because while cicnylg is trying to do something about their problems baseball is making half-hearted attempts at fixing things about 20 years to late.Not to be picky but I should point out that Floyd Landis (a-hole extraordinaire) won the 2006 Tour de France while Alberto Contador (of Team Discovery) who now rides for Astana won the 2007 Tour de France. Other than that I have loved your work on the blog this week and nicely done with the Wilco and Beatles videos today.Sarah