Tour de France coverage halted, drugs and sports

[Kristofor]

The Germans have pulled the plug on the Tour de France coverage due to the positive drug tests from one of their riders.

Last year's tour champion is still up in the air waiting for final rulings on Floyd's doping charges.

Barry is 2 home runs away from Aaron's record.

The PGA is going to start testing golfers for roids


Lance Armstrong was on NPR last week and his take was basically that monitoring wouldn't be getting any easier and that eventually these types of competitions would need to be viewed as strictly entertainment with many/most of the participants doing anything they could for performance rather than as a true sport.

As an outsider to the sport I'd already say that bike riding was near the bottom of the credibility list, with most professional sports only a few steps behind. What's your take? Are there any honest sports left? Is it worth it to keep fighting the problem or should we just let these folks damage themselves at will?

Kristofor.

[JR]

... I'd already say that bike riding was near the bottom of the credibility list, ...

Cycling has a long history of usage of performance-enhacning drugs. OTOH, they do (probably) more than any other sport to punish its use.

i do not like the argument for a "free-market" of sports, in which drugs are allowed at the professional level. No matter how talented an athlete was, he'd be under considerable pressure to use drugs to always be in front of the media. His clothing and shoe sponsors would want it and the team sponsors and management would want it, and teammates would want it. There'd be absolutely no safety. People would die or be mutilated.

The case I've been thinking of lately is that of Jan Ullrich, Armstong's great rival in the TdF. He came on the scene in 1996, when he was 19 years old. He had incredible talent. We now know that at least six of his teammates on Telekom were taking drugs that year, and that team management was enthusiastically involved. Ullrich has not confirmed his involvement, but it is obvious he did it.

My beef is that this young, bright, talented kid, with the legitimate skills to compete at the highest level, was forced to take drugs he knew nothing about. I think it's criminal.

We have plenty of examples closer to home. Lyle Alzado, Ken Caminiti, Jose Canseco. These peoples' lives were ruined by drugs.

IMO, it's completely unacceptable to think that drugs would be allowed in sports. This is not ancient Rome, where people were fed to the lions for entertainment. This is the 21st Century. We're supposed to be more civilized.

JR

[LCHIEN]

so did the Germans pull the plug because
1) No Germans, no interest
2) Protest the TdF selective testing of the Germans
3) Protest the German team

Here's another question:
P.E. Drugs all the buzz in cycling, Football, Baseball, Track

Haven't heard much about Basketball (seems like a prime candidate), Hockey, Soccer,
Tennis or Golf. Are the latter two immune because roids don't help them (hand eye coordination and speed, not just raw power), not prevalent or just waiting their turn?

[ragswl4]

I am totally against illegal drugs in any form and in any forum, sports, entertainment, et al.. The worse crime is that some young misguided kid tries some drug, gets caught and gets tossed in jail for years while these sports superstars get slapped on the wrist, fined and go on to another contract worth millions. Barry Bonds will best Hank Aarons home run record but he'll never be the man that Hank Aaron is.

I couldn't care less about some bicycle race, especially in France. Now the British Open Golf Tournament, that's some real excitement. At least I think those guys are pretty drug free. (Watch me be proven wrong next week) Just my opinion.

[JR]

so did the Germans pull the plug because
1) No Germans, no interest
2) Protest the TdF selective testing of the Germans
3) Protest the German team

Patrick Sinkewicz, a rider for T-Mobile, a predominently German pro team, was tested positive for testosterone (I think that was the drug) in June. His B sample results are unknown, as yet. He was not entered in the TdF.

The German TV stations stopped transmitting TdF images in general disgust at doping in cycling. They have good viewership in that country.

Haven't heard much about Basketball (seems like a prime candidate), Hockey, Soccer, Tennis or Golf. Are the latter two immune because roids don't help them (hand eye coordination and speed, not just raw power), not prevalent or just waiting their turn?

Ball sports have loads of doping going on. However, American pro sports are very lenient on this issue. I don't remember the exact details, but a first drug infraction in the NFL gets a suspension of a couple of games. In cycling it's a two-year suspension from competition, plus a further two years suspension from the ProTour (the highest level of competition).

One of the keys to how serious drug use is taken is whether your favorite sport is in the Olympic movement. All Olympic athletes must conform to a code of eithics that specifically identifies the banned substances and penalties for infractions. American football doesn't come under this regime. Neither does Major League American baseball, although Minor Leage baseball does.

The really big drug scandal in cycling right now is called Operation Puerto. This was a Spanish police sting directed at a man named Dr. Fuentes. Supposedly, the records indicate that several hundred athletes were involved with Fuentes. It seem that about 60 of those are cyclists. The remainder are said to include many big-time soccer players, but so far they have not been named.

I guess the answer to visibility of this issue lies in the sport's approach. Cycling is very enthusiastic about ridding the sport of drugs and is willing to uncover cheats and make their names public. Other sports are more circumspect about public announcements, their PR machines trying to keep a lid on things (IMO).


JR

Oh, forget to address Loring's point about whether drugs are not beneficial to some sports. There are loads of drugs beneficial to a wide variety of athletes. Distance athletes (cyclists, LD runners, cross country skiers) are fond of things that help endurance. These might be things like EPO, animal blood distillate, etc. because they provide an unnantural level of red blood cells.

Power-sport athletes, like football and basketball players, might use sterroids or Human Growth Hormone, to make them bigger and stronger. Cocktails of these drugs are concocted to mask their presence in the athlete's blood. Sometimes these drugs are available to athletes while still going through stage 1 clinical trials!

[JR]

... Now the British Open Golf Tournament, that's some real excitement. At least I think those guys are pretty drug free. ...

I guess you didn't see Gary Player's comments this week:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070718...r_070718152345

[gerti]

so did the Germans pull the plug because
1) No Germans, no interest
2) Protest the TdF selective testing of the Germans
3) Protest the German team

The publicly funded stations ARD and ZDF (who shared live reporting) announced before the start of the tour that they would cancel reporting if there were another case of doping.

BTW another (private) station (SAT 1) took over live reporting the next day, under huge criticism from politicians and mostly ignored by viewers.

[ragswl4]

I guess you didn't see Gary Player's comments this week:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070718...r_070718152345

Just read his comments. He should say who it is and if they are using drugs to enhance their play they should be banned from playing. If he isn't willing to say who it is or report who it is then he is condoning it. I would expect better of him.

I would not be surprised to learn that some golfers are using some form of drug to enhance their play. That said, golf is a very mental game and while strength and stamina play a role, its really the mental focus of the player that usually determines who wins or loses.

Being very strong and/or able to run for 26 miles won't help anyone make a 3 foot, downhill, left to right breaking putt on the last hole to win a major golf tournament. My $.02

[LCHIEN]

Just read his comments. He should say who it is and if they are using drugs to enhance their play they should be banned from playing. If he isn't willing to say who it is or report who it is then he is condoning it. I would expect better of him.

I would not be surprised to learn that some golfers are using some form of drug to enhance their play. That said, golf is a very mental game and while strength and stamina play a role, its really the mental focus of the player that usually determines who wins or loses.

Being very strong and/or able to run for 26 miles won't help anyone make a 3 foot, downhill, left to right breaking putt on the last hole to win a major golf tournament. My $.02

I'm not a Golfer, but I imagine someone who can outdrive most of the other guys by 50 yds may gain a 1-2 stroke lead over the course of 18 holes simply by fewer strokes to the green on two or three monster fairways per 18 holes.

[HarmsWay]

Don't kid yourselves. I'm willing to bet that drug use is proportional to the money to be made as a result of the gains and for EVERY sport there is a drug that can help. I too am against drug use for sports but to be totally drug free is not going to happen except in sports where no money is involved.

I read about the accusations against Michael Rasmussen earlier today. Very dissapointing because it just sounds like it could be true. This is the article:
http://www.velonews.com/tour2007/new...s/12851.0.html

Professional cyclists at the bottom of the list? Uh...what about football, baseball, basketball, hockey, track ....

Maybe as Kristofor said, we have to treat the sports just as entertainment. I'm not quite ready for that though.

Bob

[drumpriest]

I am actually fairly proud of cycling, indeed blood doping has been going on for decades. There were a series of deaths in the 80s from teams doing actual blood doping (take out some blood, wait for your body to recover, then inject yourself with that blood right before a race). Now-a-days it's EPO and other drugs. But people think of cycling as "dirty" because they admit it as a sport, and try to do something about it.

I'm proud that the sport acknowledges it, and tries to stop it, rather than turn a blind eye, like every other pro sport.

[gwyneth]

espn.com is running a survey--"Which accusation is most disturbing to you as a sports fan?" Of the three choices, Barry Bonds' alleged steroid use was way at the bottom, with 15% of the responses. Referee Tim Donaghy's alleged betting on NBA games, at 45%, was narrowly edging out Michael Vick's alleged involvement in dog fighting, at 40%.

It's just too depressing--as a sportscaster up here said tonight, 'did anybody think last week that anything could make Barry Bonds and steroids seem like a minor problem?'

[JR]

I'm not a Golfer, but I imagine someone who can outdrive most of the other guys by 50 yds may gain a 1-2 stroke lead over the course of 18 holes simply by fewer strokes to the green on two or three monster fairways per 18 holes.

Well, they say you drive for show, and putt for dough. So, it begs the question as to what benefit drugs would have.

JR

[Russianwolf]

Well, they say you drive for show, and putt for dough. So, it begs the question as to what benefit drugs would have.

JR

Are there any sports that might not benefit from PE drugs? Car Racing is the only one I can think of. The drivers don't want to get bigger, that's for sure. Bigger means more weight and everyone knows some drivers have said that Danicka might have an advantage due to her size. Extra endurance/stamina might help a bit, but I don't know if the drivers would find the risk worth the gain.

as far as other sports go, I don't watch pro sport except one and only occasionally. MMA and I have a feeling that a number of guys in it use. At the college level I watch football, and I hope that the kids are staying clean. If not, they need to be expelled from school and that's that.

[Mrs. Wallnut]

Are there any honest sports left? Kristofor.

There is one that comes to mind that I have NEVER heard anything about the participants using drugs in right now and that is BOWLING. I watch this sport weekly, and from Sept. to April or May I even bowl once a week.

IMO Bowling is a sport that can be done into, well however old you want to get. The people doing this sport have to know a lot of things to be a professional bowler, for example, where to throw the ball to make a strike where to stand for a spare and how much and what kind of oil pattern they are using on the lanes. And where can you bowl maybe one or two televised games and make 100,000 or more sometimes. Granted its a long process in getting to that kind of money but there are men and women out there that make a good living by being a professional bowler.