wolfix said:Lance's response was just posted on Velonews. The interesting thing was that [censored] Pound's name came up again. He needs to be looked at by the WADA officials and he needs to have his reputation tried in the court of public opinion. As he has done to LA.
Beyond the issue of "if LA doped" is the issue of [censored] Pound and his connection to the newspaper. If [censored] Pound's tactics are not looked at, how do we apply any truth to what WADA does and say? If [censored] Pound did release this information to the newspaper, he needs to answer to a court of law. He [WADA]is supposed to be "the guardian at the gate" of drug enforcement. The professionalism of WADA has been seriously compromised by the "alleged" actions of Pound.
The newspaper in question is not reporting the story in the manner of professionalism, but rather in the intent of "sensationalism." But that is what sells newspapers.
The report that came out of Belgium a few weeks ago showed the public exactly what that particular French newspapers standards are. And this needs to be noted by the public.
Is this newspaper a tabloid or a considered a serious newspaper in France? [Serious question]
If people that love this sport think that Pound's actions are not hurting the sport consider this...... My friends that understand sports do not consider professional cyclists that race in Europe to be real athletes. They have no respect for them. {And this disrespect goes to American riders as well as others} They put professional cycling standards right there on par with the WWF. And it's not because they think American sports are the center of the universe, because they are all going nuts over the World Cup.
Our sport has no respect outside of the world we as fans live in.
If you do not think this is bad for cycling, look at what has happened to track & Field. No one cares for it anymore in this country. We got tired of hearing all the doping stories. It is now a tabloid sport.
I am not defending the dopers. We need WADA. But we need WADA to follow their mission statement. [censored] Pound has rose above that mission statement to further his personel agenda.
Soon we will see a list of riders that will be connected to the Saiz case. There is a real good possibility that a big name or 2 in cycling are going to be connected with those Spanish apartments. Personally, I think it will be a individual that is standing on the podium in July. I seriously hope I am wrong. This sport needs to go beyond doping stories to stories of riders exploits on the bike.
I picked the question out (serious newspaper) but here another answer, i agree with most of what you are saying but want to add that the UCI is harming the sport (they did for over 30 years and still do) as well.
