Frankie mentioned Rasmussen's issue in passing yesterday, but that's been about it. It's funny to see that the promo reels on Vs. contain no video at all of Landis (and surprisingly no archival footage of Armstrong, either), but they do still hype Leipheimer by suggesting we tune in to see "if an American can win it for the 9th straight year".
Your point is valid, however. Vs. is a for-profit television network. It's fine for state-run German television to take the Tour off the air in disgust, but Vs. has already paid to broacast the Tour, and they want ratings. Emphasizing the lack of integrity of the participants (and the organizations who sponsor them) isn't going to pay off for the network; therefore Liggett would be cutting his own throat by doing so. My guess is that old-school guys like Liggett and Sherwen are probably as outraged as some of the rest of you, but they have an obligation to their employer, and they're going to toe the party line -- talk up the Americans, and make every stage finish sound like an epic one.
Personally, I have no problem with that. Sports is entertainment, after all -- every man in that peloton does what he does not primarily because he aspires to be great sportsmen -- he does it to get paid lots of money. And to get paid lots of money, he'd better be entertaining. And to be entertaining, he'd better get the results. As I've been saying all day and for months, I don't much care any more if they dope or not. I just enjoy watching the events. Cycling is no different than soccer, or baseball, or basketball, or wrestling -- doping is rampant in professional sports, not just cycling. So why is this the only sport that insists upon cannibalizing itself?
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