Helmut threw this out there and it's a good question. There is clearly massive and pervasive doping throughout the entire peloton. Should we care?
I've more or less checked out from following the races. The doping, to me, is too disgusting to ignore. Here's a few reasons why it does matter.
1. Doping is cheating, period. I'm not big on being self-righteous; we all have moral failings, but come on: doping is breaking the rules. Sport is supposed to be about talent, hard work, and luck. Doping is about having enough money, the right doctor, flexible morals, and a care-free attitude about your long-term health. We're not supposed to give out medals for being morally flexible. When we ignore doping, we end up rewarding the wrong values.
Bjarne Riis was apparently willing to jack his hemaocrit up to 64% during the Tour. Fortunately for him, he lived through the night -- and won. But we shouldn't reward him for being stupid enough to make his blood thicker than molasses.
2. It's not just the cheating, it's the lying. It's one thing to cheat these days; they all do it, right? But the lying after getting caught is revolting. Is there anyone on the planet more despicable than Tyler Hamilton? Raising money from the poor dupes who believe his lies? And now Floyd, doing the same thing? Lance lies, Roberto, Jan, Ivan, etc. Doesn't anyone have the integrity to blow the whistle on this? Answer: for the most part, no.
3. It's not just the cheating and lying, it's criminal. Injecting 30 different kinds of steroid, hormone, narcotic, and other pharmaceutical into your ass without medical reason isn't just dangerous and unethical, in most countries, it's illegal. Carrying all this across borders is illegal. Doctors rounding this stuff up is illegal. Ignoring doping will make illegal conduct a necessary part of the sport. Not good for keeping sponsors, not good for the general ethical stature of our heroes.
4. The doctors are scumbags. Most doctors I admire like to help the sick and injured, not establish international drug rings dedicated to injecting morally vacuous athletes with extremely potent pharmaceuticals in contravention of various laws and sporting ethics guidelines. Just an observation.
5. Doping penalizes the riders who are too ethical or too concerned about about their health to dope. The people who get to the top of the Pro Peloton are the people who make the moral and health choice to cheat. I don't know, but I'm going to guess that there are more than a few 18 year-old amateurs who don't want to go pro in a sport that will require playing a game of Russian roulette with their long term health.
6. Dope can kill. And it has.
7. The amateurs and under-funded teams start doing it, without medical supervision. If you have to dope to win, eventually you have to dope to compete. Most teams don't have $15 million budgets, but many almost anyone can read an internet forum and lots of people can place internet orders for EPO.
8. It will destroy the sport. Maybe. How long will the sponsors put up with it? For the time being, despite several sponsors dropping last year, there seems to be enough money to go around. But will this last forever? And will the fans keep putting up with this ****? I won't.
9. It makes for crappy racing. Hard to say exactly what the effect has been, but it seems likely that doping reduces the number of bad days and rewards the teams (e.g., Discovery) that engage is systematic doping. Need to win an early season race? Dope up! Need to climb Mt. Ventoux without breaking a sweat? No problem. I'd actually like to see these guys suffer.
Anyhow, that's my take.
helmutRoole2 said:I'll throw this out there, and I've said it before. What difference does it make? Just enjoy the sport part and the race part and leave the personalities out of it. Check out the pedal mechanics, the thrill of the race, the one guy who beats the charging peloton... all the stuff.
Doping shouldn't change a thing.
I've more or less checked out from following the races. The doping, to me, is too disgusting to ignore. Here's a few reasons why it does matter.
1. Doping is cheating, period. I'm not big on being self-righteous; we all have moral failings, but come on: doping is breaking the rules. Sport is supposed to be about talent, hard work, and luck. Doping is about having enough money, the right doctor, flexible morals, and a care-free attitude about your long-term health. We're not supposed to give out medals for being morally flexible. When we ignore doping, we end up rewarding the wrong values.
Bjarne Riis was apparently willing to jack his hemaocrit up to 64% during the Tour. Fortunately for him, he lived through the night -- and won. But we shouldn't reward him for being stupid enough to make his blood thicker than molasses.
2. It's not just the cheating, it's the lying. It's one thing to cheat these days; they all do it, right? But the lying after getting caught is revolting. Is there anyone on the planet more despicable than Tyler Hamilton? Raising money from the poor dupes who believe his lies? And now Floyd, doing the same thing? Lance lies, Roberto, Jan, Ivan, etc. Doesn't anyone have the integrity to blow the whistle on this? Answer: for the most part, no.
3. It's not just the cheating and lying, it's criminal. Injecting 30 different kinds of steroid, hormone, narcotic, and other pharmaceutical into your ass without medical reason isn't just dangerous and unethical, in most countries, it's illegal. Carrying all this across borders is illegal. Doctors rounding this stuff up is illegal. Ignoring doping will make illegal conduct a necessary part of the sport. Not good for keeping sponsors, not good for the general ethical stature of our heroes.
4. The doctors are scumbags. Most doctors I admire like to help the sick and injured, not establish international drug rings dedicated to injecting morally vacuous athletes with extremely potent pharmaceuticals in contravention of various laws and sporting ethics guidelines. Just an observation.
5. Doping penalizes the riders who are too ethical or too concerned about about their health to dope. The people who get to the top of the Pro Peloton are the people who make the moral and health choice to cheat. I don't know, but I'm going to guess that there are more than a few 18 year-old amateurs who don't want to go pro in a sport that will require playing a game of Russian roulette with their long term health.
6. Dope can kill. And it has.
7. The amateurs and under-funded teams start doing it, without medical supervision. If you have to dope to win, eventually you have to dope to compete. Most teams don't have $15 million budgets, but many almost anyone can read an internet forum and lots of people can place internet orders for EPO.
8. It will destroy the sport. Maybe. How long will the sponsors put up with it? For the time being, despite several sponsors dropping last year, there seems to be enough money to go around. But will this last forever? And will the fans keep putting up with this ****? I won't.
9. It makes for crappy racing. Hard to say exactly what the effect has been, but it seems likely that doping reduces the number of bad days and rewards the teams (e.g., Discovery) that engage is systematic doping. Need to win an early season race? Dope up! Need to climb Mt. Ventoux without breaking a sweat? No problem. I'd actually like to see these guys suffer.
Anyhow, that's my take.