Serafino said:
A doper who denied being a doper "gains your respect" especially since he only admitted being a doper (and "only" wink, wink, in his last year of competition) after already being embroiled in legal difficulties and being exposed by many parties.
Kind of like Frankie coming clean only after alleging (without proof by his own admission) others doped but conveniently forgetting to mention that he doped himself.
Real heroes
The respect comes from the fact that he could have done just as all of the people who have been caught have done. Deny Deny Deny. Hamilton and others, including the precious Mennonite lad from my home state (Pennsylvania) who have tested postive, continue to act as though they have NO IDEA how that stuff got into their blood, urine, etc. What a load of ****. Not even Museeuw was sloppy enough to have even tested positive.
I guess I feel some respect for Museeuw, because it does take a lot of guts for someone who has won so many races, who still has a criminal drugs case pending, who has been World Champion, World Cup Leader, Belgian Champion, and so on, to come forward and admit to cheating in one of the years for which he has not yet been charged. While the admission was weak, it gives a nod of admission to the existing doping charges without incriminating himself in the 2003 case, for which he actually faces the threat of jail time for drug trafficking. (If I had a criminal case pending, you can bet your life I wouldn't be admitting to similar offenses in the press - especially not in Flanders). He quit his position at QS, as well.
The denial and mystery are over with Johan. In a country that lists Cycling Results in the daily newspaper above every other sport but Football, and where he has still some support from the cycling public, this admission is huge. Where is the admission from anyone who has been so high in the sport? An admission from the long retired domestique Frankie Andreu (who has not been charged anywhere) has hardly the same impact, but I respect Andreu for saying it as well.
I know that respect is an oddly placed term, but my personal take is that it is only when people who are at the top end of the sport admit their complicity in the culture of doping, that we will have any chance to stop it. Drug controls have been relatively ineffective at stopping ongoing doping practices, but changing attitudes by the people in the sport might actually do it. Maybe if a rider feels unsafe taking a blood transfusion in his hotel, because the rest of the team will tell the world, we might see a cleaner sport.
I won't apologize to the forum for the fact that I have long been entertained in the Spring Classics by Johan Museeuw and his powerhouse teams. His implication in the Landuyt affair, gave me the same sad feeling that many cycling fans have had since the news surfaced about the test result after Stage 17 of this past Tour de France. I may be gullible, but I hope that Museeuw owning up to even some of his "dishonesty" might help. Trust me, I certainly watch the 2002 Paris Roubaix DVD with a different eye. Museeuw at 36 years of age, on a solo break-away where strong riders 10 yeas his junior couldn't catch him. As I watch it now, I imagine that you can see the hormones and blood thickeners leaking out of the corners of his eyes.
I wish this beautiful sport could change, because it brings me such great joy.