Newsgroup: it.sport.ciclismo
Titolo: Frankie Andreu Speaks

"Everybody's afraid to talk because they don't want to implicate
 themselves," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/12/sports/othersports/12andreu.html
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 themselves," he said.
Questa è la ragione base dell'ipocrisia che affligge questo mondo. Per
inciso, è ipocrisia anche creare uno-due casi l'anno da sbattere in
prima pagina, dare addosso a loro come se gli altri fossero puliti e
pensare, o far pensare a chi legge, che tutto il resto sia pulito
-- 
Un solista di violino può suonare i suoi concerti senza grande
conoscenza della musica anche con lode, basta che reciti bene. 
Ma un bravo violinista dell'orchestra deve avere molto intendimento 
nell'intera musica, nella composizione e nella diversità del carattere 
per poter svolgere il suo compito. (Leopold Mozart)

 pensare, o far pensare a chi legge, che tutto il resto sia pulito
For myself, I am (not) pro-doping, but pro-solutions, whatever they may be,
as long as not too drastic. I understand the history and culture of the
tour, the code of the riders, and the standoffs and camps that have come
about since the 80's pitting riders, teams, sponsors, owners and the doping
agencies in a great gulf, (great divide). I know that is not a good thing,
but a bad thing for cycling. Riders don't trust the press anymore either, so
things couldn't be worse.
I don't know if what we have today is cycling, which I thought was supposed
to be a sport in which we enjoy the races and our favorites stars. Today
cycling seems to more of the America TV (survivor series) where the last men
not to get caught wins, but perhaps worse then that. It seems like a sport
where men ride bicycles in races and that part of the sport is for doping
agencies to constantly pursue riders all year long in a game of hide and
seek, in which riders get caught on a regular basis and that steals the
headlines, and totally dominates the press and our discussions, at least it
does in American forums. Something like the (Running Man) in which Arnold
finally gets caught and cornered with drugs. So is the sport and the stories
that follow about cycling, great drama and sportsmanship? No, to the
contrary, it's usually about constant drug raids all year long, who got
caught, and the constant mocking and humiliation of riders all year long,
which the drug crusaders, the doping agencies are the heroes, and the riders
are the trash, the bad guys, dirty bad guys, (Running Men) who have been
constantly hounded, pursued, trapped and cornered like a rat, humiliated and
throw on the trash heap of history by the doping agencies.
THIS OUGHT NOT TO BE!
Like I said, I am not pro-doping, but pro-cycling, and surely bigger minds
can fix this problem. Since money will always dictate what advantages riders
will use to achieve and win from better teams, equipment, and especially
performance enhancement products, some of the hypocrisy needs to end, and
the stigmas removed so we can get back to enjoying the sport like in the old
days. This is really a war between the (haves) and (have nots), not just as
simple a matter of trying to police dopers from the ranks of the peleton. If
we have to lose riders like Basso, Ulrich and Vinny, I mean something is
really rotten in Denmark, and it needs to be fixed. They cut the heart and
soul out of the tour this year, and that should of never happened, but it
goes much deeper then that. I don't believe increasing doping controls will
solve anything, but will have the reverse effect driving riders deeper
underground and becoming increasingly clever to hire the best medical
experts to hide these substances in an effort to win. It is a war out there,
and winning is everything, and the advantages always outweigh the risks of
getting caught. It may very well be that someday, technology will become so
advanced in the hands those riders and teams who can afford it, that
performance enhancements will have to become legal to allow a fair playing
field, but again, how that is implemented, that would interesting to see how
all that plays out in time. Clearly the commercial value and big money that
has been pumped into the tour favors the teams who can afford the best, and
that includes the best team doctors as well.
The bottom line is, some of the best minds out there believe drug scandals
will kill the sport, if something isn't changed radically, and perhaps they
need to completely re-think how to deal with the root of the problem,
remember it never was a big problem in the past, this is a modern day
problem, drugs and technology are not evil in themselves, it's always how
they are used or abused that causes the problem, and perhaps a balance can
be struck here, since riders will always use whatever advantages they can
get, legal or not. The (haves) will use big money to hide drugs, and the
(have nots) will use the poor mans drugs and probably get caught because he
cannot afford to hide it as well, so that's hardly fair.
Telling riders to just say no to drugs, is not just hypocritical, it's a
complete joke when the trillion dollar pharmaceutical industry is constantly
slamming them with images of the latest cutting edge enhancement products.
The hypocrisy is in the stigma of the so called role models! That is not how
I remember role models from the past, but since the early Olympics, the
stigma has increased greatly, but I don't believe cycling ever needed the
Olympics anyway, they didn't in the past. I think it can survive on its own
merits, if we can remove this stigma, and level the playing field in some
sense that is reasonable and return to the former glory we all enjoyed.
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