Great Lakes - Send letter to editor - Chicago Tribune

I don't now how many of you get the Trib but on the front page today they ran the Bjarne Riis story. I am happy to see the story but what I didn't like was the overt editorializing (word?) of the article. Phrases like "cycle of cheating" and "last shred of credibility gone" didn't sit well with me.

I emailed a letter basically saying at least cycling is testing, catching and punishing cheats which is far more credible than baseball, football, basketball and other sports doing nothing and allowing the cheating to continue. It is the same point you have seen on these boards and I think the Tribune should be made aware of this. You can submit your own letter here. http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/site/chi-lettertotheeditor,1,5676846.customform?coll=chi-navrailhome2-nav

Done.

To be fair, the article did say "analysis" under the headline, which usually indicates some level of editorializing on the part of the writer.

Beyond the statements you cite, the article was less analysis and more a list of the folks caught in the snares of doping scandals from Riis to Ullrich to Pantani through Landis, as well as an insinuation that Armstrong was on something because he was crushing these known dopers for 7 years.

Philip Hersh, who wrote the article, is the Trib's do-it-all "Olympic Sports" beat writer, so has covered doping scandals in track-and-field, etc. He doesn't cover the NFL, MLB, or NBA for the Trib. The beat writers for those sports have a lot at stake in their relationships with players, owners, and management if they want to have access to cover the games, so in turn they don't tackle such topics head on. It's a shame, but with Bonds, Merriman, and Giambi (among others), the doping situation in major US sports is gaining attention. They have yet to hit the crisis point that cycling now finds itself.

Cycling seems to be nearing its bottoming out point in this past week with the convergence of the 1996 Telekom riders coming forward, especially major names like Zabel and Riis admitting. If this is what it takes to root out the problem, or at least make the playing field more level and safe going forward, then it is just a storm that cycling fans will have to weather and endure the way that it will get sensationalized in the US press.

Cycling doesn't have a massive fan base to lose in the US to begin with, so the attention it's getting right now will fade away and those of us know actually knew who Riis, Zabel, and Pantani are will continue to follow the sport. The Armstrong effect of bandwagon fans is fading as it always was destined to do.

In any case, this whole situation is a shame, but can lead to a better sport in the long run. I'll be interested to see where we are a year from now when cycling has started to put it's credibility back to the forefront, a la Team Slipstream.