If you've been following the sickening developments in the world of doping, you may have seen that Italian pro Riccardo Ricco nearly killed himself this week by botching a transfusion of his own blood ("blood doping"). Since he's been caught before, and promised to clean up, lots of folks are jumping on Ricco for being an unrepentant doper.

Fair enough, I guess.

But today Mark Cavendish piles on, and says that he hopes Ricco goes to prison, and, more specifically, "I really do hope he becomes someone's ***** in prison."

(exact quote here):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oth...n-scandal.html

So, I may be a bit out of touch with current slang, but I would read this to mean that he hopes that Ricco is ***** in prison. In any other walk of life -- really, even any another sport -- Cavendish would be castigated for making such a statement.

But from what I see via various searches tonight, most people are laughing at Cavendish, or even applauding him for speaking his mind.

I just can't imagine any other situation where that kind of sentiment would be accepted. Can you imagine anyone saying that about a female athlete?

I don't know what's worse -- the rampant, continuous string of doping scandals in the sport, or the fact that apparently to fellow athletes and the cycling press it's OK to use that kind of language about another athlete.

Seems like a completely broken sport if you ask me.