Originally Posted by patentcad
To destroy our beloved sport that is:
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news;_ylt...v=ap&type=lgns
It really is astonishing. If the NFL or NBA managment pulled this crap, the fans would burn down their corporate offices. It's like Dick Pound & the Tour Organizers have announced a Jihad on pro cycling.
Prudhomme is TDF race director, not WADA. OP is not WADA. This has nothing to do with Pound, or WADA. Good example however, as there are no drugs in NFL. The American race clearly just has bigger balls.
Originally Posted by patentcad
By the way if you want to watch a drug infested sport untroubled by any such misguided efforts, check out the Super Bowl next month and the World Series in October. The TV ratings will soar and the $ will flow. In the meantime the most notable cyclist in the world (Ivan Basso) can only get $2 million annually (that's like Beckham's bar tab) and he may be banned from the Tour de France AGAIN.
All Birrillo has to do is provide DNA to exonerate himself, but he will only do this if it doesn't involve prosecution for OP (Hmmm). Meanwhile, Ullrich's DNA sample will be tested, and if it doesn't match those blood bags, he will be exonerated.
Besides, the TDF has the largest world TV audience of any sporting event outside of the World Cup, they really don't care about US ratings (I know this is hard to believe). Just like most of the world does not watch the football "World Championship", or the "World" series of baseball. By your argument, NASCAR is good sport.
Your argument that money is more important to sport than ethics and rules is not a commonly held opinion.
Cycling does not have big, stupid, salaries, but it is one of the few sports that does not charge its spectators to watch.
Originally Posted by patentcad
You can't make this stuff up. Maybe the French ARE idiots after all. At the very least they should get me some of the LeGanga they're smoking.
Of course the French are idiots, anyone outside of the US, or your mind, are 'idiots'. Yet Americans will flock in thousands to idiot-land every year rather than develop a decent, long-running, US Tour race. Then, they will ***** about having to follow the rules. Kind of pathetic.
I still don't see how the TDF defines the sport of cycling anyway, there are many better races, and better Tours than the TDF. Try watching some of the non-Lance spring classics, the Giro and the Vuelta.
For a better perspective, read Thompson's "The Tour de France: A Cultural History". Doping scandals have surrounded the TDF every year since the 60s. Rider protests happened as late as 1998.
Yet, the Tour gets more popular every year.