A Different Approach to Fighting PEDs in Sports
Having merely skimmed this Bonnie Ford story from ESPN.com, I feel like I should strongly recommend it to anyone interested in PEDs in sports. It's about a very interesting - and I must say surprising - development in cycling. Teams, in particular a new American team, are taking the initiative to fight doping by operating with 100% transparency and submitting to testing above and beyond that required by the laws of the game.
Imagine if, say, the Toronto Blue Jays came out and said they were going to self-impose strict anti-steroid and anti-PED rules and testing with an aim at being a 100% clean franchise. What if they vowed to cut anyone on their team who tested positive to a test. What if they intentionally signed only players who had never had a sniff of suspicion. Wouldn't you root for that team? That's what this American cycling team, Slipstream, is going for.
I think their paradigm works better in cycling, because of the way a team can be built from scratch. It's not out of the question that a brand new team will be invited to participate in the Tour de France.
I'm excited to root for Slipstream, and intrigued at the direction cycling is headed as it cleans itself up.
P.S.
[Was going to make this a comment but felt it was too important to hide down there].
Just finished the article. Fascinating stuff. One major thing I came away with is a change in my attitude towards the US Postal/Discovery cycling team. Zabriske said he wants Slipstream to be "Not Discovery". Former Discovery members have an "ax they have to grind" with Discovery. And though it's not specified in the article, I would bet that the anonymous cyclist who called his old team "dirtbags" was a former Discovery rider.
Which leads me to believe, for the first time, that Discovery was not the most talented team, just the best team at cheating. (No positive tests.) In turn, for the first time, I think Lance might have doped.
Imagine if, say, the Toronto Blue Jays came out and said they were going to self-impose strict anti-steroid and anti-PED rules and testing with an aim at being a 100% clean franchise. What if they vowed to cut anyone on their team who tested positive to a test. What if they intentionally signed only players who had never had a sniff of suspicion. Wouldn't you root for that team? That's what this American cycling team, Slipstream, is going for.
I think their paradigm works better in cycling, because of the way a team can be built from scratch. It's not out of the question that a brand new team will be invited to participate in the Tour de France.
I'm excited to root for Slipstream, and intrigued at the direction cycling is headed as it cleans itself up.
P.S.
[Was going to make this a comment but felt it was too important to hide down there].
Just finished the article. Fascinating stuff. One major thing I came away with is a change in my attitude towards the US Postal/Discovery cycling team. Zabriske said he wants Slipstream to be "Not Discovery". Former Discovery members have an "ax they have to grind" with Discovery. And though it's not specified in the article, I would bet that the anonymous cyclist who called his old team "dirtbags" was a former Discovery rider.
Which leads me to believe, for the first time, that Discovery was not the most talented team, just the best team at cheating. (No positive tests.) In turn, for the first time, I think Lance might have doped.
Labels: cycling, Tour de France
posted by Prof. A at 3:33 PM
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