tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196779.post3413592226760839482..comments2024-01-03T06:52:57.387-05:00Comments on Pappillon: UPDATED: Can We Drop the Fake Moral Outrage?JMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05346798683078093966noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196779.post-13228049273797592972010-09-10T22:49:34.868-05:002010-09-10T22:49:34.868-05:00To the anonymous reader who left a comment that in...To the anonymous reader who left a comment that included the following ("How's this for an idea? Let someone else not tainted like Saiz have a crack at running a team. This is why doping is endemic in the sport-the retreading of characters like Saiz. Remember, Saiz begat Bruyneel-where do you think "The Hog" learned his tricks?"), all I have to say is that it's not a question of "letting" someone else besides Saiz run a team. It's an economic question and if Saiz can raise the budget required to fund a pro team when someone like Gerry van Gerwen, why shouldn't he be able to create a squad? I know for a fact that at least two Continental teams that are applying for upgrade licenses (one to Pro Continental and one to ProTour) are dealing with doping scandals that haven't been made public yet - should their owners also be forced to bow-out of the sport and turn their budgets over to "someone else?"JMPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05346798683078093966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196779.post-69140401178974954582010-08-23T13:55:38.446-05:002010-08-23T13:55:38.446-05:00It seems that the German media has today come out ...It seems that the German media has today come out against Ullrich again, calling him at risk for addiction and describing him as being on the brink of self-destruction. If folks actually cared about Ullrich the person, and they really thought he should have peace but equated that with the product of admitting to doping, I would encourage them to keep in mind the fact that if Ullrich is willing to keep lying, and he doesn't feel the need to publicly show himself, then he might also have peace if the media and the public just left him alone and stopped calling for him to publicly admit to doping. I mean, you can't make someone do what you want them to, if they're not willing to go there...JMPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05346798683078093966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196779.post-26245137816239155312010-08-17T17:37:41.049-05:002010-08-17T17:37:41.049-05:00I agree - there must exist and be protected and ev...I agree - there must exist and be protected and even highlighted a pathway BACK to competition and reintegration in Sport for those convicted of doping. While there is an entire argument for this that can be based on moral, ethical, even philosophical concerns, there is also a significant practical reality: that no athlete caught doping is going to cooperate with anti-doping authorities, or tell his story truthfully, in-full to the media, if the expected response is to be eviscerated. If those conditions become the norm, and are accepted - no, expected - forget the hope of someone revealing a smoking gun or providing investigators with detailed explanation of how athletes defeat the anti-doping controls. No, instead you'll just see an endless parade of Ivan Basso's and Dan Staite's - riders who either want to come back and so will admit to the bare minimum personal transgression but w/o "naming names" or riders who have no intention of ever competing in cycling again, and so basically tell the world to "F*ck Off."<br /><br />Neither situation is a good one if you want advancements in the fight against doping - because it's obvious that the ADA's need the cooperation of any dopers who they can turn.JMPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05346798683078093966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196779.post-37515694023581990252010-08-16T19:05:25.656-05:002010-08-16T19:05:25.656-05:00It does strike me as strange that we tend to treat...It does strike me as strange that we tend to treat dopers more harshly than the people who "cheated" on Wall Street to create the GFC or "cheated" in respect to basic safety proceedures at BP.<br /><br />Society seems to accept the validity of using slightly dubious means to establish an advantage in many areas of life, but to be very harsh in its analysis of others.<br /><br />While I am 100% against doping, we have to create a pathway forward from here and that is going to require us to forgive some people and that is going to really hard for a lot people. I do wonder how many of our own lives and decsions would hold up to real scrutiny. I am not saying that people should not have to take responsibility for their actions, but it does seem to be pretty easy to throw stones when you are not able to be scrutinised in return.Pepe Pompadillohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06092871494858227651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196779.post-36569028867710791402010-08-16T10:54:30.481-05:002010-08-16T10:54:30.481-05:00SprintKing, thanks for the comment. I appreciate y...SprintKing, thanks for the comment. I appreciate your support and praise, and I also think that were one like Ullrich to come forward, he would be displaying bravery far in excess to what I manifested. After all, I was caught red-handed (more or less) and so it was easier to reach the conclusion that I should come clean. There was just little to protect by maintaining the denials. OK, maybe money/material wealth - and defending it by denying the truth - isn't justification for keeping silent, but I can understand why people do it. It's scary to face the possibility of being left financially destitute, or to consider being caught for years in various legal battles - even when they arise out of your own bad decisions. I don't have any doubt that Ullrich's "Burnout Syndrome" is genuine and the public need to realize that their vicious response to confessed and "captured" dopers comes at a price.JMPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05346798683078093966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196779.post-88513065598080852682010-08-16T02:10:10.512-05:002010-08-16T02:10:10.512-05:00Joe I think you are 100% correct, but that doesnt ...Joe I think you are 100% correct, but that doesnt stop me wanting more of the big names to be as brave as you have and to speak with openness about what they have done. I suppose Riis, Zabel and Aldag have to some extent taken the path of being reasonably honest, but I guess an Ulrich telling his story would be really powerful, and I wonder if it would not be pretty helpful to him at a personal level. But you are right that would come at massive cost.<br /><br />I am personally finding that the moral dimension of things and the venom with which people are attacked is now maybe one of the things that is going to limit the sport moving forward. I find I am stuck between a rock and a hard place with my thinking towards doping now in that the pathway forward seems to involve a hell of a lot of angry looking back into what is a bit of a dead end. Its hard to see where the "new beggining" is going to spring from.Pepe Pompadillohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06092871494858227651noreply@blogger.com