I'm Just Saying!

[marinoni]

I just have two things to say about the possibilities of a clean sport but I don't know what other thread to use and I'm interested in your views on this.

First of all, I really believe that all it would take to start cracking Omerta, at least with the Armstrong story, is for one big rider to say something in support of USADA. Just one rider to man up and say what he feels. I know the superstars would never do it, but I think there are some very good clean riders, just one needs to speak up.

Second, I remember reading that Verbruggen once said that the fans expect and demand that the riders are always going 45 kph. Can he really be that stupid? Does he not understand that fans are dying to see the riders look human again? That we just want the sport to be as dramatic and epic and thrilling as we know it can be. Imagine a sport with the kind of racing we saw as late as the late 80's before all the wonder drugs showed up. Imagine that sport with the internet, 2000 channel HiDef TV etc and huge new markets in the US, UK and around the world. Massive. Absolutely Massive.

 

[gree0232]

I just have two things to say about the possibilities of a clean sport but I don't know what other thread to use and I'm interested your views on this.

First of all, I really believe that all it would take to start cracking Omerta, at least with the Armstrong story, is for one big rider to say something in support of USADA. Just one rider to man up and say what he feels. I know the superstars would never do it, but I think there are some very good clean riders, just one needs to speak up.

Second, I remember reading that Verbruggen once said that the fans expect and demand that the riders are always going 45 kph. Can he really be that stupid? Does he not understand that fans are dying to see the riders look human again? That we just want the sport to be as dramatic and epic and thrilling as we know it can be. Imagine a sport with the kind of racing we saw as late as the late 80's before all the wonder drugs showed up. Imagine that sport with the internet, 2000 channel HiDef TV etc and huge new markets in the US, UK and around the world. Massive. Absolutely Massive.

Several Riders already have ... on both sides.

 

[samerics]

I'd love it if you were right, great post

 

[the big ring]

Movements need followers more than they need initiators: http://blog.ted.com/2010/04/01/how_to_start_a/

 

[Velodude]

Several Riders already have ... on both sides.

Are you saying that if he elected to go to arbitration Armstrong was preparing to produce more than 10 fellow team riders to prove the negative that he did not dope?

 

[MarkvW]

The riders need to unionize. No doubt about it, Lance Armstrong has more ball than the entire pro peloton. The pro peloton is a herd of cowardly sheep who take the crud that they are shoveled--and LIKE it. Only very few riders make the big bucks. The rest make a relative pittance--and they like it. Anybody who looks at those geeks as heroes needs their head examined.

The riders could change that if they acted like men and stood up for themselves. But I doubt they ever will. I think that pro bike racers must be masochists who like to be treated badly by team owners.

No meaningful positive change can happen until the pro peloton starts acting like something other than sheep. Then, the corruption of the UCI can be checked and a meaningful doping dialog begun.

Until then, watch the sheep ride their bikes.

 

[Stavros]

I couldn't agree more. For me, professional cycling has the potential to be the most intriguing and entertaining televised sport in the world. If the riders were all off their PEDs in the 3rd week of a grand tour . . . Ooooh, I get goosebumps just thinking about watching such a race.
It's just so sad that the professional sporting environment is such, that as long as the sportsperson is cashing up their sponsors and governing body of their sport, they get a free pass to just blatantly cheat. To me, that's not sport. But of course, it's just imitating life.

I would love for televised professional sport to be different though. A pure entity - safe from corruption.

I remember in primary school, playing sport, if someone was caught even remotely cheating at lunch break cricket or football, you were driven from the school oval in shame by your peers. And for the rest of your school year, you were branded a cheater. Kids wouldn't talk to you. And no-one played with you ever again!

 

[ElChingon]

Are you saying that if he elected to go to arbitration Armstrong was preparing to produce more than 10 fellow team riders to prove the negative that he did not dope?

Those that will tow the line:

Kevin Livingston
Yaroslav Popovych
Stijn Devolder
Janez Brajkovič
José Luis Rubiera
José Azevedo
Ivan Basso
Matt White
Manuel Beltrán
Viatcheslav Ekimov
Michael Barry
Tom Boonen
Gianpaolo Mondini
Víctor Hugo Peña
Jean-Cyril Robin

I could go on...

 

[Epicycle]

The riders need to unionize. No doubt about it, Lance Armstrong has more ball than the entire pro peloton. The pro peloton is a herd of cowardly sheep who take the crud that they are shoveled--and LIKE it. Only very few riders make the big bucks. The rest make a relative pittance--and they like it. Anybody who looks at those geeks as heroes needs their head examined.

The riders could change that if they acted like men and stood up for themselves. But I doubt they ever will. I think that pro bike racers must be masochists who like to be treated badly by team owners.

No meaningful positive change can happen until the pro peloton starts acting like something other than sheep. Then, the corruption of the UCI can be checked and a meaningful doping dialog begun.

Until then, watch the sheep ride their bikes.

The riders have a union, the CPA, but it's weak and too intertwined with the UCI. It's only been around since 1999. Bugno is the current CPA President.

 

[Maxiton]

The riders need to unionize. No doubt about it, Lance Armstrong has more ball than the entire pro peloton. The pro peloton is a herd of cowardly sheep who take the crud that they are shoveled--and LIKE it. Only very few riders make the big bucks. The rest make a relative pittance--and they like it. Anybody who looks at those geeks as heroes needs their head examined.

The riders could change that if they acted like men and stood up for themselves. But I doubt they ever will. I think that pro bike racers must be masochists who like to be treated badly by team owners.

No meaningful positive change can happen until the pro peloton starts acting like something other than sheep. Then, the corruption of the UCI can be checked and a meaningful doping dialog begun.

Until then, watch the sheep ride their bikes.

The riders have a union, the CPA, but it's weak and too intertwined with the UCI. It's only been around since 1999. Bugno is the current CPA President.

Agree with Mark. Near as I can tell, this "CPA" thing is effectively a company union, at least insofar as it's window dressing that doesn't serve the interests of the people it claims to represent.

If there were any labor movement to speak of in Europe, the riders would have long since been organized. In any event just any union for the riders won't do - it will just be corrupted by the UCI and the Mafia and others whose interests are not those of the riders. A real riders union needs to be run by the riders, for the riders. Is there a militant union in Europe that can help set this up?

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Several Riders already have ... on both sides.

Silly post, even for you.

It's like having the mafia boss' underlings testify that he's a "clean-cut guy".

 

[the delgados]

The riders have a union, the CPA, but it's weak and too intertwined with the UCI. It's only been around since 1999. Bugno is the current CPA President.

Riders do not have a union. You are describing the equivalent to an employee association, which is a quasi-union. Unionized employees would be subject to legally binding arbitration. They would have the right to negotiate a legally binding contract and have the right to strike.

 

[Velodude]

Those that will tow the line:

Kevin Livingston
Yaroslav Popovych
Stijn Devolder
Janez Brajkovič
José Luis Rubiera
José Azevedo
Ivan Basso
Matt White
Manuel Beltrán
Viatcheslav Ekimov
Michael Barry
Tom Boonen
Gianpaolo Mondini
Víctor Hugo Peña
Jean-Cyril Robin

I could go on...

How many of those riders would still have an obligation to retired and prospectively banned (if he had gone to arbitration) Armstrong that required committing perjury to discharge and risk conviction and a sentence?

You would expect to find that all of USADA's witnesses from USPS, Discovery, Astana & Radioshack revelation of events would be supported by compelling circumstantial evidence.

Like the funding of and source, distribution and supply of PEDs to the team(s) at various times dovetailing with the events disclosed by USADA witnesses.

It would be expected that the nature and quality of the evidence would be telling as Travis Tygart gained intelligence by sitting in on the Fed investigation.

 

[gregod]

Those that will tow the line:

Kevin Livingston
Yaroslav Popovych
Stijn Devolder
Janez Brajkovič
José Luis Rubiera
José Azevedo
Ivan Basso
Matt White
Manuel Beltrán
Viatcheslav Ekimov
Michael Barry
Tom Boonen
Gianpaolo Mondini
Víctor Hugo Peña
Jean-Cyril Robin

I could go on...

one significant omission from this list is Roberto Heras.

He got caught, took his punishment without a fight, and was made persona non grata by the UCI. I wonder if he will ever speak up.