Re:
robertmooreheadlane said:
I have to say that looking at this thread and the personal vitriol in it and from the members writing it, it is clear there is a lot of feeling about this.
Yeah yeah.. A couple of heated posts and you have panned the whole thread out...
robertmooreheadlane said:
Equally there are some very misguided thoughts about the sport of cycling
IT IS NOT A CLEAN SPORT - Never has been and never will be.
And I am not just talking about drugs.
Where did anyone say it was a clean sport? Or that it could be clean?
On the contrary it is acknowledged that is will never be clean, but can be cleaner..
robertmooreheadlane said:
I am talking about riders catching trains to miss out parts of stages.
I am talking about riders and managers hiring thugs to take out there rivals and kidnap them or severely beat them so they couldn't ride
I am talking about people putting tacks in the road in small town local cycling club TT's so a particular rider would win.
I am talking about deals done to win races - before they even start.
I am talking about amounts of money being paid between teams to arrange the outcome of races before the flag drops
I am talking about corruption in the election process of officials
So...? It's not like you reveal anything new above... I think you are missing the point..
The aim is not to establish what is wrong...
robertmooreheadlane said:
From the very top to the very bottom of the sport are CHEATS.
This is not about drugs it is about the sport
It is a macho, testosterone fuellued, bragging rights based sport that brings out the worst in people and does so in all forms of the sport.
You will not change the pro sport - it is a money machine now and not a sport; the same as the american entertainment sports mentioned earlier
You will not remove the drugs and cheating from amateur sport as that genie is out of the bottle and not going back.
You are exaggerating and misrepresentating peoples arguments and points... As far as I know no one here claimed they could change things just out of the blue... It is a cycling forum for discussion -so that is what people do, and sometimes that involves speculating and laying out hypothetical scenarios.. What on earth is your problem with that? Do you come to forums just to shut down discussion/debate? How boring........
robertmooreheadlane said:
So where are you going to find all these amazing clean principled people to run this new version once the drug cheats are all thrown out ?
I dunno.. Not my idea.. But probs for finally asking something instead of just ranting with no room for discussion
robertmooreheadlane said:
Who is going to invest in a sport watching normal people struggle to ride up hills that people flew up a couple of years ago
Who is going to buy bikes from a sport which is now going 30% slower than it was 5 years ago.
Who wants to be associated with a sport whose competitors are no where near the physical specimens of other sports in the world
By the way having a sport watched by a few die hards who want a clean sport is not a viable business model.
I think there is a huge un-exploided market for sponsors that is just not avaliable because of the way Cycling has managed itself and it's image.... Mostly the sponsorship-pool is far too little in terms of numbers and money BECAUSE very few dares the risk of getting soiled by the doping........
As for the the 30%... Yet another exaggeration... Do you really think cycling will be boring just beacuse most of them stop doping? Is it not possible we would have a whole new interesting form of racing?
robertmooreheadlane said:
And for those who want life time bans for first offences - News flash there is this thing called the LAW and it states that people will make mistakes and they are allowed to pay for those mistakes and be reformed and retake their place in society. Unless that crime they committed is so horrendous that they are not allowed to do so and for that you can get the death penalty or be placed on a special list which protects the people of the world around you. So if you honestly think cheating in a bike race is equivalent to being a Murderer or a Peadophile etc for which life time sentences or bans are justified. I would suggest a little bit of introflection and perspective is in order.
People can make a mistake and you have all done so in your lives, what if the next time you made a mistake someone took your livelihood from you? Think about that.
What about those who spilled the beans who got ostracised and lost their livelihood because the sport only have room for former dopers upholding omerta... Think about it... Something has to change.. All though I agree life time bans for first offence is not the solution.. If you really did read the thread you would know my position...
robertmooreheadlane said:
The sport is corrupt - accept it, Always has been and always will be. Just like most sports, it is one of the reasons people keep in touch with it.
Yes.. We can all give up -just like you... But since you bring real life analogies in here, think about how hard some people work just so that a few less people die from hunger in Africa.. What if everyone had your approach -that it doesn't matter because you can't eradicate hunger, diseases etc... How sad the world would be...
robertmooreheadlane said:
The reason people watch motor sport is not to see cars racing round at stupid speeds and to go deaf, they watch it for the excitement, what generates the excitement? the fact that something could go wrong, the crashes, and I would guess that a lot of the people on here only keep going with cycling because you are waiting for the excitement of the next big bust and scandal.
I am not fond of scandals.. Because as i said yesterday in another thread they only serve as a faux sigh of relief (and serves the system works discourse) leaving cycling in a vacuum only waiting for the next pumped-up balloon to burst...
robertmooreheadlane said:
And yes as you are now all crying foul and shouting at the screen, stop and think honestly deep down didn't you really log on every day to CN to see if the news headlines would be filled with someone getting busted at the Giro
Maybe you should evaluate your effect on other people before telling them how it is?
I think you may be overestimating your impact
robertmooreheadlane said:
Human beings want to be entertained, that is what the masses want, and have done throughout history, We as a species did watch our own kind being fed to lions and wolves for fun!!! Many around the world and on here want the entertainment of watching amazing performances, even though you know they are cheating, and you are longing for the entertainment of the next big scandal and to see who will get busted,
You can entertain without PED's... I'am quite sure....
robertmooreheadlane said:
I am sorry to be a downer but the idea of changing the culture of cycling to rid it of cheats and corruption is like trying to take away the human spirit. Human beings and corruption have been hand in hand since we were able to live in groups, thousands of years ago.
That change is one that no government or religion or internet forum will ever change.
It's a hypothetical thought experiment... Nothing else...No one is expecting this thread to save cycling, but given the history of same what is wrong with entertaining posibilities?
It seems you have a very hard time dealing with it...
Maybe you must just learn to come to terms that not everyone is like you, or share your beliefs...