wrinklyvet said:
Perhaps you will find another (alternative) world here where anything trusting is thought to be naive. I will leave it one of the established regulars to answer your query if he will!
To be trusting of an obvious corrupt system is naïve. There are a lot of people who trusted Armstrong and Contador. Most clinicians doubted the cleanliness of either, BEFORE they were caught.
The truth can be weaned from "patterns" (yes, even without "proof").
- testers are playing "catchup" with the dopers.
- very high incentive to cheat (money and prestige).
- studies show that some people will cheat if they think they will get away with it.
- suspicious physical performances that are far superior to previous generations.
- conflict of interest between promoting the sport and keeping it clean.
- athletes using obvious bogus "explanations" for increased performance ("gluten free diets", "cadence", "working harder than other elite athletes",...)
- athletes associating themselves with suspicious doctors and trainers.
- athletes getting caught by authorities outside the sport (like Odesnik, Armstrong, Galgo, Puerto, Bonds, Clemens, Marion Jones).
- athletes admitting usage (Canseco), and claiming they have seen others using.
The patterns are clear. Doping is widespread in sports today. It doesn't take "cynicism" to come to this conclusion. Just a rational mind.