East Germany
ChewbaccaD said:
In the face of what he is charged with, you think that statement makes sense? It makes about as much sense as his "#unconstitutional" in his tweet about the subject. No, if you read the letter, this isn't a situation like any other we have ever seen. Never has a governing body brought this type of case, with this depth. This isn't just about Lance doping. This is a much larger fish. This is about a systematic doping program that was instituted by a medical staff at the direction of the DS and Mr. Armstrong. This is about a massive fraud perpetrated by multiple people. Mr. Armstrong was not the only name in that letter. If this was about some single positive from 12 years ago, I think your apologist tactics would be more warranted. As it stands, your mantra (one that you are certainly not an innovator of) is misplaced and irrelevant. I know it hurts to have a hero exposed, but the other fish frying here are just as important to the promotion of a cleaner sport.
You guys keep acting like this is similar to the Landis case or even Joe's case. It isn't. This case strikes at the core of doping problem in the last 20 years in particular. Doping became much a much more complex and sophisticated during that time, and this case sinks a dagger into the heart of it. We have never seen anything like this from a governing body in any sport.
Persnickety, I know, but where you use "governing body," can we assume that what you mean to say is "the responsible anti-doping agency," or "the anti-doping agency holding jurisdiction over the accused"?
Or do you mean to draw a distinction b/w the unwillingness of the UCI as a governing body to pursue anti-doping when it was in charge, vs. how aggressively and non-politically USADA is acting now?
Regardless, I agree w/ you that this case transcends the typical athlete-centric anti-doping case, or even one like phase 2 of mine (which was but a formality, since I initiated the case by confessing to and then cooperating w/ USADA and total time invested by them in resolving it was about 2 hrs, as long as it took to negotiate the sanction with me and draw up the documents and send out the press release) where the athlete or DS or coach or other individual progressed to trafficking. This is closer to the case that would've been pursued if there was an independent agency willing, and able, to take on the East German state (DDR), had the magnitude of that country's state-sanctioned regime of doping Olympic-level athletes (sub-Olympic level, even) been discovered while the country still existed...
My local newspaper published an editorial supporting Lance today, so I have to write a letter to the editor and send it to them tonight, setting them straight.
hrotha said:
I understand why they're not speaking, folks. You don't have to spell it out. I'm just saying that makes them cowardly hypocrites when they're quick to comment on Riccò, Valverde and even Contador (yes, criticizing Contador is easy in Anglo environments).
Agreed. Thomas Frei and I were discussing this at the time of Riccò's blood doping positive, when all of pro cycling was pretty much lined up to kick him in the kidneys, but many of the same bullies never actually had anything negative to say about Contador when he was done-in for Clen. Frei had a great one-liner, which I wish I'd written down, about how he'd rather have the actual accused/convicted-doper over to dinner than they hypocritical "clean" athlete who was taking pot shots at the pariah(s), even though many of them were suspected of doping but never charged, or had actually been convicted, like Millar.
TheEnoculator said:
I find it absolutely hilarious that with charges this heavy against Armstrong and co., EVERYONE came out claiming innocence. This is like saying USADA has nothing better to do than making crap out of nothing to accuse all these people of doping conspiracies...
RIGHT! This is actually VERY frustrating and bothersome to me, and I internalize it and get upset on USADA's behalf, b/c having collaborated so closely with them organizationally, and individually with their top-leadership like Bill Bock, and Daniel Eichner when he was still director of science, I know without doubt that these are good people who believe strongly in their mission and seek to apply the rules and conduct the anti-doping process fairly and impartially.
As I said in a previous post/thread (?), Bill Bock is probably the most righteous, ethical, walking-the-straight-and-narrow guy I've ever met, and at the same time he's incredibly empathetic and compassionate (especially to those who are willing to be honest and genuine, and not hide behind armies of lawyers or massively-tangled webs of lies). To claim that individuals within USADA are pursuing a vendetta or the organization is driven by bureaucratic inertia and is not even aware of the rightness or wrongness of the actions it brings is fcking despicable! Sometimes I wish USADA could battle high-profi Armstrong in the press, since he's straight-up lying about them and slandering them (in the general, not legal, sense).
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