Why does Pro Cycling have SO many Stool Pigeons?

[Polish]

It sure seems Pro Cycling has many more Informants/Stoolies that most (all?) other Pro Sports.

Are there as many informants in Pro "Soccer" for example?
Would a soccer informant need to enter a Witness Protection program?


So why does pro cyling have so many informants?
1) is it dirtier than other sports?
2) do cyclists experience more guilt?
3) are cyclists wussies under interrogation?
4) is the cycling omerta weaker than the other sport's omertas?

 

[issoisso]

The far more appropriate question would be "why does it have so few"

And the answer is Omertá

 

[luckyboy]

There's nothing for people to say in football because nobody gets caught. Pro cycling is as dirty as any professional sport, it just has better testing. Though the UCI is still corrupt.

 

[ravens]

It sure seems Pro Cycling has many more Informants/Stoolies that most (all?) other Pro Sports.

Are there as many informants in Pro "Soccer" for example?
Would a soccer informant need to enter a Witness Protection program?


So why does pro cyling have so many informants?
1) is it dirtier than other sports?
2) do cyclists experience more guilt?
3) are cyclists wussies under interrogation?
4) is the cycling omerta weaker than the other sport's omertas?

i find your point of view remarkably at odds with my own.

 

[David Suro]

Interesting question.

I think it may be due to that alleged fact that PED programs in cycling are administered by the teams, where athletes in other sports seek PED's as individuals.

When informants in cycling speak out, they usually 'snitch' on programs rather than individuals.

 

[42x16ss]

The answer is simple - organised crime doesn't have any real part in cycling when compared to football.

 

[Race Radio]

Why does this message board have so many trolls?

 

[BikeCentric]

Another question that strikes me as relevent to the original poster is: "why does pro cycling have so many stupid fans?"

 

[Oldman]

Another question that strikes me as relevent to the original poster is: "why does pro cycling have so many stupid fans?"

Qualify that: why does cycling have so many fans that know but don't care how the toughest sport in the world is run by liars.

 

[Sheltowee]

It sure seems Pro Cycling has many more Informants/Stoolies that most (all?) other Pro Sports.

Are there as many informants in Pro "Soccer" for example?
Would a soccer informant need to enter a Witness Protection program?


So why does pro cyling have so many informants?
1) is it dirtier than other sports?
2) do cyclists experience more guilt?
3) are cyclists wussies under interrogation?
4) is the cycling omerta weaker than the other sport's omertas?

Answer: All of the above.

 

[fatandfast]

Pro cycling's silly mix into the Olympics increased the testing standards that never go down. If football or basketball players were subjected to testing at the same rate for the the 4 years leading up to the Olympic games we would have a world wide crisis. Thank god that American football,rugby,cricket and baseball are not Olympic sports.Seeing the aftermath of limited testing in pro baseball is amazing. Very few tests and 1000's of lies told to the press and US government before MLB said we better clean our laundry in private vs public in order to protect the brand . The UCI by allowing cyclist's pee and blood to be taken,tested and reported by anybody with a microscope is why the sport is in the tank. Amateur bike racers that need to peak every 4 years are a lot different than guys with 225 race days a year. They should go back to the old rules that if you make more than@1500 in payments and prizes per month you loose your amateur status and are disqualified from amateur titles including the Olympics. Bunch of Cat1,2 "pros" all over the place. If rugby player were tested once a week or 50% of all pro players tested frequently the sport would be toasted like cycling

 

[Wolves-Lower]

So why does pro cyling have so many informants?

I think I got this one!!!

Because Ice Creme doesn't have any bones???

 

[Ripper]

Another question that strikes me as relevent to the original poster is: "why does pro cycling have so many stupid fans?"

Now now. At least cycling does not have riots like football or any North American league sports

 

[Ripper]

...

In many respects I agree with you. Cycling's history has doping throughout, not unlike many pro sports. It was predictable that if you are going to air your laundry completely in the open, you are gooing to get hammered.

Hindsight suggests that the powers that be, which are (surprise ) corrupt, completely underestimated how much of a negative impact this process would have on the brand. I still think that it would be much better to have at least introduced this process with much less harsh bans (in the realm of weeks instead of years), but really hitting everyone who got tagged. This would have kept the legal cases down, and also would have reduced the 'too big to fail' effect. It would have also been much easier to address any branding issues and use other sports as examples.

When you start with every positive is a 1-2 year ban, and bring in lawyers and court cases for any medium to big name, you start to criminalize a behaviour and build a perception that your sport is 'dirtier' than others, which is of course not true! I'm not saying cycling is clean, but there seems to be a general public perception out there that it is 'cleaner' than = football, tennis, swimming, american football, baseball, hockey (LMAO), etc.

 

[galaxy1]

cycling is one of the few sports out there that is actually addressing the problem of doping. whether you think it is succeeding or not is another matter, of course, but that is definitely the reason why there is more doping news, more pressure on dopers, more bans, more tests, more whistleblowers, etc. most of the other sports mentioned are not seriously interested in how many of their players are doping, as long as none of it "gets out".

a secondary point is that more skillful sports (ball games) are not totally ruined for fans by the perception that some PEDs might be in use. i.e. who is doping isn't so interesting. great ball players are always good to watch, whether they are extra-terrestrially fit or somewhat out of shape.

 

[Oldman]

Stool pigeons

Oh hey! I missed the obvious, juvenile response: "because there is so much stool in the sport."

 

[VeloFidelis]

Another question that strikes me as relevent to the original poster is: "why does pro cycling have so many stupid fans?"

To get an accurate gauge of the issues raised by such a deep and nuanced question it seems obvious that one would have to go right to the source of the matter.

So please... enlighten us!

 

[ludwig]

Pro cycling's silly mix into the Olympics increased the testing standards that never go down. If football or basketball players were subjected to testing at the same rate for the the 4 years leading up to the Olympic games we would have a world wide crisis. Thank god that American football,rugby,cricket and baseball are not Olympic sports.Seeing the aftermath of limited testing in pro baseball is amazing. Very few tests and 1000's of lies told to the press and US government before MLB said we better clean our laundry in private vs public in order to protect the brand . The UCI by allowing cyclist's pee and blood to be taken,tested and reported by anybody with a microscope is why the sport is in the tank. Amateur bike racers that need to peak every 4 years are a lot different than guys with 225 race days a year. They should go back to the old rules that if you make more than@1500 in payments and prizes per month you loose your amateur status and are disqualified from amateur titles including the Olympics. Bunch of Cat1,2 "pros" all over the place. If rugby player were tested once a week or 50% of all pro players tested frequently the sport would be toasted like cycling

Good points; professional cyclists (and many other kinds of pro sportsmen) should not be competing in the Olympics.

The answer to Polish's initial query is pretty obvious...it's the decisive role that doping programs play in sporting outcomes that drives the higher level of controversy. It doesn't seem like cycling can do without regulation if it doesn't want to be seen as a freak show.

 

[flicker]

#1 Cycling is a tough sport and cyclists think they can get a way with cheating.

#2 Cyclists are caught.

#3 Cyclists think that they can get a shorter ban by "transparency"

#4 I don't trust one of um.

 

[flicker]

Good points; professional cyclists (and many other kinds of pro sportsmen) should not be competing in the Olympics.

The answer to Polish's initial query is pretty obvious...it's the decisive role that doping programs play in sporting outcomes that drives the higher level of controversy. It doesn't seem like cycling can do without regulation if it doesn't want to be seen as a freak show.

Here here and that would exclude Germany and the former eastern block countries who sponsored and doped pros in the Olympics since the 1960s.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Good points; professional cyclists (and many other kinds of pro sportsmen) should not be competing in the Olympics..

Agree 100%.

There is NO WAY that FIFA, the MLB, NBA, NFL or NHL will ever implement a WADA type testing structure/oversight. No way. There's way, way too much money at stake. The NFL arguably has the most (translate: somewhat) strict testing out of all of them, and even then it's only about damage control, and make sure no one is completely jacked. Anyone who believes the steroid era is over in baseball and everyone is now clean...I've got some oceanfront property in Kansas to sell you. Yes, the days of Barry Bonds doped to his eyeballs are over, but Manny Ramirez was not the exception. Players are only less juiced.

 

[shawnrohrbach]

Now now. At least cycling does not have riots like football or any North American league sports

Just absolute loonies in speedos, funny hats, moose antlers abd other such things running up hill and clogging the race route and even touching/pushing/hosing down a cyclist trying to just finish the damn race.

 

[ravens]

Now now. At least cycling does not have riots like football or any North American league sports

Please jog my memory, What riots at North Am league games are you referring to?

I wouldn't classify the post-championship burning down of one's city as the actions of fans. These are the actions of drunks watching at home or in a bar looking for any pretense to riot.

But Europe and South America actually have fans at games rioting. Or are you classing those as the same?

They're both despicable, but when you say riots in any N.A. League sport I am a little unclear. I can think of two, and one happened like 20 years ago. The other, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacers–Pistons_brawl happened over 5 years ago.

Now if you want to take into account ignorant and thuggish behavior on behalf of athletes in their 'spare time', well I may not know much about foreign sports, but I think American pro athletes shameful acts are in a class all its own.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Good post Raven.

 

[Tangled Tango]

Here here and that would exclude Germany and the former eastern block countries who sponsored and doped pros in the Olympics since the 1960s.

And other countries including the US didn´t?