Tour de Who?

actually, this year's race has turned into one of the best in recent years.  With three stages left,  it's still not decided, and the lead may change again following Saturday's time trial.  

I'm a fan of the Tour de France, and bicycle racing in general (I race my bike in triathlons and am planning a 100 mile road bike race next year)

This year's Tour is excellent.  Today's stage was about as good as it gets. The sprint to the finish after an intense cat and mouse in the last few miles between the two stage leaders was a thrill.

The doping scandals are still there but don't seem to have involved the better racers (yet).

I get up early every day to watch the race on satellite. Next year I'll be a spectator at the Tour of California when it passes through L.A. Can't wait!

I do applaud cycling for the steps they are taking to solve their problem, however, I still cannot bring myself to watch it.  I am the perfect example of what Mr. Peterman was talking about.  I was not really much of a fan to begin with, but I would watch occasionally.  If there was an article in SI about it, I would probabaly read it.  But I think it was after the whole Landis fiasco that I just stoped.  I can't stand to watch a cheat.

 Professional baseball is kind of the same for me now a days.  I grew up watching McGwire and Sosa battling for the number one spot, and that was one exciting summer.  I was a huge Conseco fan, although not sure why really...  And now that a lot of my childhood heroes have been proven to be cheats, I can't stand it any longer.  I have completely given up watching pro ball.  The last game I watched was back in 03 I think when the Sox beat the Yankees to win the World Series.  At least I think that is how it went.

Now I get my fix by watching college ball.  I am lucky enough to live in a town with a really good college team, although not so much last year.  But the Razorbacks are my team, and college still in my mind seems unsullied compared to the pros.  Maybe by watching these kids play, who are doing it out of love, and a shot at the bigs of course, it can re instill my faith in the game as a whole.  Or at least I hope so...

A rosier view in the morning e-mail:
The Wild Divine Newsletter
July 2008 - Issue 38

It's July and many of us here at Wild Divine have been watching an exciting Tour de France unfold. It is more and more obvious that even as the sport becomes increasingly free of drugs and doping, the riders still continue to operate at levels and for durations that seem to defy humanity. They still race all day, every day, day-after-day, through pouring rain and over mountains. They still crash and get up, with broken bones, to race on.
These continued feats even without drugs, in what some consider the most difficult competition in the world, is a testament to our mind's ability to work with the body to excel.
For this, we salute the great riders of the Tour in their efforts as the race concludes this weekend. We also salute those everyday heroes who use the power of the mind/body connection to excel through the sometimes daunting terrain of everyday life.
From all of us at Wild Divine,


How can anyone ook a child in the eye and say that "cheaters never prosper" with a straight face?

When you combine today's "doping" topic and broaden it's range to encompass sports in general (which it does), and then add in yesterday's topic of scandal and abuse of power of our elected leaders and others in a position of power (which has always existed but had previously been swept under the carpet by major media), is there any wonder why we now have to search elsewhere to find role models for our children?

These two fields of endeavor where once fertile ground for parents to point out to their children as examples of what they could strive to become. Instead, we now have a generation of disillusionment and doubt. What can be trusted shall now be scrutinized with a very jaundiced eye, which still offers no guarantee. It truly saddens me and I fear it has hurt and demoralized countless others. Now, more than ever, parents need to step up and become the examples and the role models for their children.

This may be off topic but I think it is closely related to it.

"ook"= "look" in the land of Peter Lake. Ooops

I really got into the Le Tour when Greg LeMond took the world by storm. Nothing could beat his story, aided by the powerful narration of Phil Ligget and the inspirational music of John Tesh. Yes, I said John Tesh. This was long before he became Captain New Age Gooshy Boy, but I digress.

And who can forget when Lance Armstrong looked over his shoulder at his chief rival (his name escapes me) while in the midst of a difficult climb, in a moment of pure machismo and testosterone, and proceeded to kick his ass off the mountain? Not to mention SEVEN straight tour victories and defeating cancer.

Hell, even Floyd Landis intrigued me enough to follow his story over the Internet. What was he, Amish or something? Come on, who wouldn't want to root for that?

All that to say, the reason I'm not following the tour this year is not because of drugs, but because I don't have an American cyclist to root for. Frankly, I could care less about doping in cycling. Let them all do it. Since the beginning of competition, athletes have looked for the competitive edge. I'm all for a level playing field, but sometimes this whole "purity" of the sport gets taken way too far. No doper could beat Armstrong so what's the big deal?

I can barley remember Lamond winning the Tour de France & I guess I never really cared for Armstong all that much.  Not sure really why. I do however respect them the other riders who make it through any part of that ride year after year without "cheating." 

Last October when it came to light that Olympic Track & Field winner Marian Jones used "Performance Enhancing Drugs" One of my good African American Friends was very disapointed to hear that.  She was very proud of Marion Jones & had followed her career for a long time.  Marion was a role model for her & her children.

 As Phony54 has stated " And now that a lot of my childhood heroes have been proven to be cheats, I can't stand it any longer."  

I'm with Phony on this one I have been asking for awhile now ~ What ever did happen to playing for the Love of the Game? College Sports also may have thier problems (redshirting, recruiting payoffs) but when it comes time for the game you can tell most of the team is there because they love to play.   

As of these past few weeks I feel I more disillusioned than ever as the Professional QB whom I always believed ACTUALLY still played for The Love of the Game himself ~ has proven that belief to be WAY wrong.   

rings90,

#4's fall from the pedestal has saddened me too, and I'm a life-long, die hard Monsters of the Midway fanatic who always feared and respected him.  Just another victim of coming to believe that he is more important than the game/business.  When on the field his efforts and performance are a sight to behold.  Off the field he's just a mere mortal just like the rest of us.

I just wonder how long it will be before we have two seperate runnings of every race/game/etc: one doped, one clean.  The clean ones will take longer, but the doped ones will have the entertainment of 'roid rage.

[not much time today, simply scanning your comments]
Just one question, why cycling?
If you could use steroids to be great at any sport out there, why would you choose something somewhat French that requires head-to-toe spandex?

Coyotemike,

Not a bad idea, I think it would sell on cable TV for sure . . . juiced athletes, bikes and a cage.  "Roid Rage in a Cage" . . . . don't try this at home!

Agent666 makes an interesting point when he says "let 'em all dope".  Rather like yesterday's discussion of sex scandals, the issue at hand is not the dope itself but, rather, the breaking of rules.

A good case can be made for allowing performance enhancing drugs in professional sports.  Athletes train for competitive edge, they exercise, they eat right, etc.  Some swear off coffee, some embrace Red Bull, everyone has their method.  I'm not sure the use of dope couldn't be seen as one more legitimate aspect of training...

...but it isn't.

And there's the rub.  If doping were legal in professional sports and everyone were doing it, I'd be fine with that.  But it isn't and they're not.  And this is why so many achievements are suspect and the really great ones (like Armstrong) are that much more lauded.  But let us consider the always controversial Barry Bonds:

If Bonds is using drugs and hitting homers against pitchers who don't, his record becomes less impressive than Hank Aaron's and is more on the level of Babe Ruth's.  Why the comparison?  Babe Ruth played in the days of the negro leagues.  There were many great black pitchers whom Ruth never faced.  Who knows what his record would have been if he had faced them?  It might have been the same or it might have been different.  We can speculate until the cows come home but the fact is we will never know.  Just as Ruth never had to face black pitchers, Bonds never had to face juiced pitchers.  Neither of them is any less of a great athlete for this reason but it makes both of their records less awe-inspiring than Hank Aaron's.

So I'm with Agent666.  I don't care whether the doping's legal or not.  I only care that everyone has the same access to the same training methods.  And let the best athlete win.

PL:  Your comments are right on target.

Lovey:  New scandal rumor.....Steroid use in Curling.

As soon as I post this, I am going to hide under the desk to avoid the sticks and stones that will rain down upon me.  But... All this doping and such I think simply points to the fact that we are giving way too much attention to the importance of these sports.  These people that feel they have to cheat to perform just mirror back to our society just how out of balance we have become.  What about the love of the sport?  What about kids simply getting out and having fun and learning teamwork and the joy of achieving that comes from training hard?  I think this is a reflection of how we have turned all sports into being way too important: kids can't get out in the vacant lot and hit a ball around in a good game of Peggy, they have to be on a T-ball or Little League team with uniforms and coaches and angry parents.  The Olympics were started as a way to use sports to have a non-political international celebration.  Look where it has gone today.  I am sure there will be doping found this summer as well because the athletes seem to feel they HAVE to win at all costs.  And their national anthem has to be heard after the competition while they are draped in their national flag.  And then they will go right back and start training for the next olympics. Get a life!  Lance Armstrong took it way over the top because he couldn't come up with anything else that could interest him in life.  The same goes for people like Favre, Michael Jordan, and Frazier.  And the list goes on.  The sport becomes their identity and if they can't perform, they are nobody.  Hey, come read this site and learn to think!  Learn that there is a lot more to life like the arts, history and philosophy!  Sports are simply a fun pastime and yes, we enjoy the better players, but keep it within bounds!

I  will now quickly climb under that desk for protection...

now, now -- there's much to be said for used Renault's. I'd dearly love to have back my '66 Dauphine -- it putt-putted along with no demands for expensive maintenance, and, if I remember correctly, made a tank of gas last for weeks on end. Then there was my old Dodge Dart...

Dear Spinner,

You only have to hide under the desk if you disparage my beloved Chicago "Da Bears", and besides, you do speak the truth and make a very good point 'cos in the scheme of things, it just doesn't.

Are you referencing Frazier Crane, the guy from "Cheers" and "Frazier" TV shows?  He doesn't look like he's taken steroids.   Sorry, I just couldn't pass that one up.

the word "matter" should have ended my first run on sentence.

Spinner ~ YOU ROCK !!! 

You are so correct in the way that you cannot play a simple game of basebal without it getting either political or parents throwing a fit because this kid was not on the team with the greatest players.

I was AWFUL at playing ball (actually I am AWFUL at all sports) But many of my childhood memories are of playing ball in the open field with the neighbrhood kids after school in the fall. If we didn;t have enough for a game we played pickle. It was done all in good fun.  Noone was good there was no pressure form parents we just had fun.   I don't think I've seen that happening in an area park for a long time.

Hopefully drdgscott will forgive me, but I once crashed a Dodge Dart in high school. It was the night I discovered that gravel + brakes = whoops. But more to the point, there is nothing fun that cannot be ruined by making it a business. America's Cup, anyone?

I wonder what constitute "doping"?  I compete in triathlons and marathons.  I "enhance" my performance by doing three things:  First, the night before I carbo-load, second, on the day of the event I consume a product called "Gu" (an energy booster) and third, I drink Gatorade.

These are all legal substances and my physical performance is being boosted by these substances.

As far as I know none of the above will send me into a rage, shrink any body parts or kill me.

I compete for the pleasure and joy of competition. I don't care if I win. I have no "triathlon heroes". I don't care what any one else can do, I challenge myself.

Spinner,

Only half of you needs to be under the desk when I roll around.  I agree about the notion that the love of the game should be more important than winning at all costs.  I'll even grant that the scandals suggest a somewhat mixed up sense of priority.

But (you saw the "but" coming, I'm sure), one thing that is crucial in our understanding of cultural value is to respect the aspects of culture that are not to our personal taste.  While I grew up watching Larry Holmes box and the Chicago Cubs play, this was always more of a chance to share an afternoon with my father rather than a great passion of mine.  I have never been much of a sports fan.  But I do not think my lack of great interest in sports diminishes their importance as a cultural value.

I love the arts, history, and philosophy more than I enjoy sports.  But I would never suggest that sport is any less important than those things as a valuable aspect of culture in which great perfomers can excel and inspire others to do so.  I can't imagine anyone criticizing Beethoven for taking his music over the top because he couldn't find anything else to interest him in life.  Should Will Durant have learned that there was more to life than writing about history?  Did Rembrandt need to put down all those colorful paints and come over here and learn to think?  The notion that these pursuits are somehow superior to athletics is merely a matter of taste.  It is hardly an objective observation on the importance of the sports in question.

It is also worth noting that the ancient Greeks who brought into being the period of philosophy, law, historical research, and original thought that is today known as The Age of Reason are the same Greeks who invented the original Olympics and placed no less importance on them than on the teachings of Socrates, the drama of Euripedes, or the archives of Hypatia.  (Okay, she was much later but the point still stands.)  Later, in the 19th century, the German culture that produced Schiller and Goethe also emphasized a tremendous enthusiasm for exercize and athletic activity, insisting that "a strong mind must be housed within a strong body".

So, regardless of personal taste, let us not be too sure that an athlete cheating with illegal drugs is any less important than the journalist who falsifiesd all his sources.  The fields and disciplines are different.  The cultural importance is equal.