Wednesday, October 03, 2007

sigh...............

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=ap-armstrong&prov=ap&type=lgns

so, the most powerful element of professional cycling is a group of people who arbitrarily decide who will and will not be tested and how and when they will be tested and so on.

my solution is to allow them to take as much of the stuff as they want to.

beacause they do anyway.

trust me.

these people perform one of the most arduous feats known to man, and so any help the can get is welcomed without regard for repercussions.

but then the testing committee wouldn`t have a job.

bureaucrats.

like baseball, football, basketball, swimming and probably soccer...........where strength and recovery from injury is important.

build it, and the bureaucrats will come.

fucking parasites.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

the strenght has to come from within you, not pills. the one that should shine has to be the one that gives his/her all without assistance. that is fair play. and it is not good for your body, it's like killing it a little each day. you are a murderer of yourself. how sad is that. the system is put in place for that.

Dr.Alistair said...

not it`s not.

the system isn`t moral in the least.

the system is as self-serving and mercenary as the will to win at all costs on a bicycle.

when the strength within you is superceded by that with the others and thae simple fact that they take the pills......you do too.

the price is the body.

all competitive athletes pay with thier bodies.

amateurs have the luxury of coming second.

pros don`t.

victory is expensive.

and.....there is no such thing as fair.

unless you are an amateur.

Unknown said...

as much as I love listening to you and as much I think you always know what you are talking about. as much as I want to just take your words and live with them, I think you are wrong. I have not given up faith in winning or in any system. It's the corrupt people, few that we have in the society, that corupt the system. taking pills or any drug and winning......what have you really won? how would you even know you would have lost without it.......and what a way to loose somebody who could have been great. Victory is expensive, but should not be death. We all have lot to live for, and we have a responsibilty to teach our younger generation. Can you imagine teaching them that it's ok to take drugs to win a big game, and than visiting them in the hospital with tubes running out of their noses. What a way to enjoy life and the beautiful sunrises you talk about.

Dr.Alistair said...

i would never suggest that you our any child should do pills to accomplish something.

i wouldn`t tell any competitive athlete to do pills to excel.

but i will tell an aspiring athlete that if he wants to compete with professionals he has to be aware that they all do whatever it takes to win.

because winning is the most important thing to them all.

not the money.

or the worship.

winning.

glory.

it`s not a moral issue. or a health issue. or an ethical issue.

those are the luxuries an amateur can afford when he chooses to not have to win or just accepts he isn`t ever going to be quite good enough but still wants to play.

how do i know this?

because i was one.

until my knee was destroyed by injury.

from the time i was about ten or so i knew i was going to be the best soccer player ever.

i went to bed with my boots on and my mother freaked out.

all i though about was seeing the ball go in the net.

when i was fifteen i went to syracuse ny. to a camp and was offered a full scolarship to play soccer.

i returned to england to finish high school and was asked to play for grimsby town and for ipswich town on trial.

when i returned to canada at seventeen i began to have problems with my left knee that resulted in ligament damage.

with major ligament damage i still played semi-pro in montreal and signed to train in toronto in 1981 with the blizzard in the old n.a.s.l.

my knee finally failed in 1981 while playing with a group of friends in oakville.

it wasn`t about money or fame.

it was about winning.

just like the guys who train for years since they were children on bikes.....up hills and across the plains and through the city streets.

there are no pills that can make an amateur a professional.

these pills are substances that enhance what you already have.

like food.

and lighter bikes.

and sophisticated training techniques.

should we stop these people using all of these advantages that amateurs don`t use also?

the training and the diet and the very sport it`s self are life threatening also.

the professional is drawn to competition and uses all the tools available.

and is willing to pay the price.

Dr.Alistair said...

and besides, the only ones promoting drugs is the committee and the media.......

the athletes are a small closed community who stick to themselves and don`t promote anything other than the desire and process of winning.

in fact i defy you to find an athlete who will openly talk about drugs unless they deing dragged through the courts by some latter-day torquemada.......

.....because it`s frankly nobody elses business.

Unknown said...

all i know is that the pills are enhancers, they are addictive. and when you stop, things go wrong. i have seen this happen to a close friend in florida. and parts of his system failed. kidneys would not work properly, his legs had clots, it was disgusting and depressing. he had major mood swings, he would get so angry, no one could go near him. I don't know what kind of steroids he was taking. he died at 28. all because he wanted to be the best and fast runner,couple of years of fame, than depression, than he was gone..........just like that.

X. Dell said...

Interesting conversations here.

Seems to me, though, that if everyone at that level is taking some sort of performance enhancing drugs, then no one has an advantage. Which means that the vast majority of them will have suffered the physical consequences without ever reaching the winner's circle.

Seems kinda stupid to me.

Dr.Alistair said...

chrissy, the price for glory is high and the loss of a friend is difficult and my position here is not to minimise that.

your friend may or may not have had other conditions that contributed to his condition. to blame it all on steriods and other performance enhancing products is unreasonable and we can never know.

one can call it cheating and with an absolute ban we would have smaller, weaker and slower athletes, but an absolute ban is impossible......so the policing position is a game in and of it`s self.

x, if everyone uses the drugs and the best shoes, best bikes, best training and so on, then it falls back to merit.

but that`s human nature.

if the sanction was openly and publically removed then the advantage issue would be effectively removed with it.

there are athletes that believe they are the only one who can get certain "new" products and occasionally that is true but eventually those products get into everyone`s hands also.

and regarding the winner`s circle....whether you do the drugs or not.....it`s still for only the very few.

i am personally one of the casualties. my left knee is virtually disabled. after three surgeries it is still without an anterior cruciate ligament which has been damaged since i was fourteen.

i simple truth in professional sport is that the ones that are playing are the survivors.

there are many more that, in spite of the talent and the skill and determination, failed due to injury or other circumstance.

and so the question remains, would i have taken certain drugs to help ensure my knees survival?

absolutely.

to make me perform better?

i hadn`t seen the need.