- 07:13 PM
- 04/24/24
I don't hate many people (well, that's not actually true...) but I do HATE Chipper Jones with a passion that sometimes frightens me. First off, what the hell kinda name is Chipper!? Your name is LARRY for cryin' out loud! I also hate him because he's a big stupid head who I hate. There, I feel a bit better. Thanks for the thread.
posted by JohnSFO at 11:24 AM on February 27, 2007
I agree that Jan was unlucky to peak at the same time Lance did. Having been beaten so many times by Lance, I think Jan simply resigned himself to being forever second on the podium. This may have led him to train and stay fit a bit less during the offseason. Perhaps because he was always second, Jan came across as a bit less robotic than Lance to me. Maybe Jan didn't train hard enough, have the same level of coaches and the "methods" they brought (see Michele Ferrari) as USPS/Disco did or maybe he just wasn't as good. Pro cycling is hurting in a bad way. It appears as if the Puerto investigation will be swept under the rug just as the Festina scandal was in the 90's. Now the major UCI/Pro Tour rift is adding to the chaos. Hopefully out of all of this will come a new generation of riders who rely a little less on doping and can bring some integrity back to the sport. Regardless, I remain a fan and anxiously await this weekend's Het Volk race and the rest of the spring classics.
posted by JohnSFO at 03:33 PM on February 26, 2007
I think the system still has a few kinks in it as it had a few riders waaaay off course during yesterday's stage from Sausalito up to Santa Rosa. Nonetheless this is cool stuff and agreed that cycling is embracing technology in a great way. I really enjoy (and am awed) when a rider's live telemetry (of heart rate, watts produced, cadence, etc.) is provided - doped or not, those guys can ride...
posted by JohnSFO at 10:37 AM on February 20, 2007
I heard Paris Hilton's new album totally sucks...
posted by JohnSFO at 04:03 PM on January 11, 2007
Cancer didn't directly help Armstrong win the TdF, but rather what it did to his body. Prior to the cancer Lance had the build of a sprinter or a one-day Classics-type cyclist, after (and because of) the cancer he lost quite a bit of weight (especially upper body mass) and became much more of a climber and stage race general classification contender.
posted by JohnSFO at 10:22 AM on December 15, 2006
My crystal ball says he'll be back as a Giant for around $10 million. Magowan et al know that Barry fills seats but dont wanna blow their wad on him - hence the Manny rumors, arbitration, etc.
posted by JohnSFO at 06:47 PM on December 04, 2006
yeah these are some wonderful photos, though the interface is a bit clunky...
posted by JohnSFO at 01:41 PM on December 01, 2006
You think I'm joking, don't you? Heh. Unfortunately I know you're not. Also, rumor has it they're signing Tyler "I'm innocent I tell ya" Hamilton. Innocent is the new guilty!
posted by JohnSFO at 05:46 PM on November 16, 2006
The entire world of pro cycling's become a farce. From the riders who never come forward to the mistake-making labs to the organizing bodies who somehow grant a license to Manolo Saiz, the one guy who was caught red handed... Nonetheless I eagerly await the Spring Classics :)
posted by JohnSFO at 02:52 PM on November 16, 2006
2:59:36? That kinda time, given Lance's goal of a sub 3 hr, smells fishy. I wonder if Nike made the timing chip inside his shoes? ;) Also, I gotta think he's pretty pissed at not beating Jalabert's (a Frenchie!) time...
posted by JohnSFO at 10:47 AM on November 06, 2006
I for one excitedly await the slo-mo, black&white montage/backstory pieces which will pepper the prime time coverage!
posted by JohnSFO at 05:05 PM on September 26, 2006
I blame Paris Hilton which, essentially, is like blaming the French since her name is Paris and all...
posted by JohnSFO at 10:52 AM on September 14, 2006
This is nothing more than a disgruntled former employee and his wife trying to tear down their former employer. Why? What do they stand to gain from tearing Lance down?
posted by JohnSFO at 12:46 PM on September 13, 2006
I think it's crystal clear that anyone who accuses Lance of having doped either hates him or is French...
posted by JohnSFO at 11:28 AM on September 13, 2006
An attempt at gaining good PR for Materazzi ahead of the Euro qualifier against France ding ding ding we have a winner! (perhaps he can go on Italy's equivalent of Oprah/Larry king and cry some)
posted by JohnSFO at 11:27 AM on September 06, 2006
it was a vengeful massage therapist damned vengeful massage therapists...
posted by JohnSFO at 03:20 PM on August 23, 2006
If any sort of true investigation into doping were to happen within American pro sports (of all kinds), I'm guessing that those who claim to be surprised that such things happen would be mighty surprised. Rest assured that no such investigation will take place though, because far too many hands are in the pot and they're all pulling out gigantic wads of cash.
posted by JohnSFO at 10:42 AM on August 15, 2006
Back in the 60's and 70's when all the players were using lots of speed, games only took like 15 minutes. Swear to god
posted by JohnSFO at 12:38 PM on August 10, 2006
Landis (and his Phonak team and doctors) are not stupid. Riders take testosterone not to enhance performance but rather to aid in recovery. My guess follows along with what qbert wrote; he either "forgot" to take a dose or the dosage was administered incorrectly and therefore tripped the doping controls. You can bet that doping technology is ahead of the doping controls, be it through microdosing or using masking agents.
posted by JohnSFO at 01:37 PM on August 07, 2006
Some day a pro cyclist popped for doping will confess and help save the sport rather than fabricating elaborate excuses & constructing "Believe [Me]" websites. Don't hold your breath though/
posted by JohnSFO at 10:26 AM on August 07, 2006
I also find it interesting that the sample just happened to have been taken on the day of his great performance The winner and second place of every Stage are automatically tested. Others are tested randomly.
posted by JohnSFO at 06:22 PM on July 27, 2006
SI interviews Floyd: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/austin_murphy/07/27/landis.react/index.html
posted by JohnSFO at 04:03 PM on July 27, 2006
Should Periero take the yellow, it'll have about as much significance as when Heras was caught doping in last year's Vuelta and Menchov became the "winner". What's interesting is that every time this happens there is complete silence from other riders. While tradition and unwritten rules are an integral part of pro cycling, that may not always be such a good thing.
posted by JohnSFO at 02:08 PM on July 27, 2006
Interesting article: German doctor Kurt Moosburger, who has looked after Jörg Jaksche (among others) for the past two years, has told dpa that he believes that performance enhancing drugs are "indispensable" for high level cycling In a frank interview, Moosburger pointed to the average speeds of modern professional races, especially hard tours. "The average in last year's Tour was 41 kilometres per hour - that is incredible. You can do a hard Alpine stage without doping. But after that, the muscles are exhausted. You need - depending on your training conditions - up to three days in order to regenerate." To help recover, testosterone and human growth hormone can be used. "Both are made by the body and are therefore natural substances," he said. "They help to build muscle as well as in muscle recovery." Dr Moosburger explained how it was done. "You put a standard testosterone patch that is used for male hormone replacement therapy on your scrotum and leave it there for about six hours. The small dose is not sufficient to produce a positive urine result in the doping test, but the body actually recovers faster." Dr Moosburger went onto explain that, "The supply of oxygen to the blood decides what the body is capable of in terms of fat- and carbohydrate metabolism. This capacity is mostly genetically determined.The muscles of athletes who are able to reach the top level of sport can carry about 60 millilitres per kilo per minute in an untrained condition. That of an average person is only about 40 millilitres per kilo. In order to be able to keep up with the world's best, it must be 85 to 90 millilitres. EPO helps oxygen carrying capacity, and has long been the performance enhancing drug of choice in endurance sports. "It enables you to hold the haematocrit of the blood in the upper level of what's allowed for the whole season. Before the EPO test, for example, athletes injected 4000 units three times per week. Now they inject a small dose almost daily." Finally, in the opinion of Dr Moosburger, blood doping via transfusion would give an athlete a five percent boost for two to three weeks. "And therefore can last for a grand tour." Perhaps Floyd just forgot to follow the directions... Source: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/jul06/jul07news3
posted by JohnSFO at 12:59 PM on July 27, 2006
I wanted to believe. I really did. But in the end pro cycling's as dirty now as it has been for 40+ years. Charly Gaul doped, Eddy doped, Hinault, Big Mig, they're all dopers. Pro cycling is at a crossroads now. It can either 'fess up to being what it is and truly attempt to clean up or continue to microdose and mask as more and more riders are unlucky and get caught. I'm just not sure how many more times fans can suspend their disbelief...
posted by JohnSFO at 12:42 PM on July 27, 2006
Without a patron or dominant team, there was simply not enough collective will or energy to bring back Pereiro and the break on a long, hot flat stage with the mountains ahead. I think that's exactly it. After so many years of USPS/Disco controlling the race essentially from start to finish, I think the peloton was confused. Periero siezed that opportunity. With such a strong performance he would have been quite the domestique for Valverde had he not crashed out...
posted by JohnSFO at 10:36 AM on July 25, 2006
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Tour. A few thoughts: In hindsight allowing Periero such an enormous advantage earlier in the race gifted him a podium spot. The French had two (2) riders in the top 10! Wow. CSC and T-Mobile both did very well even without Basso & Ulrich, their top talent. The incredible stage win and overall win by Landis is even more impressive given the relative weakness of his team. Armstrong was indeed an excellent rider but always had the peloton's strongest team protecting and setting the pace for him. Floyd did not. Th excitement of this Tour has overshadowed the whole doping scandal but be sure more active riders will be caught using whatever means it takes to endure and succeed.
posted by JohnSFO at 10:53 PM on July 23, 2006
Here's a picture I took of Landis and Julich parading through downtown Nice photo Dusted but I think that's Dave Zabriskie, not Julich. Zabriskie's Floyd's good friend from their days together on the USPS team... Incredible, amazing, historic, legendary ride by Landis yesterday. Given his TT abilities, he should be wearing yellow in Paris.
posted by JohnSFO at 01:17 PM on July 21, 2006
i hate how espn and ABC'S coverage will have a huge diplay at the start of the game, during the game, and so on thta blocks all the action,...like why not show the starting lineup before the match starts instead of blocking the action to show the lineup? Exactly. While I'm extremely grateful and lucky to get the ESPN feed on my computer here at work, it drives me nuts that they wait until the match starts to show the damned lineup. WTF!? I also speak Spanish so have been watching on Univision at home. It really is a completely different way of covering the game. Instead of the players being the story on ESPN (chock-full of references to a player's past, the fact that his peewee soccer coach is in the stands & his brother is serving over in Iraq), on Univision the game is the story. There's no need to add anything, the drama presents itself over the course of 90 minutes. Lastly my favorite part of the article is this: American TV sportscasting is full of factoids, full of graphics, full of breakaways from the midst of play for prerecorded human-interest backgrounders, full of color analysts overexplaining what happened a couple of minutes ago even as new, more urgent things are happening in front of our eyes, full of overpacked broadcast booths with three-man teams, sideline reporters, spotters, graphics people and telestrators, all breathlessly jostling for air time. Goals are scored in hockey games, and instead of showing the players celebrating, hyperactive producers cut away to show coaches, random crowd shots, the empty net, the goalie whose expression is hidden behind his mask. A single football play cannot pass without two instant replays; lineups cannot be given without film clips of the players saying their own names.
posted by JohnSFO at 11:30 AM on June 28, 2006
Armstrong was on Dallas radio this morning for an interview and essentially said the same thing. He said these stories always come out right before the Tour, almost as if keyed to publicize the Tour, rather than October or November.
I believe he's right about that.
Also said he is tired of talking about it, but others keep bringing it up. He is more interested in spreading the cancer survival and cancer treatment message.
For someone who is tired of talking about it, he certainly goes out of his way to talk about it, write letters about it, appear on Larry King about it, etc. While Lance's work with cancer is admirable, I'm sure he is also very concerned with maintaining tight control of both his brand and story. They have made him a very rich man. As the Spanish doping investigation continues rest assured that more and more big names on the Pro Tour will be involved in doping.
It's how it is.
posted by JohnSFO at 03:26 PM on June 26, 2006
Given the amount of people (many of them former associates, friends, teammates) who "hate" Lance, he is either a huge asshole or a doper. Or both.
posted by JohnSFO at 02:53 PM on June 23, 2006
Damned frogs and their cheese-eating, surrender monkey ways. Lance's head only got bigger 'cause he wanted to be like Mark and when he couldn't he... oh wait. damned french/
posted by JohnSFO at 02:11 PM on June 23, 2006
There are no granny gears in east germany. Only BIG RING...
posted by JohnSFO at 01:32 PM on June 21, 2006
see his name's funny 'cause it's FtheRedSUX get it? SUX?? HA! steroids and PED's all over pro and amateur sports. film at 11. on preview: If "I have a note from my doctor" becomes an excused use of the drugs, I imagine it won't be hard for some players hellbent on using them to find marginal doctors to write them a script, thus vouching for a legit ailment. It's not that difficult for abusers of painkillers to do it... excellent point and I agree and doubt it will be tough to find willing doctors tho it will be easy to spot them in their new field level season ticket seats...
posted by JohnSFO at 05:23 PM on June 19, 2006
Damned French! (seriously though, this is not surprising. when there's lots & lots of money/competition involved, these sorts of things always happen)
posted by JohnSFO at 11:25 AM on June 08, 2006
>>>the fact that Lance hasn't treated everybody he's ever worked with like shit I should stay out of this but... While Lance hasn't treated everyone like shit, it's a well known fact that he and his team kept photos of reporters/journalists who wrote anything less than flattering about Lance so as to never grant them access/interviews, etc.
posted by JohnSFO at 05:15 PM on June 01, 2006
IMO Lance has certainly helped push pro cycling more into the mainstream not just in the US but throughout the world. Because of his immense talent and very compelling story (and personality) he has a lot of star power. Regardless of whether people love or hate him - they know who he is. That said he is not the best cyclist ever. Not even close. He is, however, the best Tour de France rider ever. The Tour was essentially the only race Lance competed in - his entire season (and career) were always based on the Tour. Other riders such as Merckx and Hinault and Coppi (as afx237vi mentioned) not only won multiple Tours but also other Grand Tours and Spring classics. It will be interesting to see if Basso (who completely annihilated the field in this year's Giro) will be able to win the Tour. Whatever happens this year's Tour is sure to be a lot more exciting without having a clear favorite. As for Lance being a doper or not. It's still my opinion that he (and the majority of the pro peloton) used some sort of performance enhancing drugs or methods. Lance was (is) close to an Italian doctor who pioneered the micro-dosing of EPO which is undetectable to tests. Another good indicator that doping in cycling is very widespread is the implication of Manolo Saiz, a very respected manager of the former Liberty Seguros team, and a slew of Spanish (and other) riders.
posted by JohnSFO at 11:26 AM on May 31, 2006
I blame Bill Murray and society...
posted by JohnSFO at 10:41 AM on May 12, 2006
Come on baby...don't fear the reaper Baby take my hand...don't fear the reaper We'll be able to fly...don't fear the reaper
posted by JohnSFO at 02:01 PM on May 10, 2006
Personally I think he has a much better chance of winning the Tour than the Giro this year. The double will be very tough. Agreed. I'm not sure it's possible anymore, given the level of competition as well as the dedicated training required. It would, however, be a beautiful thing :) check out these pictures of Cunego doing a scouting mission of the stage finish taken last week Heh, I saw those! Crazy for sure.
posted by JohnSFO at 04:46 PM on May 04, 2006
What would be the best way to see some of this from Canada? OLN and Cycling.tv have teamed up and are offering daily live coverage on the web for US$20. Unsure as to its availability in Canada but check OLNTV.com for more details... RAI, the Italian broadcast network, may be streaming it live for free on their website. They did so last year. Nice preview afx237vi, this year's Giro (and the last week especially) is very tough and should prove to be a great race. We'll see if Basso can live up to the expectations and whether Savoldelli has fully recovered from the stomach bug that forced him to drop out of last week's Tour of Romandie.
posted by JohnSFO at 01:27 PM on May 04, 2006
Nice comments Bullpen Pro. I think that hating Bonds is trendy now and also, as you mention, an indication of a much larger problem. It's like that guy on Sesame Street who complains about there being a fly in his soup - is he really that upset about the fly or does he just not like Grover being his waiter?
posted by JohnSFO at 01:56 PM on April 05, 2006
"The Greatest Show on the Planet." Ice Capades!? YES!
posted by JohnSFO at 06:11 PM on April 04, 2006
Until someone throws shit at Barry Bonds I think that the USA will stay below Europe. Hmm... I have tickets to this weekend's games at PacBell... USA, USA, USA!!
posted by JohnSFO at 04:58 PM on April 04, 2006
ahhh... the inevitable barry bonds tie-in! god bless america :)
posted by JohnSFO at 05:28 PM on March 30, 2006
I feel different now. Dirtier. ...You might be a redneck!
posted by JohnSFO at 03:20 PM on March 30, 2006
Jeff Foxworthy Jerky. Wow and I did not know that.
posted by JohnSFO at 01:53 PM on March 30, 2006
Cycling.tv is great and hopefully will gain access to other Pro Tour races that are not carried in North America. While I am grateful that OLN carries the races they do, aside from the Tour de France, their coverage is too short and too late. How about that Tom Boonen!?
posted by JohnSFO at 03:22 PM on March 29, 2006
"Show me the way to go home, I'm tired and I wanna go to bed, I had a little drink about an hour ago and it's gettin right to my head, where ever I may rome by land, by sea, by home you'll never hear me singing this song show me the way to go home."
posted by JohnSFO at 02:28 PM on March 22, 2006
wait. didn't we just have this discussion? Hammer now joins Sheryl Crow, the French, and Michael Moore on the shit list.
posted by JohnSFO at 10:39 AM on March 10, 2006
>>>I expect nothing but rational discourse and intelligent discussion in this thread. Your crystal ball, she's accurate. >>>that asshole lamp in the corner LOL. I know that lamp!
posted by JohnSFO at 10:33 AM on March 08, 2006
>>>Are the prosecutors going after these cases a bunch of Barry haters? no, just opportunists looking for some Larry King time :)
posted by JohnSFO at 05:35 PM on March 07, 2006
I think it's a combination of all the factors the last few posters have mentioned. It's also important to remember that this often irrational hatred of Bonds works well to sell books, newspapers, magazines, and airtime. It's funny to me how disgusted many are by cheating yet how prevalent a part of society it is. From tax loopholes to viagra, most everyone is a cheater and a hypocrite...
posted by JohnSFO at 04:44 PM on March 07, 2006
>>>it would through him off exactmaly
posted by JohnSFO at 02:10 PM on March 07, 2006
Yeah but he's a cancer survivor and the French just hate him anyway...
posted by JohnSFO at 12:48 PM on March 07, 2006
>Mental note: Never, ever question the integrity of Lance. Very true. There's many a discussion about Lance on various online cycling forums that turn *very* ugly. Regardless of my opinion of him or of doping in pro cycling, the fact is that Lance is a one-of-a-kind talent and certainly the best cyclist to have ever ridden in the Tour de France. Being a cancer survivor on top of that makes him a legend and a source of inspiration to others - that's good stuff. As for Bode - perhaps he needs to take more/less bong hits :)
posted by JohnSFO at 04:16 PM on January 27, 2006
lemme see if I'm up to speed: Bonds - cheater, bad Lance - clean, good Bode - working on branding himself into a lifetime of endorsement deals gotcha :) oh, and IMO, most of the pro peloton (including lance) is (or has been) microdosing EPO. ferrari figured out how to do it and fly below the doping controls.
posted by JohnSFO at 12:53 PM on January 27, 2006
nice researchin' grum :)
posted by JohnSFO at 05:03 PM on January 24, 2006
Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before.
Ellis, D. That is all.