The doping issue has always been an issue, and a non-issue. It is an integral part of cycling, it is a cornerstone of cycling. It is the dirty little family secret that sometimes comes out when too many drinks have been consumed. We will never know a cycling without drugs, as long as there are ways to cheat there will always be cheating. There is no way to stop people from cheating, as soon as a new detection system comes out someone is already trying to find new ways around. It is an industry, not just in cycling but in anything where there are rules or governing bodies. People have to fight rules just because there is a rule in place, they believe they are above the rules. You have seen it, it is out there. It is the criminal mindset, one of working outside the rules for an undeserved gain.
I can sit in my easy chair and throw stones, because I don't typically break the rules to get ahead. Yes, I do drive over the speed limit every time I get behind the wheel of a car. I don't practice unfair business practices at work, I pay my taxes, I don't steal my neighbors cable, I don't rip movies off the internet. I for the most part play by the rules and try to live a lifestyle of "the righteous path." I don't think there are legitimate reasons for someone to cheat, compelling arguments can be made, but when it comes down to it cheating is cheating.
Motivation to break the rules does not change the fact that rules have been broken. I feel for people who are trying to provide for their families and they are having a tough time being the sole provider. When we apply this to professional cycling it really makes no sense. Until we realize doping is part of the job, just like having to buy a uniform for work, there will always be someone getting busted or a team scandlal. Doping has been a part of cycling for so long that it is standard operating procedures.
Does everyone dope? Is it as prolific as Landis would like for us to believe? Will I be crushed when I find out that Armstrong was on something? No. I however, will lose all faith in cycling if George or Jens turn up tainted. Two of the hardest working uber-domestiques in all of cycling; it would kill me to know that something was not right with what they have done. I have created heroes out of workers, workers that attain victory not for themselves, but for their team leader. Is it just part of the job to cheat? Should we try and eradicate it, or should we turn a blind eye and just police it the best we can?
I wish we could turn a blind eye but that would be an injustice to all of those who had victories and careers of success stolen from them by those who cheated the system.
ReplyDeleteIt's really a delicate situation with no fool-proof answers. If people were raised to have integrity and to be positive influences than the world would be a much different place. Cycling included.