The Tour de France is up to its derailleur in blood doping and drug chaos – again. A cloud of suspicion still hangs over last year’s champion, Floyd Landis, who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. As Sunday’s race conclusion nears, scrutiny and scandal are chasing this year’s pack.
On Thursday, overall leader Michael Rasmussen was removed from the race by his team for lying about his whereabouts during training sessions. He was already under suspicion of blood doping after he won the 16th stage of the event on Wednesday.
Leading up to Rasmussen’s removal, German cyclist Patrik Sinkewitz, Italian cyclist Cristian Moreni and Astana team race favorite Alexander Vinokourov failed drug tests and were also removed from the marred event.
The situation reminds me of the plight of once-probable football hall-of-famer Ricky Williams, who tested positive for marijuana time and again, even when he knew he was going to get tested.
Why can’t these athletes get the picture? Both Williams and the doped cyclists knew they were going to be tested…it’s a simple requirement of the competition. But they dope anyway. They can’t stay away. It’s not the integrity of the sport in question, it’s the integrity of these individual athletes.
One sport that is in danger of losing its integrity is pro basketball. The FBI is currently investigating former referee Tim Donaghy for allegedly betting on games – some of which he officiated – over the past two seasons.
How far these allegations will reach is yet to be discovered. The league may be able to save face if this turns out to be an isolated incident, but if it isn’t…
NBA commissioner David Stern, in his press conference on Tuesday, said, “I can tell you that this is the most serious situation that I have ever experienced either as a fan of the NBA, a lawyer for the NBA or a commissioner of the NBA.”
In a way, I almost feel sorry for Donaghy. Constantly watching a sport, especially one you know so well, can be a bit of a bore. A “job” if you will. One surefire way to up the interest is a simple bet. Betting can quantify one’s knowledge of a sport. (Although it’s hardly fair when you can also directly influence the game’s outcome.) Hopefully, for Donaghy’s sake, he was not in the moneymaking business with betting, but was simply trying to quench his boredom with a few side bets.
I don’t feel for Vick. Earlier this week the National Football League announced that Vick was not welcome at the Falcons’ training camp, which started on Thursday. Vick is currently under investigation after an April 25 search at his home found 66 dogs, including 55 pit bulls, and dog fighting equipment.
Vick faces up to six years in prison, $350,000 in fines and restitution if convicted on all charges. Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank wanted to suspend Vick for four games, the maximum allowed, but the league asked him to wait until more information surfaces. Vick was scheduled to appear in federal court yesterday.
If the charges stick, Vick will likely spend time in prison, and rightly so. The shame of the situation is the fact that a much talked about and exciting player like Vick didn’t make a simple mistake, he portrayed himself as something other than what he really is. Sick.
Baseball Roundup
The Colorado Rockies find themselves four-and-a-half games behind the National League West leading Dodgers. The Rocks can make up some ground this weekend as they started a four-game home stand against the Dodgers on Thursday. The Rockies took two of three from the Padres earlier this week.
For all you East Coasters living the dream in Telluride, the Red Socks will be spending the weekend at Tampa Bay for a three game series against the Devil Rays while the Yanks, who are six-and-a-half games behind the Red Socks, will be in Baltimore this weekend for a three game series.
Barry Bonds took it easy on Wednesday for the Giants after playing in a 13-inning loss to the Braves on Tuesday. More than likely, Bonds will have started on Thursday in his chase of Hank Aaron’s record as the all-time homerun hitter in Major League Baseball. Stay tuned.
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