Friday, January 9, 2009

Professional Cycling is a clean sport compared to.....

Professional baseball. I'm tired of hearing all the jabs about how bike racers are dirty cheaters. The bottom line: If you hold ANY other professional sport to same UCI, and USOC, and WADA, USADA doping standards, the truth about these sports will surface quickly.

Evidence #1. In the NCAA BCS finale, it was stated that Florida's star running back, Percy Harvin, was given a pain killer injection for a nagging injury. I'm fairly certain that this would not be legal in a UCI race.

Evidence #2: NY Times today.
Amphetamines, which increase energy and reaction time, have been around baseball for decades as a way to get through a grueling 162-game season. In 2006, three years after baseball started testing for steroids, it began testing for the substances. The first time a player tests positive he is referred to counseling and is not suspended or publicly identified, a second positive test results in a 25-game suspension. Only two players have been suspended for positive amphetamine tests - Neifi Perez and Mike Cameron - and two others - Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds - have been linked to first time positives in published reports.

For the full article, click here. Remember, it's easy to have a "clean" sport if you never test, and/or don't release the results of the testing to the public.