Tuesday update
Transparency, at USA Cycling? Is this supposed to be a sick joke? Please, please stop insulting our intelligence. USA Cycling's idea of transparency is about as backwards as Armstrong's. (Er, has anyone seen Catlin lately?) Just read this, and then tell me if USA Cycling will ever actually be interested in real transparency. The answer is no, regardless of what useless PR pablum pours forth from Steve Johnson's mouth.
New Toto: Katie Couric interviews Piepoli.
Rabobank clamps down, and the riders are restless. They should all send a thank you note to Michael "Don't forget the GPS" Rasmussen for their newly restrictive working conditions.
My feelings exactly.
An example of why Chipotle has to be among the cooler cycling sponsors ever.
"You don't want to be the guy who beats the guy who beats cancer. That would be awkward."
Versus schedule is updated.
The next CERA?
It seems something odd is going on in the Annalisa Cucinotta case.
Video from Australian championships here. Sort of unexpected results, but that's cycling for you, always unpredictable.
Just be glad that you don't have to race in brutal 105 degree temperatures. Whoever decided that the Tour Down Under ought to be a big deal forgot to check the weather.
17 comments:
The explicitly common thread in the Johnson article, the Armstrong/Gunderson comeback, and USA Cycling's concern is - drum roll please - MONEY. Anything that makes them money is fair game, anything that detracts from them making money is a target for eliminating. It's the foxes that are guarding the hen house...isn't that just such a surprise????
I too was taken aback by cyclingnews.com piece on Johnson. It's clear that sight has nothing to do with journalism, they wouldn't know independence if they stepped on it. Why don't they just sack their staff and let team PR write race reviews, let manufacturers do the tech section and let people like Johnson (or his PR officers) upload their own hagiographies.
Wannabe bike girl says it all !!!
Don't feel you are the only one who takes this common sense sporting view of a fawning, spineless and useless cycling press. I refuse to purchase any magazine which features or grovels to this person or those associated with him.
That's only 41 in degrees C.
Not so hot now!
I race, am a lawyer, and my firm sponsors our team. I'll tell them I can't accept their money anymore, since there are lots of other eager sponsors out there. I'll call OUCH and tell them to do the same. We should spit on sponsors we don't like, since this sport is so popular in the states we can always find more. We shouldn't accept money from corporations, people over 30, or anything other than nonprofit vegetarians.
No one says it quite like Fatty
http://www.fatcyclist.com/
Good one 6:12
I race, I'm not a lawyer, I'm not an employee of a firm that sponsors a team. Nevertheless, you're right and make a valid point: any money is good money. Who needs ethics when you got money to show for your efforts? The ends always justify the means. Good point...
It's not that the ends justify the means, it's just that if cycling only accepted money from unquestionable sources there would be no cycling. Mapei? They likely polluted in the production of their product. Rabobank? Knowing what we now know about huge fiancial institutions? Cipotle? I'm from LA, and those aren't actually burritos. Maybe discovery channel, an educational network, would pass. But mcdonalds co-sponsored polti and they're much more evil than some local law firm.and I can't think of its name, but riis's former new sponsor certainly had its problems. Lawyers are easy targets, I admit, but very little money is 100 percent clean. And that's my point. And let's not throw stones at sponsors unless you have some proof of wrongdoing.
As you admitted, you're a lawyer and your firm sponsors your team so I have to (especially in this case) "always consider the source"...besides, attorneys are pillars of ethical conduct...
Yeah, real funny Tony.
It isn't the lawyer who is unethical, but the client. I bet you're thinking that a lawyer shouldn't represent an unethical client. But who is to say if the clients conduct is actually unethical? Without lawyers being willing to champion any cause (especially when it comes to criminal defence) western justice wouldn't exist as we know it.
As SL Pepper said, this represents a 'societal commitment' to individual autonomy.
Yeah, you're right, there are no unethical lawyers, only unethical clients...
I guess I'm still waiting to hear how promoting a borderline totalitarian state = fighting cancer.
Or does that end also justify those means?
Of course there are unethical lawyers, just as there are doctors, accountants and plumbers who act irresponsibly. Would you call a doctor unethical for providing treatment to undesirable persons? Or what about the accountants in the same money hungry corporations as the lawyers you chastise? I doubt you would, Tony.
@Anon 6:34
Don't you feel it is at least worth it to have a conversation regarding who should be sponsors in cycling?
just because sponsors aren't knocking the doors downs does not automatically equal taking any sponsor that does come knocking (personally I'm not sure how I feel about big pharm being involved).
Now to be fair, I don't have a problem with the OUCH sponsors, but it is healthy to at least have the debate just as it is healthy to have the doping debates that are here as well.
Yes, I think a conversation would be worth it. My previous comments were related to Tony's comments which were a tangent from the sponsor issue.
As the saying goes, beggars can't be choosers. Pro cycling doesn't have a long line of sponsors knocking on the door. Discovery, who had won 10 GT when they disbanded couldn't even get one. We should take the money where we can get it, and as long as the riders race clean the image of the sponsor (outside of cycling) is for that sponsor to handle.
Guys, stop whining and man up! If your sponsor is shady you should not cycle for him/her. Do you really have to think hard about this? What is wrong with you! Are you so desperate for money to do anything? Where is you self-respect...
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