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I'm tired of having discussions like this with friends that buy all the shit that "journalists" in the industry make up to please the riders, promotors etc. I'm also tired of all the shit that promotors come up with to fill their pockets.
MX has turned into a sport where it's okay to cheat with cc and illegal substances. A sport where riders are afraid to speak out, and where journalists gets their credentialt taken away if you write the truth. There's a lot of things that stink in this sport and what annoys me most is not FIM vs AMA. I would love to see all cheaters get caught basically.
What does that tell you?
The Shop
Because they only test urine. Urine won't catch the good stuff. It's a waste of time and money.
I don't have any reason to believe any of them are using PEDs at all. But whether they are or not, a urine test won't catch it.
I agree with you though.
What about TRT(testosterone replacement therapy)? Thats a perfectly legal way to get juice. I go to the doc, I'm almost 40, I tell him I'm not as horny and active as I used to be and a test or two later, I've got a script for Testosterone. TRT is all over the MMA sport, you have athletic commissions that are supervising it. Just like blood levels in cycling, testosterone levels are tested and have a threshold number, go over that number and you're busted, stay just barely under it, and you are clean as a whistle. The only difference is that in MMA, the fighters are required to disclose there use of TRT so everyone knows their business. The word "illegal" is almost laughable these days, it almost the same as "telling mom" and having to go to bed an hour early.
The next step in "performance enhancing" is going to be "gene doping".
To explain it simply: A lot of us have genes that would be advantageous for sports, or even for academics. But sometimes those genes aren't being expressed. We HAVE them, but they're not "working". Why? There's a blocker on the gene. A protein that prevents it from being expressed.
In other cases, we have genes that are BAD for sports, such as genes that make us fat or slow our metabolic rate. If these genes ARE expressed, we'll have a much harder time staying trim.
In both of those examples, they're figuring out ways to introduce a protein, enzyme, chemical, or what have you, that will either block the expression of disadvantageous genes, or remove the block from advantageous genes, at which point you can be, genetically, a very gifted athlete.
There would be absolutely no way of policing this sort of thing, because it's going to be genetic.
So, new question:
Is it "cheating" to unblock genes, or block genes, that you naturally have from birth in order to become a better athlete?
You also had a few good points a couple pages back. For me personally... I would LOVE it if there were some regulations in those other areas. I don't get why we haven't seen a stock or spec class yet. Even if it was a special class in the middle of the 250's and 450's. Just let people to go to a bike shop, buy a bike, do a bit of suspension work (nothing crazy) to help set things up for supercross and that's IT.
Build it and they will come. IMO, a class like that would go over really well.
Very good question you present too.
People are "anti-drug" and just by calling these things "performance-enhancing drugs" they are anti-PED. But they have no clear idea what they are, why they work, or acceptable ranges for hormones like testosterone or HGH.
It's just people parroting what they've heard instead of thinking for themselves. People who never question laws or rules, but simply by the fact that there are laws or rules that makes the laws or rules correct.
I simply can't and don't think like that. Authoritarianism is a scary thing.
until joe-public is intelligent enough to handle the truth in a rational matter, they have no business knowing it. too often people form opinions before thinking and dont do research before thinking. the kneejerk reaction crowd prevents progress imo.
and way to go with bringing "gene therapy" into the discussion. shit just got more interesting yet got more murky. haha. im not aware of the range this technology has (with regards to how far along it has come or what sports its currently in), and ive certainly never heard of it in mx. but youre right, if its out there, its already in the olympics, TDF, and its coming to a sport near you. fighting this "PED war" is a losing battle. its like the war on drugs, never gonna win it, battling the symptoms instead of the root of the issue....therefore total waste of time/energy.
michael crichton's book "Next" is a great read for anyone interested in a fictional take on where things are headed.
MX is different than any sport out there. Talent,Balls and Will are the difference makers in MX not PED's
The sweep it under the rug and don't talk about it mentality is just fubar imo.
https://youtu.be/X16G2hsVI9w
Pit Row
A guy on a POS Yamaha is gonna go pretty good until the bike forces him to endo spectacularly (e.g., Stewart) or pull off the track with mental exhaustion (e.g., Pourcel). But a guy on a Kawasaki is gonna win every single championship (e.g., RV) because the bike did all the work (with naked exhaust pipes, no less).
but i see way too many people taking shots at this sports media for not exposing some truths. as if other sports dont sweep things under the rug. i know from a EXTREMELY credible source that both peyton manning and tom brady have some gnarly skeletons in their closet. and if a nobody like me knows, you can damn well bet the NFL media is well aware..... ive had dinner with beat reporters that could tell story after story of absolutely insane stuff pro athletes and coaches have done. crazy shit that makes the bean popping sx main story sound pedestrian........ a family friend of mine used to troll high schools with joe montana and pick up chics back in the 80s when they were winning superbowls. there is plenty of shit that doesnt get out in other sports. sometimes they are just protecting their golden goose (the wrong reason to cover up, but understandable if all angles are considered) and sometimes the public would rather be lied to.
the relationship that a athlete has with the media goes a long way. a loooong way.
the fact is, the public doesnt want the truth and they cannot handle it. they just dont have the perspective and intellect to interpret these complicated issues. show me otherwise and i will change my mind and share the same sentiment as you. im all for honesty.
i believe that it is absolutely unjust the way barry bonds, mcguire, and sosa have been treated. we all turned a blind eye from the early 90s on. its our own damn faults we didnt do our research (or use common sense) prior to putting these guys on pedestals. now they are treated as if they cheated the game? for doing something that wasnt even against the rules? it takes a total fool to not know that these were some of the three most competitive and hardest working athletes of our time. they made the ultimate sacrifices to entertain us and hear the crowds roar. and now those same people have turned on them.
do u want to see that happen to the heros of mx?
a guy like chad reed goes flying thru the air and could have easily died in minnesota this year. but he gets back on that bike and keeps going. a absolute fucking warrior. the crowd went crazy. this forum went nutz. it put him in legendary status. and not that im implicating him, but god forbid it was later found out that a PED helped him get back on that bike and finish the moto in some way shape or form.....would you or anyone else have a right to think differently of him? was his accomplishment any less amazing?
those are some of the things ya gotta ask yourself.
it would be criminal. the fact is, if we were consistent in our logic, RC would be held on an even higher platform for the sacrifices he's made for this sport. this sport may be stuck in the stone ages when compared to most others, but the days of talent alone winning titles (a la motogp in the 70s) ended with MC's last championship winning battle with DV. those days are long gone and never coming back.
the fact is, PED's are in every sport and here to stay. just like they are in our everyday walk of life. its all around us. its better that you understand it and come to grips with it before placing judgement. it has nothing to do with competitive balance or health concerns. both of those points have been killed in this debate. it has everything to do with our own projections and heartbreak when we find out our "heros" arent what WE THOUGHT they were. thats on us, not them.
the public will never understand what it is to dedicate every waking moment of a persons life to their craft. hell, most people cannot even understand or make the basic sacrifices necessary for their own children. they will never know what it means to sacrifice as much as these athletes have for something as trivial in life as sports. and if you cannot understand that, you will not be able to understand what would push a competitor to use a taboo training method. i'll say it again, its all about perspective.
somehow, its ok that chad reed can nearly kill himself in a race. but not ok if he were to use PED's......its ok that football players die well before their time (despite the finest medical affordable) due to the abuse of the game, but were gonna start testing for HgH and fine guys for hitting too hard.......its somehow a problem that some riders have un-obtanable suspension and electronics even tho the 15-40th place guys would still get the same results on a factory bike........ this board routinely chastises mike alessi constantly for his lack of commitment in the whoops, yet he'd be run out of the sport if were to fail a drug test.
the contradictions are so blatant and irrational its not even funny.
I mean why not go the full blown George Carlin route and promote an "unlimited class" where anything goes? :D
Great job on this post. I completely agree.
knowing that your morals are the issue, means you are halfway there to understanding this whole topic.
morals tho, have no place in battle. and that is the approach that winners take. they win at all costs. its what makes them train as hard as they do, and take it "too far" in the eyes of u and others. john stockton was a dirty player, but dennis rodman was dirtier. what u gotta understand is that their determination is a switch that cannot be turned off. there is no volume knob for guys like RC, Michael Jordan, Lance Armstrong, Bill Billicheck, Peyton Manning, and Michael Schumacher. they cant turn it down a couple clicks. its the sanctioning bodies job to keep them in check. not their own. their job is to go go go go go and go harder. to curb that is a gross contradiction and would fuck up their whole psyche.
if youre going to cheer those people on, ya gotta take the good with the bad (or to put it better, "ugly truths").
otherwise its just a league full of jamarcus russel's.
as for your george carlin question.....life and sport is already an "unlimited class". since the beginning of its inception PED's have played a role in the TDF, nothing will change that. thats the way life really is. losers play by the rules, winners play dirty. show me anywhere in life/history/mother nature/society where that doesnt ring true? rules of sport are their to protect that sports integrity. PED's dont hurt a sports integrity when facing as many contradictions as they do in this debate. hell, even if one were to compete in the TDF without the use of PEDs (which is impossible btw, but for arguments sake entertain the proposition)...the legal and "safe" training necessary to be fit enough to compete at that level isnt safe at all. the amount of strenuous excercise that these cyclists endure on a daily/weekly basis far exceeds what any phd in their right mind would say is safe. THE NECESSARY CYCLING ALONE TAKES YEARS OFF A PERSONS LIFE. i bet u or others did not know that. again, perspective is everything.
Nice work.
I've written columns in the past asking a basic question: With how so many people look up to Ricky Carmichael, would any parent raise their child to be like Ricky?
Would you raise a child who doesn't like sharing, tries to win at everything, is a VERY sore loser to the point of alienating friends throughout his life, etc.? Who would raise their kid like that?
I don't think anyone would. Not even RC's parents. People are BORN this way. Great competitors, great champions, are born more than raised. It's nature, not nurture. When it hurts to lose so much that winning doesn't make you happy, it just keeps you from being angry, that's a champion. And there's no PED for that.
People celebrate when a guy pops on a drug test. "Yay! Get him, that cheater! Yay!"
But what really happened? What really happened is that a guy was eliminated from the Tour not for cheating, but for not being as good at cheating as everyone else.
In other words, if this "cheater" was winning when he got caught "cheating", all it does is move EVERY OTHER CHEATER UP A SPOT. It took second place, who was also cheating, and made them the winner for being better at cheating.
What did you solve?
In the gene doping I mentioned above, many of the gene-expression blockers can be removed through conventional (sort of) means. For example, I read about a guy who had cancer and started eating nothing but spinach for like two months, and his cancer went away. Why? Because it gave his body enough of a certain vitamin or enzyme that it blocked the gene for his particular cancer, and it just went away.
So, say eating nothing but spinach would do the same for some athletic gene. Is it okay to eat nothing but spinach with the expressed purpose being that you want to express this gene and you need this chemical from the spinach to do it?
Assuming you say yes, that's okay, then why wouldn't it also be okay to isolate that vitamin or enzyme, concentrate it, and give it in pill or shot form to do exactly the same thing?
I can handle the truth Mod Killer, but I don't think those who benefit from these PED takers the most can, because their little meal tickets would be gone.
I bet if you offered to pay for the testing, DC would consider it.
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