Big times in France

Sports

July 4, 2009

Michael Pineda The Duncan Banner Sat Jul 04, 2009, 04:28 PM CDT

When it comes to steroids, we give baseball players a lot of static. Every month it seems like someone is getting outed for taking the short cut to excellence.

It has come to the point that the excuses for getting tested are a bigger story than the fact that an athlete used HGH. And nothing is shocking anymore.

I take that back. What would be shocking is if the NFL had its own steroids controversy. How do they stay out of the controversy ring?

The reason that cheating is the focus today is that it is time for the Tour de France. And if anybody knows about cheating, it would be cyclists.

I understand the cycling is a big thing in Europe. For Americans, it is how you get to the convenience store when you are a kid. Yet, for some reason, we give the tour passing interest once a year.

You learn about someone that seems to be good at riding a bike over a long distance and then you find out that he got really good because he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to do. Unless the name is Lance Armstrong.

It really seems to irk the French that all the Europeans get caught and Armstrong always comes through clean as grandma’s good china.

What they don’t seem to understand is that if Armstrong does good, several more million people seem to care about the sport. And that is good for business. Quick, who won last year’s tour? The answer is some European. And the only reason that I know that is because Armstrong didn’t win it.

In an increased effort to catch the dastardly cheaters, officials will have around 520 doping tests, which have already started. Get you some of that Bud Selig.

In case you were wondering about this blood doping thing, it is when a cyclists injects some of his own blood back into his body to give him an edge. Don’t expect me to get all technical about it. All I know is that it seems to work.

While competitive cycling seems to be an insignificant sport statewise, winning the tour brings great honor and prestige with it. Without the tour, would we really know all that much about Armstrong or Greg LeMond. Not that winning the tour is an automatic recipe for fame.

I just had to do a web search to find out that it was American Floyd Landis who won the tour and had his title stripped. That same year, 56 cyclists were found guilty. I guess that is why they are starting to test so much.

It all just goes to prove that where there is a drive and ambition, there is always an athlete willing to take the shortcut.

Michael Pineda is the sports editor for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 143, or via e-mail at m.pineda@duncanbanner.com.

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