Comments on: Innocent until proven guilty.

By: Uneasy Rhetoric

Uneasy Rhetoric — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 20:09:04 +0000

Eh Reggie, you’re right. I was reading it as “Suspicions of the French..,” which would have had a different connotation. I’ve heard others say that they suspect the French have it out for American cyclists; I was looking for something that plainly wasn’t there. Mea culpa.

By: The Floyd Landis tragedy! » tragedy,cheater,Schilddrüse,testosterone - pitestosterone,Doping

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 12:32:42 +0000

[...] [uneasy rhetoric link] (First, what’s the big deal about doping anyway, and second, is this really negatively affecting the sport of cycling or sports in general?) [...]

By: Reggie

Reggie — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 10:57:28 +0000

Looked to me like the LA times article’s headline,
“Suspicions of French Gain Validation”, interviewed Frenchmen on the street, and the headline seems to preview what is mentioned in the article.

from the article:

“But down the aisle, Pierre Frederic Berte, 25, said it reinforced French suspicions about doping and corruption among American bikers.”

“(notice how the headline contains an implication not discussed in the story)”

I do not see how there is an implication not discussed in the story.

By: Uneasy Rhetoric

Uneasy Rhetoric — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 06:32:19 +0000

If the use was strictly a personal choice, I don’t think I’d have much of a problem with it. But I think there’s a lot of external pressure on athletes to dope as well.

And right now, if you get away with doping, you become someone at the top of your game. If doping were legal, you’d have to do it just to keep up. It wouldn’t be a performance “enhancer” anymore, it would just be another requirement to play the game.

By: Carl

Carl — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 05:07:37 +0000

At some, point I read an interesting question on the whole steroid controversy: Would you trade the last 10 years of your life for 20 extra IQ points?

Twenty IQ points can be the difference between high intelligence and genius. It can be the difference between doing a very good job and being a top mind in the field. Think about how much more you could accomplish with 20 extra IQ points.

I can’t say for sure whether I’d do it, though my first impulse (like everyone else) is to say I wouldn’t. The point is, a lot of people WOULD do it and that’s exactly what athletes are doing now.

I’m not justifying the actions of athletes who cheat. But looking at steroid use from an IQ perspective made me think about the situation in a different way.