Saturday Roundup

News
The Star Phoenix posts an op-ed piece by Jason Warwick, a marathoner from Canada, who talks about San Diego Charger Shawne Merriman who seems to be prospering through endorsement ads despite his earlier entanglement(s) with steroids. Warwick points out that others accused of doping have not done so well:

Why use him in full page ads to sell sports drink, sneakers and other products? Are no clean, talented athletes available? And why the blatant double standard when it comes to football players? If this was an Olympic athlete, cyclist or more recently, a baseball player, with a drug cloud, would companies still want him? I haven't seen any recent ads featuring Marion Jones, Floyd Landis or Barry Bonds.

It's easy, it's all about the bottom line, money.

The Park Record writes about "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" ,a documentary film about steroids in America, which was made by Christopher Bell who used steroids the achieve his athletic goals. In his film he explores the use of PEDS, the effects on those who use them, and who may be to blame for their wide spread use. In the course of making his film he talked to many high profile athletes, as well as representatives from WADA:

In the course of making "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" Bell talked to athletes in professional wrestling, football, baseball and cycling -- including Floyd Landis, who was recently stripped of his Tour de France title.

Bell also talked to members of the World Anti Doping Organization and he concluded, "Steroids play a huge role in the Olympics; they all admit the tests are flawed."

CyclingWeekly says not so fast. It appears that the Mario Cipollini to Rock Racing talks may be premature:

On Friday morning the Italian Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper claimed that Cipollini would come out of retirement and ride the Tour of California for the US Rock Racing team before becoming manager of a Monaco-based part of the team.

However by the end of the day it seems that Cipollini and charismatic Rock Racing owner Micheal Ball had already fallen out, contracts may never be signed and Cipollini might have to put his bike back in the garage.

Cipollini admitted there were problems with the new team on Italian radio. “It's going to be a difficult birth, let's see what happens,” Cipollini said via phone from Santa Monica.

Stay tuned to "As the Wheel Turns".


Blogs
Chris @ Podium Cafe is all over the "Cipo NOT headed to Rock Racing" story. And in another post Chris LOVES being a VDS, he can do what he likes and not cast moral judgment.

Tri Guy had a great week of training, and yesterday when he was feeling the need for inspiration he watched stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France to motivate him.

David speaks for himself and another Mennonite programmer when he muses about posting a missive to his door.