I’ve been waiting anxiously all week to see which domestic cyclists are going to get nailed to the wall for purchasing from Joe Papp’s online EPO store*. Although unrelated to Papp, the first suspension announced this week was Tour of Utah veteran Oscar Sevilla. Big surprise there, since he’s been dinged before.
*Seriously, how effing stupid do you have to be to buy EPO online using your credit card.
Today it was announced that Jonathan Chodroff has accepted a two year suspension for purchasing EPO from Papp. Chodroff has accepted the suspension and admitted guilt, something some, including Papp, are describing as “honorable.”
Hardly. There’s nothing honorable about cheating. There’s nothing honorable about admitting you’ve cheated after you were caught. Honorable is playing by the rules. Next to that is confessing, without compulsion, when you’ve made a mistake. But cheating, getting caught, having no defense, and then saying “OK, I did it” when you’ve already made the decision to retire and attend medical school sounds to me like you’re just trying to get it over with so you don’t get expelled.
As Turbo put it, “if you need to dope to be ok in the US, your natural ability is not very good.” But here’s the worst part: in 2007 when Chodroff purchased his EPO, he was a cat. 3. If you need to dope to be a good cat. 3, your natural ability is pathetic. Your honorability even more so.
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Uhh, you forgot to post Papp's URL. Seems to me, I've been told by skibikejunkie that I don't take this cycling stuff NEARLY seriously enough.
ReplyDeleteSteve: you have an office with a door, while I toil away in a cube. You decide which of us has done a better job taking the right things seriously.
ReplyDeleteI was in that race in 2007 and missed the podium by seconds. I am pretty pissed as that was a big race that I worked extremely hard for. The guy didn't look like he could climb and I thought I would be able to put time into him there. Well, he could climb thanks to some EPO. If anyone has his email or number, let me know.
ReplyDeleteCheck this article out. http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/5699/Betsy-Andreu-speaks-about-Lance-Armstrongs-involvement-in-the-Floyd-Landis-investigation.aspx
ReplyDeleteBetsy seems to have some good arguements. The PR stuff and requesting Frankie to do Lance's interviews for VS. Interesting.