must be the wine

Am I drunk? Or all this shit really happening at the tour? Let's recap:

- Vino positive for blood transfusion
- Rasmussen in yellow, under a cloud
- Contador in white and 2nd, operation Puerto anyone?
- All Astana out, including 5th place Kloeden
- Sinkewitz already positive for testosterone, after having crashed out of the race

That's a bellyfull. I must have been drunk at 11am this morning when I read that shit. Man, I need to knock off the booze.

Seriously, tho. Cycling is messed up.

Or is it?

Think about it. If you've ever read "Rough Ride", "Breaking the Chain", or any of a half dozen books about cycling, or read the sports news at all in the last, oh, 20 years, you'll know drugs are around. Barry Bonds? How about the massive increase in NFL player's average weight and neck size while simultaneously lowering the 40yard sprint times drastically?

Come on.

The difference now is, people are getting caught. So the question is, what is everyone outraged at? That they cheated? Or that they got caught? I will argue that Vino testing positive is a good thing. He was likely cheating all along. He got busted. Good. Boot him out. Sinkin'wits the same. There were almost 200 riders starting the tour. Were 1% or more on drugs? 1% just got busted. Out of how many tests? 40? Good. The system is working.

Yes, it sucks to get the bad press for this sport. But, sponsors really need to realize that the outrage isn't that these guys got caught, but that they dared cheat to begin with, and that they weren't caught earlier. Kick them out. Give the rest a fair chance - and test like hell.

The whole process is still a stinking mess, but shit, at least something is getting done.

I will watch the tour tomorrow like always, glad that those guys got caught, glad that the race is a wee bit more fair, more ethical, and glad that the rest of the riders get a shot.

Evans just won the 1rst TT. Go Cadel.