How cycling stacks up on the Doping scale
Despite its image in the American mainstream press, professional cycling is probably the most aggressive sport in terms of doping sentencing. Here is how other major sports stack up against cycling when it comes to rooting out pharmaceutical cheating. (Source: velonews.com.)
Technorati Tags: Inspiration
| Sport | 1st positive | 2nd positive | 3rd positive | 4th positive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cycling | two-year racing ban; plus two-year ProTour ban; Tour de France-specific penalties: fine of one year's salary |
|||
| Baseball | 10-day suspension OR a $10,000 fine | 30-day suspension OR a $25,000 | 60-day suspension OR a $50,000 fine | one-year suspension OR a $100,000 fine |
| Football | four-game suspension | eight-game suspension | one-season suspension | |
| Basketball | 10-game suspension | 25-game suspension | one-year suspension | ejection from league |
| Hockey | 20-game suspension | 60-game suspension | ejection from league | |
| soccer | up to and including termination |
It's pretty clear: Cycling is doing the right thing, and other sports should be embarrassed about how comparatively weak their efforts are to rid their sports of doping. Instead of being ashamed of the doping reports coming out of the sport, I'm proud to be a pro cycling sport fan. This letter to the editor (of Velonews) from Les Hugie, of Santa Maria, CA I couldn't have said it better. So I hope he doesn't mind me adding this here (without permission.))
“I applaud cycling and the efforts it is making to rid the sport I so love of dopers and cheaters. People who thought this would be easy need to open their eyes and minds to the level of corruption that is in all aports. Imagine what would happen if the NFL chose to follow cycling's lead. Never fear, we won't see the giants of the gridiron forced to take drug tests anytime soon. It would cost the teams and the networks millions in lost revenue. Baseball has recently chosen to allow an admitted steroid user to go unpunished because of his charity work. How charitable on its part. Doping is a cancer, but a curable cancer. Like any cancer it does not go away with the wave of a wand. There will be continued attacks by those who have not come clean, and there will be continued attacks by the media and misguided fans. But I envision cycling to be the only ”pure“ sport within two years.”