MidwestRoadie wrote:
If you're really honest with yourself--and I'm talking about absolutely everyone here, not just you--there's no doubt that things are said that aren't realistic, that cannot really be followed up on when the time might come to take action. We're creatures whose words are often significantly colored by ideals and emotions, impacting the logic behind our words. JV has absolutely said that one doping case would mean the end of the team, but it's not realistic. No organization can control every action of its employees and associates, especially those done off the watch of the organization. Is it really fair to the entire organization and its people to lay down and fold if TommyD acted on his own, especially considering the dire consequences to all of those innocent? The situation should be different if it's found that there was something systematic within the team as a whole, but that doesn't appear to be the case with the evidence we have. It appears doping is endemic at Astana with five cases between the WT and development teams, but, at least as of now, Garmin-Cannondale's situation appears to be one known idiot acting on his own. If it's found to be more than that, the team ought to fold. If it's found to be only that, JV will obviously terminate Danielson's employment and should be the first to tear him apart publicly, as should TD's teammates; they can't really do anything more than they've already done without confirmed results from the investigation on the off-chance that it's found to be a false positive.
Until then, it's a rhetoric of false superiority to claim that JV is being a hypocrite. His language has been pretty much what it would have been if anyone else were in his position.
Vaughters is a smart enough guy to know the prevalence of doping within the sport. He chose to market his team a certain way, has been rewarded handsomely for doing so, and so should be able to take the inevitable lumps that come his way. Maybe JV should refocus energy on internal testing and less speaking to the press about his clean team? As I mentioned above- I always speculated 'the team folding with a single positive' was marketing and would not actually be taken seriously if there was a positive. This confirms the marketing part. If the $$$ backers behind the team were *TRULY* for clean cycling, I would expect to hear their reaction, but instead we only hear crickets. Silence from the financial backers, indirectly supports a team that has doper(s), in my mind, as they must view a positive athlete, still okay for financial gain/marketing dollar gain. As in the L.A. saga, it wasn't only until L.A. was viewed as toxic waste, that his sponsors finally folded their hand and went home.
TD's results arguably have been better after 'giving up' doping. Lastly, JV has been the one making all the claims about his team and how they operate, not anyone on ST. The air of superiority is definitely one direction.
For years Lance had his shtick to the media, until that house of cards collapsed. No one truly knows who is clean or dirty except themselves.