"A question for you. Lance wants complete amnesty through the TRC, right? I assume the process is something like: a) you come to the TRC and admit doping, and b) you get amnesty. Pretty simple."
this thread has two tracks: the question of the TRC, and the question of whether it's appropriate that lance's death sentence is appropriate when considered in the context of his teammates, which were hailed as heroes and given a ban consisting of a few months during what is mostly their off seasons.
at first blush, my response is that the disparity is a travesty of justice, not that lance's penalty was unfairly heavy, but that the sentence given the others was unfairly light. not just the light sentence given the others, but the praise heaped on them.
as to the other track, the TRC, i don't know. i haven't thought it through. i don't know if it would work. i think it bears considering, because, as somebody else pointed out in another thread, in the mid-2000s basically every athlete near the top in a grand tour was a past, current or future doper. i don't know if it's appropriate to just give everybody amnesty. maybe it is. alternatively, maybe it should be like the pending immigration legislation, where if you come in front the cold there's a path to citizenship.
here's what we have had over the past 9 months: a TRC for levi, george, vdv and the rest, and the death sentence for those who wouldn't play ball with the USADA's TRC. we've just had the TRC, at least with regard to one team. i guess i just think if USADA wants to have a TRC, then it just ought to announce it and do it, sportwide. if it doesn't want to have a TRC, fine, i'll accede to its greater wisdom, but then don't treat those who tell the truth as if it was a TRC (which is what they've basically done).
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
this thread has two tracks: the question of the TRC, and the question of whether it's appropriate that lance's death sentence is appropriate when considered in the context of his teammates, which were hailed as heroes and given a ban consisting of a few months during what is mostly their off seasons.
at first blush, my response is that the disparity is a travesty of justice, not that lance's penalty was unfairly heavy, but that the sentence given the others was unfairly light. not just the light sentence given the others, but the praise heaped on them.
as to the other track, the TRC, i don't know. i haven't thought it through. i don't know if it would work. i think it bears considering, because, as somebody else pointed out in another thread, in the mid-2000s basically every athlete near the top in a grand tour was a past, current or future doper. i don't know if it's appropriate to just give everybody amnesty. maybe it is. alternatively, maybe it should be like the pending immigration legislation, where if you come in front the cold there's a path to citizenship.
here's what we have had over the past 9 months: a TRC for levi, george, vdv and the rest, and the death sentence for those who wouldn't play ball with the USADA's TRC. we've just had the TRC, at least with regard to one team. i guess i just think if USADA wants to have a TRC, then it just ought to announce it and do it, sportwide. if it doesn't want to have a TRC, fine, i'll accede to its greater wisdom, but then don't treat those who tell the truth as if it was a TRC (which is what they've basically done).
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman