Burglars, Dopers and Thieves

I'll be the first to admit I waffle on this whole doping issue quite a bit. Sometimes I want to figure out a way to be a champion for a cleaner sport. Other times I figure it's a losing battle and it would make more sense to have a buffet of drugs available to every rider before every race so that the playing field is leveled. But this argument assumes it's an accessibility issue, which, it hardly is.

I read Steve Tilford's blog on basically a daily basis. I'm not really sure why because to be honest, overall, it's not that interesting. He mostly writes about himself and changing the brake lines on his really old van. He also writes in a very "good old days" fashion, which at times can get old. But, like most blogs, there is occasionally something that is really great. A perspective on a subject that I couldn't get without the insight of an old pro. Today was one of those days and if you have a minute, read this.

At the end, Steve refers to the dopers as common criminals, robbers, thieves, burglars, etc. In a sense I've never thought of them quite like that. I've heard the argument repeated by the cycling world that you should own your victory and that dopers can not. But this is much more powerful. It takes away any onus for the dopers to have a moral dilemma by the decisions they are making. Anybody can justify their criminal behavior to themselves, that happens all the time. I think the more powerful stance is to start referring to the dopers as thieves, because there's no way of getting around it, they are absolutely stealing victories.