Friday Ruminations

Here are some quick hits for your Friday;

Lance Armstrong continues to be the jack that we all know he is. First there's THIS story (more about it HERE) about how he has completely ruined a natural resource with his ego (build a private dam for a private lake), his arrogance (didn't bother with proper permitting or following construction codes) and his usual lies and denial (maybe it was someone else who polluted the water, he says the drought did it (although other lakes remain clean) and he says he spent $500K removing the offending dam (kind of like how he says he's the world's most drug tested athlete - no way to know, prove or disprove that statement but he throws it around as fact)). With a half a million dollars and some properly placed explosives I could remove the Hoover Dam, no way on earth he spent that much tearing down his little dam. Further, in THIS article about the subject he once again plays the cancer card saying that he's been too busy with his foundation to clean up his mess. That and of course he wants to spend time with his kids.

His kids. If he spent as much time with his kids as he does traveling around and playing with Matthew McConaughey he wouldn't be forced to defend the bro-mance as non-gay. Read more HERE.



And lastly on Lance, he's up to his usual legend building crap in his run up (note the pun) to this week-end's New York City Marathon - he claims that he hasn't been able to run more than 15 miles in training (although you can Google this and read his various statements that he hasn't run more than 15, 16, 13 or 14 - take your pick) and that he's got some hip pain. You see, if he doesn't do well his excuses are lined up. More likely though, is that he will do well and the press will buzz about all of the obstacles he had to overcome and how he really is the great champion and wonderful person that he wants you to think he is. Low mileage and hip pain are nothing a little EPO, steroids and testosterone won't cure. At least Lance will be in good company if he can finish the marathon - Oprah Winfrey and Puff Daddy to name two.

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Speaking of doping and dopes, how about the pro cyclists crying about the possibility that DNA testing could used for drug testing in pro cycling? Here we have a definitive test and all of the usual suspects who claim to want to clean up cycling are now saying that their privacy will be invaded and it shouldn't be allowed. I've got news for these guys - when an industry pays you millions of dollars in salary and endorsements and you continually put sponsors in a bad light with your illegal doping practices, maybe it's fair for them to ask you to lift up your DNA skirt.

I'll do some research on DNA testing as it applies to doping in sports and report back. If indeed there is a reliable DNA test that can conclusively show the presence or absence of illegal or prohibited substances, and the test cannot be altered by masking agents or other methods - I will be a strong proponent of using such testing for all pro and Olympic athletes. The invasion of privacy crap is a shield that athletes want to hide behind so that the cheaters can continue to cheat. My opinion is that any athlete who gets paid for what he or she does should be subject to DNA drug testing. If you don't like it - get a real job like the rest of us.

While it will never happen, wouldn't it be fun to see the DNA results of Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds and Marion Jones?

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For your consideration;

"The doping arms race will continue because of the incentives. It's a classic Prisoner's Dilemma. Consider two competing athletes: Alice and Bob. Both Alice and Bob have to individually decide if they are going to take drugs or not.

Imagine Alice evaluating her two options:

"If Bob doesn't take any drugs," she thinks, "then it will be in my best interest to take them. They will give me a performance edge against Bob. I have a better chance of winning. Similarly, if Bob takes drugs, it's also in my interest to agree to take them. At least that way Bob won't have an advantage over me. So even though I have no control over what Bob chooses to do, taking drugs gives me the better outcome, regardless of what his action is."

Unfortunately, Bob goes through exactly the same analysis. As a result, they both take performance-enhancing drugs and neither has the advantage over the other. If they could just trust each other, they could refrain from taking the drugs and maintain the same non-advantage status -- without any legal or physical danger. But competing athletes can't trust each other, and everyone feels he has to dope -- and continues to search out newer and more undetectable drugs -- in order to compete. And the arms race continues."

Read the complete article HERE.

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For an interesting article on doping in sports which suggests that even pro golfers cheat with drugs (taking beat blockers to aid in precision - great for that tournament winning putt) go HERE.

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I don't understand all of the buzz surrounding Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois. Sure, he's a well spoken person with minority blood, the likes of which the liberal press will always embrace and celebrate but name one thing this guy has ever done to suggest that he's got what it takes to run a country. If his suggestion that Wisconsin's pitiful governor, Jim Doyle, is "one of the finest governors in the country", then I submit that Obama has much to learn.

I do however, find much humor in his joke that people are always getting his name wrong, calling him "Alabama" or "Yo Mama". Read HERE. A sense of humor and the ability to not take yourself too seriously are good traits in people in general, and politicians in particular.

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Here is one of the finest pieces of marketing crap and ethnic pandering I've heard in a while; regarding a proposed 2,000 foot skyscraper to be built in Chicago the architect said, "The tower's shape was derived by imagining the plume of smoke from a campfire lit centuries ago by Native Americans at the mouth of the Chicago River". Read more HERE.

2,000 foot wisp of smoke from a campfire

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And finally, HERE'S a video about a guy attempting to jump his bike over a ravine and a truck. Note to cubicle dwellers; the sound is a bit loud, turn your speakers down before viewing at work.