Last week, in Vive
Le Tour! Vive Le Dope!, I discussed the issue of doping in professional
cycling, contrasting the views on sports doping of Harvard Political
Philosopher Michael Sandel and Judge Richard Posner, and suggesting that both
missed an important function of “cosmetic” doping restrictions designed to
provide spectacle that looks like sport.
This week, news of cheating issues in sport continues to abound.
In cycling, from The
New York Times:
The Tour de France stage winner Mikel
Astarloza was suspended Friday by the International Cycling Union for doping
before this year’s Tour. . . .
Astarloza had a positive test for the
endurance-booster EPO in an out-of-competition control on June 26, eight days
before the Tour de France began. He won the 16th stage of the Tour on July 21.
The union said it has provisionally
barred Astarloza from racing until the Spanish cycling federation can hold a
disciplinary hearing. He rides for the Euskaltel-Euskadi team.
So much for the “clean Tour.”
In baseball, from the New
York Times, If
Every Team Was Doping, Why Use Asterisks?
Click here for video of the story, Foul Play.
And for those who missed Zev Chafets, author of Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues, and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame (pictured right) on the Colbert Report last week, it’s here:
(HT: David Keeney)
In swimming,
via the New
York Times:
FINA, the international governing body
of swimming, announced that the ban on polyurethane suits would take effect
Jan. 1. Suits will be restricted to textiles or woven materials. The coverage
of men’s suits will be limited to between the waist and the kneecap and women’s
suits to between the shoulder and kneecap.
. . .
Thirty-five world records have fallen
in the first six days of the world meet, seemingly cheapening the value of what
used to be the gold standard in the sport.
There’s sure to be more drama to follow – not everyone
believes that this Genie of technology can be put back in the bottle.
And my favorite sports cheating story of the week (via Freakonomics)
relates to British rugby player Tom Williams:
Apparently there is a rule in rugby, as
in soccer, that once a substitution is made to take a player out of the match,
that player can’t return to the game. The exception to this rule is “blood
injuries,” in which case a player can come off until the bleeding is stopped
and then return to play.
Tom Williams suffered just such a blood
injury at a very critical moment of a recent match. . .
Eventually, television footage revealed
that Williams had pulled a capsule of theatrical blood out of his sock and
bitten into it in order to produce the faked injury. . . . not only did
Williams get suspended from the league for a year, his substitute also missed
the kick and the Harlequins lost the game by a single point.
Related Post: Vive Le Tour! Vive Le Dope!