He Said, She Said

July 28, 2007

1. Another year, another 200 doping stories. It seems that’s all we hear about anymore at the Tour de France. What can be done to clean the sport up, if at all?

Mike - Much like baseball, football, and jai alai, doping and drugs are going to remain in cycling. There is just too much incentive to do it unless and until it nets a lifetime ban the first time. Put yourself in the athletes’ shoes, if you are honest with yourself and the only way to reach the top is to do the same thing everyone else is doing why wouldn’t you?

Althea – Cycling will continue to have the problems as long as the sponsors remain… if the sponsors pull out, then the Tour de France committee will make the changes.  Additionally, whatever television networks cover the event they too need to drop covering it.  Some sponsors such as Audi and T-Mobile say they may withdraw their backing for the race, which then create a domino effect with others following.  German television networks/stations have already stopped broadcasting the Tour live.

2. While on the topic of the Tour... if not for the doping stories, would Americans even care about the race anymore?

Mike - The honest truth about this is that no one cared about the race... ever. Americans only cared about it for a couple of years as one of our own was shoving records aside to make us feel superior. Bicycle racing is just not a sport in America. We can’t even support soccer, much less bicycle racing. We are just too full of ourselves to embrace “someone else’s” sport.

Althea – Like Mike said, the Americans’ only followed the race when Armstrong was cycling his legs off.

3. Give me your best guess on how you see the Michael Vick situation play out from here?

Mike - The way it ought to play out will be that Michael will end up taking some kind of plea bargain, the superseding indictments that are coming almost make it impossible not to. Probably a 2-year NFL ban followed by a comeback attempt that fans will not stand for. Michael Vick is done in the NFL. You just don’t get second chances when the public is this against you. Whether or not that’s fair is another question entirely, but it’s the way it is.

Althea – I don’t think he’ll get the opportunity for a plea bargain – I think he’ll be spending time behind bars and the only time we’ll see him on a football field in the near future will be playing for his jail’s team.

4. Just when the NBA was sitting back and enjoying the misery of the other sports, up jumps the betting scandal. In comparison to the latest scandals in the other sports, how big is this? What does David Stern do to right the ship?

Mike - Honestly, this is probably bigger than all the other scandals combined. This is out and out cheating and throws into question the entire integrity of the game. Suns fans will never forget that game 3 now, it doesn’t even matter if he was involved in the calls; he was a referee in that game. Every bad call from now on will have a question behind it. Not just in the NBA but in all sports. What can Stern do? This is a wound that only time will heal, and then only if the referees suddenly get much much better in the NBA.

Althea – I am in total agreement with Mike on this one.

5. Best player name, past and present, in sports?

Mike - Thank Goodness, these questions were depressing me.  My personal favorite that I always remember off the top of my head is a little known player who was called Stubby Clapp. He played for little bit for the Cardinals back in 2001, I just can’t help but laugh every time I see his name. No one ever called him by his name which was Richard.

For some reason all the stupid funny names come into my head, Rusty Kuntz was a outfielder for the Detroit Tigers and of course every time I hear the name Dick Trickle I laugh so hard I pee. I was watching NASCAR one day and the announcer actually said Dick Trickle has some kind of leak and will need to pit. I fell over on the floor.

Your question may have wanted names that were more appropriate, but after all the negativity in sports right now, I just had to let loose.

Althea – CoCo Crisp of the Red Sox gets me going… every time I hear his name I’m ready to grab the cereal box – and it sure beats his given name of Covelli Loyce Crisp.

Homer Bush a former second baseman for the Yankees, Blue Jays and Marlins.  Bush hit just 11 “homers” in his career… so much for his name, which by the way is his real given name.

The weirdest names that come to mind are Assol Slivets, who has one of the direst names in the history of sports. The freestyle skier from Belarus competed in the 2006 Olympics in Turin finishing 5th in the women’s aerial ski competition.  Oh yeah, and her first name is Assol.

And last, but not least is Picabo Street, an American skier now retired… Her given name was inspired by the nearby Idaho town of Picabo, Idaho, (pronounced “PEEK-uh-boo”), which in turn takes its name from a Native American word meaning “shining waters”.