CopenhagenWing

I thought he had an issue with speed.

Drinking early today?

Debate on topic here. http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=39432

And most football fans would agree with this. There are too many instances of diving in the sport these days. Referees have been instructed to penalize players for diving but that happens as often as in hockey. However, football players only have a pair of shinguards as protection as you well know. And most of them do play a full 90 minute game without timeouts and stoppages in play every 2 seconds.

With a world view like that, you're definitely going places.

What's not to like? I've never heard of any cheap shots by Sakic against the Wings. What did he do exactly?

Sir, yes Sir.

When was he traded?

http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.ph...6567&st=125

Sure, it's BS. But they're distancing themselves in order to not lose their sponsors. Sacrifice one guy for the good of his teammates, mechanics, soigneurs etc. IMO, the root of the problem in cycling is that it's a "good old boy" sport. Most team owners and directors are old pros themselves. Their habits, both good and bad, trickle down from one generation of riders to the next.

Unfortunately, as long as there's fame and fortune to gain, some people will do whatever it takes to win. I read a little blurb on Cyclingnews the other day saying that a red masking powder had been found in the ongoing "Puerto" doping investigation in Spain. Allegedly, riders can rub the powder in their hands and deposit it in a urine sample if tested. Don't know if this is true. I was infuriated that Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and a bunch of other riders were suspended before the Tour for alleged doping (again the Puerto case) . The evidence I've read about up until now is very circumstantial in many cases. And a lot of riders initially implicated have since been cleared.

This one was put up before yours. I realize the poll choices were lacking in this poll which is why the topic description was changed.

Then so is football, athletics, swimming, hockey etc. If you don't like cycling, stop watching it. I'll continue being a fan. I know there are dopers in the peloton. That said, it's still a great spectacle to watch.

While it would be refreshing to see an athlete own up to doping, there is really no quick recovery for Landis, at least not in terms of his cycling career. If guilty, he'll be banned from 2 to 4 years from competition, at which point he'll be 34 years old with a replacement hip. And he'll still need to find a team willing to sign the 1st TdF winner in history stripped of his title for doping.

I can't remember a doping case where the B sample had a different result than the A. Courts are next. Somehow Landis is going to convince people that the synthetic testoterone is indeed formed in his body.

Article from yesterday's Cyclingnews. L'Equipe reports exogenous testosterone in Landis' A sample By Hedwig Kröner To explain the positive doping test result after stage 17 of the Tour de France, which he won after an impressive solo ride in high mountains, Landis has argued that his relatively high level of testosterone was naturally produced by his own body. The analytical basis for the test being the ratio between testosterone and epitestosterone, normally averaging 1:1, a suspicion of doping is being issued if this ratio is higher than 4:1. In Landis' case, German media have on Sunday rumoured the result to be 11:1 (all that can be assumed, however, is that Landis must have been over 4:1). "In our medical files appear not only blood levels, but also our testosterone status," said professional cyclists' representative Jens Voigt before the race. "It shouldn't be hard to find out if Landis is telling the truth." The tests performed on Landis' A sample included an Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) procedure, used to determine whether the testosterone is exogenous (contained within, but originating from outside the body) or endogenous (produced by the body itself). In the case of Landis, L'Equipe reported that the analysis found testosterone of artificial origin. It's understood the French newspaper received this information from a source within Chatenay-Malabry labortory that conducted the test on Landis' sample. Jose Maria Buxeda, Landis' attorney, contests the detection method via IRMS. "It's not reliable," he told French L'Equipe. "Most laboratories do not use it. In fact, the laboratory of Chatenay-Malabry must be the only one still using it." In the same edition of the paper, however, Christiane Ayotte, director of an anti-doping laboratory in Montreal, Canada, disagrees. "We use the method regularly," she said. "Moreover, more than half of the WADA-accredited labs perform it successfully. I'd even say that an IRMS which gives a synthetic result is very hard to contest. It's not a method that anyone can apply but the LNDD (Laboratoire de Chatenay-Malabry) has totally proven itself in this domain." It has been pointed out that Landis' thyroid problems, the treatment of his inflamed hip with corticosteroids, as well as drinking alcohol on the night prior to stage 17, could be factors which could have affected his testosterone levels. "As soon as an athlete is controlled positive for testosterone, the same old stories come up," Ayotte continued. "The increase, even if natural, of the ratio testosterone/epitestosterone cannot, in any case, be explained by taking thyroid hormones or corticosteroids. Alcohol can in fact influence it, but only with women, and only for three or four hours." Take it for what it's worth.

Cycling is no more a farce than any other sport. You will find people cheating in every sport. Cyclists seem to have a bullseye on the their backs for some reason. Some people in Europe speculate that they are used as scapegoats while other sports are flying under the doping radar.

I'm sure the players who participate in the World's are taking it seriously. However, there's quite a scheduling conflict to consider. All of the European leagues are over before the NHL regular season ends. If you hold the World's after the NHL playoffs are over, the non-NHL players will not have played for months. Hardly a recipe for fair competition.

Weird, I was thinking during the Olympics that he should still be in the NHL.

No thanks! Sure, he has skill but Tkachuk has had contract disputes while under contract (more than once IIRC), showed up at camp this year seriously overweight and is content cheapshotting players (incidents last season played vs Vancouver) rather than dropping the gloves.

True but the cap numbers wouldn't work.

Comment on this trade in the similar thread in GD.

http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.ph...showtopic=32683

Please be Terry Sawchuk, then.

That's pretty much sums up how I feel about Osgood. Today he was fighting the puck from the 1st Stars shot onwards.