Top 11 Tainted Sports Achievements

[Lou_Siffer 1]

I don't remember if he ever actually took the ice did he? I seem to recall that he had a lot of skate problems and ended up just sitting on the bench for a period. could be wrong.

It also doesnt help when your Bol-legged

[FireCaptain 563]

It also doesnt help when your Bol-legged

Ouch.

Holy farking BAD pun, Batman.

[Lou_Siffer 1]

Ouch.

Holy farking BAD pun, Batman.

You gotta admit though, looking at the guy's stick physique he must be suffering from Bolemia.

[betterREDthandead 58]

I think some of you are missing the point. Anaheim's Cup isn't tainted. The Nashville sale isn't a "scandal" - it's only a scandal to the more snobbish fans who think as many teams should be crammed into Canada as possible. It's a messy situation, but not a scandal.

I'm pretty shocked that the Cincinnati Reds 1919 World Series victory isn't on there - the Black Sox scandal. That's the ultimate, the absolute unmatched pinnacle of tainted achievements. Sure, it was through no fault of the Reds own, but it's still tainted. After all, Strahan's tainted sack record isn't his fault either.

I do agree that the Hull goal against the Sabres is a good candidate, but the fact is the Stars were up 3-2 in the series anyway, and the game was tied at that point....who can say whether the Stars wouldn't have scored later or simply won Game 7? Dallas was clearly the best team in the league that year and that was the very middle of Western Conference dominance.....the Sabres were kind of upstart.

Can't believe there's not a single football reference. How about the "Music City Miracle"? Also known as the "Illegal Forward Pass On A Kickoff Return." And it's not of major significance, since it is, after all, the Alamo Bowl, but Nebraska's victory over Michigan a couple years ago should be considered tainted......when the entire Nebraska sideline rushes the field as play continues before time runs out, that's a tainted victory. I've always felt their half-championship in 1997 should be considered tainted as well, since they beat Missouri that season on a play where one receiver deliberately kicked the ball to keep it alive for another to catch.

It'll be interesting to see if there are any NBA achievements (the Heat '06 championship?) tainted by the ref scandal.

[FireCaptain 563]

You gotta admit though, looking at the guy's stick physique he must be suffering from Bolemia.

Your jokes Bol me over with laughter.

[shadow47 1]

...

Edited July 28, 2007 by shadow47

[eva unit zero 271]

The fact that this one is included destroys the credibility of the list:

Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, 2002 gold medal

Olympic figure skating judging has been nearly as outrageous as boxing judging over the years. A classic case saw Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze win the gold in Salt Lake City over Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

The judging didn't seem as egregiously wrong as in the case of Roy Jones Jr. ... until French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne admitted she favored the Russians after being pressured into a score-swapping scheme. Officials sent her home from the Winter Games, banished her from judging and awarded the Canadians duplicate gold medals in an unprecedented move. As in the Roy Jones Jr. case, controversy forced reforms how these Olympic events are judged. "Justice was done," Pelletier said at the time. "It doesn't take away anything from Elena and Anton. This was not something against them. It was something against the system."

People forget something about the juding that year. There were NINE judges. Removing the French judge does NOT give the Canadians the gold and the Russians the silver, as they then are TIED. That was the official outcome. How can it be a tainted accomplishment because of a bought vote that DIDN'T COUNT!!! That's like if someone scores eight goals in a game, but the eighth was offsides and shouldn't have counted, and the calling their record tainted. They would STILL be the record holder without the eighth goal!

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I think some of you are missing the point. Anaheim's Cup isn't tainted. The Nashville sale isn't a "scandal" - it's only a scandal to the more snobbish fans who think as many teams should be crammed into Canada as possible. It's a messy situation, but not a scandal.

[Lidstrom5 D-Man 0]

Check out Bol's number on his jersey...no, it's not 77...it's 7'7".

Nah, not a publicity stunt at all.

[North Guy 0]

Here is one from Sun Media...

MARTIN BRODEUR

The New Jersey netminder's record of 48 regular-season wins, set last season, deserves at least a couple of asterisks. First, it was set in an 82-game season -- giving him four more opportunities than Philadelphia's Bernie Parent had when he won 47 games in the 1973-74 campaign. And second, his win total was bolstered by the introduction of the shootout last year, which made ties a thing of the past. Parent was between the pipes for 12 draws during his record season ... his dominant Flyers team would have won at least half of those games if a shootout had been in effect.

[eva unit zero 271]

Here is one from Sun Media...

MARTIN BRODEUR

The New Jersey netminder's record of 48 regular-season wins, set last season, deserves at least a couple of asterisks. First, it was set in an 82-game season -- giving him four more opportunities than Philadelphia's Bernie Parent had when he won 47 games in the 1973-74 campaign. And second, his win total was bolstered by the introduction of the shootout last year, which made ties a thing of the past. Parent was between the pipes for 12 draws during his record season ... his dominant Flyers team would have won at least half of those games if a shootout had been in effect.

Roger Maris had an asterisk because of the number of games in a season. That asterisk was generally considered an injustice. You must remember that the record Parent held and Brodeur broke is most wins in a season, not best winning percentage. That's a different record altogether.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France wins shouldn't be on there.

There's been a few allegations, but by people on the periphery with something to gain. There's never been any credible evidence of him doping.

During his seven wins, he was by far the most tested athlete on the planet. Year round. In competition and out of competition. He never failed one drug test.

The only thing that indicates he might be doping is its prevalence in cycling, and his sheer dominance of that race.

[eva unit zero 271]

Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France wins shouldn't be on there.

There's been a few allegations, but by people on the periphery with something to gain. There's never been any credible evidence of him doping.

During his seven wins, he was by far the most tested athlete on the planet. Year round. In competition and out of competition. He never failed one drug test.

The only thing that indicates he might be doping is its prevalence in cycling, and his sheer dominance of that race.

Barry Bonds has never tested positive, either. Barry was a dominant player before he is alleged to have started doping, and was not as far and away the best in his alleged 'doping years' as Lance was on the Tour, and Armstrong was a middle of the pack racer until his first win, after which he won six more in a row. Barry is often hit with the 'sudden improvement' label as proof of guilt. Just for reference.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Barry Bonds has never tested positive, either. Barry was a dominant player before he is alleged to have started doping, and was not as far and away the best in his alleged 'doping years' as Lance was on the Tour, and Armstrong was a middle of the pack racer until his first win, after which he won six more in a row. Barry is often hit with the 'sudden improvement' label as proof of guilt. Just for reference.

I don't really follow baseball so I can't comment very knowledgeably on the Bonds situation. But I thought more than one person had come forward saying they had supplied him with/injected him with steroids. Also, how many years has baseball even had a testing policy? and isn't it still a joke (in terms of being "random" and ever having them in the off season).

Armstrong was tested year round, in and out of competition. He had to register his wherabouts 365 days a year with the cycling organizations so they could administer a random drug test at any time.

And didn't guys like he and McGuire grow through odd growth spurts well into their career? Where they suddenly became these muscular beasts, when they weren't early on?

Hopefully some baseball fans can answer those questions. I don't really know.

But as for cycling:

Armstrong was nowhere near a middle of the pack racer. He was a Classics racer, which are the shorter one day or few-day stage races like Paris-Roubaix, which requires a different style and build of rider than the grueling grand tours like the Tour de France. The Tour de France wasn't his main objective in a season.

Classic riders are usually heavier and more muscular for riding on flatter courses. Grand Tour riders have to excel in the mountains to have any shot at winning, which means they're typically very skinny.

His last years of riding the Tour de France pre cancer when he was primarily a classics racer, he still finished something like 36, which is in the top third.

Pre-cancer he had many big race wins, but dont' really mean anything if you don't follow cycling. In general, he was widely regarded as an extremely talented, cocky young rider who relied mostly on his physical gifts to win races. He wasn't a good tactician, but just tried to ride guys into the ground.

In 1996 (the year he was diagnosed with cancer), he was ranked the number one rider in the world.

After cancer he came back physically built as a completely different rider, at least 15 pounds lighter but with the same power output, and set about with ridiculous focus on peaking for and winning one single race every year, the Tour de France (whereas Classic racers target multiple races throughout the season).

click on the link for "about lance" then "career"

the ubiquitious wiki entry

EDIT: Looks like there's a few errors in the wiki entry, so I'd just use the top link which is Lance's personal website (which I would hope has his career acheivements accurately listed)

Edited July 31, 2007 by haroldsnepsts

[eva unit zero 271]

I don't really follow baseball so I can't comment very knowledgeably on the Bonds situation. But I thought more than one person had come forward saying they had supplied him with/injected him with steroids. Also, how many years has baseball even had a testing policy? and isn't it still a joke (in terms of being "random" and ever having them in the off season).

Players like Sanchez and Palmeiro have had positive tests. Not to mention the fact that the steroid testing policy was put in place because of the BALCO scandal. Don't you think they'd have tested Bonds, I don't know, RIGHT AWAY? The chances he will have a positive test lessen every day--even if he had been using streoids before he's probably not now.

[Opie 308]

The Bonds issue is complicated because by the MLB CBA he can only be tested twice a year. This happened to Giambi last year. He struggled up until the all star break, which btw was his second test date, then tore it up in the second half.

Bonds' best years were definitely after his alleged steroid use. I was a pirates fan when he came up through their organization. He was a doubles hitter who hit for average and played gold glove defense. Between him and Andy Van Slyke anything from the left field wall all the way to Bonilla in right was almost a sure out.

Then his body mass nearly doubled at the age or 35, huh. He started destroying the ball. I know steroids doesn't make you a better hitter, but you take a guy who hit the ball and saw the ball as well as Barry does and you juice him up all of the sudden he goes from hitting 50-60 doubles a year to 50-60 homers a year.

And no matter what he says about his hat size staying the same, his dome has enlarged in the last 6-8 years.

But I blame MLB as much as Barry or Balco. The steroid induced home run rage was what "saved" baseball according to experts. So they willingly hid steroids from the public. Tony LaRussa, one of the supposed good guys of the game, was letting and depending on who you read was encouraging his players to use them.

It is unfair that Bonds is the one being hit the hardest with this, but he is the biggest name attached to it. I find it funny that all of the sudden Bud Selig is taking a stance against roids, but in the 90's had no issue with it.

And in Lance Armstrong's defense, he never tested positive, but since he is out of the race, look at how many people have tested positive. So did their testing get more advanced in 2 years, or was he really that good. I don't have those answers.

Edited July 31, 2007 by Opie

[BlakChamber 8]

Bonds admitted to using steroids, the cream and the clear. He claims he thought it was flaxseed oil at the time. But he has admitted to using.

[Opie 308]

BlakChamber,

The only issue is that he said that as part of Grand Jury testimony, so while people like you or I will take that as an admission of guilt, apparently MLB doesn't.

I hope senator Mitchell (from Maine BTW) gets him the day before he breaks Hank's record and baseball wipes all of his records. But that will never happen because then they would have to back track through all of the records broken in the 90's and beyond.

And as we all know, MLB never admits a mistake!!

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Players like Sanchez and Palmeiro have had positive tests. Not to mention the fact that the steroid testing policy was put in place because of the BALCO scandal. Don't you think they'd have tested Bonds, I don't know, RIGHT AWAY? The chances he will have a positive test lessen every day--even if he had been using streoids before he's probably not now.

Eva,

While BlakChamber already stated what I was going to on the Bonds case, what HS stated in his most recent post is more than accurate. Armstrong was cocky as a young cyclists, and tried to blow people out of the water. Thats why he was more of a middle of the road cyclists. He would blow all his energy to early in the race, and by midway through the race he would lose steam, and finish in the middle. After he came back frrom cancer he was smarter about the way he rode, especially at the Tour De France. Lance was practically never in the lead until after somewhere in the middle of the mountains stage (which is practically 2/3 into the race).

Beyond that, as HS said, there is no athelete in the world that has been as tested over the course of their career as much as Lance was over the past 7 years of his. Never once did he come up positive while Bonds admitted to doping.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

I looked into it a little, and testing in baseball has gotten better but still sounds like a joke. They had no steriod policy up until 2002? and then had anonymous testing until 2004?

Even now, the punishments aren't that severe. a 10 day suspension for a first time positive?!

A cyclist gets a two-year ban for testing positive for doping.

And to clarify Lance Armstrongs career pre-cancer, a decent analogy would be to compare it to running track. Pre-cancer he was the equivalent of a mile or two-mile runner. That was what his focus and objectives were, and he was among the best in the world at it.

After cancer, he wanted to win the biggest cycling race in the world, the Tour de France, and essentially became the equivalent of a marathon runner who focuses only on the boston marathon. All year every year, every single step in training and competing is geared towards winning that one race.

So it's not that he was a middle of the pack rider pre-cancer. There's different kinds of races, and Tour was not the one he really focused on. And the seven years that Lance was winning the Tour were among the cleanest the race has seen in years. there was a massive doping scandal the year before he won his first Tour. There was another one the year after he retired. And now there's been another one this year.

Edited July 31, 2007 by haroldsnepsts

[Opie 308]

Here is a good opinion question:

For those of you who care about baseball:

If the MLB let Bonds' stats stay, when/if found guilty, what does that say about baseballs records and stats? Does it de-value records? Has it already de-valued records?

I just find it ironic that this is the discussion around MLB at the time that two of the classiest people to ever play the game are inducted into the HOF.