Not Again

Here we go again, the Tour de France is again under the microscope, the current champion Alberto Contador has tested positive for a stimulant. He is protesting his innocence with talk of food doping. Whether he was doped or not it shows the sport is still rotten at its core. The cycling union has always talked about how the sport has changed and how it has had a fundamental move from its drug ridden past. 

Cycling has been riddled with drugs since the early days. The book Rough Ride by the Irish cyclist Paul Kimmage is a warts and all autobiography of a professional cyclist. The issue of drugs is dealt with almost as a matter of fact part of the story. In fact drugs were a necessity to get through a punishing season. It seems like that the legacy of drug taking has continued. The drug taking legacy will not stop until those remnants of the past are taken out of the sport. 

The American perspective of the Ryder Cup

http://goo.gl/ALw7

Great article from the New York Times

Where Have the Rugby Crowds Gone

The 2010 rugby premiership season has started and the rugby has been fantastic. Last weekend I settled down to watch Saracens versus Northampton. It was a fantastic game of rugby that ebbed and flowed. This has not been the only great game. The Exeter chiefs upset Gloucester and Leicester the pre eminent force in English rugby have struggled. Predicting results of games has been impossible which has been great. The big queston is where have the crowds gone with the product being so good. 

It is sad to say but the answer maybe the quiet summer of rugby may have damaged the game.Football had a world cup that although not spectacular was surrounded by controversy and sex scandals. Cricket was like something out of a John Grisham novel with match fixing and bribery in the ascendency. Rugby had a quiet time no bloodgate, no speculation on the future of the England manager. It was just a productive summer of building for the future. The autumn internationals are now on the way and watch the crowds explode as rugby gets itself back on the back page.