Basso: oh dear...

in message <[email hidden]>, Tony B

(') said:

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cycling/story/0,,2066190,00.html

looks like retirement looms.... it's not le dopage so much as the
protestations of innocence. It's very sad.

OK, I'm a Basso fan. But what happened to innocent until proved guilty? The
only thing which links Basso to those bads is a name - 'Birrilo' - which
turned out NOT to be the name of Basso's dog; and two intercepted phone
calls from Fuentes which did not refer to anyone by name, and did not
allege that anyone had taken any substance or used any blood infusion.

Basso /may/ be guilty. But if he isn't guilty he's been made to lose what
would have been two of the most significant years of his career - the apex
of his career - as a consequence of trial by tittle-tattle and innuendo.
Even if he's not guilty, by the time he's found not guilty he will have
served exactly the same sentence as the maximum sentence which could have
be handed down if he had been guilty (OK, if he is found guilty he'll have
to do two years in smaller teams before he's allowed back into the pro
tour, but he will already have served out his suspension).

So let's have a little respect for justice, here.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; killing [afghan|iraqi] civilians is not 'justice'

"Tony B" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cycling/story/0,,2066190,00.html

looks like retirement looms.... it's not le dopage so much as the
protestations of innocence. It's very sad.

Tony B

Yes what a shame. At the peak of his career with the Disco set up behind him
he would have been the hot favoutite for the TDeF this year.

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net

Simon Brooke wrote on 28/04/2007 09:19 +0100:

Quoted message said:

OK, I'm a Basso fan. But what happened to innocent until proved guilty?

This is cycling where the rule is guilty because they say so and fix the
evidence if necessary. WADA rules!

Quoted message said:

So let's have a little respect for justice, here.

Bwahahahaha!
http://trustbut.blogspot.com/2007/04/history-repeating.html
http://trustbut.blogspot.com/2007/04/landis-comments-from-phone-press.html

--
Tony

"The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there
is no good evidence either way."
- Bertrand Russell

Simon Mason said:

"Tony B" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cycling/story/0,,2066190,00.html

looks like retirement looms.... it's not le dopage so much as the
protestations of innocence. It's very sad.

Tony B

Yes what a shame. At the peak of his career with the Disco set up behind him
he would have been the hot favoutite for the TDeF this year.

Maybe they'll try with Contador? Oh no - same problem as Ivan ....

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Tony B

(') said:

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/cycling/story/0,,2066190,00.html

looks like retirement looms.... it's not le dopage so much as the
protestations of innocence. It's very sad.

OK, I'm a Basso fan. But what happened to innocent until proved guilty?

<aol> Me too! </aol>

The sport of cycling is in serious danger of killing itself over its
appalling treatment of its own stars. I would happily see very lengthy
bans and huge fines given to those who are proven to be cheats but,
until enough evidence is found to build a proper case, the sport needs
to be very careful about even naming names.

After all, just who did win the Tour de France last year? We will never
truly know.

Cheers,
Luke

--
Lincoln City 0-2 Southend United (AET)
Swansea City 2-2 Southend United
We went up twice with Tilly and Brush