Michael O'Hair

The main problem with competetive athletes is that they are, well, competetive. They are also very easily manipulated. In my opinion, team managers and trainers should be banned if any member of their team is busted for drug violations. They're the ones in the middle; trying to guide their riders on one side and having to deal with sponsors who want a winning season. Not a good position to be in, to say the least.

In my opinion, the problem really got worse when the 50 per-cent rule was tossed in favor of testing for specific drugs. And please do not start all the noise about "naturally occuring high red blood cell counts" which has been known to happen but not very often.

For what it's worth, I hope Tyler Hamilton finds a way to deal with depression. I've dealt with it for years and it's a real pain.