Erik,
I appreciate the tone of your comments, but I think having and expressing opinions about these issues is ok and is beneficial to the sport. Having people complain, losing T.V. dollars, losing sponsor dollars, etc. will pressure the sport to clean up it's act. I think recreational drug use and performance enhancing drug use are often intertwined in cycling and should be treated similar. I don't think it really hurts Boonen to have people upset about his drug use. If I was Boonen and saw/heard of disappointment about my actions it may be the thing that really hits home and causes me to reconsider what I am doing.
I hope he figures it out as well. I hope all addicts figure it out. Having anonymity as regular people may not be a benefit, I think in my case anonymity enabled me to continue addictive behaviors for far too long in my life. Being a star under the spotlight may have gotten me sober sooner... or maybe I would have ended up like Pantani... I don't know.
I agree we should not make it "our" problem in a selfish sense, but "our" problem as a group of people who love cycling and want to see the best do there best, without the aid or compromise of using drugs of any sort. I know things will never be perfect, we will always have drugs, and users. But for those of us caught in addictive behaviors there is no benefit to sweeping problems under the rug.
----- Original Message -----
From: Erik Long
To: halfwheelhill@yahoo.com ; crobinson09@jesuitmail.org ; salopez@yahoo.com
Cc: Obra
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 11:55 PM
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Tom Boonen, why did you let me down?
Aww, danggit . . . aren't professional athletes supposed to be perfect people who live perfect lives - like Pete Rose, O.J. Simpson, Mike Tyson, Kobe Bryant, Tanya Harding . . . umm . . . Rocky?
Maybe our admiration of athletes should be limited to their achievements as athletes. Maybe we should leave the rest of their lives out of the picture, because ya know what? We ain't perfect either, we just have the luxury of anonymity, so our coke habits and alcoholism and abusive tendencies and serial masturbation doesn't reach the public eye in quite the same way as it does for someone like Boonen.
The guy's future is in jeopardy because of his unfortunate problem and we have the nerve to bitch that he "let us down"? Really not cool to make someone else's problem all about you. For all we know the man's life is falling apart. He seems to have a tone of helplessness about his coke use in recent interviews and that's a very bad sign.
I truly hope that Tom finally gets the help he clearly needs. He's a young man and could still have many brilliant years ahead of him in this sport if he gets straight, so let's all lay off the guy and hope he checks into rehab.
-Erik
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 23:04:41 -0700
From: halfwheelhill@yahoo.com
To: crobinson09@jesuitmail.org; salopez@yahoo.com
CC: obra@list.obra.org
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Tom Boonen, why did you let me down?
it was actually his third time. the first was not reported because he was a nobody then.
scott
--- On Thu, 5/14/09, Saul Lopez wrote:
From: Saul Lopez
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Tom Boonen, why did you let me down?
To: "crobinson09@jesuitmail.org"
Cc: "obra@list.obra.org"
Date: Thursday, May 14, 2009, 12:45 AM
Nothing should really surprise us any more... "Fool me once... "
chris robinson wrote:
> Tom Boonen is, and continues to be my favorite cyclists. However, he keeps making stupid decisions that hurt his career. He recently tested positive for cocaine a second time and is now subsequently banned from le Tour. Come on Tom! Your not getting any younger so stop making these stupid decisions. I was looking forward to watching him go for the green but I'll have to root for someone else now...end rant/
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