Roar Guru
Joined February 2013
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My goal is to be the first middle aged stagiare in pro cycling, either that or win a C grade club race. Probably the club race.
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To most fans watching Australia's Olympic athletes on the telly, it's all about the sport. Elite athletes doing what they're very good at. Unfortunately…
On Friday evening Rio time, Great Britain’s track pursuit team beat Australia to take the gold medal. Both teams broke the world record, with…
On Thursday, it was revealed that rising British road cycling star, Olympic prospect and Orica-GreenEDGE professional team member Simon Yates had tested positive for…
As a footy and cycling fan, I'm genuinely sympathetic to how devastating the CAS verdict must be to the Essendon players. However, like many…
This year's Tour de France - taken out by Sky Racing's Chris Froome - was defined by a number of key stages, attacks and…
Having read a number of articles of late on Essendon's alleged use of proscribed substances – specifically Thymosin Beta 4 – I thought it…
I have two confessions: the first is that I'm fascinated with the psychology of doping in sport - both that of the athletes who…
Largely missed by the mainstream media, last night saw what is arguably the climax to the ongoing drama that has been Operacion Puerto, the…
As a cycling tragic, I want the sport to be cleaned up. And I am very dubious about claims that, having dispatched of Lance,…
Lance is still rich after settling on his Qui Tam lawsuit with US Postal. A lot less rich but he hasn’t gone bankrupt.
On a more local level, James Hird spring to mind. That was a very hard landing.
Eight athletes who fell from fame
Serena has just been embroiled in another doping scandal – refusing an unannounced doping test again. She should withdraw if you ask me but I’m sure she’ll be there as if nothing happened.
Wimbledon 2018 mega-preview
Unsure Froome would be very welcome here at the moment 🙂
2018 Commonwealth Games: Men's road cycling, Individual Time Trial live updates, blog
Thanks Scott.
2018 Commonwealth Games: Men's road cycling, Individual Time Trial live updates, blog
It’s not just race-by-race comparison of course, it’s the cost of a trans-continental flight. I think if it were local we’d see more top guns here.
2018 Commonwealth Games: Men's road cycling, Individual Time Trial live updates, blog
Awful error by team mechanic. Unforgivable.
2018 Commonwealth Games: Men's road cycling, Individual Time Trial live updates, blog
Meyer is a beast though. He seems to have struggled with motivation in recent years but has refocused. He’s just through -25 secs. as I write.
2018 Commonwealth Games: Men's road cycling, Individual Time Trial live updates, blog
Lots of sports. It just takes a little helping hand to turn the clock back..
The Best Ever: Mayweather defeats McGregor by TKO in tenth round
He’s a freakshow. Boxing has always attracted interest for that reason – terrible human beings doing violence to other people in a controlled environment. He is a very gifted boxer. And nothing more than a scumbag as a human being.
We musn't forget Floyd Mayweather's terrible past
A lot of teams would have loved to have that problem.
Should Orica-Scott have done more to keep Michael Matthews?
They’re different riders though. Ewan is a pure sprinter, Matthews wins in sprints on parcours that present some difficulty (uphill, or preceded by mountains). I think it was clearly Gerro who motivated Matthews to leave.
Should Orica-Scott have done more to keep Michael Matthews?
I agree on Chaves being a legitimate GT contended. I think the Yates brothers show good indications of being the same, given time to develop.
I disagree on Matthews. He is maybe not quite as strong as Sagan, but he is close. And Matthews had a great back end to the Tour. We don’t know for sure that Sagan would have.
Should Orica-Scott have done more to keep Michael Matthews?
Someone was saying (Keenan, McEwen?) that Orica chose Gerrans because Gerrans had essentially carried Orica singlehandedly for so long. Clearly Gerro is on the decline and Orica knew that, but wanted to show him loyalty. I think Orica were in a no-win situation there. If they’d discarded Gerro – the only other option – they would have rightly earned a lot of criticism for being ruthless.
Should Orica-Scott have done more to keep Michael Matthews?
Matthews is good enough to challenge Sagan on his day.
Should Orica-Scott have done more to keep Michael Matthews?
I like watching tennis and used to play a bit (not well), but unfortunately my enjoyment of spectating is compromised a bit by knowing that I’m watching some incredibly naturally gifted people do things with a racquet I never could. That’s cool but how many times do you want to see Roger Federer be incredibly talented? I’m probably missing the point here!
Tomic amazed he's done so well at tennis
I think it will be a slow burn. It seems to take a while for popularity to grow enough that the sport attracts talent that can make it to the elite level. Money is good, but not enough on its own.
The rise and rise of Asia in the world of cycling
I suspect part of the problem here is that this sort of case is relatively new to the AFL. As a cycling fan, I’ve witnessed it play out in that sport numerous times. My impression is that the AFL – players, team administrators, fans – did not properly appreciate the gravity of the case against EFC until a long time after it broke. I had numerous discussions and debates with friends and family, saying to them “this is the WADA code, this is serious, EFC are in real trouble here I reckon” at an early point in the process. Overwhelmingly, the response was “nah, it will blow over” or “EFC is too big to fail”. WADA doesn’t work that way – they don’t care if footy is an institution here.
I wonder if that growing realisation that this wasn’t going away and the slow change in public attitude away from supporting EFC and Hird made the impact even worse. I always admired the way Hird played the game, he remains an AFL legend. But it was a long fall from that high perch.
It's not personal James, it's just business
Dodging drug tests is reminiscent of the worst of what happens in pro cycling. It’s a terrible look for the AFL.
In their defence, it seems as though he may have been dodging a test for illicit rather than performance-enhancing drug abuse, but if you can and have shown a willingness to dodge one, you can dodge the other.
GWS slapped with punishment after Whitfield saga
An an amateur cyclist who tries to train around a 9-5 job, the thought of being a pro and having all that extra time to train properly scares the hell out of me. I’m an unabashed cycling fan. I recall a Scott McGrory article where he compares pro cyclists with footy players who he coached. One group didn’t match up very well against the other in the commitment and discipline stakes.
What it takes to be a pro cyclist, and Aussies you should watch out for
Good question D Fitz. Why does it take 20 minutes for a pharmacist to go and pick a bottle of medicine from behind the counter? They seem to operate on their own clock. The time taken doesn’t seem to have reflected the complexity of the decision.
Banned Bombers lose appeal, Jobe's Brownlow in doubt
Jeffrey – interesting, thanks.
JohnB – spot on. There are real risks for governing officials of discarding coronial recommendations.
Bollinger can't recall 'kill' sledge to Phil Hughes
The appeal was about whether the CAS’s appeal was conducted properly. One of the key points of contention raised by Essendon was the CAS’s approach of hearing its appeal de novo – in other words, from scratch. The Swiss Court threw this out in 5 minutes because of the fact Essendon did not object to the CAS appeal being held that way, but instead waited for the outcome before deciding whether to support it or not. It was opportunistic of Essendon and the Swiss Court, as has been reported today, was especially brutal in the way they worded their decision to throw the appeal out. Essendon were miles off in this latest appeal.
Banned Bombers lose appeal, Jobe's Brownlow in doubt
The sport was held to ransom by Essendon’s doping program and people like Dank. Nice job of shooting the messenger that are the anti-doping bodies and tribunals. They got it right. And it’s good for Australian sport that they got it right. My favorite sport of cycling is a prime example of what happens if you persist with the “you can’t touch us” mentality. Trust me, this was good for footy.
Banned Bombers lose appeal, Jobe's Brownlow in doubt
Paul and The Bush:
I understand your concerns here. I’m not arguing in favour of specific rulings that would dictate how cricket is played. But the coroner has a job to do and will hand down findings. It’s pretty likely some of those will cross over into how cricket is or may be played. As you noted, coronial findings are not themselves binding.
Bollinger can't recall 'kill' sledge to Phil Hughes
This is highly subjective, but when I look back at some of McEnroe’s tantrums, and I think a lot of people believe, they were almost more about him firing himself up. While he said some pretty bad things to chair umpires and was penalised, I often got the impression he was just lashing out.
Serena’s tirade at Ramos did not strike me as the same thing. It wasn’t her frustration boiling over momentarily and seeking a target. It was venomous and personal.
Obviously my assessment here is pretty arbitrary, but I think the way she directed her words to Ramos set her aside from some of the other bad behaviour we’ve seen from players. Most of whom got penalised anyway.
Women’s US Open final drama – was it sexism at play?