We're gonna party likes it 1999...

Mrs. PruDog is out of town, PPuppy V.1 is off on an adventure. That leaves just me and PDaughter. Better hide the valuables cause we're gonna burn this damn town to the ground! Between 6-7p. We'll be watching Dragon Tales or napping the rest of the time.

Proud PruDad

PruPuppy 1.0 just completed his first Spinerval video: Recharge!

pain and suffering are for the weak

Because he could, Strangelover ruined me by calling me Fatty McFatterson and then putting a cupcake on the back of him seatpost so I'd chase him uphill Sunday. What a jerk!

On the otherhand, Trish was being a good team-mate which allowed me to attack her mercilessly. Bailey -1!

Positive Outcomes

This week I learned that Sam Johnson writes in a very efficient and logically tight fashion. Unlike myself, who thinks in a very efficient and logically tight fashion but is unable to write because my kids think it's funny to through things at me when I am at the computer.

More Kenny Blogging

I haven't seen this online but Lang sent it to the wsba listserv so I assume it's ok to post. Lang, if not let me know and I'll remove it. I'm posting it because I think it's well written and is a needed counterpoint to the really disappointing responses, especially the one from Phil Miller. How is someone who cheated and honroable person?

I sent my response to Kenny's apology to the WSBA list yesterday. For some reason it hasn't gone through yet. Here is what I wrote.
--------------------------------------------

To all,
I'm surprised and disappointed by this news. I'm disappointed in Kenny and maybe even more disappointed in the responses to his apology. Phil in particular, as a "UCI commissaire," I am deeply disturbed by your response. In his email Kenny admits taking a banned substance (DHEA). He admits purchasing and using this substance of his own volition. He knew exactly what he was doing and he knew it was against the rules (in a well-publicized incident in April, Tyler Hamilton tested positive for DHEA).

So let's be honest - he cheated. He got caught, and apologized only after getting caught. The fact that he admitted several months after the fact and when faced with the positive test is disingenuous at best. I suppose in some pseudo-morality twisted by the previous transgressions of other cheating athletes it is better than denying you have cheated, but in reality cheating is never acceptable.

For those who choose to take banned substances there must be appropriate consequences. Immediate acceptance back into the fold simply for apologizing (after getting caught) is not appropriate. In addition to the two national championships he won in August, Kenny has taken something away from the countless clean athletes who work as hard as possible every day and destroy themselves in races to achieve the best of their ability, something essential to this sport that cannot be given back. Doping in cycling cannot continue and must not be tolerated to any extent.

Scott, you speak of "fairness" and Phil of "honor." It's incredibly offensive that you would use these terms in response to a doping violation; neither fairness nor honor are served by anything about this hollow post facto apology.

Kenny, as a person I wish you all the best. As an athlete, I cannot accept your violation of the privilege of competition.

Lang Reynolds

Speaking of dicks

I hate Coach Troy.

Let's be honest..

Ok, so now that the news is out I'll wade into the subject of Kenny Williams, doping, apologies, etc a little less obtusely.

First off, I am somewhat surprised by the general "Kenny we love you it's no big deal" position a lot of people have taken.

I think a couple points are worth tackling here.

1. "Kenny's a great guy and as a result we should forgve him" Ummm... does that mean that if we take a poll and it turns out most people hate Kenny then we should hold him out as worse than Hitler? I don't see how whether or not I like Kenny or think he's a good guy relates to whether or not he should be forgiven by the cycling community. His crime wasn't against me personally. And let's be honest, a lot of people don't like Kenny.

2. The test was voluntary so that implies... well I am not sure what that is meant to imply since he has admitted he doped intentionally. And the test wasn't voluntary... it was mandatory if you wanted credt for your record. So yes, I suppose it was technically voluntary but in the same sense a breathilizer test is voluntary... you can refuse but they'll suspend your licence if you do.

3. "I trust him". Well good for you. A hell of a lot of us don't and have been suspicious for years. I could use vague language and pretend like it's other people. But I am not going to hide. I don't believe him when he says it's the first time. I thought he was juiced back in the early 90's when I first met him on a training ride with Eric Paige. That said, no one but Kenny knows for sure so trust is not really relevent.

All that said, I do appreciate his apology and think he should get credit for not getting someone to write something a lot more polished and professional. I also think that his ban should be shorter because he fessed up. Otherwise there is no incentive to do so.

And I am also not going to work up any faux outrage about his stealing wins from me. I've joked about wanting my Seward Park water bottles but at the end of the day I don't really care whether Kenny cost me a win because he cheated (probably because I always suspected he did). Maybe it's because I know plenty of local riders who were also juiced (by their own admission) so I never had any real illusion of purity. But that's not relevent either. The bottom line is I am not going to personally think less of Kenny. But on the otherhand I am not going to be sympathetic to him or act like it's ok either.

Actually I changed my mind I want my PowerBar water bottle prime from SIR circa 1997. You know the one Kenny.

Update: I am not the only one surprised by the Kenny love.

Local Pro

Forget the doping, when did Kenny become a professional cyclist and why didn't anyone tell me?

The real injustice

What the hell am I supposed to do now with all those "I Believe Kenny" T-shirts I bought?

Old Sawhorses

I just heard the analyst on NPR saying that older voters vote early and younger voters vote later meaning that early returns tend to skew Republican. I don't have a useful link offhand but that old canard has been pretty thoroughly debunked the last 3 election cycles were early votes have heavily skewed liberal, i.e. Democrat.

And I care a lot about local initiatives and elections cause, well, I live here. But I would like to echo Yglesias' point that local elections tend to tell us alot about local conditions and are inferior indicators of "national mood".

I mean, Corzine was a crappy Governor and deserved to be defeated. Democrat or not. And Virginia is a conservative state and NY23 is a republican district. So the results so far are exactly what you'd expect except how poorly Hoffman (Conservative) is doing given the Republican ID of the district.

So many rumors, so little time...

Apparently there are enough shenanigans going on in the local racing scene that if I vaguely accuse you (yes, I mean you!) of doing something less than upstanding (and you know what I am talking about) that most of the people reading this will think I am talking about them (no not you, I meant you!) and the other half will think they know who I am talking about (well your wrong, I am talking about that other dude. Or Dudette).

Frankly, at this point I am not sure who I am talking about so I am going to just call all of you out. It's all politics anyway....

Deep Thought

I wonder if Old As Dirt will be able to save Susie's candidacy?

We suck, so can you

The only thing about Lotto that surprises me is that they actually manage to win a big race every year. I chalk that up to the rider (Van Petegem, Gilbert, McEwen, Tchmil) more than the management.

The most impressive thing to me about cycling in the last 10 years isn't Johann Bruyneel's ability to apply the principles of arbitage to to cycling tactics and win big. It's the lack of the rest of the cycling world to adapt. With the exception of the use of race radios by all teams and CSC/Saxo Banks own tactics, the rest of the cycling world seems to view 15+ grand tour wins as some kind of fluke.

So when I hear Lotto say they were shocked and it's ok cause he sucked anyway I can on;y count the days until Evans finished top 5 again and Lotto is once again the winner of 1 big race all year. I mean, here's a team that had a potential tour winner on roster and for 4 years consistently sent 1 or 2 guys to the tour who were legitimate helpers. And this was proceeded by having one of the great sprinters (McEwen) and classics specialists (PVP) who similarly lacked any real team support and worse often had to fend off rivals within the team.

It's popular to blame Cadel for his lack of charisma and popularity. It's true that the guy is weird. And to blame Cadel for clashing with everyone on the team is also a lame excuse. That's Lotto's line for everything.

I think the reality is Lotto lacks any leadership. It's not Cadel's team. To criticize him for not getting on with people is crap. People famaously think Lance Armstrong is a grade 1 d-bag. But they like riding for him because the organization tells them their jobs, builds winning *teams* and marches forward with clear goals. Sure, a lot is Armstrong. But it's also Bruyneel and his organization. Or look at Saxo Bank. That's another team that has a strong leadership.

Lost in translation

Shorter Lotto:

The one guy we got to support Evans is 100% committed to helping Cadel only loose 2 minutes in the first week next year. Why would he leave?