- Y'know how I said yesterday that Boonen's supporters would be out today coming up with plausible stories, denying away his coke snorting? I was only being half facetious. It didn't take long:
Lefevere made an effort to distinguish his star rider’s behavior from the "real doping problems," which have occurred in the Tour in recent years, noting that Boonen’s difficulties were of a "private" nature.It's always rough when life imitates some fool blogger's crude jokes.
And Prudhomme agreed that the positive was "not a case of performances being improved; this is something that has happened in a social sphere well outside of sport."
Now here's the sad part about it: Boonen committed a couple serious crimes and I'm getting so jaded about all this that I'm one of the people who almost doesn't care. This is screwed up because it shows that my own values system is getting eroded here by watching these guys in action and thinking about them.
People say culture doesn't matter. But it does matter. If I think it's no big deal for Boonen to be a coke-snorting, underage skirt-chasing, drunk driving fool, then it's hard for me to maintain the distinction in my own life, to raise my own kid properly, to impart to him that it's a big deal to break those rules.
Why does it matter to keep up these standards? Because there's a serious cost for not doing so. I lost three friends in the space of about 18 months to coke addiction; it's not harmless, not if you look at their truncated lives, and the disaster situations they bequeathed to their families. One of my best friends and the best man at my wedding was killed by a drunk driver, two days before my friend was to take the bar. He was an exemplary Army officer, law student and human being, and had his life stolen (from himself, his family and friends) by a guy who had enough money to be drunk to three times the legal limit, but not enough money to call a $10 cab to get home. We're not talking about having two drinks then driving, we're talking 15. Totally trampling on the law & social stigma.
Those social stigmas and laws are in place for a reason; it's because violating them causes harm, sometimes immediate, sometimes with wide ranging consequences. We should uphold them.
If Boonen gets sanctioned, it's a reminder that this is not VietNam*; there are rules here. It's easier for me to tell my kid to stay away from destructive drugs, to not dope for sports, to call me rather than drive home drunk. If Boonen isn't punished, then it's one more guy getting away with it, one more argument in favor of the rule of "Who gives a damn anyhow."
Don't get me wrong - I've nothing against *you* destroying your life with dangerous and illegal drugs. That's your problem if you do, but I would ask that you don't damage the social fabric and the people in your life and neighborhood and town while you do it. I expect the same thing of sports stars. If they are going to destroy themselves, they should do it quietly, and not set a bad example for the kids and the rest of us. Even asking us to be non-judgmental and tolerate their bullshit is wrong, because it sends the message that even though it's very wrong, it oughtta be tolerated. Thing is, if we tolerate it, how wrong can it be?
I sure hope Tom Boonen wises up; he's an immense talent and beloved rider, and it would be a shame to see him go the way of Pantani and van den Broucke. I am going to hate seeing him lose any of his career, but he has done some bad things, and he needs to pay for them, for his own good and for ours.
*There were rules in VietNam too. Walter Sobchack was a caricature of a deranged, Deer-Hunter-esque cartoon of a VietNam veteran, a very funny character at that. The vast majority of troops in that era displayed the sense of duty and adherence to the rules, at least the important ones, that we traditionally expect of our military, media portrayals notwithstanding.
13 comments:
Actually, one might argue to some extent the rules were far too stringent.
Nice post, good call.
Yeah, I should clarify that. The soldiers generally followed the UCMJ and orders, and the Rules of Engagement. At the strategic level, the Rules of Engagement were a botched up mish-mash thanks to White House micromanagement of the target list and tactical activity. This appears to have occurred for two primary reasons: 1) As a risk management measure by LBJ, to avoid domestic political backlash; and, 2) because the WH followed a strategy of incrementalism - if you do a bad thing, we'll hit you slightly harder.
More recent experiences have borne out the truism that responsibility ought to be delegated to the lowest possible level - it's okay for generals to look on but Sergeants and Captains need to make the calls on the ground. Moreover, incrementalism was pretty much disproved as a strategy in 1972 during Linebacker 2, the bombing of North Vietnam that the NV leadership later indicated drove them to take the peace talks seriously. For some reason, the intuitive point is hard to grasp, that you'll get more respect if you swing a really big stick, than if you huck twigs. Yes, I know there were worries about Chinese intervention, so the incrementalism wasn't *totally* off base - it's just that if you think we're slow to change strategy today, what do you make of Kennedy/LBJ/Nixon sticking to basically the same strategy for 12 years? Abrams made a pretty good go of things with tactical changes post-'68, but the incrementalist strategy guaranteed something like stalemate. Just my not very humble opinion.
tom boonen should not only be permanently barred from competition ( both international and otherwise ), he should be in jail, period. there is nothing more sickening than the fact that his girlfriend of two years just turned 16. how in the hell is he not being investigated for that? are they serious?? but then again, having lived in neighboring holland for the lat 8 years, i see that not only does belgium produce some wonderful cycling talent, they seem to also have enormous emotional and mental problems.
if cycling is going to taken seriously, they not only have some serious "cleaning up" to do, they also need to weed out the tom boonens' who appear to have very serious character flaws. being talented does not excuse being a criminal idiot.
Ah yes, the old one-law-for-haves-and-another-for-havenots. I was the voice (and angry face) of a 4 day 5 stage tour that concluded Monday. On the final stage riders were briefed not only by the chief commissaire but also by me, thanking them for jeopardising permits and insurance for next years events by their blatant disregard for the centre line of the road. They were also briefed by the police that day.
The first rider across the start line (start not finish) did so on the wrong side of the road, he was fined $50, apparently crossed the centre line again about 5km later and was DQ'd but refused to leave the bunch and subsequently crashed (slipping on the paint of the centre line no less) taking down 5 others including 2 broken bones.
He was arrested at the crash sight for negligence causing bodily harm.
Fortunately the police put that in the race report as an issue concerning an individual which was beyond the control of organisers rather than a race incident.
Kinda like the previous day when a driver overtook the spares van, hit the commissaires vehicle and rolled... towards the main bunch of the Masters Womens road race missing them by less than 5 metres. That driver blew 0.12%.
No-one left the weekend saying we run a boring race.
To quote that eminent British civil servant, the Hon. Mr. Austin Powers:
"Aaaaah... the Dutch. They're nearly as bad as the Belgians."
And it's possible that Tom Boonen is Dr. Evil's fazzza. Fazzza? Yesh. Fazzzzza.
"The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it."
Yes, it's all in there - the relentless self-improvement, the narcolepsy, the 15 year old girl. Clearly, Tom Boonen is actually Dr. Evil's adoptive fazzza.
In all seriousness, Anon, I'm not sure if you're aware of the scandal associated with the Dutroux murder trial in Belgium, but the last thing that the Belgians probably want to do is open another can of worms like that one. Regardless of the truth of the allegations coming out of the Dutroux trial, it's the kind of issue that no public figure would actually want to touch.
You're out of your element, Donny.
Good post.
For what it's worth, the 16 year old girlfriend is likely a joke that went too far. His camp (and the girl) say that it was a joke they played on the invasive press.
Still, the guy's got issues.
So would Walter still claim that nothing is f---ed here, Dude?
WTF does Doutroux have to do with Boonen? I don't get it. I think Cuck is right about the underage girl, because it seems that Boonen is still with his long time girlfriend Lore. Tom needs to find a nice clinic somewhere, where he can train all day and have a chaperone\therapist all night. Then he can do the talk shows, tell the kids about the horror of drugs, and get on with winning. I am releived it was only coke, and not something a little more performance enhancing though. That said, I'm pretty sure I thought I could win the green jersey the last time I, uh, nevermind....
I hope the Tornado hasn't developed that entitlement mentality so many super stars do. He has such an easy going, personable style that maybe covers the dark side of his true self. The pressure of being one of Belgium's big stars must be enormous, but he must realize that the media eyes are always on him, even when just doing a little partying with the junior high crowd. I don't know how the cultural sensibilaties run in Belgium, so maybe it's really no big deal there.
As always, you leave your best stuff in the comments Jim. We should trade coaching for military history lessons.
SD, the allegations coming out of the Dutroux trial - possibly wild & baseless allegations that a number of Belgian political and financial elite were involved in organized p3d3r@sty (goofy spelling because I don't want this blog to come up on those kinds of searches) tarred a lot of public figures, quite possibly unjustly. The way the political & bureaucratic mind tends to work is to avoid pain stimulus, and one pain stimulus for public figures is allegations of involvement in sex scandals. Dutroux and his witnesses burned cops, celebrities, members of parliament and the royal family. In the political realm it may nearly not matter if the alllegations were true or not - once the allegation is made people's names are muddied and you can't undo the harm. As a result of that - and the enormous public protests stemming in part from those allegations - I suspect public officials are very reluctant to launch high profile investigations that could sully an admired celebrity's name, or reinforce the wild allegations made in 2004 about the elites being fans of the rankest form of child abuse, especially if Boonen says he was just joking around. Have you noticed how the American political class has sort of lost its appetite for purging leaders for involvement in sex scandals in the wake of the Clinton/Jones/Lewinski affair, which permanently burned both Bill Clinton and the Republicans chasing him? I think it's the same thing. Dutroux was a whole different caliber of evil barely-human being, but I believe he put some memes into circulation that will echo for a while. Deep thoughts for a bike blog I guess but racing at all levels - like all other organized activities - is a reflection of society.
Chuck - I think that Walter (and I) would say, "Has the whole world gone crazy? Am I the only one around here who gives a shit about the rules?"
Sick MF. I hope he does some time. He needs to learn from this and be penalized for it.
These kinds of things have gone on since the beginning. There's really nothing new here as far as I can see. They may just be more frequent, more noticed through communication, and therefore, more accepted as "normal"
The gauge I generally use to determine right and wrong is the look in my kids eyes, and the way I look in theirs, with or without them around. I still believe, maybe naively, that most of us still have an innate ability to know "right" from "wrong."
We all make mistakes, but should that fact make it impossible to still judge or determine standards of behavior for what others do? I don't think so.
If nothing is wrong? What's right?
"This is screwed up because it shows that my own values system is getting eroded here by watching these guys in action and thinking about them."
If you are so impressionable then maybe you should discontinue your internet and television usage and buy a book on how to stop being such a faget before the world and modern life makes you comit suicide.
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