Basso: Sliding Down a Slippery Slope

By Jessica | Permalink | No Comments | May 8th, 2007 | Trackback

The husband and I had a long discussion about the whole Puerto/Basso thing the other night, and it turns out I’m kind of being the more harsh one of the two of us. This was before the Basso press conference, but at the time the husband said, “It’d be a stellar move if Basso were to give up his Giro victory - it would make him look so good.” I agreed, but didn’t think he’d do it. Turns out not only didn’t he willingly give up the victory, he’s trying to hang onto it by saying the doping he intended to do was only for the Tour de France, and that he never doped during any of the races he won. I mean, I love Basso, but that’s just crap.

Also, the husband said he didn’t think Basso should go naming names of any other implicated riders - that he made the choice to come forward, and he shouldn’t make that choice for others. My opinion? Like hell he shouldn’t be a snitch! He should absolutely name every single name he knows (he’s claiming he knows none, which is very convenient for him). As for it being a choice to admit to doping, choice has nothing to do with it in my opinion. If you break the rules, you should be punished - whether or not you have the balls to admit it when confronted. If someone else has to do the admitting for you, so be it.

Anyway, this article is a good one, and not only because it likens Basso’s “attempted doping” bullshit comment to Clinton’s famous “I didn’t inhale” line (something I thought of immediately when I heard Basso’s line). The comments on this post are also worth reading, although I’m going to highlight the very best one of the bunch because it made me laugh out loud (at work!) when I read it:

Attempted Training: ‘I filed those 2,000 km in the Dolomites in my mileage bank just in case I needed them for the Tour. I did not use them for my Giro victory.’

Effing brilliant.

It’s early days yet, but so far Basso’s gone from being held up as an example of supreme courage to making laughably lame excuses and grasping at straws in order to not have to give up his victories. That’s a pretty quick slide in a 48-hour period. I wonder what’s next?

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