Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

The NY Times has yet another story on Dick Pound. The French-Canadian Lawyer who is the head of WADA has been in the news regularly as he and Floyd Landis battle about the positive drug test in the Tour de France. Dick Pound has provided the media with several choice “off the cuff” quotes. Most people would think that a lawyer who is the head of a World-wide organization that acts as judge and jury on drug test results should be more diplomatic. In fact it is surreal to read or listen to Dick Pound’s “off the cuff” comments which seem more appropriate in a bar on Friday night than in the New York Times.

… Pound has seized the prerogative of the underdog: fight with whatever you’ve got. Fight fair. Or unfair. His best weapon is his brilliance as a formulator of quotes, his ability to make headlines and call attention to his cause. (He takes great pride in this; one of his books is titled “High Impact Quotations.”) Pound is not a stereotypical Canadian, if you think of Canadians as reticent, nor is he very lawyerly: he assembles whatever facts he can gather, but when they’re not attainable, sometimes just makes them up.

NY TImes