In secret meetings held during the last week in Lausanne, Switzerland WADA, USADA, ASO and the UCI have decided to drop all charges against Floyd Landis clearing the way for him to join French team Francaise De Jeux. Dick Pound the head of WADA was quoted as saying
“Well, I was in my kitchen working to unplug a stubborn clog in my sink. When I got underneath the sink I hit my head and passed out. When I came to it was like everything was so clear. It was as if my head was stuck between my buttocks for several years and now it is free and things just seem different. I remember all of these crazy things I said about cycling and doping and I am so embarrassed. I mean, I am a leader of a neutral organization and I said all of those crazy things, geez, sorry for being such a dick. I mean couldn’t someone just tell me that I had my head up my ass? Oh, I guess a bunch of people did…sorry.
Anyway, so I called up all the head guys at all of these letter organizations and said WTF are we doing bickering about all this shit. Lets get together and just drop this case so we can move on. Plus it helped that I flew them all in on the WADA plane which luckily for us, we don’t get tested for anything since a few of the guys, and I am not saying who like to drink the sauce a bit too much… hey, ha ha”
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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
Dick Pound is on a rampage again, but not about cycling. He is hitting out at the NHL where he caims that 1/3 of the entire NHL is doping. This remark was made after Pund met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman who made is clear to Pound that player taking performance enhancing drugs was not an issue in the NHL.
Calgary Flames Defenseman Andrew Ference says what basically the entire cycling world has said about Pounds blanket observations:
“You’d think somebody in that position, if they’re going to make such a strong statement, that they’d have examples or inside information or tests or whatnot,”
The NHL doesn’t have a doping problem because there is no testing. The provisions of a doping policy state:
NHL players are subject to a minimum of two drug tests a year without warning. A first-time offender would receive a 20-game suspension, a repeat offender would be suspended for 60 games and a permanent ban would follow a third offence.
This type of punishment is a joke when compared to the instant 2 year ban from all cycling competition and the additional 2 year ban from racing in the ProTour. If Roberto Heras dealt with NHL type rules, he would be back without missing the spring classics. But that is why Cycling gets a bad rap on doping while leagues such as Major League Baseball and the NHL get by as “clean”.
NHL players reject Pound’s suggestion one-third use performance enhancers – Yahoo! News
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