Filed under feeds by Rob.
This free commentary is about professional cycling and related sponsorship, but generalises easily to any sport. It also is offered as opinion only. Whilst it represents honest analysis no non-public information is used and no guarantees are made.
Bearing in mind the state of the European economy in particular (given that pro cycling is heavily Euro-centric) and the pressing need to retain existing sporting sponsorships, you’d expect to see winning ProTour cycle-racing teams spruik both their successes and the pay-off for the sponsors. And thus in that context we see the Columbia-High Road team quoted in Cyclingnews:
Team Columbia-Highroad’s domination of the first week of this year’s Giro d’Italia has provided the team’s sponsors with valuable brand visibility. In the first 10 days of racing the team garnered four stage wins and three days in the race leader’s maglia rosa. Coupled with the added attention to the race due to centenary edition and the presence of Lance Armstrong, the value on the team’s press is staggering. “This race has much bigger coverage than it did last year, I would say in the [leader's] jersey is worth around a million euro in advertising a day,” the team’s general manager, Bob Stapleton, told Cyclingnews. The leader’s jersey went to Columbia-Highroad after the opening day’s stage on Venice’s Lido. Columbia’s Mark Cavendish led over the line in the team time trial and wore the maglia rosa for the following two days.
It helps to be successful, of course, but even the smaller teams can have their day. Whilst the leader on the road is clearly the most-watched rider, anyone from any team can have a crack at a breakaway. For these teams a long, heroic and probably fruitless breakaway or – probably even better – a stage win in a Grand Tour (like the Giro or the Tour de France) can make or break a sponsorship deal. With intense European (and growing US) TV and general media coverage a team can leverage that exposure to delight existing sponsors and hopefully attract new ones. But competition for sponsorship cash is intense, both within and between sports, especially so when all indicators point downwards.
Without media focus a team may struggle for sponsorship. A dwindling team budget usually meaning fewer star riders and fewer successes – a downward spiral indeed. If the stakes are high for the sport, the payoff for the sponsor is just as critical. Marketing and advertising budgets are under stress as companies look for high returns at low risk. So in these straightened economic times, is such sporting sponsorship truly worth the investment?
On one level it’s quite simple to verify a figure like the 1,000,000 Euro quoted above; just by adding up the minutes of clear TV exposure (when the sponsor’s name is prominently shown) and the number of sponsor-name references made in the press or on radio, on enthusiast websites and blogs and so forth and multiplying by the typical advertising rates that would apply is a quick and dirty approximation. What’s missed in that calculation is the number of spectators who may have caught the event live – a large number indeed in a travelling circus like a 3-week Grand Tour. You could do an approximation. But what does that 1,000,000 Euro number actually mean?
Not a lot, really. You can garner as much exposure as you like – be it by paid advertising or not – but if it’s not targeted, what’s the point? And if the exposure doesn’t convert to a sale, well you’ve not won many friends among your shareholders. Of course you could try to write it off as a branding exercise (like stadium naming rights, for example), something that may in theory leave a brand memory that will trigger a later sale if and when the stars align. In pro cycling Mapei is a classic case. An Italian ceramics and adhesives company with a long and distinguished sponsorship of cycling, despite largely pulling out of the sport some years ago, Mapei remains a high-recognition name amongst cycle-sport enthusiasts world wide. But cycling fans don’t need to buy floor tiles every day, do they? Hopefully enough such fans do remember and act on their fond memory of Mapei riders when they update their bathrooms (or their Opera House roofs, for that matter). Hopefully.
But in the case of the Columbia-Highroad team it does make sense on several levels. Firstly, the lead sponsor (Columbia apparel) appears in the team name as well as on the pro cyclist’s jerseys, guaranteeing at least the level of potential exposure I mentioned above. (A nice spin off of team success will also be that non-professional race and recreational riders will seek out, buy and wear your branded jersey, too. In this way Mapei continues to trade on their sponsorship, years later.)
Secondly, it’s targeted better than most sports advertising, in that Columbia is a specialist outerwear company with a good likelihood of translating the cycling enthusiast’s general outdoor interest into sales of “adventure clothing”, ski jackets and the like. Coupling cyclesport sponsorship with the company’s corporate strategy of diversification and global expansion also makes sense. If Columbia, a US-based company, wants European exposure in the right demographics, it can hardly do better than pro cycling. Interestingly, whilst pro cycling is a long-established sport world-wide, it was momentarily (from about 1940 onwards) knocked on the head by the motor car in markets like the US and Australia. As the car industry and motorsport has subsequently become painted with a (much deserved) anti-environmental brush in more recent times, so we can expect to see a global resurgence in interest in bicycling, both recreationally and in professional racing terms. The ‘Lance Armstrong effect’ is a handy assistance, too.
But is it working? We don’t have sales figures to look at (but we could find them if we wanted to trawl the web) nor can we easily do any statistical work to find the underlying correlations, but we can at least check out the Web stats.
Let’s start with the team itself. If we do a search on Alexa we find that highroadsports.com (the ProTour team) is not amongst the top 100,000 sites, at least by Alexa’s ranking (it’s currently just under the #800,000 mark). Indeed the stats suggest that the team site has dropped in “reach” by 10% over the last 3 months. (Traffic may be seasonal, strongly coupled with specific races and indeed results.) The stats also tell us that the site is garnering 46% of its traffic from an aggregate of “other” countries, 30% from the US, 15% from Belgium and almost 8% from France. Indeed the team site ranks inside the top 30 in cycling-mad Belgium. Presumably the team’s success at the Giro in May will drive more traffic from Italy, but it’s not apparent as yet. (At least from these stats.) Alexa also offers some interesting demographic data if you want to delve further.
And how are the sponsors going? Alexa tells us that Columbia’s web site ranks in the top 72,000 of all sites. Almost 60% of the recent traffic originates from the US, with “other” next, then China, Austria, Greece, Canada and Germany all between 2.6% and 4.8%. I’d guess that traffic may be seasonal with a bias towards winter clothing and colder countries (although Indonesia is a standout at 1.5%). The 3-month trend shows traffic down 36%, which again may correlate more closely with weather and the economic climate than anything else. Whilst at first glance this dip in traffic is disappointing, if we seriously wanted to explore the success of this sponsorship (and draw any serious conclusions) we’d need to remove the seasonality from the stats and focus on some clear targets for decomposition, regression and correlation. We’d also want to look at the sales figures by country, too and define our target period closely.
For comparison, checkout Google’s search trend site for columbia.com. It looks like a steady decline in search requests over 3 years or so after a big launch. Of course you’d expect that people would search for a company that’s promoting a launch, but you’d also hope to see some sort of spike when doing promotions.
So how about the team’s minor sponsors, their “partners” ? I won’t do any sort of specific analysis, but it’s clear that – as you’d expect – these include mostly cycling-specific companies (like Shimano, if you exclude the fishing gear!), with the exception of the humanitarian Right To Play organisation. Now you may expect that the sponsors will show up in the upstream and downstream clickstream, but according to Alexa the biggest generator of clicks for Highroad as well as the biggest downstream receiver is one specific online bike shop. The connection? A “store” link on the Highroad site. I’m assuming that’s a powerful and profitable relationship for that bike shop!
Alexa also offers “related links” for Highroad. I’m not yet sure how this is generated, but the main sponsor shows up top of that list. 2nd highest beneficiary is where we started this journey – Cyclingnews.com, followed by a group of bike messengers and some other pro cycling teams. If I was a minor sponsor with an interest in generating more web traffic I’d be looking at Highroad’s server stats, doing some analysis and making some cogent suggestions.
There are better, more precise ways to go about analysing marketing data than looking at web traffic alone, and there are better sources of web stats than what Alexa’s free service alone provides. But after all, what can you expect for free?
This free commentary is about professional cycling and related sponsorship, but generalises easily to any sport. It also is offered as opinion only. Whilst it represents honest analysis no non-public information is used and no guarantees are made.
Bearing in mind the state of the European economy in particular (given that pro cycling is heavily Euro-centric) and the pressing need to retain existing sporting sponsorships, you’d expect to see winning ProTour cycle-racing teams spruik both their successes and the pay-off for the sponsors. And thus in that context we see the Columbia-High Road team quoted in Cyclingnews:
Team Columbia-Highroad’s domination of the first week of this year’s Giro d’Italia has provided the team’s sponsors with valuable brand visibility. In the first 10 days of racing the team garnered four stage wins and three days in the race leader’s maglia rosa. Coupled with the added attention to the race due to centenary edition and the presence of Lance Armstrong, the value on the team’s press is staggering. “This race has much bigger coverage than it did last year, I would say in the [leader's] jersey is worth around a million euro in advertising a day,” the team’s general manager, Bob Stapleton, told Cyclingnews. The leader’s jersey went to Columbia-Highroad after the opening day’s stage on Venice’s Lido. Columbia’s Mark Cavendish led over the line in the team time trial and wore the maglia rosa for the following two days.
It helps to be successful, of course, but even the smaller teams can have their day. Whilst the leader on the road is clearly the most-watched rider, anyone from any team can have a crack at a breakaway. For these teams a long, heroic and probably fruitless breakaway or – probably even better – a stage win in a Grand Tour (like the Giro or the Tour de France) can make or break a sponsorship deal. With intense European (and growing US) TV and general media coverage a team can leverage that exposure to delight existing sponsors and hopefully attract new ones. But competition for sponsorship cash is intense, both within and between sports, especially so when all indicators point downwards.
Without media focus a team may struggle for sponsorship. A dwindling team budget usually meaning fewer star riders and fewer successes – a downward spiral indeed. If the stakes are high for the sport, the payoff for the sponsor is just as critical. Marketing and advertising budgets are under stress as companies look for high returns at low risk. So in these straightened economic times, is such sporting sponsorship truly worth the investment?
On one level it’s quite simple to verify a figure like the 1,000,000 Euro quoted above; just by adding up the minutes of clear TV exposure (when the sponsor’s name is prominently shown) and the number of sponsor-name references made in the press or on radio, on enthusiast websites and blogs and so forth and multiplying by the typical advertising rates that would apply is a quick and dirty approximation. What’s missed in that calculation is the number of spectators who may have caught the event live – a large number indeed in a travelling circus like a 3-week Grand Tour. You could do an approximation. But what does that 1,000,000 Euro number actually mean?
Not a lot, really. You can garner as much exposure as you like – be it by paid advertising or not – but if it’s not targeted, what’s the point? And if the exposure doesn’t convert to a sale, well you’ve not won many friends among your shareholders. Of course you could try to write it off as a branding exercise (like stadium naming rights, for example), something that may in theory leave a brand memory that will trigger a later sale if and when the stars align. In pro cycling Mapei is a classic case. An Italian ceramics and adhesives company with a long and distinguished sponsorship of cycling, despite largely pulling out of the sport some years ago, Mapei remains a high-recognition name amongst cycle-sport enthusiasts world wide. But cycling fans don’t need to buy floor tiles every day, do they? Hopefully enough such fans do remember and act on their fond memory of Mapei riders when they update their bathrooms (or their Opera House roofs, for that matter). Hopefully.
But in the case of the Columbia-Highroad team it does make sense on several levels. Firstly, the lead sponsor (Columbia apparel) appears in the team name as well as on the pro cyclist’s jerseys, guaranteeing at least the level of potential exposure I mentioned above. (A nice spin off of team success will also be that non-professional race and recreational riders will seek out, buy and wear your branded jersey, too. In this way Mapei continues to trade on their sponsorship, years later.)
Secondly, it’s targeted better than most sports advertising, in that Columbia is a specialist outerwear company with a good likelihood of translating the cycling enthusiast’s general outdoor interest into sales of “adventure clothing”, ski jackets and the like. Coupling cyclesport sponsorship with the company’s corporate strategy of diversification and global expansion also makes sense. If Columbia, a US-based company, wants European exposure in the right demographics, it can hardly do better than pro cycling. Interestingly, whilst pro cycling is a long-established sport world-wide, it was momentarily (from about 1940 onwards) knocked on the head by the motor car in markets like the US and Australia. As the car industry and motorsport has subsequently become painted with a (much deserved) anti-environmental brush in more recent times, so we can expect to see a global resurgence in interest in bicycling, both recreationally and in professional racing terms. The ‘Lance Armstrong effect’ is a handy assistance, too.
But is it working? We don’t have sales figures to look at (but we could find them if we wanted to trawl the web) nor can we easily do any statistical work to find the underlying correlations, but we can at least check out the Web stats.
Let’s start with the team itself. If we do a search on Alexa we find that highroadsports.com (the ProTour team) is not amongst the top 100,000 sites, at least by Alexa’s ranking (it’s currently just under the #800,000 mark). Indeed the stats suggest that the team site has dropped in “reach” by 10% over the last 3 months. (Traffic may be seasonal, strongly coupled with specific races and indeed results.) The stats also tell us that the site is garnering 46% of its traffic from an aggregate of “other” countries, 30% from the US, 15% from Belgium and almost 8% from France. Indeed the team site ranks inside the top 30 in cycling-mad Belgium. Presumably the team’s success at the Giro in May will drive more traffic from Italy, but it’s not apparent as yet. (At least from these stats.) Alexa also offers some interesting demographic data if you want to delve further.
And how are the sponsors going? Alexa tells us that Columbia’s web site ranks in the top 72,000 of all sites. Almost 60% of the recent traffic originates from the US, with “other” next, then China, Austria, Greece, Canada and Germany all between 2.6% and 4.8%. I’d guess that traffic may be seasonal with a bias towards winter clothing and colder countries (although Indonesia is a standout at 1.5%). The 3-month trend shows traffic down 36%, which again may correlate more closely with weather and the economic climate than anything else. Whilst at first glance this dip in traffic is disappointing, if we seriously wanted to explore the success of this sponsorship (and draw any serious conclusions) we’d need to remove the seasonality from the stats and focus on some clear targets for decomposition, regression and correlation. We’d also want to look at the sales figures by country, too and define our target period closely.
For comparison, checkout Google’s search trend site for columbia.com. It looks like a steady decline in search requests over 3 years or so after a big launch. Of course you’d expect that people would search for a company that’s promoting a launch, but you’d also hope to see some sort of spike when doing promotions.
So how about the team’s minor sponsors, their “partners” ? I won’t do any sort of specific analysis, but it’s clear that – as you’d expect – these include mostly cycling-specific companies (like Shimano, if you exclude the fishing gear!), with the exception of the humanitarian Right To Play organisation. Now you may expect that the sponsors will show up in the upstream and downstream clickstream, but according to Alexa the biggest generator of clicks for Highroad as well as the biggest downstream receiver is one specific online bike shop. The connection? A “store” link on the Highroad site. I’m assuming that’s a powerful and profitable relationship for that bike shop!
Alexa also offers “related links” for Highroad. I’m not yet sure how this is generated, but the main sponsor shows up top of that list. 2nd highest beneficiary is where we started this journey – Cyclingnews.com, followed by a group of bike messengers and some other pro cycling teams. If I was a minor sponsor with an interest in generating more web traffic I’d be looking at Highroad’s server stats, doing some analysis and making some cogent suggestions.
There are better, more precise ways to go about analysing marketing data than looking at web traffic alone, and there are better sources of web stats than what Alexa’s free service alone provides. But after all, what can you expect for free?
I can’t believe that I read this para of support for legitimate climate science in a football commentator’s diatribe on why Rugby League’s culture of shame is really OK after all:
The current debate about behaviour in rugby league is a lot like the one surrounding climate change. Although global warming is scientifically undisputed, stubborn naysayers are often granted equal airtime, which gives the impression that the issue is somehow in dispute. And perception is reality.
That slash at the climate change sceptics aside, Josh Massoud of the Sydney Daily Telegraph was making the somewhat tenuous point that because he had made an early-morning micturation on the shrubby verge of a near-deserted expressway, miles from any public toilets and away from any camera, it was OK for prominent Rugby League players to do the same in a public street, on a wall, near a pub. And sadly, near a guy with a camera. Yep, I’m convinced.
I can’t believe that I read this para of support for legitimate climate science in a football commentator’s diatribe on why Rugby League’s culture of shame is really OK after all:
The current debate about behaviour in rugby league is a lot like the one surrounding climate change. Although global warming is scientifically undisputed, stubborn naysayers are often granted equal airtime, which gives the impression that the issue is somehow in dispute. And perception is reality.
That slash at the climate change sceptics aside, Josh Massoud of the Sydney Daily Telegraph was making the somewhat tenuous point that because he had made an early-morning micturation on the shrubby verge of a near-deserted expressway, miles from any public toilets and away from any camera, it was OK for prominent Rugby League players to do the same in a public street, on a wall, near a pub. And sadly, near a guy with a camera. Yep, I’m convinced.
My old bike racing club (yes, I have subsequently joined a new one, up on the Central Coast) is based at Heffron Park, Maroubra, and has (with the essential help of the local council) linked together old sections of concrete road with new sections of tar. The completed loop is 2.1km long and quite a testing criterium track. But why were those concrete roads there in the first place? Well Heffron Park (named after a NSW State Premier) was an Army base, like the Addison Road Community Centre in inner-west Marrickville was once an Army base, including a Light Horse stables (amongst many other possible examples, the Addison Road base is famous for some of the “save our sons” demos during the Vietnam War). It’s recycling in action, isn’t it? Anyway, when the bike club put in some toilets in the clubhouse they had to cut the concrete – and the stories about tanks in Heffron Park suddenly made sense. That concrete was thick.
But not as thick as the successive NSW State governments that oversaw the dismantling of the tramway system, though. (OK, another cheap shot – hindsight is a wonderful thing.) As I mentioned yesterday, some parts of the network remain and are worth re-visiting, if only for the memories. So what features of the inner-west and eastern suburban tramway system can still be discerned?
Well Bondi Beach is a prime example. The trams that famously “shot through” to Bondi terminated at North Bondi where Military Road meets Campbell Parade (AKA ‘Scarborough Crescent’). The terminus can still be clearly seen, as can much of the route along Campbell Pde, although cars and buses have tended to take over the trampath for parking. Interestingly, bicycle races were also held on the Campbell Parade “hot-dog”, before they too were driven out by the car traffic, firstly to road races along semi-deserted Bunnerong Road and finally into the fully-enclosed Heffron Park.
The tram route to Bondi is well documented with the most interesting deviation from the obvious being where the track took a graceful curve to the right (from Bondi Rd, heading down the hill) into Denham Street, then along Fletcher and onto reserved track just past Dudley Street. (The reserved track later became Rowland Ave.) The track crossed under Wilga Street in a cutting that continued on to also pass under Bondi Road, rejoining the main drag (southern end of Campbell Parade) on the other side of Bondi Road (at the Francis Street intersection). It’s hard to imagine now, but yes there was a cutting and 2 overbridges involved in keeping the track at the desired gradient, all subsequently filled in. I witnessed the start of the filling-in in the mid 1970s.
My old bike racing club (yes, I have subsequently joined a new one, up on the Central Coast) is based at Heffron Park, Maroubra, and has (with the essential help of the local council) linked together old sections of concrete road with new sections of tar. The completed loop is 2.1km long and quite a testing criterium track. But why were those concrete roads there in the first place? Well Heffron Park (named after a NSW State Premier) was an Army base, like the Addison Road Community Centre in inner-west Marrickville was once an Army base, including a Light Horse stables (amongst many other possible examples, the Addison Road base is famous for some of the “save our sons” demos during the Vietnam War). It’s recycling in action, isn’t it? Anyway, when the bike club put in some toilets in the clubhouse they had to cut the concrete – and the stories about tanks in Heffron Park suddenly made sense. That concrete was thick.
But not as thick as the successive NSW State governments that oversaw the dismantling of the tramway system, though. (OK, another cheap shot – hindsight is a wonderful thing.) As I mentioned yesterday, some parts of the network remain and are worth re-visiting, if only for the memories. So what features of the inner-west and eastern suburban tramway system can still be discerned?
Well Bondi Beach is a prime example. The trams that famously “shot through” to Bondi terminated at North Bondi where Military Road meets Campbell Parade (AKA ‘Scarborough Crescent’). The terminus can still be clearly seen, as can much of the route along Campbell Pde, although cars and buses have tended to take over the trampath for parking. Interestingly, bicycle races were also held on the Campbell Parade “hot-dog”, before they too were driven out by the car traffic, firstly to road races along semi-deserted Bunnerong Road and finally into the fully-enclosed Heffron Park.
The tram route to Bondi is well documented with the most interesting deviation from the obvious being where the track took a graceful curve to the right (from Bondi Rd, heading down the hill) into Denham Street, then along Fletcher and onto reserved track just past Dudley Street. (The reserved track later became Rowland Ave.) The track crossed under Wilga Street in a cutting that continued on to also pass under Bondi Road, rejoining the main drag (southern end of Campbell Parade) on the other side of Bondi Road (at the Francis Street intersection). It’s hard to imagine now, but yes there was a cutting and 2 overbridges involved in keeping the track at the desired gradient, all subsequently filled in. I witnessed the start of the filling-in in the mid 1970s.
Sydney has suffered many planning misfortunes and missteps, including the lack of a heavy rail connection to the northern beaches, despite long-standing plans to do so, and the seemingly endless indecision over the location of a “second” major airport (although some may argue that Bankstown airport already fills that role). My personal favourite though would have to be the dismantling of what was the 2nd-most extensive tram system in the British Commonwealth – second only to the London network and many times larger that Melbourne’s. This startling removal of track, electric catenary and associated tram sheds was largely “achieved” by 1961. Tracks were ripped up or submerged under tar; tramcars were sold for scrap or burned; and land and buildings were reused as bus depots or sold.
Why oh why did we ditch light rail? Wikipedia says this: The overcrowded and heaving trams running at a high frequency, in competition with growing private motor car and bus use, created congestion. Competition from the private car, private bus operators and the perception of traffic congestion led to the gradual closure of lines from the 1940s.
Buses, you see, were more flexible in their routing and interfered less with other vehicular traffic. Which was good in theory, but the government-run bus routes largely replicated the tram routes anyway; and as both bus and car traffic grew the road network hit its natural limit as well – stopping everything in its peak-hour tracks.
Now this infrastructure planning miracle was achieved after seeking the input of overseas “experts” and largely executed by Labor governments. Interestingly, again quoting Wikipedia, closure was supported by the NRMA, but generally went against public opinion. Thank you once again, National Roads and Motoring Association. Nothing ever really changes, does it?
All that aside, some tantalising remnants of Sydney’s trams exist, to remind us of our folly. For instance there are tramway remnants along Anzac Parade, through Randwick and Kensington, including reserved track and “bus stops” facing the “wrong way” (ie towards the trams, not the buses) towards La Perouse. There is a tram bridge at Annandale and sheds at Rozelle, Tempe and Newtown, plus recycled tram depots like Randwick bus workshops and a shopping centre at North Sydney. And plenty more, if you look closely enough.
Sydney has suffered many planning misfortunes and missteps, including the lack of a heavy rail connection to the northern beaches, despite long-standing plans to do so, and the seemingly endless indecision over the location of a “second” major airport (although some may argue that Bankstown airport already fills that role). My personal favourite though would have to be the dismantling of what was the 2nd-most extensive tram system in the British Commonwealth – second only to the London network and many times larger that Melbourne’s. This startling removal of track, electric catenary and associated tram sheds was largely “achieved” by 1961. Tracks were ripped up or submerged under tar; tramcars were sold for scrap or burned; and land and buildings were reused as bus depots or sold.
Why oh why did we ditch light rail? Wikipedia says this: The overcrowded and heaving trams running at a high frequency, in competition with growing private motor car and bus use, created congestion. Competition from the private car, private bus operators and the perception of traffic congestion led to the gradual closure of lines from the 1940s.
Buses, you see, were more flexible in their routing and interfered less with other vehicular traffic. Which was good in theory, but the government-run bus routes largely replicated the tram routes anyway; and as both bus and car traffic grew the road network hit its natural limit as well – stopping everything in its peak-hour tracks.
Now this infrastructure planning miracle was achieved after seeking the input of overseas “experts” and largely executed by Labor governments. Interestingly, again quoting Wikipedia, closure was supported by the NRMA, but generally went against public opinion. Thank you once again, National Roads and Motoring Association. Nothing ever really changes, does it?
All that aside, some tantalising remnants of Sydney’s trams exist, to remind us of our folly. For instance there are tramway remnants along Anzac Parade, through Randwick and Kensington, including reserved track and “bus stops” facing the “wrong way” (ie towards the trams, not the buses) towards La Perouse. There is a tram bridge at Annandale and sheds at Rozelle, Tempe and Newtown, plus recycled tram depots like Randwick bus workshops and a shopping centre at North Sydney. And plenty more, if you look closely enough.
It’s not what I expected to read, but there it was… “They gave me a $10 voucher to use at the airport but by the time we arrived, everything was closed for the night,” Bennett said. “This wasn’t about recognition anyway. I just wanted to make sure the guy was all right.”
As Cyclingnews reported: “Simon Bennett, a rider on Team Type 1′s development cycling squad, put his training in first aid to work Thursday night to save the life of a man who collapsed on board a Northwest Airlines flight. Bennett used an automatic external defibrillator (AED) and portable oxygen tank to revive the man, whose heart stopped during the flight from Minneapolis to Chicago.”
First Aid certificates can come in handy, after all.
It’s not what I expected to read, but there it was… “They gave me a $10 voucher to use at the airport but by the time we arrived, everything was closed for the night,” Bennett said. “This wasn’t about recognition anyway. I just wanted to make sure the guy was all right.”
As Cyclingnews reported: “Simon Bennett, a rider on Team Type 1′s development cycling squad, put his training in first aid to work Thursday night to save the life of a man who collapsed on board a Northwest Airlines flight. Bennett used an automatic external defibrillator (AED) and portable oxygen tank to revive the man, whose heart stopped during the flight from Minneapolis to Chicago.”
First Aid certificates can come in handy, after all.
abstract_s2031
Originally uploaded by gtveloce
What can I say? I like it, anyway!
abstract_s2031
Originally uploaded by gtveloce
What can I say? I like it, anyway!
These are allegations against a culture of doping in one prominent team, a culture that was almost certainly eradicated after a climactic period of exposure and scrutiny in 2006. I must stress also that these are allegations only; that they must be investigated thoroughly before firm conclusions can be drawn. For mine there are too many questions – indeed inconsistencies – surrounding exactly who took what, and where, and why some newly hired riders were considered ‘outsiders’ and shunned, whereas others were “in”. One obvious newcomer – Sinkewitz – was inducted into the system, yet Bartko was isolated, for example.
Having said all of that, it’s undeniable that we expected something to come out of it, and it’s probably exactly as most of us thought: it wasn’t just Ullrich (not that Jan has ever admitted it, we only have the purported DNA link and heaps – bags even – of allegations). And yet it’s strange that Ullrich is implicated elsewhere, not directly with this Freiburg issue. It was a systemic issue for the team, but not a consistent one?
Experts investigating the procedures of two Freiburg University Clinic doctors who worked for cycling team T-Mobile allege German rider Andreas Kloeden doped during the 2006 Tour de France.
That’s not just an allegation against Kloden, either: The issue returned to prominence last fall, when Patrik Sinkewitz said that he – and possibly others – had driven to Freiburg for illegal blood transfusions during the 2006 Tour de France, only days after team captain Jan Ullrich had been suspended for his connection to Operación Puerto. The report found that doping within the team essentially began when the team was formed and continued relatively unabated through to 2006.
The allegations go back to 1992. That’s a lot of riders, some of whom are still prominent in the peleton today, indeed are current Top 10 Grand Tour favourites. It covers EPO, testosterone and blood doping, plus ‘magic elixirs’, the contents of which are not known.
As always, expect the worst and hope for the best!
These are allegations against a culture of doping in one prominent team, a culture that was almost certainly eradicated after a climactic period of exposure and scrutiny in 2006. I must stress also that these are allegations only; that they must be investigated thoroughly before firm conclusions can be drawn. For mine there are too many questions – indeed inconsistencies – surrounding exactly who took what, and where, and why some newly hired riders were considered ‘outsiders’ and shunned, whereas others were “in”. One obvious newcomer – Sinkewitz – was inducted into the system, yet Bartko was isolated, for example.
Having said all of that, it’s undeniable that we expected something to come out of it, and it’s probably exactly as most of us thought: it wasn’t just Ullrich (not that Jan has ever admitted it, we only have the purported DNA link and heaps – bags even – of allegations). And yet it’s strange that Ullrich is implicated elsewhere, not directly with this Freiburg issue. It was a systemic issue for the team, but not a consistent one?
Experts investigating the procedures of two Freiburg University Clinic doctors who worked for cycling team T-Mobile allege German rider Andreas Kloeden doped during the 2006 Tour de France.
That’s not just an allegation against Kloden, either: The issue returned to prominence last fall, when Patrik Sinkewitz said that he – and possibly others – had driven to Freiburg for illegal blood transfusions during the 2006 Tour de France, only days after team captain Jan Ullrich had been suspended for his connection to Operación Puerto. The report found that doping within the team essentially began when the team was formed and continued relatively unabated through to 2006.
The allegations go back to 1992. That’s a lot of riders, some of whom are still prominent in the peleton today, indeed are current Top 10 Grand Tour favourites. It covers EPO, testosterone and blood doping, plus ‘magic elixirs’, the contents of which are not known.
As always, expect the worst and hope for the best!
Hot on the heels of Boonen’s cocaine bust (the count now up to 3, by the way) comes another star losing his shine. We may have thought this one a foregone conclusion, indeed he can’t say the Italians weren’t communicating their intentions… Alejandro Valverde received a two-year suspension from the Italian anti-doping tribunal today in Rome for his connections to the 2006 doping investigation Operación Puerto. The decision prohibits the Spaniard, 29, from racing in Italy and the Tour de France, which passes through the country this year.
He will most likely appeal against this Italian ruling and does claim innocence in any case. The bigger question is what does the UCI do, faced with a Spanish rider banned not by his own governing national body, but by another? Do they take this further and resolve it – which would seem logical – or let it rest? I suspect they’ll wait until their hand is forced, either by the appeal itself or pressure from the parties concerned. But they’d be better advised, surely, to get to grips with the broader issue of the DNA evidence that this case rests on and act now. With Operation Puerto festering like an open wound the Italians have clearly telegraphed their intent to test and pursue those accused as soon as they step onto their territory. If the blood bags and the connected DNA evidence are available, and if the case is legally and ethically strong, why not pursue it?
Hot on the heels of Boonen’s cocaine bust (the count now up to 3, by the way) comes another star losing his shine. We may have thought this one a foregone conclusion, indeed he can’t say the Italians weren’t communicating their intentions… Alejandro Valverde received a two-year suspension from the Italian anti-doping tribunal today in Rome for his connections to the 2006 doping investigation Operación Puerto. The decision prohibits the Spaniard, 29, from racing in Italy and the Tour de France, which passes through the country this year.
He will most likely appeal against this Italian ruling and does claim innocence in any case. The bigger question is what does the UCI do, faced with a Spanish rider banned not by his own governing national body, but by another? Do they take this further and resolve it – which would seem logical – or let it rest? I suspect they’ll wait until their hand is forced, either by the appeal itself or pressure from the parties concerned. But they’d be better advised, surely, to get to grips with the broader issue of the DNA evidence that this case rests on and act now. With Operation Puerto festering like an open wound the Italians have clearly telegraphed their intent to test and pursue those accused as soon as they step onto their territory. If the blood bags and the connected DNA evidence are available, and if the case is legally and ethically strong, why not pursue it?
Picky, picky, picky. Sometimes I can’t help myself.
Today, from Cyclingnews.com, and yes it could be a translation problem, but for the record:
Quick Step has announced it will extend Tom Boonen’s suspension but not fire the rider who has tested positive for cocaine for the third time. The reigning Paris-Roubaix champion will undergo a psychiatric treatment plan and be subject to strict testing by Quick Step over the next 12 months.
Psychiatric treatment? Have they gone mad? I think they need a behaviour management plan written by a psychologist. There is a difference, guys.
Yesterday, from the Australian, reportedly the “online newspaper of the year”:
Qantas to retain Brisbane hangar for maintainting Airbus 330 fleet
I was going to let “maintainting” through to the keeper but then…
Qantas’ large hangar at Brisbane Airport is currently used to service its Boeing 767 fleet, but over the next five years this work will progressivly be taken overseas.
I thought “progressivly” less inclined to let them off the hook. Busy day, too busy to run the old eye over the copy? Ahhh, it’s only online, it doesn’t matter! No wonder they are the “online newspaper” of choice!
And from Carsguide, this gem:
It’s been 20 years since the birth of the Mazda MX-5 but time has hurried and the car remains almost unmistakable from its ancestor.
‘Almost unmistakable’ from its ancestor? So the writer is saying that it’s not mistakable, almost. So in fact it is ‘mistakable’? Now I could be mistaken but I think they meant to say ‘almost indistinguishable’. Perhaps it was translated into English from a Japanese press release, although attribution is to a Neil Dowling of the Mercury. I thought that would do me until I read the very next para:
It is becoming the Galapagos turtle of the motoring world — fascinating in its ability to look its age when born and exactly the same a century later.
Oh dear, this is just priceless… a car – purportedly a sports car – that is not only akin to a giant turtle that takes 40 years to grow to maturity but “fascinating in its ability to look its age when born”! As Wikipedia attests, it hatched from an egg and looks like a baby turtle… the mind boggles with thoughts of what animals, vegetables or manufactured goods do not look their age when born… and boggles again when said creature (or car) doesn’t change appearance in 100 years. I think Neil meant to say that it it hasn’t changed much in overall shape, just gotten somewhat bigger. There, that’s not hard, is it?
Picky, picky, picky. Sometimes I can’t help myself.
Today, from Cyclingnews.com, and yes it could be a translation problem, but for the record:
Quick Step has announced it will extend Tom Boonen’s suspension but not fire the rider who has tested positive for cocaine for the third time. The reigning Paris-Roubaix champion will undergo a psychiatric treatment plan and be subject to strict testing by Quick Step over the next 12 months.
Psychiatric treatment? Have they gone mad? I think they need a behaviour management plan written by a psychologist. There is a difference, guys.
Yesterday, from the Australian, reportedly the “online newspaper of the year”:
Qantas to retain Brisbane hangar for maintainting Airbus 330 fleet
I was going to let “maintainting” through to the keeper but then…
Qantas’ large hangar at Brisbane Airport is currently used to service its Boeing 767 fleet, but over the next five years this work will progressivly be taken overseas.
I thought “progressivly” less inclined to let them off the hook. Busy day, too busy to run the old eye over the copy? Ahhh, it’s only online, it doesn’t matter! No wonder they are the “online newspaper” of choice!
And from Carsguide, this gem:
It’s been 20 years since the birth of the Mazda MX-5 but time has hurried and the car remains almost unmistakable from its ancestor.
‘Almost unmistakable’ from its ancestor? So the writer is saying that it’s not mistakable, almost. So in fact it is ‘mistakable’? Now I could be mistaken but I think they meant to say ‘almost indistinguishable’. Perhaps it was translated into English from a Japanese press release, although attribution is to a Neil Dowling of the Mercury. I thought that would do me until I read the very next para:
It is becoming the Galapagos turtle of the motoring world — fascinating in its ability to look its age when born and exactly the same a century later.
Oh dear, this is just priceless… a car – purportedly a sports car – that is not only akin to a giant turtle that takes 40 years to grow to maturity but “fascinating in its ability to look its age when born”! As Wikipedia attests, it hatched from an egg and looks like a baby turtle… the mind boggles with thoughts of what animals, vegetables or manufactured goods do not look their age when born… and boggles again when said creature (or car) doesn’t change appearance in 100 years. I think Neil meant to say that it it hasn’t changed much in overall shape, just gotten somewhat bigger. There, that’s not hard, is it?
This is one transport connection I never expected anyone, let alone Gladys Berejiklian, would make: The million-kilometre-plus buses date back to the Cold War era. “Some of the buses on the roads today were commissioned before Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union,” she said.
Mikhail must be on her mind. Of course Ms Berejiklian needn’t have made a FOI application to get similar info, as Wikipedia tells us all about these dogged diesels in detail. And she can sate her newfound bus interest at the Bus and Truck Museum, too. Admittedly the world has moved on since Gorby was in power, but I don’t think he had much to do with the purchase of the long-lasting diesel Mercedes buses in question. Perhaps we should have stuck with Leylands instead? Now I wonder how long we hung onto those green and cream Leyland and AEC single and double deckers way back when? Anyone like to hazard a guess around the 20 year mark?
This is one transport connection I never expected anyone, let alone Gladys Berejiklian, would make: The million-kilometre-plus buses date back to the Cold War era. “Some of the buses on the roads today were commissioned before Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union,” she said.
Mikhail must be on her mind. Of course Ms Berejiklian needn’t have made a FOI application to get similar info, as Wikipedia tells us all about these dogged diesels in detail. And she can sate her newfound bus interest at the Bus and Truck Museum, too. Admittedly the world has moved on since Gorby was in power, but I don’t think he had much to do with the purchase of the long-lasting diesel Mercedes buses in question. Perhaps we should have stuck with Leylands instead? Now I wonder how long we hung onto those green and cream Leyland and AEC single and double deckers way back when? Anyone like to hazard a guess around the 20 year mark?
First up, let me say that I fully support effective funding for programs that assist people with a disability to reach their potential as human beings in a caring society. (And by definition that means all of us, varying only by degree and by our own recognition - or not – of ours and others’ abilities. ) That means removing cultural roadblocks to change, including any distortions or misrepresentations by politicians, lobbyists of various kinds and the mass media. With that in mind, let me press on…
This is a story about several groups trying to leverage an issue to achieve an end. The issue itself becomes burdened with hangers-on and it becomes hard to tell who’s really wanting what for or from whom; but the nub of it is that kids with a disability will be ‘missing out’ because the NSW State government bureaucracy wants to reassign unspent monies (ie to other programs, elsewhere).
Well first of all, IMHO this happens every year, and indeed school principals have been accused of hoarding cash from year to year, possibly with a larger goal in mind, or simply through an inability to properly manage their budgets. I’m sure there are many highly skilled, competent principals in the State system, but I am equally sure that many others need help with financial strategy, planning and execution. There is no secret about this, or about the yearly “issue” of ‘use it or lose it’. Every state government department goes about this practice, every year.
So today we read this: PRINCIPALS are accusing the Rees Government of a “grubby grab” for more than $12 million in unspent funds sitting in school bank accounts.. That’s para one. If you go to that page online and search, you’ll find that there is no attribution for the “grubby grab” remark. We don’t know how many principals are involved, as all we have is a quote from the chair of a forum: Cheryl McBride, the chairwoman of the Public Schools Principals’ Forum, warned yesterday the Government was slashing funding for students. Presumably the ‘grubby grab’ quote is an invention by the newspaper in question. There is, thankfully, an opposing view provided: However, DET Deputy Director-General Trevor Fletcher denied there had been a reduction in any school’s allocation for 2009. He said some schools had built up more funds than they could hope to spend on programs for which the money was earmarked.
Whatever the truth, the headline is all about Premier Rees and his grubby grab, and nothing about addressing real issues for school kids with a disability. There are resources made available by both the Federal and State governments, and to my (admittedly limited) understanding the problem is more that the individual needs of students are not properly assessed and addressed by the schools concerned. Simply, the right approaches are not made by the right people in a timely fashion, leaving cash at the bank. I could be wrong, but that may be the real issue, not this supposed “grubby grab”.
The more that I see the traditional media pour scorn on NSW Premier Nathan Rees the more I imagine that the public will see an underdog being kicked by bullies. (Not enough to save this government, perhaps, but surely it will be a factor over time.) Now Rees is ostensibly in power, but you’d hardly get that impression from the pack of hounds constantly baying for blood.
It’s become a running joke. It sometimes appears that if any State government department does anything that upsets anyone, there’s a story printed, and always it’s a distortion, and always it’s the fault of the NSW premier. I hope he is enjoying his time in the hot seat. The real power may lie elsewhere.
First up, let me say that I fully support effective funding for programs that assist people with a disability to reach their potential as human beings in a caring society. (And by definition that means all of us, varying only by degree and by our own recognition - or not – of ours and others’ abilities. ) That means removing cultural roadblocks to change, including any distortions or misrepresentations by politicians, lobbyists of various kinds and the mass media. With that in mind, let me press on…
This is a story about several groups trying to leverage an issue to achieve an end. The issue itself becomes burdened with hangers-on and it becomes hard to tell who’s really wanting what for or from whom; but the nub of it is that kids with a disability will be ‘missing out’ because the NSW State government bureaucracy wants to reassign unspent monies (ie to other programs, elsewhere).
Well first of all, IMHO this happens every year, and indeed school principals have been accused of hoarding cash from year to year, possibly with a larger goal in mind, or simply through an inability to properly manage their budgets. I’m sure there are many highly skilled, competent principals in the State system, but I am equally sure that many others need help with financial strategy, planning and execution. There is no secret about this, or about the yearly “issue” of ‘use it or lose it’. Every state government department goes about this practice, every year.
So today we read this: PRINCIPALS are accusing the Rees Government of a “grubby grab” for more than $12 million in unspent funds sitting in school bank accounts.. That’s para one. If you go to that page online and search, you’ll find that there is no attribution for the “grubby grab” remark. We don’t know how many principals are involved, as all we have is a quote from the chair of a forum: Cheryl McBride, the chairwoman of the Public Schools Principals’ Forum, warned yesterday the Government was slashing funding for students. Presumably the ‘grubby grab’ quote is an invention by the newspaper in question. There is, thankfully, an opposing view provided: However, DET Deputy Director-General Trevor Fletcher denied there had been a reduction in any school’s allocation for 2009. He said some schools had built up more funds than they could hope to spend on programs for which the money was earmarked.
Whatever the truth, the headline is all about Premier Rees and his grubby grab, and nothing about addressing real issues for school kids with a disability. There are resources made available by both the Federal and State governments, and to my (admittedly limited) understanding the problem is more that the individual needs of students are not properly assessed and addressed by the schools concerned. Simply, the right approaches are not made by the right people in a timely fashion, leaving cash at the bank. I could be wrong, but that may be the real issue, not this supposed “grubby grab”.
The more that I see the traditional media pour scorn on NSW Premier Nathan Rees the more I imagine that the public will see an underdog being kicked by bullies. (Not enough to save this government, perhaps, but surely it will be a factor over time.) Now Rees is ostensibly in power, but you’d hardly get that impression from the pack of hounds constantly baying for blood.
It’s become a running joke. It sometimes appears that if any State government department does anything that upsets anyone, there’s a story printed, and always it’s a distortion, and always it’s the fault of the NSW premier. I hope he is enjoying his time in the hot seat. The real power may lie elsewhere.
Ahhh, the Terrorgraph’s definition of lunacy is a solid one:
IN THE middle of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, the Federal Government’s decision to enact a law that will knowingly put 1000 people out of work in NSW is nothing but sheer lunacy.
Now no-one wants to deliberately put people’s jobs at risk, but sometimes it’s better to paint things black and white, isn’t it? To the Daily Telegraph it’s jobs before everything else, no matter what. Especially if it’ll sell newspapers, too.
But does the maths stack up? Let’s see, 1000 jobs. That’s made up of:
A Forests NSW briefing note obtained by The Daily Telegraph warned 11 sawmills would be forced to close overnight and 800 people would lose their jobs along with the closure of an industry worth $60 million to the NSW economy.
Well 800 is close to 1,000. Small rounding error. But the Tele can do better, and it does:
The State Government is seeking an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Mr Garrett, claiming the intervention by the Commonwealth to declare the logging illegal would cause the immediate loss of at least 500 timber jobs and 360 indirectly related jobs.
Now that’s closer. 500 + 360 definitely feels like 1,000 now. So let’s go with that. (Sadly there is no push here to correct the obviously ineffective teaching of mathematics to journalists.)
Whilst we’re here, let’s make out that the parrot at the centre of this issue is making no effort to adjust in this matter, despite the seriousness of the issue. Indeed the parrot is making out that there’s a big problem when in fact it simply does not like flying over open spaces. So parrot, the Tele’s advice to you is to get over it – literally.
Now I have spoken with these parrots and they are seeking professional help immediately. As a species with a fear of open spaces (and let’s face it, if you were a brightly coloured small-medium parrot that was exposed to loss of life and wing by birds of prey, you’d feel a bit exposed too) they qualify for Federal Government rebates for psychological counselling. Hopefully the Tele won’t squash that temporary stimulus assistance as well.
Mind you, it’s not just parrots that offend the Tele. They also have it in for ‘middle class’ working mothers taking paid maternity leave:
The main targets are new mums earning a lot less, and who might not be able to confidently have a family without assistance. But slipping $260 million a year to women who might be among the top 10 per cent of wage earners doesn’t sound like tough and rigorous Budget discipline.
The angle here is that middle-class women (whoever they are, but obviously they earn up to $150,000) don’t deserve further assistance – they are well enough off already; but really it’s just that the Tele’s editor believes that the paper’s readership can’t hack the idea that working women can be successful, earn decent money and be an integral part of an Aussie family’s “breadwinning” process. If they earn over the average wage then they don’t deserve to be temporarily supported by the community whilst they are caring for newborns – except by their husbands, of course. Bizarre, I know, but that’s the 1950s for you.
Ahhh, the Terrorgraph’s definition of lunacy is a solid one:
IN THE middle of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, the Federal Government’s decision to enact a law that will knowingly put 1000 people out of work in NSW is nothing but sheer lunacy.
Now no-one wants to deliberately put people’s jobs at risk, but sometimes it’s better to paint things black and white, isn’t it? To the Daily Telegraph it’s jobs before everything else, no matter what. Especially if it’ll sell newspapers, too.
But does the maths stack up? Let’s see, 1000 jobs. That’s made up of:
A Forests NSW briefing note obtained by The Daily Telegraph warned 11 sawmills would be forced to close overnight and 800 people would lose their jobs along with the closure of an industry worth $60 million to the NSW economy.
Well 800 is close to 1,000. Small rounding error. But the Tele can do better, and it does:
The State Government is seeking an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Mr Garrett, claiming the intervention by the Commonwealth to declare the logging illegal would cause the immediate loss of at least 500 timber jobs and 360 indirectly related jobs.
Now that’s closer. 500 + 360 definitely feels like 1,000 now. So let’s go with that. (Sadly there is no push here to correct the obviously ineffective teaching of mathematics to journalists.)
Whilst we’re here, let’s make out that the parrot at the centre of this issue is making no effort to adjust in this matter, despite the seriousness of the issue. Indeed the parrot is making out that there’s a big problem when in fact it simply does not like flying over open spaces. So parrot, the Tele’s advice to you is to get over it – literally.
Now I have spoken with these parrots and they are seeking professional help immediately. As a species with a fear of open spaces (and let’s face it, if you were a brightly coloured small-medium parrot that was exposed to loss of life and wing by birds of prey, you’d feel a bit exposed too) they qualify for Federal Government rebates for psychological counselling. Hopefully the Tele won’t squash that temporary stimulus assistance as well.
Mind you, it’s not just parrots that offend the Tele. They also have it in for ‘middle class’ working mothers taking paid maternity leave:
The main targets are new mums earning a lot less, and who might not be able to confidently have a family without assistance. But slipping $260 million a year to women who might be among the top 10 per cent of wage earners doesn’t sound like tough and rigorous Budget discipline.
The angle here is that middle-class women (whoever they are, but obviously they earn up to $150,000) don’t deserve further assistance – they are well enough off already; but really it’s just that the Tele’s editor believes that the paper’s readership can’t hack the idea that working women can be successful, earn decent money and be an integral part of an Aussie family’s “breadwinning” process. If they earn over the average wage then they don’t deserve to be temporarily supported by the community whilst they are caring for newborns – except by their husbands, of course. Bizarre, I know, but that’s the 1950s for you.
This is really annoying, both because it’s a distraction as the first Grand Tour of 2009 gets underway and because Tom Boonen has so much to lose, for so little reason. We can presume it’s been taken for recreational reasons, but he’s not the only one (in the wider community) to do so is he? He is however a huge role model for kids in Belgium, as well as for much of the cycling world. So it matters, but not so much that it should get this much attention, surely? Does he need counselling? A cocaine habit is one thing, but the guy gets caught – twice – out of competition. Which indicates he has some self-control, but not enough to pull free. (So why risk everything, Tom?) It’s not for performance-enhancement, it’s just a guy with fame and money being tempted by an illicit drug… and giving in. He’s young but adult enough to cop the consequences; he’s also famous beyond belief in Belgium, cashed-up and probably a target for all sorts of people with trash to peddle. Let’s hope some perspective is kept here.
Tom Boonen has been suspended by team Quick Step following his second positive control for cocaine, taken on April 27, in Belgium following the Spring Classics. The 2005 World Champion could face criminal charges for violating the conditions of his suspended sentence for cocaine use.
Setting Boonen aside for a moment, this is a community issue, not just an athletic one. Athletes are in the spotlight and performance enhancement is arguably viewed as ‘cheating’ by many, and certainly so by the established, traditional media as well by many of the ‘clean’ athletes themselves. And there are good arguments to control such substances, not just for sporting fairness but for the athlete’s health. But does recreational cocaine use – illegal though it may be – really constitute such a threat to our wider society, one that justifies the resultant media frenzy? Unfortunately the media have a stake in both creating and destroying these role models, a conflict of interest that just won’t go away.
Filed under Boonen, cocaine by Rob.
This is really annoying, both because it’s a distraction as the first Grand Tour of 2009 gets underway and because Tom Boonen has so much to lose, for so little reason. We can presume it’s been taken for recreational reasons, but he’s not the only one (in the wider community) to do so is he? He is however a huge role model for kids in Belgium, as well as for much of the cycling world. So it matters, but not so much that it should get this much attention, surely? Does he need counselling? A cocaine habit is one thing, but the guy gets caught – twice – out of competition. Which indicates he has some self-control, but not enough to pull free. (So why risk everything, Tom?) It’s not for performance-enhancement, it’s just a guy with fame and money being tempted by an illicit drug… and giving in. He’s young but adult enough to cop the consequences; he’s also famous beyond belief in Belgium, cashed-up and probably a target for all sorts of people with trash to peddle. Let’s hope some perspective is kept here.
Tom Boonen has been suspended by team Quick Step following his second positive control for cocaine, taken on April 27, in Belgium following the Spring Classics. The 2005 World Champion could face criminal charges for violating the conditions of his suspended sentence for cocaine use.
Setting Boonen aside for a moment, this is a community issue, not just an athletic one. Athletes are in the spotlight and performance enhancement is arguably viewed as ‘cheating’ by many, and certainly so by the established, traditional media as well by many of the ‘clean’ athletes themselves. And there are good arguments to control such substances, not just for sporting fairness but for the athlete’s health. But does recreational cocaine use – illegal though it may be – really constitute such a threat to our wider society, one that justifies the resultant media frenzy? Unfortunately the media have a stake in both creating and destroying these role models, a conflict of interest that just won’t go away.
Filed under Boonen, cocaine by Rob.
How the world turns. Sydney television was a wonderful thing in the early-to-mid 1980s, when I was a young technical sales rep eager to get about and visit these citadels of televisual magic, high on their respective hilltops.
A must-visit was the ABC studios at Gore Hill, a ramshackle bunch of buildings that could have housed the CSIRO as easily as a national broadcaster (except that the CSIRO generally had the better, more modern buildings). But they loved visitors, if said visitor could only find their way to the appropriate door without being runover or falling into a pit. One false step and the historic Gore Hill Cemetery (handily next door) beckoned.
And there was Channel 7, high on its hill at Mobb’s Lane, far and away the most technically adept, keen to show off to anyone who passed by their back-door tennis courts and helipad their exceptional broadcasting prowess. Look here at this state-of-the-art computer-based logo-promo creation studio thingy that we kindly allow the other, less well endowed TV stations and advertising agencies use. Look at our stunning teletext, right at the front door so you can’t miss it – yes, a streaming text service! One day everyone will want one of these! And out the side door, past the temperamental stars to the magical world of heli-borne outside broadcast. Wonderment. There I was, but a callow youth selling patch cords, connectors and RF gear to the masters of invention.
Or take a look at (then) relative youngster Channel 10, standing proud at the corner of Epping and Delhi Roads. Clean, fresh, brash and full of challenge and hope. With (of course) a helipad, and plenty of parking. And massive blow-up pics of their stars in the foyer.
Impressive. But I haven’t introduced the main player of this era, the champion of the ratings: Channel 9, Artarmon. What a surprise on first visit, almost a let-down yet quaint in a way. Here we are in a typically leafy northern suburban street… and suddenly there it is, in all its unprepossessing glory. A gatehouse. A tiny parking area and the firm direction that I could go in but be quick – and whatever you do, don’t park in Jim Waley’s spot! I took that instruction to heart, wondering all the while what powers of destruction a Sunday news presenter could muster. Later I visited the impressive Channel 9 “extensions”, namely a house next door. This was the ratings leader?
Which brings me to today, when all that I have written above has turned on its head: DUMPED Nine news veteran Jim Waley has broken his silence and damned his former TV home, which he says is now “fighting for its life.”
A new world indeed. A game of Internet Convergence anyone?
How the world turns. Sydney television was a wonderful thing in the early-to-mid 1980s, when I was a young technical sales rep eager to get about and visit these citadels of televisual magic, high on their respective hilltops.
A must-visit was the ABC studios at Gore Hill, a ramshackle bunch of buildings that could have housed the CSIRO as easily as a national broadcaster (except that the CSIRO generally had the better, more modern buildings). But they loved visitors, if said visitor could only find their way to the appropriate door without being runover or falling into a pit. One false step and the historic Gore Hill Cemetery (handily next door) beckoned.
And there was Channel 7, high on its hill at Mobb’s Lane, far and away the most technically adept, keen to show off to anyone who passed by their back-door tennis courts and helipad their exceptional broadcasting prowess. Look here at this state-of-the-art computer-based logo-promo creation studio thingy that we kindly allow the other, less well endowed TV stations and advertising agencies use. Look at our stunning teletext, right at the front door so you can’t miss it – yes, a streaming text service! One day everyone will want one of these! And out the side door, past the temperamental stars to the magical world of heli-borne outside broadcast. Wonderment. There I was, but a callow youth selling patch cords, connectors and RF gear to the masters of invention.
Or take a look at (then) relative youngster Channel 10, standing proud at the corner of Epping and Delhi Roads. Clean, fresh, brash and full of challenge and hope. With (of course) a helipad, and plenty of parking. And massive blow-up pics of their stars in the foyer.
Impressive. But I haven’t introduced the main player of this era, the champion of the ratings: Channel 9, Artarmon. What a surprise on first visit, almost a let-down yet quaint in a way. Here we are in a typically leafy northern suburban street… and suddenly there it is, in all its unprepossessing glory. A gatehouse. A tiny parking area and the firm direction that I could go in but be quick – and whatever you do, don’t park in Jim Waley’s spot! I took that instruction to heart, wondering all the while what powers of destruction a Sunday news presenter could muster. Later I visited the impressive Channel 9 “extensions”, namely a house next door. This was the ratings leader?
Which brings me to today, when all that I have written above has turned on its head: DUMPED Nine news veteran Jim Waley has broken his silence and damned his former TV home, which he says is now “fighting for its life.”
A new world indeed. A game of Internet Convergence anyone?
Well it sounds like a technicality, but it was enough to get him off…
Cabreira was suspended for two years in February for “tampering with a doping control sample”. He was accused of using an enzyme called protease to defeat a doping control. The enzyme is able to break down traces of EPO in the urine. According to Lusa, Cabreira appealed the penalty on the grounds that the control had been conducted according to “methods not approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency” and that the offending substance “was not part of the list of banned products.” It is the second time Cabreira has defeated a doping case on appeal. In August, 2008 he was suspended for ten months for failing a doping control, but the suspension was overturned on appeal.
If I understand this correctly, and I may not have a complete view, the appeal was won firstly because of irregularities in the way the sample was taken, leaving some doubt over who may or may not have altered the sample; and secondly because the enzyme in question is not a performance-enhancing substance taken by the athlete and thus listed as a banned product. Seems to me it should be listed, just as masking agents are (although in this case the agent is used outside of the body). Seems also logical that adding an enzyme – or anything, really – is tantamount to tampering with a sample. However in this case there was doubt, and the athlete quite rightly is given the benefit.
Well it sounds like a technicality, but it was enough to get him off…
Cabreira was suspended for two years in February for “tampering with a doping control sample”. He was accused of using an enzyme called protease to defeat a doping control. The enzyme is able to break down traces of EPO in the urine. According to Lusa, Cabreira appealed the penalty on the grounds that the control had been conducted according to “methods not approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency” and that the offending substance “was not part of the list of banned products.” It is the second time Cabreira has defeated a doping case on appeal. In August, 2008 he was suspended for ten months for failing a doping control, but the suspension was overturned on appeal.
If I understand this correctly, and I may not have a complete view, the appeal was won firstly because of irregularities in the way the sample was taken, leaving some doubt over who may or may not have altered the sample; and secondly because the enzyme in question is not a performance-enhancing substance taken by the athlete and thus listed as a banned product. Seems to me it should be listed, just as masking agents are (although in this case the agent is used outside of the body). Seems also logical that adding an enzyme – or anything, really – is tantamount to tampering with a sample. However in this case there was doubt, and the athlete quite rightly is given the benefit.
Filed under Pfannberger by Rob.
Filed under Pfannberger by Rob.
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