$0.02: Just once, I'd like to know why they cheat

When commenting on cycling's doping cases, you end up doing one of three things: either you use the word "allegedly" four times in each sentence and reserve judgment like a person incapable of forming an opinion; or you defend the rider as if he's done nothing wrong and it's the tests, not him, that erred; or you refer to the cyclist as a cheat, a disgrace and a horrible disappointment to every last person who ever cheered the sport or the man.

When I heard Alexandre Vinokourov had tested positive for using someone else's blood to win Saturday's stirring individual time trial by a whopping margin, I instinctively resorted to the third of the three options listed above.

Maybe this is because I've been rooting for Vino since he was forced to sit out last year's Tour because too many of his teammates were linked to the Operation Puerto scandal. When he crashed early in this year's race, then proceeded to battle his way back through stitches and pain, my reverence only grew stronger.

And when he won that time trial with those fiercely gritted teeth - part of a now-questionable 1-3-4 Astana finish - I wanted to hug my dusty television. Same when he won the mountain stage on Monday (although the victory was softened a bit because none of the top GC contenders had to chase him, since he'd bonked the day before and lost any shot at winning the race).

In short, my first thought on Tuesday was to call Vino a bastard because I felt I'd been betrayed, yet again, the same way I'd felt last year when Floyd Landis' sensational Stage 17 ride was tainted by his positive test.

However, the point of this column is that Alexandre Vinokourov doesn't know who I am, and he never will. Those betrayed by the cheats will always include millions of anonymous people, folks who put their hearts on the line in the name of believing in someone worth believing in. These people deserve better.

Aside from wondering how any cyclist of sane mind at this year's Tour could think he'd get away with an illegal blood transfusion - of all the available ways one can cheat nowadays! - I am more fascinated by the motive. Even if it were only for 15 minutes, I'd like to sit down with one of these dopes, the aging champion Vinokourov in particular, and hear them explain to me the inconceivable pressure they must feel to live up to something that is not themselves - when they know it is virtually inevitable that the consequences, dire, disgraceful and undeniably life-changing, will come crashing down on them. ...

Don't look now, but the Yankees have climbed to within seven and a half games of the first-place Red Sox in the AL East standings. ...

Alan Webb set the American record in the mile last weekend, running a 3:46.91 at a meet in Belgium that drew fewer than 1,000 people. The time broke a 25-year-old U.S. mark by nearly a full second, and it was the eighth-fastest mile time in history (Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj once ran a 3:43.13).

You have to wonder what Roger Bannister would've done if he'd collapsed on the ground after his historic sub-4:00 in 1954, then had someone tell him he could've done it 17 seconds faster. ...

The Rockies as a club are having a pretty solid year, but Jeff Francis is doing even better, as he's fast becoming a top-flight major league starter. The lanky lefty is 10-5 this summer with a 4.22 ERA and a nearly 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. ...

In parting, just to take stock: We've got an entire sport (cycling) teetering on collapse yet again, we've got a superstar NFL quarterback charged with killing animals for money, we've got an NBA referee facing a game-fixing probe, and the greatest record in sports is about to be broken by a steroids user.

Thank heavens for college softball.



Devon O'Neil can be contacted at (970) 668-4633, or at doneil@summitdaily.com.