Joe Low

John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band*? (*like a powerbalance band but with more hair & the faint smell of cannabis)

Paul Kimmage writes about LA as the "Cancer Jesus" & I think its very apt. Folk are saying "but he raised USD500m for cancer research, he inspired people, so what if he cheated a little". Isnt that just like a televangelist or Ray Macauley? & I dont think that their 'good' offsets their 'bad'. & also, why would you forgive anyone that isnt asking for forgiveness?

Gag taken from twitter: Of course Lance Armstrong's dumbest move was him not taking up javellin throwing. Its like a guy called "Legs Pedalwell" not becoming a cyclist".

Hi NSBB - it doesnt have to help cycling specifically (tho it probably will). Its just good to see people doing the right thing, uncovering lies and correcting some wrongs. That kind of thing makes the world a better place in my view.

So this could be the day that the UCI admits it was corrupt, incompetent or both. To agree with USADA that they couldnt put their own house in order themselves; and that they defended the biggest sporting cheat of all time, is going to be a hard one to explain. I'm expecting some mealy-mouthed fudging.

"In the trenches" is such an inappropriate title to his article that I switched off to the ho-hum banality of the rest. Ok, so you run a shop.

UCI are disbanding? - sounds good!

Those 100km races are all about intensity, If your training is not geared to that, then you can be slower esp if you train by yourself. Having mates / a group to ride with makes a big difference, so has anything there changed?

Formula 1 eh? Nice code, is it any good?

I drove Ronnelle, the official photographer of the FastOne, around getting shots throughout that event a few yrs back. Really fun and exciting and we were at the line to see Herman Fouche take the win. Very cool - until he tested positive and was banned a coupe of days later. So to avoid feeling conned I dont follow cycling (apart from Cavendish & the GB women on the track); cricket, snooker, boxing, horse racing, darts or WWE. If they start proper testing in the English Premier League then I'm really stuffed.

The truth will matter if the Uk's Times newspaper sues for having paid out on LA's case against them that he didnt dope. Similarly with the insurance folk and others. But whats happening is great. Hamilton said in his book that the current leader's time going up Alp d' Huez in the TDF would have got you around 40th place in the late '90s early '00s. So its getting better.

So LA was the first athlete to date a rock star and take more drugs than them. & with everything coming out, I'm not even sure I believe that story of him being the first man on the moon.... And that pep talk to Vince Vaughan in Dodgeball is sounding kinda hollow right now... But all said and done, "Wonderful World" is a great track, you cant take that away from him. (nothing original - all from twitter)

Must admit, I've been loving the drama of this, end of an era for cycling etc etc; & its been fun throwing crap about. Buuuuuuut am just starting to fade a little now. Like the Arab Spring, its great all these guys have gone / are going; but whats coming next and is it any better. And are there any good guys? Be cool if there was a criminal case though. And apologies for getting up pro-LA folks noses, I understand the attachments that get made. If you ask me, I'll say Liverpool are the best team in the world & maybe we're going through a rebuilding phase. To the rest of the world we've mostly been a bag of shite for the last 20 years. Sports following doesnt have to be rational. Thats what makes it fun, until it isnt.

Ok, the generalisation was good enough for the analogy I was making. You are right there are many communist parties. The ones that had the power & got beyond theory are thoroughly discredited - Russia, China & Yugolsavia. Whether any of them followed the theory is doubtful re: the true intent of "Dictatorship of the proletariat"; or whether any of the societies were at a point of political consciousness where Marxist/socialism could realistically be implemented. At the end of the day, it was just another vehicle for the power elite. But you're probably right, I dont know much and always struggled a bit with the materialist dialectic. Hegel has a lot to answer for too.

South Africa has a communist party more than 20yrs after the rest of the world gave it up as a bad job; thoroughly discredited. They still sing the songs and spout the slogans; and explain their situation through conspiracy theories - and to the outside world it looks ridiculous. LA & everything he built is disappearing beneath a righteous tsunami of evidence, but the South African fan club remains - nominated for the 2012 Ostrich Award.

I dont think so. Opinion on Phil seems evenly split. To me it seems obvious that he's lost a lot of credibility and is also way past his best. Doesnt mean he wasnt great before. Looks like TV is very slow to change commentators as "so-and-so is the voice of....." whatever sport it is. Theres a lot of emotion and association from the viewers with particular folk, separate to the quality of what the commentator is putting out. Murray Walker would be the prime example and Phil is getting there.

Very poor analysis Go Lefty, and you'd be doing well the last couple of days in appearing more reasonable. ...and the Blackadder quote is more like: "More twists and turns than a twisty, turny thing"

True that, staying on is eroding the respect he built up over decades. He spoke on a tour i was on last month and its getting so he's going through the motions. His recent LA comments are completely pathetic. I also had the impression that he's no fan of Robbie Hunter.

Nope, no more than roadies - we're all the same, some help, some dont. Also this is hearsay and there are two sides to every story - even Lance's, perhaps. Also what happened in the end?

Nicely put, not least because i agree with you. The other concept is "too big to fail" - many people from UCI to sponsors were invested in LA's story and persona & couldnt afford for this to happen. Thats why its taken such a long time to come out, imo. Similarities also to Jimmy Savile in the UK who was a "national treasure" and now uncovered as a rampant paedophile for the last 50-odd years before his death.

It's possibly (probably) not the real Vinakourov

Course not Scotty - the quality of an opinion is down to how much thought, research and discussion has gone into arriving at it. Not "i've always liked the fella therefore i reckon he didnt do it" or similar. Express all opinions but if someone holds out that the moon is made of cheese then they need to be prepared to back it up or take some flak. And its probably best to hold most opinions lightly - we're a long way from the action on most things we talk about esp on the Hub. On this one, I currently think he and the UCI are bang to rights, but there's a lot more to play out.

Opinions are not equal and yours, as expressed, is one of the lesser ones. Mellow the **** out is also not very mellow.

I think the perjury was to get USD5m bonus for winning a tour where the insurance co. was worried that he had doped. He swore under oath that he didnt. Defrauding folk of USD5m is good enough for jail time imo. The similarities with Julius Malema grow - a people's hero with feet of clay.

The advantage of LA living in a fictional world is that he can join Team Seven Dwarves - they already got Doc & Dopey.