More Strict Drug Testing in the Tour de France?

How could someone in the Tour de France not be banned by the Tour de France for having traces of Dynepo in their blood? That would have been the case for Danish cyclist Michael Rasmussen who was in the Tour de France when he tested positive for showing signs of having traces of Dynepo in him. http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=3040786 In fact, Michael Rasmussen was even in the lead of the Tour de France before he was kicked out. The fact that he was caught with a product like this in his body, could provide some evidence to why he was in the lead of the Tour de France. But luckily his team made the most ethically correct move and was kicked out of the Tour de France by his team. But since Dynepo is not banned under World Anti-Doping Agency, his case would not be considered as a positive test and would not get in trouble. Dynepo is an EPO like substance made from human cells which makes it a synthetic product. Riders shouldn’t have loop holes like this, it seems too unfair. I think that the World Anti-Doping Agency needs to have a more strict testing policy and needs to finally clarify what is legal and what is not. If the drug or product seems to give the Rider any kind of competitive advantage, it should be banned, no question. At least this should send a message to other Riders thinking that they have found a loop hole since these allegations will be sent to the UCI who heads the Tour de France. Hopefully the World Anti-Doping Agency will make a change about Dynepo and other “loop-hole” drugs or products.

What to do with Bond's HR Ball?

Marc Ecko bought Barry Bond's 756th homerun ball, which made Barry Bonds the all time leader HR hitter, for $750,000. You'd think he would want to hold on to that ball for the rest of his life, wouldn't you? Well apparently he does not want to which seems ridiculous to me. On his website, http://www.vote756.com/marcecko/, he gives the public 3 options for what to do with the ball. First option is to send it to Cooperstown and let it forever be in the Hall of Fame. Second option is to put an asterisk on it then send it to Cooperstown so everyone will know that the ball is not really a record breaking ball. The third and final option is to banish it and, "Put the ball on a rocket ship and launch it into orbit, a moon shot for ages." Shouldn't this ball go to the Hall of Fame regardless? I mean he wasn't proved of taking steriods and I don't think that this record should be questioned. Bonds pretty much summed up my feelings on the whole situation, "He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid." http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3026654. If I was owner of that ball, I would do one of three things, sell it for more money, making a profit for myself, send it to the Hall in respect for the game and Barry Bonds, or finally keep it with me for the rest of my life in a trophey case making my house a small tourist attraction. I would never even consider shooting anything I bought for $750,000 into space for no reason, no matter what importance the object had behind it.

Women Officiating in Sports

Women have been making great strides in sports as of late. For instance, the final game of the WNBA is coming up and expected to have the highest ratings its had in many years. Also, the Women's World Cup is currently going on and receiving great publicity as ESPN and ESPN 2 are airing them at the moment. But tommorrow, Women in Sports will make a huge advancement as there will be a woman official will be officiating of college football game. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3019618. Her name is Sarah Thomas and she will be the first woman in college football history to officiate a game when she covers the Memphis-Jacksonville State of Alabama game. The question I have is, why aren't women officials more common in professional and intercollegiate sports? Most will say because they don't know as much as men or aren't trained well enough or have enough experience to do so. I think that is a little unfair seeing as their are classes that you can take to become professionally trained to be an official. The first NBA women official didn't come until the late 1990's and she really only got the job since she worked her way up in the WNBA as an official and was the 1997 WNBA Official of the Year. http://www.womenof.com/Articles/sp071297.asp I think they can do as good as a job if not better than males at officiating but due to society and other factors of the world, I don't ever see women becoming equals in the officiating world. In fact, I'd be very surprised to see them make up 25% of officials in any sport seeing how the MLB or NFL does not even have one female yet. But I could see why not for the NFL since that is a very physical sport and sometimes the Ref's have to break up fights.

MLS and its Popularity

The Major League Soccer (MLS) was founded in 1994 and brought to the US to try and spark the popularity that soccer drew in Europe and other countries. Soccer is always a popular sport to play in the US but watching, not so much. This is something I never got. I personally love watching the MLS and the World Cup and it makes me angry that soccer doesn’t get the same respect it does in Europe. Although I do think it is getting more popular due to stars coming from overseas such as David Beckham’s arrival to LA, I do not think that it will ever be as popular as football or baseball in terms of people who watch the sports on TV. The MLS have signed TV deals with ESPN/ABC family, but hardly anyone watches it unless they are die hard fans or basically, there is nothing else on TV. In fact, MLS ratings as of June 11th, 2007, was a .2 average housing cable rating (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=551559). That is equal to the WNBA according to bigsoccer.com and we all know how popular the WNBA is. To add an even more staggering stat, the MLB is sporting a 1.53 household cable rating. But I think the reason that the MLS is not that popular is that they lack stars. They made a huge advancement we Beckham came from England to play for the LA Galaxy. If they continue to get popular stars like that such as Thierry Henry and Ronaldo de Assís Moreiraa (Ronaldinho) then I think it could become vastly more popular, but I do not foresee that occurring.

How do you feel about writing and why?

Writing is something I can enjoy very much, but just as easily loath. The way I feel about writing is that if I am writing about a subject I am familiar with and enjoy writing about, then the writing becomes easier and much more enjoyable for me. Typically I would write more if I was writing about a topic that interests me. But, if I am writing about Romanticism and Literature concerning the 1800's then I am not going to be to psyched about writing on that topic. Overall, I'd say writing is a fun aspect of school for me because of the sense of accomplishment I feel when I finish a writing assignment.