The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.

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Baseball takes first steps down same road cycling’s traveled
Editor:
I'm probably not the first to point it out, but the cycling community appears to have been going through the stages of coping with major change — denial, anger, bargaining and acceptance — as popularly described by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her well-known book, “On Death and Dying.”

We certainly have seen plenty of denial, anger and bargaining since the Festina affair, and with some of the recent developments like Slipstream's successful recruitment efforts, Astana's clear commitment to clean racing and the withdrawal of T-Mobile's sponsorship, I think we're starting to see the beginnings of acceptance. (For those not familiar with Kubler-Ross's stages, acceptance here means a willingness to admit to and deal with the issue, rather than giving up on or tolerating it.)

This occurred to me after having seen a recent article about the Mitchell report on drug use in baseball. It was all very familiar; the denial was there and you could see the anger on its way. I suspect it will be a long time before we start to see any broad acceptance of baseball's problem as real.

As ugly as it has been for cycling, I think the contrast with baseball shows how far our sport has come and, more than that, the messiness we'll see as baseball deals with its own dark side will demonstrate how much of a leadership role cycling has taken in addressing this issue.

David Neale-Lorello
Rockville, Maryland

And it’s about time, too
Editor:
I couldn't help but take some satisfaction in the acknowledgement Thursday of widespread steroid use in Major League Baseball, and the admission of the utter ineffectiveness of their anti-doping tests. It has been awful enough to watch cycling fight its own demons with doping, but to hear baseball fans talk about how dirty cycling was drove me crazy.

Doping is rampant in professional sports and it is merely because cycling has the closest thing to an effective testing system that they have taken so much heat as the dirtiest professional sport. If WADA or any independent testing body had been in charge of baseball's testing the past four years, I am certain that many more of baseball's cheats would have been exposed long ago, and cycling wouldn't look nearly as bad by comparison.

How could Major League Baseball claim that its testing system was legitimate, when it was revealed in the report that some players were notified two weeks in advance of a "random" test? Maybe people can begin to see cycling as a model for attacking the doping problem rather than as the most doping tainted sport.

Tucker Sawin
Moscow, Russia

Trainer season brings unwelcome reminders
Editor:
I've been pretty non-reactive about the disillusioning revelations of cycling's greats. It didn't get to me until trainer season started. I watch old race video as I spin. Darn! Every time I look up there's another rider I now know wasn't clean. I'm too cheap to throw the things away, but I haven't quite gotten over the bad taste, either.

Michael Munro
Lansing, Kansas

Ball’s ‘win or be fired’ stance disconcerting
Editor:
After all of the discussion of how riders are pressured into doping by their sponsors, I read about how Michael Ball has told his riders, "You either win or you're fired,” and how he “has made clear his intentions of building his domestic squad into a Tour de France-caliber team, telling VeloNews earlier this year, ‘I want a yellow jersey on my wall.’” (See Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood: Rock Racing’s fiery team owner sounds off”)

I think the pressure to win to satisfy sponsors is high enough to tempt riders into using banned substances. Now you add a team owner who tells his riders this? I see this philosophy as a very dangerous one; it tells riders that if they do not do everything they can (including doping) to win, they are out of a job.

I can see how Mr. Ball wants to be competitive and win, but let's hope that he makes sure his riders stay clean while doing so.

Eric Klotz
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Ball’s anti-USADA attitude won’t fly
Editor:
Michael Ball must think that cycling fans are stupid or ignorant. His anti-USADA attitude reminds me of Floyd Landis, Tyler Hamilton and the rest of the disgraced cyclists who feigned persecution before they were proven to be cheaters.

How can he call the anti-doping movement “rogue elements” of the sport and expect people to take him seriously? At best he is providing an environment where riders will feel free to dope without any fear of being sanctioned by their team.

His attitude is a stark contrast to a lot of the more encouraging news coming from pro cycling like the efforts of Slipstream, CSC, and High Road.

I hope that the pro road-racing community will make an effort to isolate Mr. Ball and his team. Perhaps withholding invitations to the Tour of California or the Tour de Georgia would be a good start.

Jim Winne
Director/head coach
Woodcreek High School Mountain Bike Team
Roseville, California

Good luck from a conservative f---
Editor:
Wow, that article on Michael Ball had me quite emotionally torn. Initially, I was pleased that he wants to shake up the establishment and commit to the sport of bike racing. Good for him that he stands up for his riders and even wants to form a union to protect all riders.

But he also makes unsubstantiated accusations about riders he has no intimate information on and even calls my favorite rider, Chris Horner, a liar, dishonest, and talent ess. I’m curious about his judgment on racing talent since his claim that Chris Horner had no impact on Cadel Evan’s second-place finish is ludicrously insane.

I wish Mr. Ball good luck with his ambitions but I’ll be rooting for Chris Horner, Jonathan Vaughter’s entire Team Slipstream, from Backstedt to Zabriskie, all the junior and even Cat. 5 racers out there, before I root for any member of the Rock Racing team.

Mr. Ball probably doesn’t want me as a supporter anyway because I’m probably one of those conservative f---s he’s disparaging.

Rufino Santos
San Francisco, California

Horner’s response showed class
Editor:
Chris Horner's response to Michael Ball showed real class. No name-calling, just a simple “here are the facts.” It seems like the onus is on Michael Ball. In a time when class seems to be missing in the sport, Chris Horner really stood up. That's very nice to see.

Bill Battle
Richmond, Virginia

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The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.