J'accuse.
I haven't been reading the MTF threads about the Agassi fiasco, because, well...sometimes I'm entertained by idiotic drivel, and other times I am not. Right now, I'm not really up to dealing with the level of "debate" that goes on at MTF.
I did read a blog post today by a Brazilian journalist and I have to agree. What if it had been an Argentine? Or any South American, for that matter? Marcelo Melo was punished last year because he took an over-the-counter headache pill, and they found a ridiculously small amount of some substance or other. He proved his innocence, but, you know, I just have to wonder if Roddick or Murray or someone who brings in the cash would have been hung out to dry like Marcelo was, and over something that was, at most, slightly suspicious.
And with Agassi it's all, "oh that was 12 years ago" and "oh, he didn't have any good results in that period", yadda, yadda, yadda. Yes, let's make excuses for him, by all means. But if it had been, let's say, a multiple GS champion and world number 1 from "South America" (gawd, I hate that we're all referred to as South Americans, but ok, just for the sake of argument), which, as it is, would have to be Guga, well, I'm willing to bet the reaction would be something along the lines of "Ah, a doper. That explains it."
So yes, excuse me if am suspicious of the doping controls in tennis. My attitude towards conspiracy theories is to just dismiss them, but I think there's very good reason to be suspicious here. I'm sure it's much easier to believe that Argentines have a culture of doping because they're South American, and therefore morally inferior, than to think that they're just easy targets.
Well, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that yes, they - and all of us "South Americans" - are just easy targets.
I did read a blog post today by a Brazilian journalist and I have to agree. What if it had been an Argentine? Or any South American, for that matter? Marcelo Melo was punished last year because he took an over-the-counter headache pill, and they found a ridiculously small amount of some substance or other. He proved his innocence, but, you know, I just have to wonder if Roddick or Murray or someone who brings in the cash would have been hung out to dry like Marcelo was, and over something that was, at most, slightly suspicious.
And with Agassi it's all, "oh that was 12 years ago" and "oh, he didn't have any good results in that period", yadda, yadda, yadda. Yes, let's make excuses for him, by all means. But if it had been, let's say, a multiple GS champion and world number 1 from "South America" (gawd, I hate that we're all referred to as South Americans, but ok, just for the sake of argument), which, as it is, would have to be Guga, well, I'm willing to bet the reaction would be something along the lines of "Ah, a doper. That explains it."
So yes, excuse me if am suspicious of the doping controls in tennis. My attitude towards conspiracy theories is to just dismiss them, but I think there's very good reason to be suspicious here. I'm sure it's much easier to believe that Argentines have a culture of doping because they're South American, and therefore morally inferior, than to think that they're just easy targets.
Well, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that yes, they - and all of us "South Americans" - are just easy targets.