I daydream too much for longer orchestral concerts, even very good ones (which I’m told the PSO’s, reliably, are). Plus Honeck’s big on Mahler, and I can’t stomach Mahler. Why?

Particularly because some people probably bought from him BECAUSE they assumed he was a complete hypocrite (to still be selling the stuff even after he started talking about the risks and doing the mea culpa).

And I do understand that, no matter how bright a guy is, the full implications of a situation can take a while to sink in, and rationalizations break down harder, the better you built them up in the first place. (And who knows who all was leaning on him, at different times.)

But I can still wish the dates lined up better than they do, as far as when he could first have realized that doping can kill, when he started speaking against the stuff, and when he was selling.

It’s not like I could even hang on his wheel, nor am I going to party with the dude. But for all the good he’s done (route books, ride maps, stuff like that) I wish the most important part of the story, for anyone outside of PGH, was less…I dunno… adjectives are failing me.

And it seems so unfortunate / unnecessary.

Summa grad and Coro Center for Public Leadership are supposed to add up to something other than a “whatever it takes” attitude. I can’t say, “poor uneducated flandrian who’d otherwise be digging beets,” y’know? At the same time, I understand the irritation of seeing guys who you used to beat go off to the continent or some pro team, and turn into supercharged winners. I don’t know if it’s worse from the POV of a Domestic SSR in the early 90’s to say “well, shoot, it’s dirty, so I’ll do something else,” or to say, “if they can all do it, I can too,” regardless.

I guess I’m saying that I’m feeling very measured sympathy, and even a dash of gratitude, but also considerable distress with undertones of rising bile when I try to engage with his story.
(And black humor—The “I never realized that the CIA would refuse to consider me based on doping” is actually sort of funny, in a painful way.)

He was a “pro” for about 1 season and the rest of the time, he was racing criteriums around the U.S. and then around south America, and while there were other dirty racing, stealing money from a lot of guys.

He acts way too self-righteous after the shit that he pulled so even if he does rat on some people and his information helps bring some people down

Lots of people don’t like Papp

I think Joe Papp is very selfserving with his attempts to rehabilitate his public image. He comes off looking very smarmy and unlikeable. But in the end, it isn’t about whether we or anyone else like Joe Papp, it’s whether the information he provides can be verified. Financial transactions, email, etc, can all be verified independently, so the authorities should be able to confirm any of Joe Papp’s claims.

Ice

PS: Chinese EPO! Makes you wonder about all those super Chinese Olympians … well at least I wonder. bigletuscontinuewheretheeastgermansleftoffgrins