more proof that modern sports, especially in america, are nothing but business.  listen to this interview and then try to picture kevin dillard, curtis, fj hughes and others wearing saab and international motors bibs to cover mabra bar events.  too funny (and sad) to contemplate.  thanks to mikhail for tipping me off this.  and on a related note, would anyone care to take a stab at why unionization in american pro sports is flourishing while unionization nationwide is at a low-water mark?  that latter topic probably deserves it's own post as it has some unusual dynamics.  

i laughed out loud when i read jay's triumphant coda to this particular thread.  first off, a commendation to jay.  the last two lines of that email are pure art, and show that he loved his bike and deserves it back.  it's also a painfully powerful glimpse into how relatively unimportant the theft of bicycles is to the relatively few people who have some power to do something about it.  i'm not singling out police or detectives, as they likely come in each morning to a huge folder of stolen merchandise claims.  i would defy anyone to work there for a month and not become pathologically cynical to the lamentations of the disenfranchised.  it's nice to help when you can but what do you seriously think the recovery rate is?  i'm more frustrated that such a significant black market exists.  it's obviously not some sort of centralized warehouse, the size of your average ikea, holding bikes for a few months until they fan front them fairly easily.  rather, it's lots of little transactions.  bikes aren't hard to fence.  until something happens that makes bikes hard to fence, you'll see them stolen.  serious question: would laws denying pawnshops the right to buy and sell bikes reduce the rate of theft of bikes? is anyone aware of such laws that have been put into practice?  has anyone contracted the bicycle coordinators in dc, arlington, alexandria, fairfax or mont.co. to see if they have any ideas about what to do.  that would seem to fall under their jurisdiction as well...

i am most of the way done with two more posts on the intersection of sports, doping, money and society.  i'll be rolling them out shortly.  I need to validate one thing in one post and look up a something for the other.  in the meantime, if anyone is sufficiently interested, i will welcome a guest post from someone on the topic(s) if the text is emailed to me (gimme_pravda_now@racingunion.org) and has a valid email address to denote authorship.

-sg