In the ongoing saga of 'we are in trouble' (refer earlier pedantic ramblings elsewhere on this site) I think the decline of civilization is coming in spades. First it was the desire to excel - win - be ahead of the pack etc.
Now its retarding to falling bridges, crumbling airports, people shooting other people (more than before) and stripped titles.
Most recently some federation of something or another decided to strip a cycling hero (more on use of this hackneyed term later) of his by contesting that he used performance enhancing drugs to aid in achieving them in the first place (no pun). In fact I should say he took them to come in the first place (now that should be clear as mud).
But wait - what is with the redundant descriptor 'performance enhancing'? What other types of drugs do you think an athlete would take before hitting the road in the Alps? Viagra?
I suppose if he was multitasking then yes but there is no evidence of that impropriety according to this body of knowledge is there?
May be some take Aspirin? But not Lunesta?
I mean of course if he took anything it was to be healthy for the gruelling ride.
While all the money makers made their money in promoting baggage to TV shows to watches to world press having a field (make that mountain) day at their employers' expense, and other paraphernalia getting peddled (no pun) I am not sure what the stripping really does.
This is Tiger all over again. So the retarding reference earlier is not in the actual 'stripping of' but rather in the farce that the entire sports marketing has come to be.
What would be funny is if after stripping someone of their medal the show promoter channels played the entire trip in rewind mode on prime time (back to the starting block).
This autumn the weather gods cooperated as we took a family trip in the northeast to see six states that qualify or makeup what is known colloquially in America as New England. Mass, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island (tiniest state in the union). The outing helped tally up the states we either lived in, visited or have worked in to 47. Guess which three have eluded this intrepid traveling family. Any rate the drive was all in about 1,800 miles and included some memorable geographic wonders or points of interest. Easternmost part of state of Massachusetts being one. Furthest drivable road east in Mass being another. Visit to all Ivy League schools (term harkens to a collegiate athletics conference and generally regarded as elite academic institutes of some repute worldwide) is another random bucket list item of which this trip afforded the chance to knock two more of the list. Dartmouth in Hanover, NH and Brown (and its sister institute the RISD - school f
That last suggestion would give new meaning to the word Flashback!
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