Which athletes/coaches do you think get a free pass from the press?

You've got be pretty damn naive to believe a guy who won the tour DE France 7 times in a row in the most doped up sport there is isn't using.

 

I don't know if he's doped up or not. He probably was.

But in that post I was referring to the rumor about SI spiking a story because it was going to reveal the truth about Armstrong. In this Interwebs age, I can't believe SI could spike a story like that without it seriously leaking out.

 

I don't know if it was going to "reveal the truth" but from what I hear, it was going to raise a lot of questions.

But if they publish that story (which was supposed to come out about halfway during his run of tour wins, they can't put his picture on several covers a year and sell a ton of copies every time they do so.

They already dealt with being shut out by Jordan for a couple years, and I don't think they wanted to deal with that again with Armstrong.

 

Because he's the dean of NFL coaches, and with endurance becomes respectability. It's like John Huston said in Chinatown, "Whores, politicians and ugly buildings get respectable with age."

 

I've never thought Tressel has gotten a free pass. Not since they choked against Florida a few years back.

 

Some very half-assed surfing on football database would make seven seem correct. I could have missed one.

 

Until the recent DUI/blow job story finally got a few people to call him out in the press, Charles Barkley was the king of this list. Still is, really. Heavy drinker, heavy gambler, philanderer, lots of offensive statements, yet nothing but love from the media.

But overall, very few big-name athletes/coaches get a free pass. It would take about 30 seconds to Google up stories criticizing Tiger for having no social conscience, or Bowden for running a lawless program, or Manning and Dungy for winning "only" one Super Bowl, or Favre for being an indecisive drama queen. In this age where it's all about shouting opinions, almost nobody gets away without being criticized by somebody, somewhere, for something.

 

I don't think Barkley got a free pass as a player. He was called out pretty badly on the spitting incident and the "I'm going to go beat my wife." comment.

Since then, I might tend to agree. He benefits from being extremely likable, so much so that you hear, "Oh, that's just Charles being Charles..."

 

Yep, that's about it -- several witnesses changed their testimony and he agreed to a plea deal to testify against his companions, who eventually weren't convicted.

 

Not saying you're wrong, but it seems to me if an athlete's ability to "shut you out" is a factor in SI's thinking, Armstrong is the perfect target. Jordan played almost 100 games a year including playoffs right here in the USA and was in the spotlight at least 6 months a year. Armstrong raced bikes three weeks a year in a foreign country, and although beloved by a large fringe audience, his sport has precious few serious fans in this country. Not to mention SI's European audience probably would have spiked as much or more than Armstrong could have hurt them over here.

 

Word is that Marvin didn't do the shooting but knows more than he's saying. Without absolute proof Lynne Abraham's hands are tied.