Saturday, September 09, 2006

Saturday Spin

Motivational Quote of the Day

With his degenerative hip arthritis and all the heightened scrutiny on doping activity, including therapeutic use exemption abuse, Landis would be lucky to make the top ten finishers in a FAIRLY competitive race against top-notch riders. (link)
COMMENTS OPEN on FloydLandis.com. KUDOS to the moderation-- there are some negative comments present, so it isn't a one sided love-fest. We don't know how many slams have been rejected, or why, but letting any through shows good faith.

Dismissal Request picked up by Reuters, via the Grauniad. First MSM coverage I've seen. For the most part, they're still all over Jones, and the implications of her case on the dope testing regime. Now reported by AP, via MSNBC, being replicated all over. Also covered in Switzerland,

BikingBis covers with some comment, plugs TBV and FreeFloyd. Citizen146 mentions, has a great illustration I'll use at some point.

Bicycling.com Forums remain skeptical, especially of Jacobs. Says one poster,
This is what one of my team mates (attorney) predicted. Jacobs is methodical and predictable. Phase one is to cast as much doubt over the lab or the test as possible. Phase two is to break out the smoke and mirrors and betch and moan about "press leaks."

Floyd sucks. Jacobs sucks. I think if Floyd gets banned, so too should Jacobs. No athlete cases for 2 years.

My buddy made another prediction. Give it a few days and Jacobs will include Marion Jones into his schtick now that she squeeked out from under her positive A sample. That had to have given Jacobs a woody.
You are guilty even if cleared, says Orlando columnist, making comments about Lance that seem oddly unfounded. The thesis seems to be that if you ever associated with someone shady, you're guilty.

CourtTV or Cycling.tv, wonders PelotonJim about an open hearing.

Marco Pantani book reviewed, leading with comparisons to Floyd.

Rider in Illinois rambles on at length, then talks about Floyd as illustrative of pressures in sport. Use CTRL-F to find it.
Another blog catches the drift, links to VeloNews.
TripleCrankset posts some links, no comment.
PolishPostal blog links TBV

FreeFloydLandis.com is alive and kicking, and FreeFloydLandis.blogspot.com seems to be coming back from hiatus.

PD Substance user confesses, low Floyd content, but funny.

Second hand recollection of a Cycle Sport article says Graham Watson suspects Floyd doped on Stage 17 because of the look in his eyes. Also suggests peloton went on/off/on dope during the tour because of supply problems.

Watson's Blog Q/A leaves no doubt, he thinks Floyd's a fraud, and is pissed about it.

[updated 22:53]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Floyd's site (www.floydlandis.com) is open for comments! Pretty exciting; all of them positive (maybe they're being filtered? Hope not); hurry up and leave a message while you can!

(PS: TBV -- again, thank you for this fabulous blog. I log on twice a day to read it!)

Cheryl from Maryland said...

The constant refrain of only cheaters lawyer up (re: from Bicycle.com) is wearisome. I ask all of us whose lives have been fortunate to remember:

Lawyers exist because societies need BOTH SIDES follow the rules in order to function. Even if you are on the side of the angels, if you don’t follow the rules to administer justice, you’ve gone to the dark side. If any of us were in trouble, we would want a lawyer.

Also, drug testing often does not provide a yes or no answer. EPO testing doesn’t determine whether or not you took EPO, but whether you have an elevated level of EPO’s metabolite. Guess what, the metabolite is also naturally produced by your body. Eating poppy seed cake can cause you to test positive for opium, heroin, etc. It’s difficult to tell whether or not one has used marijuana or taken Sudafed - their metabolites are very similar. The list goes on and on.

Those of us who have never had to take a drug test for our jobs should thank our lucky stars. I accept drug testing for sports because I don’t like the idea of healthy people shortening their lives, but the testing and its administrators need to be accurate, transparent and follow their rules. They need to exemplify all the qualities they expect from the athletes. They need to exemplify all the qualities we should expect from ourselves.

Cheryl from Maryland

FULL DISCLOSURE: My husband is a lawyer