Friday Roundup

H.L. Mencken of the Day

It doesn't take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause.

News
ESPN Top 100 sports moments puts Landis at #3, gives an elegiac telling leaning towards guilty.

The San Diego Union-Tribune's Mark Zeigler rewrites this week's Landaluze story with analysis of implications for Landis.

BicycleRetailer talks about VeloNew's rider of the year, and the 15 lb weight regulation resulting in things like Landis being able to use a power meter.

Velonews letters run 2:1 against Landis as North American cyclist of the year.

HealthDay has an article referred by an emailer about research into alcohol and arthritis -- the possibly relevant, but probably too-speculative-to-be-interesting quote:

Tarkowski is interested in the mechanism by which alcohol might help prevent rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks its own joint tissue.

"We have shown that it goes through the up-regulation [increase] of testosterone," he said. "That down-regulates inflammation, which is part of the arthritic process."

Forums
Landis returns to DPF, commenting on the UCI and rider organization.

Blogs
Boulder Report talks about Leadville, Lance Armstrong hizzownLiveStrong™self and Floyd! Freaking! Landis!. He also explains why it's confusing to buy a MTB.

PeakMan talks about the Floyd and Lance show, and is worried about hotels for Leadville.

Binza notes the Landaluze case outcome, and thinks FL may have had some good luck this week.

Vemos, way back on Dec 13, talked about the LAT articles, some interesting old talk from Catlin, and the thought that winning the tour was the worst thing that has ever happened to Landis. Also some kind words for TBV, with this credit-card "priceless" snip:

an informational effort that I think rivals the physical effort of a long distance ride, without the fun and exhilaration.

Can't stop the bleeding offers a strong candidate for Snark O' the Day in it's year end wrap up:

It’s difficult to think of Floyd Landis’s triumphant comeback in stage seventeen of the Tour de France without pondering some of his excuses for his positive doping result. When he first blamed his surgically implanted bat wings, I thought, “You know? I believe you, buddy. That’s why the Frogs can’t participate.” But then he continued naming culprits, blaming the nation’s methamphetamine epidemic, the role of Jews in Hollywood, and Randy Moss’s personal smoothie chain. That’s when I realized that maybe he did cheat after all.

Sammy offers this competitor for SoD:

Iraq's Cycling Coach was kidnapped and killed a few days ago by Iraqi insurgents. Floyd Landis said he was positive there will be a perfectly good explanation for it.

Just Call Me Juice ranks Landis as the #4 D-Bag of the year, but no SoD nomination because it's not funny:

What a jackass. Blamed his high testosterone on everything from Jack Daniels to just having naturally high testosterone. Did he really think he would get away with this?

Friggin' Burt at Doucheblog talks about Landaluze, tells some stories, and gives us a plug.

Rant wishes everyone happy holidays before going dark for a few days, digs into Landaluze and our rant of yesterday, and riffs on the "no miscreants welcome" message by British Cycling.

Fat Cyclist contemplates running into Armstrong at Leadville. Best of the comments:

[Fatty,] If he had been reading your stuff….he’d have hacked your computer by now

Comment least likely to be real:

Lance Says:
Prepare to be dominated at Leadville! You better wear 300 livestrong bracelets!

Fatty gets to Landis yesterday, and issues a challenge. I'm sure the comment by "Floyd" is fake :-), but I think Floyd should enter the contest. Instead of the 40 lbs TBV would need to lose, FL may need to drop, oh, 5-10 after next week is done -- Strbuk's baked goodies will do that.

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