Sunday Roundup

News
The Chicago Tribune's (registration may be required) Phillip Hersh found Landis to be slightly irritable with reporters prior to yesterday's town meeting in Chicago, but also found him very relaxed in front of a supportive audience at the event itself. Hersh decided that spandex suits Landis better than a jacket and tie, but when it came to the actual presentation by Dr Baker, he was impressed:

The Landis team members say they can't get the evidence they need and had to agree not to post any new defense materials during the discovery process. Whatever the final outcome, they feel the system is stacked against athletes charged with doping.

"We're hopeful," Landis said. "If the system doesn't work and the hearing is not fair, at least everyone got to hear the whole story."

The Olympian makes the above story available without the need for registration.


The Chicago Sun Times' Carol Slezak seems to find her views changing slightly at Friday's art auction fund raising event in Chicago -- punctuationg the story several times with , "what if he's innocent?", as if that were a new possibility previously unconsidered. Not yet convinced, she quotes a member of the audience who may reflect her own undertainty:

As Landis' fans -- or were they cycling fans? -- waited to meet him, you asked a couple of them whether they thought he was innocent. Their view: Probably not, but you never know. He says he's innocent, doesn't he? Either way, he seems like such a nice guy. And he is a great cyclist. In other words, they didn't seem to care much one way or the other. And maybe that's what sports fans have been driven to when it comes to the topic of performance-enhancing drugs: shrugging acceptance.

Blogs
Foul Balls high-five's Steroid Nation's extensive coverage of yesterday's FFF event in Chicago and thinks that Landis may actually be innocent.

LeftoverDome forgets what Floyd Landis has been accused of, but knows that he is still railing against whatever it is nonetheless.

Joeschmo's Gears and Grounds notes the passing of the Operation Puerto investigation and feels that the "hysteria" created by OP last summer somehow led to Floyd Landis' current troubles.

Zbicyclist had a minor brush with fame yesterday at the FFF event in Chicago.

Steroid Nation posts video of the FFF town hall in Chicago at YouTube, in edible 10 minute chunks with listing of the contents of each so you can pick which ones to view. It you want a summary, there's a pointer to Rant's piece of yesterday. For fun, count the spoken-words-per-minute difference between Landis and Robbie Ventura.


FasterJim posts before and after pictures of himself with Floyd Landis. One from August at the Vision Quest event held there, and one from Friday night's art auction event.

Floyd seemed much more outgoing than he was in August. Maybe he's gotten used to talking to lots of people he doesn't really know that well and with his admitted discomfort with asking people for money, maybe he's trying to go the extra mile.

Gem-osophy has a post from waay back on July 29th talking about Landis' and the family back in Farmersville, with some good pix.

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