Wednesday Roundup

News
The Gazette's Malcom Aboud thinks fans and press alike are hypocrites when it comes to skewering doping athletes in the media. Floyd Landis is a bad guy who gets lambasted and Lance Armstrong is a hero who no one touches because he fought cancer.

Lancaster Online talks about the FFF Homecoming on the 25th; rerun at Potholes and Roadapples below.

Blogs
Steroid Nation gets a slide from Arnie showing the "typo" sample number was a jar for another rider, tested at the same time as Landis' stage-17 test. That means there's a genuine possibility of physical confusion of sample jars. The tell-tale document is from the AFLD, not from USADA.

Rant picks up on SN's story, and notes the implications -- maybe someone else was on testosterone after all, and the whistleblower docs are right about how sloppy LNDD has been.

Potholes and Roadapples notes that, put simply, Floyd is going home:

The program in Ephrata, like other FFF events, will feature a presentation of Landis’ legal defense by Dr. Arnie Baker, a longtime Landis friend.
“Arnie wants to present to Floyd’s family in particular,” Henson said this morning. “He wants to show Floyd’s family the facts and show that ‘Hey, your son is a good guy,’ ” said Henson.
“Not that they doubt it, but Arnie just wants to show them the facts.

Hernando go lightly was recently questioned by cycling newbies about Floyd Landis' innocence, and frankly he doesn't care anymore because the sport of cycling is just too hard.

The RoadBike.com notes that power meters are indisputably here to stay, and that they will revolutionize cycling.

Dugard notes that the retirement of cyclist Jan Ullrich seems to oddly coincide with the retirement of UCLA Olympic Lab director Don H. Catlin
He wonders that with the dismissal of OP if only Ullrich could have held on a little longer would he have been exonerated? He also puts forth the theory that Catlin retired because he feared repercussions from the scheduled May USADA hearing for Floyd Landis. We're not sure about that -- UCLA is probably going to come out looking better than a lot of the other players.

Bolder on Boulder thinks that it's the Tour de France PR machine may be the reason behind the extreme length of time the Landis case has taken to be heard.

Rant talks earlier today about shopping, stories that is. He is concerned about confidential sources who shop their stories to the media. Their agendas may not be what they seem:

Someone from an anti-doping agency calling up to tell you the dirt on Floyd Landis is one thing — especially if that source wishes to remain anonymous. Someone calling up to tell you of some shenanigans going on in the anti-doping agency is another.

In the first instance, you need to be leery of whether the source is just trying to spin the story in such a way that it makes the anti-doping agency look good. Remember that USADA receives the majority of their funding from Congress. And WADA receives some funding from the US Congress, too. Both agencies have a vested interest in Congress and the public perceiving them as being on top of the doping problem and catching those dirty athletes who are destroying “pure” sporting competition.

Now, if a source calls up and tells you of various shenanigans going on with an agency, you still have to be leery of the story. One thing you need to figure out before publishing their allegations is whether they have a personal axe to grind. Imagine an employee who was just fired, or whose job was in peril, going to the press with stories of rampant wrong-doing. The stories might be true. But they might also be false, and the person telling them might be out for revenge.

Quickrelease.tv tells us that a movie parody about the sport of cycling is in the works. It cites The Hollywood Reporter as its source, a subscription is needed to access THR:

The maker of two movies spoofing God is to turn his production company’s attention on the world of pro cycling.
And there’s plenty to laugh about. Could there be cameo roles for WADA’s Dick Pound (the man not the place) and the UCI’s Pat McQuaid?

Of course, Floyd Landis vs USADA is no laughing matter but it’s hard to think how a spoof movie about the Tour de France could avoid the subject of doping, replete as it is with testosterone patches and peeing into bottles.

Think I’m kidding about the Hollywood treatment? Not so. The movie rights to Tour de Frank have been optioned by Universal Pictures, reveals The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie will be produced by Tom Shadyac, director of God spoofs Bruce Almighty of 2003 and Evan Almighty of 2007.

The mind boggles with casting ideas!

CityBikesMike had a Floyd sighting in Maryland, probably related to Bicycle Coalition work in DC this week.

Doucheblog notes that you can count on some things like Mario Lemieux , and then there's Operation Puerto that only managed to make the anti doping agencies look stupid. He says Floyd is having something at the end of the month that he might attend but we are confused about what that might be!

The CaliRado Cyclist attended last weekend's Colorado FFF stop and it caused him to reminisce about last summer's Tour de France and how it was overwhelming on so many fronts:

Anyone who closely watched the 2006 Tour de France is sure to have an accompanying tale of excitement, depression and elation during the race. These feelings were followed quickly by the crushing news of a possible doping violation which, unfortunately, has seemed to overshadow the value of the earlier experience for many fans. But it doesn't have to be that way and I can attest to the benefit of reflecting on the race as we experienced it, cleanly - not through the dope-colored glasses many of us have been chosen to wear of late. We all navigated the crazy road of Floyd’s Tour victory in our own personal fashion but the curious element of my experience during the 2006 Tour de France was the fact that it coincided with a cross-country move as well.

He was also very impressed with the FFF presentation by Dr. Baker and by Landis himself.

FatCyclist says its not dopers killing cycling, it's WADA and the UCI's fundamental approach.

VeloGal thumps for the Tour of Innocence, and is dying for the rest of the 60 or so arguments. More amusing, she catches Landis' close personal friend Tom Boonen in a gaffe at Paris-Nice:

Alexandr Kolobnev of CSC staying away for over 200km to take the long downhill finish. Even with the little kick at the end, his legs held out. I guess Kolobnev was away for so long that Tom Boonen forgot all about him, because ten or so seconds later, Boonen sprinted across the line with this arms up in victory. Do riders feel like a fool when they do that? Jeeze, they all have the radios in their ears, so how could he not know about the breakaway and that Kolobnev hadn’t been caught? Kinda funny... Maybe Tom was listening to his MP3 player instead...

Let's see, Boonen, Quick Step, Lefevere on the radio. Yeah. Using the iPod instead of the radio makes sense.

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