Friday, August 03, 2007

Friday Roundup

News
CyclingNews Letters this week finds two in support of Floyd Landis on the basis of the LNDD being unable to perform the doping tests correctly, not to mention the lack of due process in the Landis case as well as others. One by Bill Kinkead titled, "WADA Vigilantes"cites a statement by Dr. Christiane Ayotte from the Montreal WADA lab as saying the labs need to be creative as the rich athletes and their lawyers are.

Vail Daily News
says Landis is turning up for tomorrow's Copper Triangle ride, a fundraiser with Davis Phinney. Sounds like he's been in Colorado for a while putting in some miles at altitude in preparation for Leadville.

Leadville Herald talks about "Boom Days", which precede the arrival of Landis and Lance the next weekend.

CyclingNews reports Eddy Merckx saying he thinks 3/4 of the peloton is clean -- meaning he thinks 25% are doping. He'd go easy on Petacchi for an extra puff, but put the hammer on blood dopers because of the health risk. He's drawn back to his own case:

Merckx was himself at the centre of controversy when he was forced to leave the 1969 Giro d'Italia based on a doping-related incident, however, he always maintained he was a victim of an error or a conspiracy. "It was based on a medicine that was not forbidden. They never did a counter-analysis. The stage in question was insignificant. Further, the private analysis, done right after the positive result, came out negative. ... Everyone is able to make a mistake, even the judicial authority."

Transition Times
presents a Q&A with Shonny Vanlandingham who beat Floyd Landis by three minutes in the Teva Mountain Games earlier this year.

ESPN Page 2 slipped one past us Wednesday as Jim Caple rode through Landis country recently and visited Floyd's parents pictured below:

I arrived at their house completely unannounced, but the two welcomed me warmly. Arlene blended me a milk shake, and as the evening sky darkened, we sat around a backyard table with fireflies flashing around us and crickets chirping in the background.

"It was a year ago, and people are still sending us letters," Arlene said as Paul spread out letters of support from as far away as the Netherlands and France. "Every day, we get a letter from someone telling us that they're praying for us."


Several citations have picked up the conclusion:
I asked whether they wished Floyd had gone into something other than cycling.

They were silent for a moment. Then Arlene said, "All this proves to me is that worldly fame is worthless."


Washington Post reports on Justin Gatlin's USADA hearing, which has completed behind closed doors. He apparently wore a wire to assist investigation of BALCO, and the Feds testified for him. He's arguing he got sabotaged, and his previous offense shouldn't be counted for purposes of sanction. He's trying to become eligable for the Beijing Olympics.

China Sport gave us the link to the above.

Washington City Paper
calls out the Post's Sally Jenkins for being righteous about Bonds, but not saying anything similar about Armstrong. He brings up Landis, but doesn't know that Jenkins turned on him over The Call.

Blogs

The Science of Sport is shocked, shocked at Landis' attitude towards Barry Bonds.

Floyd Landis (“Positively False,” also on the left up there) was asked about Barry Bonds and what he thought of him breaking the record. Landis’ response was that during the years when Bonds was taking steroids, these drugs were not banned in Major League Baseball, and there was no testing policy. Therefore, shouldn’t we get off of Bonds’ back? Did he really do something against the rules? After all, he was not violating the rules of baseball as they were at that time.

This is a shocking response but probably illustrates the ambition of athletes like Bonds and Landis. For those athletes who possess such a will and desire to win, the ends justify the means. Although taking performance-enhancing drugs is morally and ethically wrong, and likely a health risk, providing it is not literally against the rules, then it must be ok to do it.


Bunch's Big Blog considers us an "FOB", thanks.

Michale Sampiano has been taking photographs, and one of them is of Floyd Landis at a book signing a while back.

Principal Pardoe's Blog mentions that since the Landis doping saga began over a year ago there has been a lot of controversy in cycling, that's an understatement.

ebooks.com notes the addition of "From Lance to Landis".

Elvis Kennedy has a podcast of the Q&A at the Wheaton IL book tour.

Talkin' Sports see his shrink and finds he is suffering from a case of "letdownitis" due to sports heroes with feet of clay.

Recovox News takes the unusual stance that Floyd Landis should have been allowed to take testosterone while training, then he could have eliminated the thyroid medicine he currently takes and the cortisone shots he needed for his necrotic hip.

Potholes and Roadapples posts excerpts from a letter to the editor of the Lancaster newspaper defending cycling and Floyd Landis in this time of upheaval.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Maybe I am naive, but reading Anne Gripper in cycling news sounds promising that the UCI will be working with a Dick Pound free WADA in a responsible manner.

See link

http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/2007/interviews/?id=anne_gripper_part207

Unknown said...

Jim Caple (ESPN Page 2) didn't just run across Arlene and Paul, Floyd's mom & dad, on a good day. Each time I see them, I'm reminded that they are among the kindest people I've ever met. The manner in which Jim Capel was welcomed into the Landis home, even though it was impromptu, is a fairly regular occurence based upon personal experience and reliable stories from friends.

Paul and Arlene are great people.

daniel m (a/k/a Rant) said...

Actually, Elvis Kennedy's podcast is just the audio from Floyd's Wheaton, IL appearance, complete with the question and answer session after his opening remarks.

strbuk said...

JRD, you are so right about Paul and Arlene. I had the pleasure of having a long visit with them the last time I was in Ephrata, they are the real thing, as nice as people get.

str

DBrower said...

Emailer LTuk writes (with permission):


Hey wake up everybody. Don't you see what's going on here? The blogs, letters and comments that I see on and through TBV are way too good. We’ve got people here who are incredibly articulate, insightful and even knowledgeable. These guys and girls just sit down and come up with this stuff? I don't think so.

500 words that are right on point. Critically analytical but respectful? at 2am? give me a Break. No way is this happening without massive amounts of caffeine. Maybe even nicotine. I would not be surprised if some of the writers are using a thesaurus or at least spell check. It’s just not natural to be that good. You know this just leads to paraphrasing and plagiarism.

In keeping with the theme of Trust but Verify, I think that every poster should submit to urinalysis and haematology testing. Each article to be followed by a short profile of the writer: education and profession to provide a baseline and then a daily listing of aids and utilities.

Every poster must indicate their availability for testing 24/7/365. If they are found to have taken or used anything that a group of people (meaning "me") decide is cheating, they lose their jobs. Their real jobs. Ride or Write dirty and you lose. BIG TIME!

If it can be proved (or even if it can’t) that a writer knows a really, really smart person, their words should be viewed with suspicion. “He studied under Doctor von Blah-Blah at Harvard?” That’s it – no posts for you until you can prove that you failed the course. We want a sample of your GPA. You’re not bringing your deceitful syllogisms to this discussion.

Come on people lets clean it up. Sure I am impressed, informed and edified by the scintillating syntax, exhaustive research and ..cognitive convolutions, but I just cannot enjoy the discussion, much less respect the writers feeling that they might be pumped up on double espressos or coke (a-cola) or these new age philosophical constructs.

These people might say “what harm does it do? Who does it hurt?” However, the reality is that even everyday people who are exposed to these discussions are found at parties to be saying to the uniformed “Actually that’s not quite true..” This can only lead to debate and ultimately ...spousal discomfort.

I personally have some familiarity with the pressures of the intellectual stratosphere being as i was once told that I was the smartest guy in grade 6 (until “Jamie” showed up) so I know what I'm talking about and some of the people posting are way too smart! You can just tell. Its not fair.

Please, don’t ruin it for everybody, confess, come clean and become part of the solution. Bring this discussion down to a meaningless level of drivel before someone’s opinion becomes permanently changed.



Mediocrities

( son of Innocuous )

Laura Challoner, DVM said...

Mediocraties:

Thanks for the great post. I especially love the part about "Jamie" in Grade 6.

Bill

daniel m (a/k/a Rant) said...

Mediocrities,

I confess. When I write, I'm hopped up on Peets -- Decaf Special Blend or Decaf French Roast.

;-)

Excellent post!

- Rant

PEM said...

As a sporadic poster here, I am just a quiet, unassuming domestique, with the occasional attempt at a breakaway when times are quiet.

For my availability? You can find me at my computer every 2 hours checking TBV to see if there is a Landis ruling. So far, I have to settle on the next best thing – interesting and insightful links and comments to read.

Now here are 2 more cents:

It is disheartening to read the nasty comments at other sites that have well-written articles (most recently, Jim Caple at ESPN Page 2 for example). It shows how people are still uninformed, quick to judge, and have the audacity to put it in writing for all to see.

It is a breath of fresh air that most of the commentaries here are well thought out, educational, entertaining and written politely (of course tied with Rant’s site).

Peter.

Cheryl from Maryland said...

Ave Mediocrities!

While you mentioned caffeine and nicotine, you forgot cabernet sauvignon and Tanqueray #10. Oh, and chocolate. Don't let these oversights happen again.

PS - while I listened to the hearings, I did not hear Dr. Ayotte make the statement cited above. Now that I read this, I'm feeling chills. Why isn't making sure your lab adheres to the highest standards sufficent?

Larry said...

Are we shocked, shocked about Barry Bonds' alleged use of steroids?

If Bonds DID use steroids, then I hope we CAN summon up a little bit of shock, because his steroids use would have been against the law.

I think it is fair to say that Bonds cheated if he used steroids. Sure, it's unfortunate that Major League Baseball had not prohibited steroid use until recently. However, it's fair to read into the rules of baseball (or any other sport) that a player cannot break the law in connection with his performance in the sport. It should not be necessary to repeat the entirety of the U.S. criminal code in the rules for every sport.

I mean, if a player issues threats of violence to influence the outcome of a game ("throw me another fastball, and you'll find four flat tires on your car tonight!"), I think the player has cheated, even if the League has not gotten around to prohibiting extortion.

(Memo to Floyd: I appreciate the fact that you're such an honest guy. But you're not ... er ... HELPING any of your supporters out here when you make statements like the ones you've made about Barry Bonds. They might lead the average person to think that you're not all that interested in clean sport.)

Larry said...

Oh, to clarify: I actually believe that Floyd Landis is probably MORE committed to clean sport than is the average rider on the Tour. I wasn't trying to be snarky.

wildiris said...

Here is a bit of history trivia that goes along well with LTuk's comments. It has been noted that the beginning of the Renaissance in Europe correlates in time with the introduction of coffee, as a drink, from Arabia. I don't know if this correlation is cause&effect or just coincidence. But it's fun to think about.

P.S. Though I've never posted here before, I've been visiting this site almost every day since last year. Thank you, TBV, for all of the good work.

Tyson said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/sports/baseball/04perez.html

Look guys, a baseball player doped. You know what that means: Baseball is imperiled as a sport and should shut down for a year to cope. They should stage a big public arrest of the player in the middle of a game.

Yeesh.

Tyson said...

(Above link should be: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/sports/baseball/04perez.html. Sorry.