Thursday, August 09, 2007

Thursday Roundup

News
The VeloNews reports that a sponsor is actually staying in the sport of cycling, T-Mobile.

Bicycling recently did an interview with Floyd Landis as he prepares for the Leadville 100 on Saturday. Floyd comments on watching a bit of the 2007 Tour de France until all hell broke loose and he had to turn off his phone and "check out". He feels that no one handled the doping situation in the Tour this year well:

"Once that information is leaked, the damage is done," said Landis. "The bottom line is that the guys enforcing the rules make them up as they go along, so the cyclists and the public have no respect for them. You can't leak information on a test until the B-sample confirms it."

"It was a totally different experience watching it form the outside," said Floyd. "It wasn't handled well by the UCI, WADA, the Lab, the ASO. No one came out of that looking good. They seemed interested in airing all their problems with one another through the press, which I don't think is the way to do it."

He also is inevitably asked about his own hearing and why it's taking so long for a decision to come down:

"I'm still really hopeful about the outcome of the case," said Landis. "I don't know what is taking so long, but I'm glad they are studying the facts and looking at the science and trying to understand all of it."


CBS5 says that Google is working on a way for people mentioned in news stories to provide their own prominently featured comments and responses.

ABC12.com says that the athletes we support and are suspicious of at the same time deceive is, and we love them anyway. Sounds like a show theme for Dr. Phil.

The Amherst Bulletin establishes new sports awards for a new age, and Floyd Landis is the lucky recipient of one of them:

Fastest Tour de France by a Rider Enhanced by Testosterone, Blood Transfusions, or Other Performance Enhancers (not including sex, margaritas, or Jack Daniels.) - Floyd Landis, USA.


The IHT has breaking news, a sponsor actually stays in the sport of cycling.

Washington Post has no Landis, but some excellent observations about Barry Bonds.

ESPN/Forde equates Landis with Palmiero, putting words into his mouth saying has no idea how he tested positive.

Sacramento Bee
snarkily writes:
Congratulations to Barry Bonds. He has broken Hank Aaron's home run record. An enormous weight has been lifted from his unusually large shoulders. His name will now stand forever in the record books, along with champions such as cyclist Floyd Landis and track star Marian Jones.

Blogs

The Guardian Unlimited Sports Blog says that American have a long history of loathing fallen sports heroes, and Floyd Landis among many others gets a mention.

Comment here by Michael
passes a rumour that Lance will do Leadville.

Noogler in Paradise is putting an end to daily blogging unless something really interesting happens. He works for Google and got to see Floyd Landis there, but really has had it with the everyday "grind" that bloggers face, and blogging about meals is getting old.

Racejunkie is waiting to see exactly what Alberto Contador will say tomorrow in his announcement. RJ is also delighted that Floyd Landis did not "bail" on Leadville as some have done, and will still participate, but those arbitrators:

There Was No Joy in Leadville/Mighty Armstrong Has Bailed Out: but far better, Floyd Landis *will* be riding, and I must confess to mad jealousy of anyone who has the good luck and close proximity to see him back in action on a bike where he belongs. While we're at it, can the arbitrators please cough up a decision soon, so long as it excoriates the horrid incompetent lab monkeys and repugnant pitchfork-wielding leak-freaks at UCI and WADA and, if nothing better, at least let you off the hook on technical grounds? On the other hand, if they're just going to fry you anyway out of sheer embarrassment at having to admit the depth of this farce, they can wait. Either way, Allez Floyd!


Adam Wakefield of Activate is pissed that cheaters and dopers get all the headlines and attention while honest athlete are somewhat forgotten.

The Daily Spin gives us cycling headlines on Alberto Contador and Floyd Landis among others.

IcelandElf has stories of the strange and weird which of course must include a mention of Floyd Landis and how stupid he must think the American public is.

Vert
provides today's "doper update".

Rant feels level heads have prevailed and wonders what Alberto will tell us tomorrow.

War on Drugs 1 wants hypnosis to replace PEDs in sports.

Nobodysmiling.com
thinks that the main lesson we teach our children thorough sports at this time is how to cheat. I always thought the lesson was that officials can be arbitrary, wrong, and there's not much point arguing about it.

Integral Options thinks Landis has been stripped of his titles, and that drugs are the rule, not the exception in sports.

Garvey's Ghost
thinks criticism of Bonds is racist, and that Landis has gotten a free pass.

It's the Blog defends Bonds, and kinda defends Landis.

Harry's Beef Trust
equates Lab Error with theft, hallucination and other excuses.

It Glitters read Positively False and thinks Lance and Floyd can both be assholes.

GlendoraMtnRoad is in Leadville looking forward to Saturday.

5 comments:

wschart said...

I sometimes wonder if too much is being made about some sponsors withdrawing from cycling. Sponsors have always come and gone. Remember St. Raphael, Peugeot, Mercier, Moltini? Certainly a few recently withdrawls, like iShares, can be blamed on doping scandals. But others are quite likely to be siimple business decisions, like the Discover withdrawl (and the USPS and Motorola withdrawals proceeding this).

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

Wschart,

I think you're on to something there. Sponsors come and go. Most often, I suspect it's for purely separate reasons. Every once in a while it might have to do with doping. But with the doping hysteria that's enveloped cycling over the last year (actually more, but it's gotten much worse in the last year) it seems like every decision a sponsor makes is reported in the context of doping -- even if that had nothing to do with it. Like the Discovery decision. That was just good ol' corporate politics. New guy comes in, doesn't like old guy's pet projects, shuts them down. But how often has the Discovery decision been reported as connected to doping problems in the sport? Pretty many, from what I've seen.

- Rant

Unknown said...

You heard it here first....Lance will race this weekend.

That's the rumor coming out today at our bike shop...

(Let's hope I'm right)

Larry said...

wschart and rant -

It's not all that easy to list the teams that have lost sponsors. But after googling for a few minutes, here are sponsors that have quit over the past couple of years, reportedly over doping concerns:

Phonak and iShares
Discovery
BMC (Astana sponsor)
Liberty Seguros
Communidad Valencia
Man (CSC sponsor)
Credit Agricole
Illes Balears
Valencia
Kelme
Banesto
ONCE

Also, while t-mobile is hanging in for a while longer (thank you, Bob Stapleton!), rumor has it that t-mobile sponsors Adidas, Audi and Skoda (VW) are out.

Races are being cancelled for lack of sponsorship, such as the Championship of Zurich, which goes back more than a century.

I know that Slipstream is looking for more sponsors, and that Discovery has not been able to find a sponsor after nearly a year of trying.

Add to this the high expense these teams face if (like Slipstream and CSC) they want to implement aggressive drug testing of their own.

With all due respect ... this is a serious problem.

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

Larry,

Point taken.

- Rant