Saturday, December 09, 2006

Saturday Roundup

News
LA Times has an excellent long article by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Hiltzik about enforcement of doping, with detailed discussion of Landis. It begins:

Anti-doping authorities serve as prosecutor, judge and jury. Innocent athletes often pay a high price.

The worldwide sports anti-doping program, created to fight performance-enhancing drug use in international athletics, imposes severe punishments for accidental or technical infractions, relies at times on disputed scientific evidence and resists outside scrutiny, a Times investigation has found.

This promises to be a multipart story. Can't wait for more tomorrow. Good reference page too. They even gave TBV a link under the title, "Floyd Landis: blog on Landis doping allegations", our first MSM reference. Joy!

Thisislondon.co.uk (Evening Standard online) gives an excellent retelling of the whole mess from Landis' point of view under the headline, "Innocent Man or Cheat?" Also on The Daily Mail.
"I don't fault people for believing I must be guilty," he said. "If I were looking in from the outside, I'd be feeling exactly the same way. But I'd like to be given a fair trial and the evidence to be considered with an open mind."

CyclingPost has some Landis quotes, but doesn't say where they are from or when they were made.
"It is just ridiculous that riders who were not allowed to start in the Tour de France even couldn't talk to the media. They were accused, that's all! They had to go home without defending themselves. While a story always has two sides,"

Blogs
Fun Here and Away notes that FL is riding again and cites floydlandis.com

Baseball Musings reads the LA Times report and is glad MLB didn't go along.

The Polish Hammer gets to writing about Landis, and thinks he's probably guilty.

[end]

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm happy to see that Times article. I think a lot of us are hoping that no matter what happens with Floyd, that this arcane system gets revamped so that it focuses on truth rather than simply verifying your position at the start.

They need to be targeting the system of doping, not just the individual riders anyway.

Anonymous said...

very good article L.A. Times!

Regarding the quote by Dick Pound, if doping is the biggest threat to sports, then Dick Pound and WADA are the second biggest threats to sports and the biggest threat to innocent athlete's. Sad very sad.

And after the information or lack there of given by USADA and Tygart, they are just as bad.


color my eyes wide open TBF!

Atown, Tx

Anonymous said...

ORG here ….

TBV:

I have my tin foil hat on and I’m standing on a grassy knoll in Area 51. Here is my conspiracy theory. Critiques by any/all are welcomed.

My sense is the mainstream media (MSM) is ready to tear the anti-doping cops apart. What they need is a catalyst. That catalyst is Landis walking.

I’ve sensed that the MSM has gone quiet to mildly supportive of Landis since he released his documents (Oct 12). I think they buy he’s innocent and they ready to pounce. They need a reason and Landis will be it. If he doesn’t walk, this will never happen.

This LA Times investigation coming in the middle of l’ affaire Landis only re-enforces my beliefs. Why now. This series is a waste of Landis is guilty. That will drown out the findings here. UNLESS, they think Landis has a good chance of walking so publishing now is not that big a risk.

If you want me to go way out on a limb (beyond Jupiter), the processional sports leagues of MLB, NBA and NFL are supporting this behind the scenes. They would love for drug testing thing to go away. Politically it cannot. But if Landis walks, they can use this as a reason to discredit the tests and go back to their preferred method of turning a blind eye.

(Here’s on from beyond Pluto, the LA Times is owned by the Tribune Company. They also own the Cubs. The Cubs have employed more positive steroid tests than any organization in baseball – true! The Cubs owner would like steroid testing to go away. It would be too obvious for the Chicago Tribune to do this story.)

All this further adds to Landis quote that this is “war” and the winner gets nothing and the loser gets a de facto death penalty. The ADA’s know full well what will happen if they lose and will stop at NOTHING to win.

So, how much of this are you buying? Or, should I return my overdue copy of “Conspiracy Theory”, pay the late fees, and move on with my life?

Anonymous said...

as far as your conspiracy theory.

Main stream media has gone quiet, because. 1. we are talking about cycling and in America and cycling is not main stream here. 2. main stream will rip WADA a new one only if you are correct about the Tribune Co. Conspiracy and they push the story.
3. Main stream media is to liberal and is more likely to support the french than landis. (that's just my conspiracy theory talking)

however if Landis were to win and I were Landis the NBA, MLB, NFL as well as USCF and all other governing sports bodies, I'd be lobbying congress for a hearing on the viability of USADA and participation in WADA under it's current structure.

Hit USADA and WADA where it hurts, the pocketbook!

Atown, tx

Anonymous said...

That's an amazingly sympathetic opening article for the series. I don't know what the explanation is as to "Why now?" But from that beginning, I can't see the series doing anything less than calling for a wholesale overhaul of the system. If it gets any major play, it could help FL get a fair hearing by encouraging the arbitrators to be skeptical of what they hear from USADA and WADA.

Marc

Anonymous said...

ORG Here ....

Again theEvening Standard story fuels my suspion that the MSM is ready to pounce on USADA/WADA if Landis walks.

Can anyone recall any other accused drug cheat getting this kind of press? Every other time it's "cheater go away!"

Anonymous said...

I finally was able to read the Times article thoroughly. This stuck out:

"Vencill appealed his suspension from international competition, but arbitrators concluded that the unwitting contamination of his multivitamins by the manufacturer did not relieve him of liability for consuming any banned substances."

That amazes me. In a way, it's like being found guilty for a bank robbery when you were the hostage.

Anonymous said...

The more mainstream media look into this the better. I hope a giant spotlight is focused on WADA and the USADA and their gross negligence in the FL case. Give the public a chance to see the facts, and you just may be surprised by their reaction. Far more of the general public remember this case than most cyclists realize. Public opinion is a very powerful thing. Just ask any politician. The more people that start asking questions the better! Just an example: The French lab admits to an error in the testing proceedure. They attempt to shrug it off as a little minor detail. Just administrative. Notice the media is not so convinced, neither is the general public either. It makes people ask, what else is wrong? Make no mistake, WADA, the UCI, and the USADA DO NOT want this public! Just take a moment to ask yourselves: WHY?
Mike
Green Mountain Cyclery
Ephrata, PA.

Anonymous said...

Trislax here:
Sadly, for all the reasons mentioned above, there is no way Floyd walks. All the doping agencies know the dogs are barking and hungry, so they will seal Floyd's deal no matter how compelling the evidence and walk away rather than deal with any degree of introspection or re-evaluation of process. Sucks for Floyd, and I hope I'm wrong