The Chainlink

Say it aint so...my Floyd is a heartbreaker

There was a time when my biggest embarassment as an American re: the international sports scene was Michael Phelps' inability to keep his pants up on world-wide broadcast TV.  I was convinced and openly (loudly, annoyingly) vocal about how Floyd Landis was conspiratorially hosed after Le Tour '06.    Now I have to eat crow.  WTM-F'n F?

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=5203604

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Permalink Reply by Ed on May 21, 2010 at 7:39am
Does this mean he will return all the money he collected from people to help him defend those false doping charges against him?

I had always wanted to believe that Stage 17 was real.....guess not.
Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on May 21, 2010 at 7:46am
I expect athletes who are caught cheating to deny the allegations. I support their due process rights to a hearing to face their accusers and to rebut the evidence against them. Landis took it to another level. He vigorously maintained his innocence. He profited from his book "Positively False." He solicited donations (the "Floyd Fairness Fund" collected over half a million dollars per BSNYC) from cycling fans around the world for his legal defense. Now he seeks to profit again from his Canseco-esque tell all revelations. Floyd Landis should be banned for life from cycling. I'd like to see him prosecuted for criminal and civil fraud. I'd like to see him ordered to pay restitution. I'd like to see him sentenced to prison.
Permalink Reply by mike w. on May 21, 2010 at 7:53am
Bad enough that he played out the charade for so long, but he has to smear everyone else including King Lance. No worries, though. Whatever credibility he had is trashed.

"Leave me in peace; Everybody takes dope." -Jacques Anquetil
Permalink Reply by Craig S. on May 21, 2010 at 8:21am
If you know anything about pro cycling then you know it's been dirty forever. I watch bike racing because I enjoy it and not because I care one bit about the athletes. I make my living on the fringes of pro sports and it's a business, a huge business, plain and simple. I honestly don't care who does or who doesn't dope and the biggest crime is holding up these athletes as role models.

If the article is read, Floyd still maintains that the particular test results are in question, he doesn't back down from that claim. Saying he needs to go to prison because people donated for his legal defense? Any fool can part with their money in any way they want to. Who cares if he writes a book ala Jose Canseco, if someone wants to buy it so be it.

Pro cycling is dirty and probably always will be.
Permalink Reply by Bob Maher on May 21, 2010 at 10:24am
With respect to doping, bicycle racing is the dirtiest sport of all time. European fans accept this as truth, while many Americans fan are self-deluded.

My favorite article on the subject:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/the_bonus/07/07/tour/

Favorite quote from the article:
Britain's Tom Simpson, who died in 100-degree heat on a Provencal hillside during the 1967 Tour with amphetamines in his bloodstream and his pocket, had only a year earlier said, "If it takes 10 to kill you, I'll take nine."
Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on May 21, 2010 at 11:24am
I agree with a couple of your points, i.e. I know cycling has been dirty forever and the American public in particular is too quick to hold athletes up as role models. I even agree (but to a lesser degree) with the assertion that “it’s just business” is a valid defense to a great many shady commercial activities.

Where I believe this is qualitatively different is that Landis knowingly made a false statement of fact, which was intended to deceive and did deceive people who acted in reliance on that fact, and were induced to part with a thing of value. An these just happen to be the legal elements of fraud.

I don’t think he should go to prison or pay restitution for cheating in cycling, I believe he should go to prison and pay restitution for bilking people out of half a million dollars (a quaint sum by today’s standards, I know), based on his knowingly false statements.


Craig S. said:
If you know anything about pro cycling then you know it's been dirty forever. I watch bike racing because I enjoy it and not because I care one bit about the athletes. I make my living on the fringes of pro sports and it's a business, a huge business, plain and simple. I honestly don't care who does or who doesn't dope and the biggest crime is holding up these athletes as role models.

If the article is read, Floyd still maintains that the particular test results are in question, he doesn't back down from that claim. Saying he needs to go to prison because people donated for his legal defense? Any fool can part with their money in any way they want to. Who cares if he writes a book ala Jose Canseco, if someone wants to buy it so be it.

Pro cycling is dirty and probably always will be.
Permalink Reply by mike w. on May 21, 2010 at 11:37am
Hmmm. Maybe so, but the best punishment IMHO is that he'll never get a pro sponsorship again. His cycling career is over. From now on, when Floyd says it's a sunny day, everyone will go look out the window...


BR>
... Landis knowingly made a false statement of fact, which was intended to deceive and did deceive people who acted in reliance on that fact, and were induced to part with a thing of value. An these just happen to be the legal elements of fraud.

I don’t think he should go to prison or pay restitution for cheating in cycling, I believe he should go to prison and pay restitution for bilking people out of half a million dollars (a quaint sum by today’s standards, I know), based on his knowingly false statements.


-K.C.
Permalink Reply by Mike Keating on May 21, 2010 at 11:50am
Floyd Landis is scum. He told lie after lie (at time under oath) and used his lies to sell books and collect donations for his defense. Now he wants to "come clean" and in the process throw other riders under the bus. I don't know who is and isn't clean, but I do know that Floyd Landis should mind his own business and tend to his own life. He is pathetic.
Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on May 21, 2010 at 1:04pm
I dare say his race results since finishing the two year UCI suspension would have taken care of any future professional and sponsorship opportunities...

mike w. said:
Hmmm. Maybe so, but the best punishment IMHO is that he'll never get a pro sponsorship again. His cycling career is over. From now on, when Floyd says it's a sunny day, everyone will go look out the window... BR>
... Landis knowingly made a false statement of fact, which was intended to deceive and did deceive people who acted in reliance on that fact, and were induced to part with a thing of value. An these just happen to be the legal elements of fraud.

I don’t think he should go to prison or pay restitution for cheating in cycling, I believe he should go to prison and pay restitution for bilking people out of half a million dollars (a quaint sum by today’s standards, I know), based on his knowingly false statements.


-K.C.
Permalink Reply by mike w. on May 21, 2010 at 3:39pm
Harsh, but true.

Kevin Conway said:
I dare say his race results since finishing the two year UCI suspension would have taken care of any future professional and sponsorship opportunities...

mike w. said:
Hmmm. Maybe so, but the best punishment IMHO is that he'll never get a pro sponsorship again. His cycling career is over. From now on, when Floyd says it's a sunny day, everyone will go look out the window... BR>
... Landis knowingly made a false statement of fact, which was intended to deceive and did deceive people who acted in reliance on that fact, and were induced to part with a thing of value. An these just happen to be the legal elements of fraud.

I don’t think he should go to prison or pay restitution for cheating in cycling, I believe he should go to prison and pay restitution for bilking people out of half a million dollars (a quaint sum by today’s standards, I know), based on his knowingly false statements.


-K.C.
Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on May 21, 2010 at 5:21pm
That's what the whole controversy is about? He admits it, then accuses Lance. What a bastard! I'd demand your money back if you bought his book.
Permalink Reply by Craig S. on May 21, 2010 at 5:38pm
Lance is just as big of dick, probably bigger.

It's in the best interests of the sports business machine to hide all doping as best as it can in all sports, especially when it comes to Lance. There is too much money to let what is probably the truth about Lance be known and the UCI is just as corrupt as pro cycling is dirty. Floyd has been in the professional racing scene for quite some time, I wouldn't blithely dismiss his accusations simply because you think he's a scumbag. After all, many of Canseco's accusations came to be the truth.

Lance is most likely a doper as well. Can I prove it? Hell no but what is well known is that he was training while under steroidal therapy after his cancer surgery, I think I read that in his horribly written book. Training while on steroids. Think about it.



Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:
That's what the whole controversy is about? He admits it, then accuses Lance. What a bastard! I'd demand your money back if you bought his book.

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