Landis: Who out there really cares, and how much?

I absolutely agree with that. One of the things that really annoys me is when people try to tell you the world is smaller and you should give a shit about things you don't really give a shit about or have the time to give a shit about.

Yes, the global economy is making the business world a smaller place. Yes, sports leagues and teams are looking to more international players because their games are being played abroad at a higher level than before. But the fact remains, regardless of how popular some sports are internationally, mainstream America still doesn't really care much about Track and Field, Soccer, Cycling, etc.

The question isn't about whether YOU care about a sport, it's about whether the readers in your area do. And obvioiusly that's going to differ from place to place.

 

The only time I even care remotely about cycling is during the Tour de France, and I expect many readers are the same.

Thing is, though, I think this is a story that almost transcends the sport. It's doping. It's cheating. THAT is the story -- someone (possibly) cheating, winning a major event, and then (possibly) getting caught. I think people will want to read that story.

Does it stay out front throughout? Depends on what else is happening. I imagine that, as with Bonds and the horse, the story will get some play on random days inside until something major happens to bump it once again out front.

(As far as our shop goes, it's section front and lede tomorrow. Past that ... see above.)

 

It's a big story because steroids and doping are the biggest stories in sports. Sure, people act like they don't care and say they don't give a shit, but when all is said and done, this entire era of sports -- all sports -- will be defined by drugs and what the leagues/governing bodies did or did not do to keep it clean.

 

Sirs, Madames,

Actually, I think the foundation of the story will be missed no matter where it is played.

Landis' "positive" test isn't quite that. That is, he didn't test positive for a foreign substance. He did test positive for an unusually high ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone. I wrote a fair bit about this after Ben Johnson's second suspension by the track authorities. T:E is just bad science. No one knows what the hell E is anyway--it has (or at least 10 years ago, had) no known physiological significance, not according to all of the endocrinologists I interviewed, not according to anything published. And the fact is that T:E as a test is based on science that is neither published or peer review. Dr Manfred Donike (I'm going on memory about spelling) was sorta the IAAF's resident mad scientist. He had a free hand in drawing up fed testing policy. I'm sure reports will say that Landis had an unusually high level of T. Fact is, it might just as well be low levels of E (which might be neither damning nor significant). And according to reports, the level of T are not abnormal.

I heard Pound say this morning that someone with 6:1 would have his knuckles scraping the ground. Well, visit a freakin' locker room. If the shoe/skate fits, so be it. But when he said that over 10:1 is one in a million, I thought, isn't a Tour de France one in something more than a million.

(I think Diane Modahl [again sp] a British middle distance runner in the 90s showed up with T:E at 80:1, which should be in the IAAF record book.)

When foreign substances show up, that's conclusive stuff. Having high levels of a naturally occuring substance in your body is suspicious, reason for follow-up testing, but I've never thought that it's sufficient by itself.

YHS, etc

 

For what it's worth, I think I've come around to the fact that it was a big story yesterday, and it will be big when he's cleared/not cleared (although my prediction that nobody would be talking about it in the local saloon was correct).

That said, my local paper did a one column lead left (sports front) head on it and lead with the pro football team. I really think that's correct.

 

I would have to agree that it's a bit early to throw a French bias into the equation, but your point is well taken. I know of no French riders that have tested positive for banned pharmaceuticals in the recent past. I do know that the French totally hate that an American is wiinning their race every year...that's a fact and just generally understood. And the most recent episode before the race, where the German and Spanish favorites were sacked because an investigation links them to a Spanish doctor who was peddling product, smacks of a more serious witch hunt. To my knowledge, both riders did not test positive for banned substances and have denied involvement. Is anyone asking tough questions to the Tour's operations people?

 

Uh guys, there's no French bias in the equation because the UCI, who was in charge of the test, is based in Switzerland.

Can we shitcan this dopey-ass "they hate us" strawman once and for all?

I really don't know whether Landis is guilty or not, but I really doubt this is some conspiracy theory. If there was a conspiracy, why wouldn't Ullrich, et al, have been permitted to race? Think, people, think.

(Waiting for people to amend "French hate us" to "Europeans hate us")

 

so you're the asshole that added theory to conspiracy....

For the record, no one said anything about conspiracy. You did. The situation is a bit odd and you sideswiped the most important arguments, a nice legal maneuver. Bottom line, they all hate Americans and you know it. No one proved Ullrich and Basso tested positive, only that they were linked to a dirty physician. Does this make them guilty...if this is where journalism is headed, then we've already lost.

Dig for the truth you lazy ass, even if it's right in front of you and not the truth you wanted.

 

Thanks for the reasoned analysis.

 

Off the top of my head, a couple of very prominent French riders, including team leader Richard Virenque, were expelled from the 1998 Tour in the Festina doping scandal.

Here's a more recent story, compliments of Google:

http://cbs5.com/sports/local_story_184171427.html

 

Looks like I stand corrected on the French riders.