FLandis USADA trial to start (Page 2)

I am fairly convinced that he (Landis) is innocent.  There is not enough valid laboratory data to say that he's guilty, and the data that is in evidence if highly suspicious.  The whole process of "trial by media and speculation" here just makes me sick for the sport, sorry for Landis and his teammates, his family, and all who loved watching his heroic comeback in this year's Tour. 

Enough already, I say.  Fire this lab and hire another that can be truly accurate and accountable for future testing.  This one appears to be tampered and seriously flawed in their procedures.

So it seems "the mickey" is exactly the point then.  If he knowingly took the substance for whatever reason then he should be held accountable.  If he didn't (and the point being why would he if it is true that there is little to gain in one day) then "the mickey" theory starts to hold more water.  Let's say that's true then that somebody planted it, then the question is does he sill get held accountable?  Unfortunately I would say yes because he has to be responsible for what gets into his body whether it be done malitiously of by his own intent.  The governing board can't really be worried about whether he was "slipped a mickey."  That being said, if the lab itself is in question and cannot certify and justify the results it came up with, then I would say it's results need to be thrown out.

Eh, doesn't keep me up.  Just don't like to see a guy take a public bashing based on what I've seen so far of this case.

I tend to agree with the opinion that he's responsible for what's in his body, regardless of how it got there.  The lame story that you hear from almost every baseball or track athlete who gets caught doping is, "I've never knowingly taken anything illegal," which is to say, they just didn't ask any questions and allowed trainers, doctors, teammates, whoever, to give them or apply stuff to them without knowing for sure what it was, all to preserve "plausible deniability."

I'm not even suggesting that that's what happened in Landis' case, but the bottom line is, it's either in there or it isn't.  If it's in there, he owns it and should be held responsible. If he truly doesn't know how it got there, and if he wants to try and figure out who slipped him a pharmaceutical substance without his knowlege and against his will, then that's a whole other kind of investigation. 

I'll agree with Rick at how fast his team was to drop him and not help him out.

Ah, yah, I agree Derek.... Did I just say that,,,, and mean it,,,, yep...

Happy Holidays,

It would be nice if there could be a conclusive outcome to this. I don't think anyone could ever "prove" they didn't take something.

Tri-Atlanta - 2006-12-12 8:27 PM

I'll tell ya Atlanta-Tri! Eldrick Tiger Woods. He is the greatest athlete of our time, and a hell of a good person to boot. What we are able to witness right now is like being alive during the era of Babe Ruth...except Tiger's not a womanizer and a boozer in his private life.

I have to disagree. He throws the F-bomb around more than Eminem.

Wouldn't it be better if there was someone closer to home that you son looked up to instead of some stranger that hits a ball real far, or rides a bike real fast?

Just a thought.

Tri-Atlanta - 2006-12-12 10:27 PM

I'll tell ya Atlanta-Tri! Eldrick Tiger Woods. He is the greatest athlete of our time, and a hell of a good person to boot. What we are able to witness right now is like being alive during the era of Babe Ruth...except Tiger's not a womanizer and a boozer in his private life.

I have to disagree. He throws the F-bomb around more than Eminem.

I don't really think you have to look that hard to find examples of positive role models in sports. Derek Jeter, Tiki and Ronde Barber, Tim Duncan, David Eckstein, Mike Piazza, Ted Bruschi, Brian Leetch are just a few off the top of my head.  It depends on what your standards are, of course, but while guys like Sheffield and Owens and Artest seem to dominate the headlines, it isn't necessarily because they're in the majority. 

1. A man is responsible for what ends up in his body

A. I agree in principal on this one.  There may be extenuating circumstances, such as a spiked drink. 

2. If a governmental agency has accused him, he is guilty.

A. WRONG! VERY WRONG!  WE SHOULD NEVER STOP QUESTIONING ACCUSATIONS MADE BY GOVERNMENTS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES!  When a government agency accuses someone of something, it could be for a variety of reasons but not necessarily because of guilt.   A good case in point would be the German government, under Adolph Hitler, blaming the German economic collapse on a jewish conspiracy and later condemning ALL jews to concentration (termination) camps.  Let's never forget!