Until he lost his appeals and changed his tune, Floyd Landis pioneered the Jack Daniels defense. Another athlete, a former American track and field sprinter, insisted that his elevated levels of testosterone were the result of repeated intercourse, and copious amounts of beer, on the eve of the test.
Before we mark the imminent anniversary of The Three Most Important Weeks in Sports History, let's examine that claim. It's a headline-desperate, search-engine-needy epithet that may or may not be true. But I challenge you to think of three weeks that were more important to sports than the 21 days from Oct. 1, 1975 to Oct. 22, 1975. Thirty-five years later, the world still feels the effects of that Wednesday-to-Wednesday-to-Wednesday-to-Wednesday whirlwind.
Let them do what they want. If it's legal and approved by the FDA, let professional athletes pop, inject, rub or otherwise ingest whatever they damned well please. So the next time someone in the media asks Floyd Landis what he's doing in Girona, Spain, Landis can say, "I'm babysitting the blood that Lance Armstrong plans to transfuse himself with in the Tour de France, of course. Why do you ask?''
Fellow cyclists accuse the star of systematic doping
Who will crash on the early, cobbled sections of this year's Tour de France, which starts in Rotterdam on Saturday? Can Alberto Contador repeat as champion, despite being surrounded by less talent on this year's Astana team? Does Lance Armstrong, two months shy of his 39th birthday, riding in his final Tour and under the shadow of a federal investigation, have even an outside shot at winning No. 8?
Been quite a time for doping revelations in sport, although as well we know, athletes accused of taking illegal drugs are invariably just downright flabbergasted to find out what has gotten into their bodies by immaculate infusion.
In a series of recent e-mails to cycling officials and sponsors, Floyd Landis accused 17 other riders -- most notably seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong -- of doping or complicity in doping. All of the accused parties either declined to address or denied outright Landis's allegations.
This story appears in the May 31, 2010, issue of Sports Illustrated.
If I'm Loren Mooney, I punch Floyd Landis in the teeth.
Cyclist Lance Armstrong responds to allegations of doping leveled by Floyd Landis.
Italian rider Riccardo RiccÒ is thrown out of the world's most famous cycle race after testing positive for a banned blood booster
Martina Hingis was a great champion and achieved pretty much everything there was to achieve in tennis. Let's not discuss her Hall of Fame career. And let's acknowledge that probably the only person in tennis who is glad she's taking center stage is Nikolay Davydenko. But even in the post-BALCO age, in the wake of Marion Jones' hollow apology-admission, and as Barry Bonds states publicly that he will boycott the Hall if they put an asterisk on his ball, the news of Hingis' positive drug test still seems rather shocking
Floyd Landis lost his expensive and explosive doping case Thursday when the arbitrators upheld the results of a test that showed the 2006 Tour de France champion used synthetic testosterone to fuel his spectacular comeback victory
I know today's stage went to Thor Hushovd, the ripped Norseman whose Christmas-ham-sized quads quivered under the green Lycra of Credit Agricole as he accepted bouquets from the podium girls in Joigny.
Well, football has mascots, basketball has mascots, baseball has mascots. Why can't cycling? -- Anthony, Bel Air, Md.
What a grand spectacle it will be! On July 7 the first rider will roll down the ramp for the prologue of the Tour de France. This year's Grand Boucle, or Big Loop, begins in London. Cycling fans are advised to focus on the pageantry of the brightly costumed athletes or on the Gothic grandeur of the Palace of Westminster, not far from the starting line.
SI.com: Cycle of intrigueupdated: Fri May 18 2007 12:47:00
MALIBU, Calif. -- During a late recess in yesterday's Floyd Landis arbitration hearing at Pepperdine University's law school, I fell into conversation with Landis's father, Paul, who'd been unaware, until I told him, that he bore a strong resemblance to hockey legend Scotty Bowman.
1. Spurs star Tim Duncan says that referee Joey Crawford challenged him to a fight while ejecting him from Sunday's game against the Mavericks. That's strange. Usually the refs and players settle disputes by footraces.
SI.com: The drug gistupdated: Fri Feb 23 2007 18:01:00
EVER since I took my meds this morning, I've felt strangely qualified to serve up some expert opinion on drugs in sports. Of course, that might just be the drugs talking, but it seems to me that for centuries, some of our greatest minds (and apparently bodies) have been influenced by the kinds of herbs and vices that make human growth hormone look like a vitamin supplement. Thou dost take issue with that view? Perhaps thou hast forgotten that Shakespeare, Byron and Shelley were opium fiends, Charlie Parker chased more dragons than St. George, and Elvis went tits-up on the growler because narcotics make you feel like there's a 50-pound pineapple stuck in your doggie-door.
FDA advisors gave their nod to a new hip resurfacing system from the British company Corin, placing it one step closer to regulatory approval.
Despite his other problems, hip rebuilding seems to have worked for Floyd Landis, the winner of last year's Tour de France. Now a Michigan-based company wants to see if it works for you.
Tour de France champion Floyd Landis told CNN that his victory in the world's most-famous bike race had nothing to do with cheating.
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