Blah…Blah…Shut this guy up!

It is funny.  Over 15 months of waiting.  Blogs and sites arguing over the procedures used.  A PR campaign waged by Floyd Landis, an entire website, Trust but Verify, dedicated to searching for the truth about the case, although heavily weighted towards Floyd’s innocence, and nobody wants to look at the simple facts.

No, why argue the simple facts when you can convince yourself this procedure wasn’t followed or that wasn’t a true positive.  You might as well get more technical since you are on the losing side.  Argue peaks and valleys.  Argue documentation flaws.  Say the majority is illogical, yet the dissent is crystal clear.

Here is the simple facts.  In a 2-1 decision, Landis was found to have been a doper.  Two of the three arbitrator found there to be enough evidence to suspend Floyd Landis.  The one arbitrator Floyd supporters hang their hat on as having a “logical” analysis is the same guy that wanted us to believe Tyler Hamilton didn’t dope (if you believe that, I have some land I would like to sell you in the swamp).   Everyone can keep arguing values, testing procedures, ect.  The problem is we are all amateurs at one of the two phases.  Either we don’t understand the science or we don’t understand how to read the reasoning of the opinion.  It doesn’t matter, the vote is still 2-1.  The majority believe not only did the IRMS proved a positive on the original samples, but also that the subsequent “B” samples from other stages found testosterone to be high.

Floyd supporters want to cite that there is no way that only some of the “B” samples could have been positive.  After all, an expert stated as much.  Keep hanging onto that shred.  After all, the other experts didn’t have a problem with it.  People may be experts in what tests are “supposed” to find, but did the expert stating the tests defied all science state that he knows about all forms of masking agents, synthetic drugs, ect.  Of course not.  After all, the cheats are always ahead of the testing.  So, of course there will be times when some results turn out positive and others negative when a guy is cheating.

Sorry, I am breaking my own rule.  The only fact that matters is 2-1. Two out of three arbitrators that adjudicate doping procedures for a living think he is guilty.  So, the conspiracy against Floyd continues.  It was the beer the night before.  It is a French conspiracy.  WADA broke its own rules.  Pound is obnoxious.   Sorry, no it was the lab.  The Tour didn’t want another American.  Hey, those weren’t even positive values.  The arbitrators don’t understand the science.

I guess everyone else understand everything and the arbitrators don’t.
Maybe it is our arrogance as Americans that won’t let us believe he is guilty.  After all, the “bad” guys dope.  The East Germans.  The Soviets.  Not people from the USA.  Well, okay, maybe that jerk Barry Bonds.  Not a nice guy like Floyd though.

On a final note, it is entirely possible Floyd was doping and didn’t know it.  After all, Floyd is an elite athlete.  Elite athletes do as they are told.  Train at power X.  Ride for Y hours.  Ride in intensity Z for K minutes.  Move your bars back and up for time trials.  Wear this helmet.  He probably has tons of advisers.  He probably takes tons of supplements and vitamins.  Some of those might even be injected.   He doesn’t question.  He doesn’t know what is really in them.  After all, he isn’t a scientist.  He doesn’t fill the drink or the injection.  He concentrates on becoming the fastest and fittest he can be.  Maybe what is lost in all this sophistication is that Floyd, until all this happened, was a simple guy.  Probably didn’t question all that much.  He just did.  After all, did his team come to his defense?  No.  They let him shake in the wind.  This is the same team where Tyler tested positive.  Maybe the team, its trainers, its director, all knew something Floyd didn’t.  Maybe.

2-1.

Let’s get one thing straight. Landis cheated; however, the rules of the system bailed out LNDD, the USADA, UCI and WADA.

In English/American jurisprudence there is an argument known as “fruit of the poisonous tree.” Simply stated if law enforcement’s original evidence, that leads to other evidence of guilt, is obtained illegally, then all the evidence of guilt that is obtained as a result of the original, illegally obtained evidence, is thrown out. Law Enforcement cannot let illegally obtained evidence lead to other, legally obtained evidence of guilt. A lot of time you will here people saying in that instance the criminal got off on a “technicality.”

Luckily, for cycling fans, the USADA, UCI and WADA, that rule doesn’t apply when trying to catch cheats in sports, nor should it. After reading the majority and dissenting opinions there are some obvious things. First, LNDD messed up the original testing of both the “A” and “B” samples through the GS/MS testing to the point that a positive based on that test alone would not have been enough to find Landis guilty of doping. It was enough though to start the process which led to the testing of numerous “B” samples through a more accurate process for testing for testosterone known as IRMS. These samples came back positive as well and were enough to bolster the testing of the original “B” sample which was tested by this process also.

In an American court, most likely none of that evidence would have been admissible as the original testing, known as the GC/MS test, was so fundamentally flawed it would have to be thrown out. Thus, under the “poisonous tree” argument, all the IRMS testing would have been thrown out as well. This is not an American court though. We are not talking about putting a person behind bars. We are talking about a system that is trying to ensure the integrity of cycling and other sports by catching people that dope. To me it is clear that Landis is guilty as charged.

There is no doubt from the majority opinion that they think LNDD is totally incompetent, even though they state on several occasions, that they think LNDD followed proper procedure on the IRMS testing. Reading between the lines, it seems clear that if not for the subsequent testing of the “B” samples, Landis could easily have won. But, since the evidence against him from the subsequent testing was so overwhelming, they couldn’t let a cheat go.

This isn’t unusual even in American jurisprudence. It is often stated that appellate courts, state supreme courts, and even the US Supreme Court, don’t like to let obviously guilty people go on technicalities. Attorneys arguing for clients on these technicalities, know that they need to at least cast some doubt onto whether their client is actually guilty, if they are going to win the technical issue. The more serious the crime, the more doubt you need that your client might not be guilt.

Well, Landis committed the most heinous of crimes in cycling and sports. He was accused not only of cheating to win, but to win the biggest race in his sport. Thus, after seeing the opinions, it would have taken a lot more doubt to let Landis walk away as innocent. It is clear that the majority opinion would like to have slapped LNDD into its place. It is also clear the majority wasn’t going to make an example of the lab and the system when the evidence clearly demonstrated Landis cheated to win the biggest race in his sport.

It should be noted, that Landis’ defense team did try to show that LNDD was incompetent in performing the IRMS, and I think they were quite successful. Just not to the point that the results on all the tests, on all the “B” samples could be overcome.

Landis is a doper and cycling fans were cheated. Deep down though, I still want to believe he did not. The evidence states otherwise.

After nearly 14 months from when Landis was first accused of cheating, we can now say he was.  Whether you believe it or not, at this point he has been deemed to have doped by an independent group of arbitrators that specialized in hearing cases related to doping in sports.  There will be the outcry from those that still think he is innocent (maybe they think OJ is still innocent too).  As much as I hoped for the panel to find in his favor and renew my faith in athletes, it wasn’t to be.

Landis now goes on the list even ahead of some other well-noted, doping cheats.  He is ahead of Barry Bonds (not a single positive test, let alone a hearing finding him guilty).  He is ahead of Marion Jones who had been accused of doping by implication.  He is ahead of Mark MacGuire and Sammy Sosa, who also have never tested positive.  He joins the ranks of Ben Johnson and Tyler Hamilton.  He has been adjudicated to have taken performance enhancing drugs to win the world’s greatest bike race.

Landis put up a huge fight.  He spent a lot of his own money and convinced others to give to his defense.  I wonder if those people feel betrayed.  After all, although not a United States court of law, there was a process, Landis defended himself, and lost.

Whether he will appeal remains to be seen.  After all, the resources invested in that would have to be huge.  Resources Landis probably doesn’t have.  Also, by the time it would be finished, his ban would be over.  So, even if he doesn’t appeal, he may still plead innocence and use financial stress as the reason he doesn’t move forward.  Who could blame him?

I cannot wait to read the opinion.  It should be interesting.