Common Sense

Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has hired Howard Jacobs to defend him should his B sample of urine come back a neon green color. Jacobs is well-known for defending athletes accused of doping.

“He wants to be ready to defend himself, in case the B sample comes back positive,” Jacobs said in a telephone interview. “I’m not one to accept what the lab says as proof. I haven’t seen the document. You need to see documentation to see how they got their numbers.”

Landis’s first urine sample, taken after his amazing performance in the Alps on Stage 17 of the Tour, showed an 11-1 ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone. The rules limit that ratio to 4-1. Those results were confirmed by a person at the International Cycling Union, as well as by Landis’s personal doctor, Brent Kay. Jacobs also acknowledged those results.

I’m not a lawyer, but I wouldn’t just acknowledge those results. I would argue with everyone and everything. Johnny Cochran must be rolling over in his grave.

At this point… it’s going to be kind of hard to argue that he didn’t do it. The question is really how is he so stupid that he didn’t think he would get caught injecting almost three times the maximum amount of testosterone to win Stage 17?

Steroids in baseball, testosterone in cycling… next you’ll tell me that sufentanil citrate in golf to walk the links without getting sore feet. None of it makes any sense. These sports aren’t even that important, why are they doping?

Anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised if Landis brings shame on our country by having his title stripped away from him.