http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/14289468p-15116960c.html
Marcos Bretón: Landis, Bonds crossing paths
By Marcos Bretón -- Bee Columnist
Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, August 6, 2006
Is the media going easier on disgraced Tour de France winner Floyd Landis than on fellow sports drugs suspect Barry Bonds, who has been vilified, though Bonds never tested positive for performance-enhancing substances as Landis has?
It's an interesting question to ponder, a day after a second drug test showed Landis had abnormally high testosterone levels and put him in danger of being stripped of his unlikely cycling triumph.
One minute he was the underdog with the All-American grit who rode his bike through the French Alps at a superhuman clip -- an amazing feat for a man with a degenerative hip condition that made it impossible for him to cross his legs.
Now he's "Roid" Landis with so much testosterone in his urine it's a wonder he wears biking gear and not Speedo briefs, gold chains and a spritz of Old Spice.
This little dude who resembles Shaggy of "Scooby Doo" fame might give new meaning to the words "juiced up." He had enough male hormones in his body to exceed by three times the accepted levels mandated by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Drug testers found in Landis' system synthetic testosterone, a designer substance that helps the body bounce back faster from exertion like a Viagra for jocks.
Talk about your hazardous side effects: This whole thing has heaped ridicule on Landis, killed his endorsement chances, his scheduled slot on Jay Leno, his victory lap around America.
When the news broke at roughly 2 a.m. Saturday that a second Landis drug test was dirty, it was carried live on CNN and was posted prominently on the Web sites of the New York Times, ESPN and many others.
Is that getting off easy? No. Is it the same as the Bonds treatment? No.
But there is no way it could be. Whoever heard of Landis three months ago except the most die-hard cycling fans?
He was seemingly famous in an instant and infamous in a quicker instant.
How are you going to compare a soiled flash in the pan with a guy who has loomed like a mountain over the San Francisco Bay as Bonds has since he became a Giant in 1993, since he shattered the season home run record in 2001 and since he passed Babe Ruth in career home runs May 28?
Still, a Bee reader who identified himself as African American left me an agitated voice mail last week saying the media was going easy on Landis, who is white, while "crucifying" Bonds, who is black. I've heard similar arguments from people of many persuasions, including white folks who see Bonds as a race "victim."
Landis to Bonds seems like apples and oranges. Mark McGwire to Bonds? That argument seems much more plausible because McGwire got the benefit of the doubt when he was popped with androstenedione, a cousin to steroids. He got the benefit of the doubt when his body swelled to Michelin Man proportions, when it broke down with suspicious injuries and when steroid whispers failed to stick to his Teflon body.
But McGwire's reputation has taken a beating -- he has become a virtual hermit -- since he refused to answer steroid questions before a congressional committee last year. And his once-certain Hall of Fame induction next year is in deep trouble. Call it the varied hues in an ugly portrait of steroids in sports.
Did McGwire ever test positive for anything? No. Has Bonds? No. But McGwire wouldn't deny using steroids under oath. And Bonds won't challenge the facts of his steroid use as detailed in a book by two San Francisco Chronicle writers.
Why?
Lance Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France winner who has faced his own steroid accusations, said this to the Associated Press recently: "My suggestion to Floyd would be if you're innocent, you believe you're innocent, then you stand up and fight for it. … You have to fight back, answer the questions."
Landis says he will do this, claims he naturally has more testosterone than the average fella.
Maybe he'll go down in history as an embattled macho man. Or maybe his failed drug tests will withstand Landis' appeals and prove that liars and cheats might not be created equally, but they do come in every color and every sport.
About the writer: Reach Marcos Bretón at (916) 321-1096 or mbreton@ sacbee.com.
Marcos Bretón: Landis, Bonds crossing paths
By Marcos Bretón -- Bee Columnist
Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, August 6, 2006
Is the media going easier on disgraced Tour de France winner Floyd Landis than on fellow sports drugs suspect Barry Bonds, who has been vilified, though Bonds never tested positive for performance-enhancing substances as Landis has?
It's an interesting question to ponder, a day after a second drug test showed Landis had abnormally high testosterone levels and put him in danger of being stripped of his unlikely cycling triumph.
One minute he was the underdog with the All-American grit who rode his bike through the French Alps at a superhuman clip -- an amazing feat for a man with a degenerative hip condition that made it impossible for him to cross his legs.
Now he's "Roid" Landis with so much testosterone in his urine it's a wonder he wears biking gear and not Speedo briefs, gold chains and a spritz of Old Spice.
This little dude who resembles Shaggy of "Scooby Doo" fame might give new meaning to the words "juiced up." He had enough male hormones in his body to exceed by three times the accepted levels mandated by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Drug testers found in Landis' system synthetic testosterone, a designer substance that helps the body bounce back faster from exertion like a Viagra for jocks.
Talk about your hazardous side effects: This whole thing has heaped ridicule on Landis, killed his endorsement chances, his scheduled slot on Jay Leno, his victory lap around America.
When the news broke at roughly 2 a.m. Saturday that a second Landis drug test was dirty, it was carried live on CNN and was posted prominently on the Web sites of the New York Times, ESPN and many others.
Is that getting off easy? No. Is it the same as the Bonds treatment? No.
But there is no way it could be. Whoever heard of Landis three months ago except the most die-hard cycling fans?
He was seemingly famous in an instant and infamous in a quicker instant.
How are you going to compare a soiled flash in the pan with a guy who has loomed like a mountain over the San Francisco Bay as Bonds has since he became a Giant in 1993, since he shattered the season home run record in 2001 and since he passed Babe Ruth in career home runs May 28?
Still, a Bee reader who identified himself as African American left me an agitated voice mail last week saying the media was going easy on Landis, who is white, while "crucifying" Bonds, who is black. I've heard similar arguments from people of many persuasions, including white folks who see Bonds as a race "victim."
Landis to Bonds seems like apples and oranges. Mark McGwire to Bonds? That argument seems much more plausible because McGwire got the benefit of the doubt when he was popped with androstenedione, a cousin to steroids. He got the benefit of the doubt when his body swelled to Michelin Man proportions, when it broke down with suspicious injuries and when steroid whispers failed to stick to his Teflon body.
But McGwire's reputation has taken a beating -- he has become a virtual hermit -- since he refused to answer steroid questions before a congressional committee last year. And his once-certain Hall of Fame induction next year is in deep trouble. Call it the varied hues in an ugly portrait of steroids in sports.
Did McGwire ever test positive for anything? No. Has Bonds? No. But McGwire wouldn't deny using steroids under oath. And Bonds won't challenge the facts of his steroid use as detailed in a book by two San Francisco Chronicle writers.
Why?
Lance Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France winner who has faced his own steroid accusations, said this to the Associated Press recently: "My suggestion to Floyd would be if you're innocent, you believe you're innocent, then you stand up and fight for it. … You have to fight back, answer the questions."
Landis says he will do this, claims he naturally has more testosterone than the average fella.
Maybe he'll go down in history as an embattled macho man. Or maybe his failed drug tests will withstand Landis' appeals and prove that liars and cheats might not be created equally, but they do come in every color and every sport.
About the writer: Reach Marcos Bretón at (916) 321-1096 or mbreton@ sacbee.com.
