A few sports columnists have resorted to “turkey” or “what I'm thankful for” lists this Thanksgiving, and some of those have named bicycle racer Floyd Landis.
Carl Seward mentions Tour de France winner Landis, a few places below Randy Moss, in his Turkeys of the Year at insidebayarea.com:
“Floyd Landis. Boy, did Landis ever take us for a ride. All those years suspecting Lance Armstrong of doping, and this dude gets caught in his chain the very first year. “
Ryan Alberti at The Bleacher Report writes a satirical interview with Landis, who answers what he's thankful for:
“I deny that I am now or have been thankful for anything. Any thankfulness on my part, or rather any perceived thankfulness on my part, was likely a chemical anomaly associated with beer and/or whiskey. Or also maybe with sustained levels of extreme physical exertion. I’m still working on it. Confirmational details to follow in an attorney-approved PowerPoint presentation. Did I mention I have a bad hip? I have a bad hip. It hurts a lot. I deny that I’m thankful for that. I further deny that I’m thankful for Shawne Merriman, who did such a half-assed job in taking over my spot as the performance-enhanced flavor of the month. I’m a Mennonite, by the way. And I definitely deny that I’m thankful for that.”
Landis is judged the “turkey of the year” by Roger Mooney at the Bradenton Herald:
“That title belongs to a cyclist with a bad hip who peddled his way to fame and, eventually, misfortune with a miraculous comeback during the 17th stage of the Tour de France.
“Floyd Landis, you belong somewhere between the cranberry sauce and the stuffing.
“The American won the one sporting event that attracts the most suspicion each year. …”
Mike Celizic at MSNBC relegates Landis to the level of potential turkey:
“Let’s face it, who needs a flock of predictable sports turkeys — T.O., Floyd Landis, Barry Bonds, Bobby Knight, Joe Theisman, that writer in the hat, yadda, yadda, yadda — when we have served up on a football-shaped Tiffany platter the grandmother of all turkeys itself: the National Football League? ”
But the most accurate and timely Thanksgiving column is at Sports Illustrated, where Adam Hofstetter reports what Landis is probably most thankful for:
“One place that O.J. (or anyone else for that matter) won't likely find much reliable information is the French lab that found synthetic testosterone in Floyd Landis' test samples, and Landis has to be thankful for their continued mistakes. After the lab admitted last week to having mislabeled Landis' samples, their insistence on the accuracy of the test results are quickly becoming as unbelievable as Landis's ever-changing explanations.”
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