Have you ever lost 9 hands in a row at a blackjack table? I have, so I think that says two things….first, I got on a bad roll and second, I’ve played the game enough to have that happen to me, twice. It’s a shitty ride, capped with a sucker punch to your psyche when you either run out of money or walk away from the table with a small handful or chips. The fact that I could make a choice to continue pissing money away either out of spite or ignorance still amazes me. Unfortunately, it would take logic, self-control, and the ability to act on my gut instinct to walk away before bottoming out. Gamblers lack all 3 of those attributes…….. or they wouldn’t be gamblers. I know, because I’ve been there – fortunately, only for low stakes.
Floyd Landis sure took a gamble last month. Dude’s got no proof, and he’s calling out the former Boss of the Peloton. I have no proof if he’s lying, telling partial truths, or spot-on. Floyd can’t walk away from the sport even after losing the equivalent of 10,000 hands of blackjack in a row. The relationships are gone, the house is toast, the car is re-po’d, and the worst part……his credibility as a person is next to nothing. The fact that he was racing last weekend in an off the rack microbrewery jersey (Arrogant Bastard Ale) with black shorts cemented the fact that the guy has fallen far, far down the ladder even if he did take 4th place in a national race.
Gamblers are compulsive. Floyd’s compulsion is racing bikes, and he lied, cheated and stole to accomplish just that. Here’s the thing though – I don’t think he’s lying, I just think he’s 2 years late and millions of dollars short. Actually, he’s more like 4 years late, and an a-hole for taking money from the general public for his lie-filled defense.
I want to see Armstrong go down like a house-a-fire – similar to nearly every one of his competitors during his reign over one bike race in France every year. If you look at the list of riders he beat from 1999 – 2005, more than 90% of the general classification top 10 from those years have either been busted for doping, admitted to doping, retired from the sport for doping, or died from doping and other non-performance enhancing drugs. He was just smart enough, had the financial resources, and the business acumen to get away with it. If you believe Armstrong never doped, then I ask that you take a look at the video/reasoning of him chasing down Filippo Simeoni in 2004, then pull your head out of the sand and see what daylight is.
Word yesterday is that Lance is officially entered into that race in France starting in 11 days. I think for the second year in a row, drama will be kept to a minimum at the 3-week circus and with his very strong team, he’ll surely finish in the top 10. It’ll take a bit for the investigators to really dig into the real drama – the circus that was the US Postal Team from 1999 - 2004.
In the meantime, Floyd will continue to show up for local races in generic jerseys and black shorts hoping to get signed by a continental team while the rest of the world watches Le Tour. Floyd Who? Exactly – sad, really. It’s a huge fall for a gifted athlete who got caught up in the game and, well, got caught. He gambled to win, and he lost like all gamblers eventually do. LA’s time will come.
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