A Refreshing Reality Check

Not about this horrible news

Tour de France winner failed drug test in race
Team to dismiss Landis if excessive level of testosterone confirmed

…but about his mother’s reaction to it.

Arlene Landis, his mother, said Thursday that she wouldn’t blame her son if he was taking medication to treat the pain in his injured hip, but “if it’s something worse than that, then he doesn’t deserve to win.

9 Responses to “A Refreshing Reality Check”

  1. “excessive level of testerosterone”?
    What if he’s just an excessively manly man?

  2. Mr. Bingley says:

    Well, he does have more balls than Lance…

  3. Nightfly says:

    I know little about the science, except that it seems to follow a pattern I’ve noticed elsewhere – namely, that if you imitate the effect, you can sometimes duplicate the cause. For example, if something makes you happy your brain releases a certain chemical; introducing that chemical can actually cheer up a person without the happy effect.
    I’m wondering if anyone has ever checked to see if the reverse is true. Say a person does some extraordinary physical feat without any artificial stimulant. If you took a test of him then, would his body exhibit a similar chemical profile to someone who had taken the stimulant first and then did the feat?
    In other words, did Landis cheat to win Stage 17, or did his body respond to the challenge and naturally produce the testosterone in the process of winning the stage unaided? (Or more accurately, did his body naturally produce the aid?) Is that possible?
    I may be 100% off-kilter on this; it looks awfully fishy that he looked so horrible the day before and suddenly unbeatable the next. But then I think about it – does drug use of this sort carry such an immediate payoff? A lot of these drugs take time to clear out of a system – how did he fail only this test? Did he pass the testing for the stages immediately before and after? If so, does all of this imply a natural response rather than an artificial?

  4. How many times have I TOLD you NOT to mention KILTS around BINGLEY?!!

  5. Mike Rentner says:

    Three cheers for Mama Landis!

  6. DirtCrashr says:

    So…when Barry Bonds hits a homer, he just feels all tingly inside? 😉

  7. Susanna says:

    Those Mennonites are pretty straightforward about these things, and we like that about them.
    Did you read how she & Pa Landis went to church instead of staying home to find out if Floyd won the tour? They figured it was in God’s hands and he’d probably win, and you don’t keep the good Lord waiting.
    Refreshing is right.

  8. Nightfly says:

    Sweet. Thanks for info, Gunslinger.

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