Floyd Landis, We Hardly Knew Ye
Tuesday, July 1, 2008 at 08:14PM Floyd Landis. You could call him a fallen hero, maybe a disgraced cheater, but the truth is, America doesn't really care either way. We knew him as the guy who followed Lance, then we knew him as the guy who got caught cheating while trying to follow Lance.
The Tour de France has some really nice scenery and a few other redeeming qualities. For instance, most Americans, including three-year-olds both male and female, can relate on some level to the act of bicycling (or at least "Big-Wheeling"). But face it, the Tour will never be that popular here. Lance was the exception. He was a dominating, cancer-surviving, obsessive-compulsive, dynastic champion -- who was hated by the French. The fact that the French and the international press were out to get him made Lance all the more watchable. The more flak he took, the more he buried the competition under his bike-wake and yellow-colored vapor trail.
They say Lance was not a real people-person -- not a good teammate. Yet, American loved to witness the gaunt but fearsome man in the yellow jersey, as he played 'possum with his competitors -- playing it safe until he hit the big climbs of the Alps, when he turned on the jets and made a mockery of the other cyclists. It was gloriously spiteful. But now that Armstrong is retired, what's the hook?
Landis finally lost his appeal and succumbed to the fate of being stripped of his medal. As you have seen, this hasn't made many headlines. I'm not sure if this lack of interest is good for Floyd, of if it makes Landis that much more pathetic.
P.S. --> The title of this article came from my affinity for TV's "The Simpsons", and Troy McClure, who starred in "Andre the Giant: We Hardly Knew Ye," among other roles. View Troy McClure's resume.
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