The Dish: Floyd Not In The Pink
By Christopher Harris

Say it ain't so, Floyd.

I've written at length about the degree to which I have become an absolute sucker for the Tour de France and, by proxy, a shill for OLN, the TV network that covers the Tour here in the U.S. I've written all manner of flowery tributes to the Tour generally, and Landis (and his predecessor, some dude named Lance), specifically, over the past few summers. So what's on my mind this week is the report that Landis tested positive for increased levels of testosterone after his legendary stage win a couple Thursdays ago, where he rescued himself from obscurity and locked up an incredible Tour win. Landis has been suspended by his team, and will undergo a serious investigation over the coming weeks that may result in him being stripped of his Tour title.

Bummer.

It should go without saying that we shouldn't trust anyone in sports. They're all glory-hungry hound dogs who'll run around on us like Elvis on Priscilla. It should go without saying, but sports fans (and American sports fans in particular) are suckers. I am a sucker. Give me a heartwarming tale, say, of a guy who needs hip-replacement surgery who still somehow manages to contest for the world's hardest bike race, and goes out and does something that looks nominally heroic? I'll wax rhapsodic, I'll blow trumpets to the heavens and (perhaps most relevantly and unfortunately for you) I'll write a whole bunch of flowery articles in tribute.