I’m sure everyone has seen this:

“PARIS (AP) -- The Tour de France no longer calls him champion. His cycling team cut him loose.

About the only chance Floyd Landis has of keeping his prized yellow jersey will now likely be decided by an appeals process that could drag on for months.

Landis was discredited and disowned in short order Saturday when elevated levels of testosterone showed up in his "B" or second doping sample -- as it did in the initial "A" sample released last week.

The samples also contained synthetic testosterone, indicating that it came from an outside source.”

The keyword of course is “synthetic.”  Dude, you fucked up, just admit it and don’t bring any more shame to American athletes than has already been brought on us by numerous others (*cough* baseball *cough*).

Just last night we had a cycling race in Charlotte, so of course this was the topic du jour (trying to work as much French into this post as possible), and the recurring theme was while Europe and most other countries seem to take this sort of stuff very seriously (Landis will be stripped of his title, prize money, and be banned for 2 years from professional cycling (which really doesn’t matter, his career is capital “O” ver)), American athletes from the big 4 (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL) get off with a slap on the wrist (usually just a fine and perhaps suspended for a couple of games).  In other words, the punishment is usually worth the crime.

*sigh* Landis, just come clean.