acrafton

The WSJ this weekend had a very interesting article regarding the investigation of Landis' claims and it is worth a read.

Net/net, it is now a Federal investigation and the angle is that the team (while USPS) misappropriated government funds by using the sponsor money for illegal doping. They key thing is that the investigation is now Federal and criminal. . .it is no longer about suspensions, etc.

The reason this matters is that Federal investigators have huge leeway in what they are investigating and lying to a federal officer is a crime. You don't have to be under oath, just being interviewed and if you lie they will charge you with a felony (see Martha Stewart) and win.

They are also going after the "weak" links, IMO. Kristen Armstrong has already been contacted and I can see them pressuring her about what she knows and threatening all kinds of stuff. Hamilton and Hincapie have also been contacted. They are in a tight spot. . .if they agree to talk and lie they are in serious jeopardy. If they refuse to talk (the smart move if they are guilty) they will look bad.

Not saying anyone is or is not guilty but this is no longer UCI/WADA antics. It is serious.

petalpower

They should worry, and spend the resources, fixing this F'in economy, and figuring out a way to keep the Gulf from looking like a giant oil slick, rather than investigating whether a few athletes doped.

The ignorance and lackadaisical approach to the most pressing issues we're facing as a nation by this President and administration is amazing.

merlinextraligh

With the Barry Bonds example, anyone would be an idiot to talk to the investigators. You simply say that you will be glad to cooperate with the investigation and will testify before the Grand Jury if subpeonaed. One of the cyclists was quoted to just that effect in that article.

Thus you give the appearence of cooperating, and avoid the Bonds trap.

People may say, you won't talk, and are hiding. The response is you're very willing to talk in the appropriate forum, and the publicity hit is minimal, particularly in this climate where everybody is tired of this stuff anyway.

Fynn

Exactly. And even if they did dope umpteen years ago, who cares? Who didn't dope, would be a better question probably. Bringing Lance Armstrong to his knees seems like a pointless endeavor. He has already done a pretty good job of that in the tour this year. In addition he has done more good for this world in terms of cancer awareness, and funding than probably any person on earth. Give it a rest and get back to dealing with matters that matter.

DXchulo

That was Tyler Hamilton, wasn't it? That was a smart move. And he's probably the one with the least to lose.

Could you imagine a congressional hearing like they had with steroids in baseball? Is Lance Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire? I like the McGwire comparison. It's obvious he cheated, but people were willing to look the other way and they still loved the guy. Maybe Ullrich is Sosa because he cheated too, but people didn't care because he was a lovable loser. He can come in and claim he doesn't speak English.

Who is going to be Rafael Palmiero, wagging his finger in denial only to be caught red handed later on? We know Landis is Canseco.

Laggard

Please keep your politics out of here.

By the way, the baseball steroids investigation was done under your guy Bush's administration.

USAZorro

Thanks. You beat me to it.

HardyWeinberg

That's Lance. Hincapie is McGwire.

merlinextraligh

I always love this argument. If valid, it would mean the Federal Goverment could never address any problem except the one or two most impactful problems of the moment.

It can be applied to any comparitively smaller problem, or law enforcement issue. "We shouldn't waste resources trying to catch [ fill in the minor crime] when we need to fix the economy."

These things are not mutually exclusive. In fact I'm willing to bet that Jeff Novitzky has no special insights on how to fix the economy or the Gulf, that he is too busy to share with us because he is doing his job as an FDA agent.