All Sports All The Time

The Frence lab that completed the testing on urine sample A of Floyd Landis after he was declared the winner of the Tour de France a couple of weeks ago, has determined that Landis’s sample B also contains high levels of synthetic testosterone.

Landis still denies that he has done anything wrong and his defense team has offered a couple of explanations, from dehydration to cortosone shots that he takes for pain (he has a very bad hip) and also thyroid medication.

The final decision on the punishment will come from the UCI and then he will be able to appeal what ever punishment is handed down, the expected punishment would be a 2 year ban from the sport. Unfortunately, the biggest disappointment will come when the Tour de France victory is taken away. The Tour de France officials wasted no time, in taking steps to declare the second place finisher the winner of race.

The race director Christian Prudhomme said runner-up Oscar Pereiro, would be declared the winner and he was contacted by Tour de France officials.

Landis’s racing team Swiss-based Phonak reacted very abruptly by firing Landis, who was the team captain only 45 minutes after learning of the results from the sample B testing. Despite the fact that they stood behind another former team member, Tyler Hamilton for two years while he fought allegations of doping.

If Landis ultimately loses all of his appeals he will become the first person to be stripped of his Tour de France victory for doping in races 103 year history.

 

Tiger Woods held off Chris DeMarco to win his 11th major tournament of his career including back to back British Opens. Tiger finished with a -5 67 round to win the 2006 British Open at Royal Liverpool by 2 strokes over DeMarco.

When Tiger sunk the final putt at the 18th hole he let out loud yes!!! and raised both arms in the air. Woods really needed this win to help him rebound from the loss of his father earlier in year. His father Earl Woods lost his long time battle with cancer.

After his triumphant celebration Tiger showed that he is also has a emotional side when he and his caddie hugged and Tiger buried his head in his caddie Steve Williams shoulder and sobbed. I am sure he would have loved for his father to see him win one more Major before he passed away. I am sure Earl Woods was smiling down on his son and was rightfully proud of his son.

Tiger Woods said of his show of emotion: "I could not stop it," Woods said. "I miss my dad so much." I think most people under the circumstances.

Tiger is now tied with Walter Hagen with 11 career major tournament victories and he is only 7 away from tying the great Jack Nichlaus with 18 career majors and Tiger is only 30 years old.

Leaderboard (Top 10 finishers)

1 Tiger Woods -18 F -5 67 65 71 67 270

-18 F -5 67 65 71 67 270

2 Chris DiMarco -16 F -4 70 65 69 68 272

-16 F -4 70 65 69 68 272

3 Ernie Els -13 F -1 68 65 71 71 275

4 Jim Furyk -12 F -1 68 71 66 71 276

5 Sergio Garcia -11 F 1 68 71 65 73 277

5 Hideto Tanihara -11 F -1 72 68 66 71 277

7 Angel Cabrera -10 F 1 71 68 66 73 278

-10 F 1 71 68 66 73 278

8 Carl Pettersson -9 F -3 68 72 70 69 279

-9 F -3 68 72 70 69 279

8 Andres Romero -9 F -1 70 70 68 71 279

-9 F -1 70 70 68 71 279

8 Adam Scott -9 F E 68 69 70 72 279

-9 F E 68 69 70 72 279

11 Ben Crane -8 F -2 68 71 71 70 280

11 S.K. Ho -8 F -2 68 73 69 70 280

-8 F -2 68 73 69 70 280

I was surfing online and I came across a couple of news stories that took me by surprise; Steve Yzerman announces retirement and Ben Wallace plans to sign with the Bulls.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Yzerman finally decided to retire after 22 years in the NHL. What is surprising that he spent his entire career with one team; Detroit Red Wings. As a Red Wing fan for most of my life I have been watching Yzerman his whole career and the Red Wings are definitely a better team with him on the ice and he will be missed.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and the Red Wings will have to move on. The loss of Yzerman for next season will equal the loss of long time coach Scotty Bowman a couple of years ago. I fully expect the Red Wings to carry on their winning ways this coming season, but without their long time leader it will be an adjustment.

I wish him well in future endevers and I will miss seeing him on the ice.

Now to Ben Wallace, he has made it known to the Detroit Pistons that he will not be resigning with them for this coming season and as soon as it allowed by rules (July 12th) he will make it official. He will be signing with the Chicago Bulls for a undisclosed amount of money.

The reason he will be leaving the Pistons was he couldn’t come to terms on a new contract. The Pistons offered Ben Wallace a 4 year $50 million dollar contract which would have made him the highest paid player on the team. So I would gather that the Bulls came up with a bigger number and Wallace made a business decision to leave the Pistons.

I wish him well with the Bulls and I am sure Detroit Pistons President Joe Dumars will do his magic and bring in a new center and we will carry on. Since coming to the Pistons, Wallace has made a huge contribution to our recent success. I will also not dishonor his contribution by bad mouthing him for making the decision he has made.

I wish him well with the Bulls.