They blinded me with science
Two scientific experts testified yesterday that the lab work done on Floyd Landis’ urine samples taken after Stage 17 of the Tour de France was sloppy and unreliable. One of the experts testified that the LNDD lab’s work was so bad that its conclusions were nothing more than “speculation,” which is just a fancy word for a wild guess. Finally, one of those same experts testified that the testing done on Floyd’s sample actually violated WADA standards, which, if accepted by the arbitrators, would mean that Landis’ positive result will be presumed to flow from the improper testing, not from doping. As I understand it, USADA would then have the burden of rebutting this presumption.
Cutting to the chase, in a trial that has at its heart supposedly irrefutable “scientific” evidence that Landis had exogenous testosterone in his urine, the testimony was astounding.
If this were a criminal case where the “prosecutor” (here USADA) had to prove its case “beyond a reasonable doubt,” we just heard “reasonable doubt.” Of course, expert opinions are only as good as the qualifications of the expert, the work done to form his or her opinions and the lack of any bias in favor of one party or the other.
I didn’t read or hear anything challenging the qualifications or work done, but I found it at least a little interesting that one of the experts apparently was working for free. One of the most common “biases” a lawyer tries to expose on cross-examination are the usually substantial fees paid to experts for their opinions and testimony.
Well, not this guy. But I am asking myself, “why did he do this for free?” Is he really just looking out for the truth? That seems pretty out of place in this here carnival.
In school, whenever you put two parts hydrogen with one part oxygen, you always got water. And whenever you added one plus one, it always came up two. That was science, and that was math — black and white. Two experts testified yesterday, and what I got from it was that the science being used to determine whether or not Floyd cheated is a mush of gray.
If Floyd really did dope and he escapes punishment because the testing lab was incompetent, tell me who wins. Or, tell me who wins if Floyd didn’t cheat but because of the lab’s incompetence (or worse), the winner of nothing less than the freaking Tour de France pulled on his yellow jersey just in time to be dragged through the streets in disgrace.
I’ll insert here that I know we live in an imperfect world, and the doping regulations exist in an imperfect system. Anybody got a fix?