Tour de France II et al

Now I'm just watching in disbelief as Floyd Landis is devoured by a doping scandal. It's still possible that he'll be cleared by the second test, but the smear has been made, the damage done.

I don't know if he did take a masking agent -- if I knew this, I'd be psychic and rent myself out for parties -- but it doesn't matter now. Think of Lance Armstrong. He's the most tested athlete in history and he's passed all the tests, as far as we know, and he's still hounded by critics.

So where does it leave the people who thought Landis a hero? The same place they've always been -- in need of a life.

OK, that's a little harsh, but we all know that sports people are not heroes. All they do is play a game and usually play it well, or fill some niche in statistics so freaky baseball fans can debate their worth 50 years after their last pitch.

Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth -- they're all people. As people, they have flaws and weaknesses. Those problems are compounded by their ascent to stardom. I like to think of this as I think about politicians. No matter how much I admire a president or lawmaker, now or thousands of years ago, you don't rise to the pinnacle of greatness without stepping on toes, crushing opposition, tucking skeletons in the closet and basically using people like paper towels and tossing them in the trash when you're done.

In other news

-- It's hot. Yes, it's Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't bike ride in this kind of hot. It's already 80 degrees at 9 a.m. as we're going to hit 100 degrees today. Yuck. I was going to go bike riding this morning, but it was just too oppressive for me. You know, Floyd Landis rode in the Tour when it was 111 degrees, so why can't I ride? Oh, because I'm not doping. ...

-- Finishing up the book "Army of Caesars" by Michael Grant. It's a good analysis of the rise of the military in the early Roman Empire. I've been a fan of Grant for more than 25 years. I think his books on Rome were some of the first history books I purchased.

-- I went back to work last week after a week off. I was shocked back to reality fast. The world of work is, well, unreal. It's like you hear about societies that spin out of balance, where things you once took for granted are no longer the norm and a simple misplaced word or phrase could result in nasty consequences (Seems my reading on Rome is being transferred to my reality). It's like the poem says: Things fall apart, the center cannot hold ... but somehow it goes on.

Thought: Oh, what creature slinks toward Holland?