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In pro cycling (and most commercial sports) there are saints and sinners, and the line between the two is as blurry as ever. The agents and attorneys and ad men muddy it up with rhetoric and PR pitches and all the while, the purity drains into forgotten gutters and disappointed youth. The fans have become ever more cynical. Soon enough they will not watch and will not care. Less than a month before the start of the 2007 Tour de France, organizers are still in search of sponsors. But perhaps this is what cycling journalists had predicted when they said that it would get worse before it got better. This is the market-driven purging that is a long time coming. And perhaps this is what LeMond had in mind when he purportedly suggested to Landis' that he could "do so much to save the sport" by coming clean. He could be that martyr with a lasting legacy. But how could anyone expect Landis, if he truly believed himself to be innocent, to throw himself on that huge chemical grenade? Many babies would be thrown out with the analyzed bathwater. Which is, of course, exactly what is required when screens and filters fail to bring back the clarity of truth. One man was trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat while the other was chasing it. Curiouser and curiouser.  Landis' heartfelt plea to judge him on character has his fans wringing hands and squirming on saddles. Cycling will survive the ruling in the Landis' case and the inevitable appeal to the Court of Arbitration. It will survive because cycling is fun. People will go away from the Tour for a while and return to the simplicity of pedaling down a narrow road with wide vistas. The Tour de France will return to health in a few years, just in time for its 100th birthday. It won't be drug-free but neither will the rest of society. WADA and USADA will, with any luck, learn from their mistakes and exercise more procedural, not to mention, moral caution. The attorneys will collect their $400 per billable hour, and the saints and sinners in sport will always be there on some level. LeMond will forever be doing what he thinks is best for the sport, even if it's bad for him, and most of us can't figure out the difference. Landis, for his part, will survive because he likes to ride his bike more than he likes money and the trappings of fame. He has never shied away from work. At the recent Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado he completed his first race in nearly a year, finishing in 49th place. "Obviously, I'm not the only one in the sport with some issues," he said, not displeased with his performance. Yes, Floyd, lots of us who play games are wrestling with our personal problems. And we use sport to escape them or to find answers. And I suppose that's the real difference between people who race for money and those who race for everything else – the money will find you out one way or another. It will force your hand at the crossroads. And the only jury will be your conscious. Yep, life is much simpler in the middle of the pack. You'll have to trust me on this one. Or give me some kind of test. Scott Tinley, a two-time World Triathlon Champion, teaches "Sport and Society" at San Diego State University's Sport Business Management MBA Program. He lives and writes near San Diego, California. He can be reached at
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