Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis Back in The News But For Different Reasons

Here we go again.

We've heard this same song and dance for the last several years and, for me personally, it's getting a little old.

Lance Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour De France, is once again griping about the lack of coverage of his sport. Don't get me wrong, I know Lance is the Michael Jordan of cycling but is anyone really listening to his whining?

Stage four of the Tour of California was being broadcast on the Versus network, formerly known as the Outdoor Life Network, and was a few miles from the finish when Versus decided to cut away to the pre-game coverage of game two of the NHL playoffs between the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers.

Well, King Armstrong wasn't happy about that when he found out and he took to his Twitter to launch his complaints. He said, "Who's the dumbass @versustv that cut off @AmgenTourofCali coverage w/a mile to go for pregame hockey?"

Now, I'll admit to not being a hockey fan. It's just not a sport that I've ever been able to get into, for the same reason I've never gotten into soccer, but that's beside the point.

But does anyone really care about Lance's gripe about the last mile being cut off for game two of a hockey playoff game? I guess I'll follow up with this question: Did anyone know that there was even a cycling event going on?

While I understand that Lance wants all the coverage he can get for his sport and while that's admirable, I just can't see anyone seeing his tweet on Twitter and writing their very angry letter to the Versus network for cutting off coverage of the Tour of California.

Now, had this been the Tour de France then I might understand where Lance is coming from, but I just can't imagine that a lot of people out there are taking up their torch and pitchfork and demanding their cycling coverage.

Now, on the flip side of things, Armstrong is in the news for a very different reason. And not a reason he wants to be in the news.

Former Tour de France winner Floyd Landis admitted to doping. NO, Floyd, tell us it's not true?!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, Landis finally owned up to doping which helped him win cycling's biggest event back in 2006. After the event concluded, news broke that Landis had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs which he quickly denied and did so for quite some time.

According to reports, Landis sent emails to cycling officials and described his usage of performance enhancing drugs that started in 2002, his first year on the US Postal Team led by, yes you guessed it, Lance Armstrong.

Don't think for a second that Landis wasted any time before throwing Armstrong under the bus. Apparently he has never heard the saying, "two wrongs don't mind a right," because Landis quickly implicated Armstrong.

In an email obtained by the Wall Street Journal, Landis described having blood extracted from his body to be used before the Tour de France took place. Landis also says in the email that Armstrong had him check the temperatures of the blood every day so it didn't go bad.

International Cycling Union (UCI) president Pat McQuaid, when reached for comment by the Associated Press, said Landis’ allegations were “scandalous and mischievous.” McQuaid also said, "these guys coming out now with things like this from the past is only damaging the sport. If they’ve any love for the sport they wouldn’t do it.”

This isn't the first time that Lance Armstrong has been accused of doping or taking performance enhancing drugs, but the one thing that has yet to be done is prove any wrong doing.

While most would say that Landis doesn't have a lot to gain by throwing Armstrong to the wolves, let's remember that Landis had his 2006 Tour de France stripped from him. And if there's already a grudge being held by Landis, he might want to see Lance stripped of all seven.

Still, Landis can make all the accusations he wants to make until he's blue in the face. He can go to ESPN, the Associated Press, or even the Wall Street Journal but until anyone can prove that Lance took anything illegal, an accusation is all it will remain.

As for the sport of cycling, they begin stage five of the Tour of California. The coverage on Versus is expected to get underway at 5pm EDT, but Versus also has the coverage of game three of the aforementioned Canadiens and Flyers at 7pm EDT.

We might see Lance Armstrong throw a temper tantrum of epic proportions if Versus leaves the cycling coverage again tonight.