Floyd Landis is originally from California, and he currently resides in the U.S. I would guess he has a television and might even read a newspaper or watch television from time to time; and without trying to jump to conclusions I would imagine that Marion Jones is equally as technologically advanced.

So why are these prominent athletes in our society, who have all reached the zenith of their profession, so puzzled when they test positive for performance enhancing drugs? The Salem witch hunt is on, so why are these athletes attempting to ride their respective broomsicks?

Even with the issue of steroids or other performance enhancement drugs being front page news we continue to hear of athletes who are failing the tests, I am puzzled. When the time comes around, these athletes are going to be handing over the urine sample too! And once you do, all of your accomplishments, all the blood-sweat and tears will be wiped clean.

Mr. Landis and Ms. Jones had to have known that.

For a short while there another prominent sports figure had the public fooled. Barry Bonds routinely was hitting moon shots all around the country, and he was so majestic a player that plenty fell under the spell of wanting to believe that a human was capable of such feats.

Fool me once, shame on you (Barry Bonds), fool me twice, shame on me!

I am sure there was a lot of pressure to win the Tour De France post-Armstrong, and it’s tough to be at the top of your sport winning gold medals only to have a child-birth put you in the back of the pack. But for the both of you to have lived in America and not recognize that we no longer appreciate cheaters is poor.

It is a difficult fact to wrestle with when thinking about all of the athletes who performed at Herculian levels without the use of performing enhancing drugs, even more difficult when you realize that all of the athletes who are out of the game will certainly never be tested. But in any sport, fans just want to celebrate what was pure.

But what I really don’t understand is how do these athletes completely ignore the fact that performing enhancement drugs are illegal, and they are positively going to be tested; and caught?

Baseball tests for steroids, they aren’t secretive about telling their athletes not to do them, and still professionals are being caught. If I knew that in a month, I would be tested for traces of Gatorade consumption, and upon a failing test I would be publicly ridiculed and forever tarnished, the obvious thing to do would be to stop drinking Gatorade. The harder thing would be walking into that test with a cool blue ring around my mouth knowing ithe whole world could know.

Floyd Landis must have felt the pressure of the world to follow in Lance Armstrong’s footsteps but you know what, if you weren’t good enough to win then accept second place and be man enough to own up to using performance enhancing drugs instead of making up the strangest excuses since Watergate.

Marion Jones used to amaze audiences as she dominated the women’s track world – she ran a 10.6 in the 100-meter dash and collected five Olympic medals in 2000. Why didn’t she see that taking the risk of her comeback would officially ruin her already BALCO related accomplishments? And adding further fuel to the fire is her confused press release where she admits to being “shocked” about her positive sample.

It’s sad that we live in a sporting age where new phenoms are forced to question whether the magic we are seeing is real or chemically-aided lies.

Mr. Landis and Ms. Jones: we know you did it. If a pregnancy applicator from the corner CVS is 98% accurate, I will trust the drug tests issued at the Tour De France. So please stop with the silly act, the mouth wide open bewildered look is unecessary.It’s a sad thing to say, but we no longer believe you.