The Floyd Landis Chronicles at Trust But Verify - A Blog Worth Watching

What's one of the first topics you think of when you consider starting a blog? Would that answer be 'a professional cyclist in trouble'? It might not be - dare I say it's likey that this subject would only cater to a very, very specific niche audience? You can say that and more, but it's meaningless to the writers, thinkers, sportsmen and women, lawyers, judges and enthusiasts at Trust But Verify. What began as a storehouse for all information relevant to the Floyd Landis doping controversy has blossomed into a highly active hub for discussion that varies as much as the doping in sport issues have themselves.

For those who have not followed the cycling news, Floyd Landis is the winner of the 2006 Tour de France, but due to an adverse finding during a doping test, his win was questioned by USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency). Landis defended himself in an arbitration process in 2007, and is appealing the decision of the majority of arbiters in a proceeding scheduled for March of 2008.

At any given time when you stop by TBV, you will find yourself in the midst of discussions about lab testing procedures, schedules for Landis' legal process (including motions and appeals), ethics of anti-doping testing, and athletes' rights. What may surprise some is the sheer volume of reporting that TBV manages to do on a daily basis. Arguably one of the most up-to-date private blogs on the Web, TBV gives readers a unique tri-fold architecture of reporting: 1) daily news updates, 2) daily blog postings, and 3) in-depth articles from pretty much anyone who'd like to contribute thought-provoking copy. It's a brilliant organization of information - a taste of the highlights for those who want a quick-hit of stats, a summary of other blogs, and the studied (many times academic and scholarly) longer reports from either field experts, or writers who've become ad hoc experts due to studying volumes upon volumes of Landis-related legal proceedings. It's produced by 5 primary contributors, and Landis himself has offered an op-ed piece to the site.

TBV is generally a Landis-leaning blog, which attracts many people who feel that WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) has overstepped its bounds when pursuing athletes in doping cases. They contend that there are too many questions as to the accuracy of the science behind sample testing, and therefore there must be stricter measures to ensure that athletes have protection. When you read through the many, many posts (well over a thousand since the blog's inception,) it's difficult not to be convinced that the science of understanding athlete doping is tricky business. As with many other sciences, it's an area still full of interpretation, non-conclusive results, and an aggressive environment in which labs are policed by the same organization that gives them accreditation, (yes, WADA.)

In terms of content, it's a big challenge for a blog to offer what it hopes to be balanced information, and raise issues of fairness, but to do so without falling deeply into one or the other camps. Many people in the public who follow the Landis legal battle are often required (by its very nature) to make a decision about his case. As Landis awaits an appeal process with CAS (Tribunal Arrbitral du Sport) that begins in March in New York City, TBV has often reported on many other doping violation cases that help to bring context and comparison to what Landis is currently experiencing. These topics are discussed at length in its user comments section, which is active. The result of this 'community' is that Landis' case has been analyzed alongside other alleged sport dopers, and the reader is left to decide for him or herself what the real answer seems to be. TBV goes out of its way to remain fair, despite some personal conviction that Landis did not dope.

To someone like I, who does not cycle, it’s amazing to see how interesting a topic like this can be. It only goes to show that a well-designed blog that considers usability, content and timeliness is going to succeed because of its accessibility. Add to that a story that nearly anyone would find fascinating: An athlete pursuing a dream, a questionable test result, a cloak-and-dagger arbitration hearing, an appeal, big international forces, and many colorful characters along the way... (Yes, the case of Landis reads like a Dickens novel.) TBV's writers, who were so dedicated to their blog that they attended Landis' arbitration proceeding in California, know that they've got something very good on their hands. Even though they assumed that the blog would have expired long before 2008, it has proved to be a staying power on the Web. And to what can we attribute this? Using one topic as a springboard for a multitude of related discussions and collaborations. To me, this is a superb recipe for communication in the coming decades, and it can only add to the wealth of information that will become part of the historic case of Floyd Landis.