The liar gene...

All parents have seen it. Your two-year-old misbehaves, say, she gets in a forbidden cupboard and pours shampoo on the floor. Confronted in the act and asked "Did you do this?' often before she begins to cry she will stoutly say, "No, Mommy, no."

Is lying even in the face of damning evidence instinctive? (Maybe not, but liars' brains are different.)

It would seem so for athletes. Floyd Landis - the temporary winner of the Tour de France - followed what is now a predicitable script for those found en flagrante delicto:

1. Deny
2. Deny
3. Float some possible explanations
4. Deny

My theory is this behavior pattern has been widely adopted because of its utility in politics. And the skills that make someone a good politician may derive from a natural tendency to umm, preveracate.

Really. I'm not making this up.