So you think it's good to tell high school and college athletes that they have to destroy their bodies and risk their long-term health if they want to make any money or compete at the highest level?
I have zero first hand knowledge of LA cheating or even the prevalence of cheating in cycling or in TdF particilarly. I just find it hard to believe that LA was able to cheat his way to seven TdF titles, without the implicit approval of the sactioning body. A thorough testing regime should be able to weed out all of the cheats.
I find it hard to believe that someone would beat cancer like that, only to injest their bodies with substances known to cause massive health issues.
This is the hardest part for me to believe as well. But one argument I heard is that he beat cancer, in part, by taking crazy cocktails of drugs that had miraculous positive effects on his health. So that might make it more likely to trust crazy drugs to do good things, without seeing as much of the long-term negative effects.
This is a very misleading post. 1) Barry Bonds did fail a drug test. More than one actually. Just like A-Rod failed a drug test before the drug tests were subject to MLB punishment. 2) The cheaters who have been caught that are accusing Lance Armstrong are not saying that he took something special that they did not take. They are saying he took the same thing as part of an orchestrated drug scandal that he put together and encouraged them to participate in. It boggles the mind that he and all these cheaters who failed tests were on the same drugs while he passed every test and they got caught.
On #1: When did Bonds fail? I missed that somewhere. On #2: Armstrong has been accused by a number of people, including teammates that got caught. But he's also been accused or had evidence supplied by multiple teammates that didn't get caught, his personal assistant, his massage therapist, and others.
Failed drug tests were submitted during his trial. Remember that drug testing that was done prior to 2003 wasn't disclosed as there was no MLB punishment.
All those dudes were cheating. I think Armstrong won the race fair and square. They were on a level playing field and he beat them.
I'm good friends with a big cycling guy that ran a pro-am team in Canada for a while who's heavily connected inside the sport. You can friend of a sister whose uncle knows a pizza guy that has a mother-in-law that if you want, but he's told me stories about Lance the last ten years or so. He's guilty as sin, has invested hugely in political cover (including Livestrong) to keep prosecutors at bay, and this now is all about keeping evidence from hitting the courts and publicly outing him. But on the flipside - it's not about Lance cheating to win. EVERYONE at the top of that sport was using. Among those guys, it was an even playing field. What wasn't right was the times they recorded and that the very few who were clean didn't stand a chance. I can say I once rode with Lance - I participated in his first Livestrong challenge in Dripping Springs. The course was what he used for training runs when in town. He was actually cool enough to loop around the opening 10 miles and rode up to say hi (I didn't realize it was him at first) and then tore off to complete the circuit, with a massive swarm of star struck riders trying desperately to keep up with him. Clean/not clean, that was the toughest ride I've personally done (MS150 didn't hold a candle), and he ripped through it. Pretty impressive to witness.
I just think eye witness testimony should never be enough in a case like this where these guys are competing against him and could have their own agendas for accusing him with no physical evidence. This whole thing seemed to turn into a Lance against all the rest. If he cheated and beat the system, then it is on the system. This type of thing this organization is doing is basically just saying we strongly believe in his guilt and are therefore are going to take away all your accolades. But, the problem is they never actually proved he cheated and there will be doubters. The fact is they never actually caught him cheating like they did the others. If Lance was that good at beating the system, then the system failed. The government couldn't even prove it. Now, they are trying to save face by doing this. If the system wasn't good enough to catch him, then they are at fault. All the other riders who got busted failed to beat the system. If Lance cheated and beat the system for that long, then he did one hell of a job at it. France couldn't take away his wins so leave it to a US organization to do it. I have to say I'm shocked at the decision and the authority to do this just like that. Put it this way...if Lance is innocent, then he was never going to win this witch hunt. No way in hell. The system is making him pay the price for their own failures to catch him in the act assuming he was guilty. And, it's not like they didn't have enough time to catch him even when the races were going on...even if they had to have a guy follow him around night and day during the race.
If the USADA has the authority to strip Tour de France cycling titles, do they also have authority to wipe away homerun records for MLB, All-star game MVP's, Cy Young Awards, etc.? I don't see the correlation there.
They don't. The Tour and International Cycling Union (UCI) usually follow in step. And Lance has serious enemies within them. They've wanted to nail him for a long time, and this gives them all they need.
bottom line like many are saying...is "who cares"...sure Lance may have been using erythropoetin, or using blood transfusions...but in the end...the sport is just as unclean as boxing, baseball, and track...
That doesn't make sense. If ONE guy was not cheating - or if one guy who would not have cheated did not get into the tour because everyone else cheated - then he did not win the race fair and square.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/s...arges-losing-his-7-tour-de-france-titles.html http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-lance-armstrong-uci-20120824,0,688838.story “The UCI recognizes that USADA is reported as saying that it will strip Mr. Armstrong of all results from 1998 onwards in addition to imposing a lifetime ban from participating in any sport which recognizes the World Anti-Doping Code,” the Switzerland-based organization said, noting the "USADA has claimed jurisdiction in the case."
Well, yes, but they won't be able to get to his endorsement money. He is trying to protect all that money he got based on his fraud by avoiding further proceedings. He knows that the evidence is there. He has been lying all along. He is the type that will never come clean, and one reason is that he has too much money to lose.
It makes it easier because you go at life with a nothing to lose attitude and... in times of great adversity, you understand what pushing your physical and mental limits is really about. Combine his competitive spirit with a Brooklyn-or-bust mentality after cancer and it's easy to see why he went to the extents he did.
Endorsement money is given based on revenue generated... with whatever facade you see it as propping it up. Lance did a lot for the popularity of the sport and that will override any stipulations in his contracts about fair play as far as prosecution goes. That's marketing and with the way he chose to go down, his fan base will strengthen if anything. You can see the arguments the posters above me are making because they're more interested in the comeback story and celebrity worship than the purity of it.
