This is just about the athlete Lance Armstrong and nothing else. The fact that he lied, and lied again and again is what ticks me off. He lied because he thought he wouldn't/couldn't get caught. I mean he vehemently denied each and every accusation when it was brought forth. I get that he was the best amongst all the dopers, but a liar I cannot stand. He was revered by so many sports enthusiasts, kids etc. And this is his legacy now. It's a shame.
As far as having idols...I dont idolize too many people. I like certain athletes, actors, entertainers but "idolize"? No. I just dont even like that word. But, there are many, many everyday people who do amazing and heroic things for others that go unrecognized, those are truly people I appreciate.
@ Joseph - if you believe everyone lies you might be hanging around the wrong people. I'm not surprised that someone in the media would say that because by and large they are all the wrong people. Who do I idolize - NO ONE. Who are my heroes - NO ONE. However, there are people I admire, but that's as far is it goes.
Greatest Athlete Ever = Ann Trason (ultramarathoner) Moral Instructor and Philosopher - Brig General Malham Wakin (named one of the 12 great professors by People Magazine in 1975, USOG ethics committee member, etc.) Courage and Bravery - just about any Airman, Soldier, Sailor or Marine who has faced combat and risked their life to save their fellow members Service to Humanity - to numerous to state, but how about bone marrow donors and kidney donars to non-relatives. How about Mother Teresa? How about the 911 firefighters?
The point is that the people I admire the most are the least likely to be famous. There are heroic actions all around us and we don't need phonies like Lance Armstrong who will step on anyone to take meet his objectives. He is not the guy you want to 'check your 6.' On the other hand, he does provide entertainment, so I will join the crowds watching Oprah.
This is great - Paula and Carl are now my heros! I read Lance's book a few months ago and I am now his hugest fan. PEDs doesn't make you perform well, they give you to opportunity to work harder! And he worked harder than everyone else!!! He will still be the only person convicted of doping without a positive test!
We should all have people that we admire...and i'm not condoning lying...but it is a fact of life and in particular I believe you are all unrealistic particularly as it pertains to "cycling" (certainly in 1997-2011) and "professional sports" in general...bemoan the money but thats what "professionial means" ...sorry but frankly I'm not sure that I have any problem with what Lance did...as I have said before they were the de facto rules of the peloton...and the governing bodies not only turned a blind eye but may in fact have encouraged it...and Like Nixon...once its done...the things you will do to hide or protect seem far worse than the deed itself...btw I am also a fan of Nixon...so there ya go.
btw...I admire my Mother and Father.....and I love them both....they were both far from perfect/flawless....but their good far far far exceeds their shortcomings...I would defend them with my blood even if I find they lied or took advantage of rules to help their family...Wouldn"t you? Maybe not......NOBODY is perfect...all can create their own Shibboleths....it disturbs me to see how quickly we desert them when they are found to be "less than perfect".
In the grand scheme of things...what did Lance do? He played the game of cylcing the way it was being played and beat the pants off everyone....he survived cancer and felt that creating a foundation that increased awareness helped millions of people face & defeat the horrible disease....and you want to tear him down because he did what?...he didn't lie to UCI or anyone because HE NEVER FAILED A TEST DURING HIS YEARS RACING....do you understand that...HE WAS CLEAN as far as the govenring agency's were concerned why would he confess?....because he wouldn't be intimidated by a bunch of other cyclists who played the same game and got caught? couldn't keep up with him?.and then threatended his livelyhood..are you kidding me ?...I have no sympathy for the Andrieu, Hamptons, Leipheimers, etc....they were in the game to win and they lost.....and now I suppose everyone is happy because now everyone has lost.
Tell me who has won? Tygart? WADA? "the sport of professional cylcing" If anyone thinks the professional sport of cycling will remain "clean "is dreaming. only the names and the methods will change.
Sorry if this is not a poplular viewpoint ..but thats my perspective.
We should all have people that we admire...and i'm not condoning lying...but it is a fact of life and in particular I believe you are all unrealistic particularly as it pertains to "cycling" (certainly in 1997-2011) and "professional sports" in general...bemoan the money but thats what "professionial means" ...sorry but frankly I'm not sure that I have any problem with what Lance did...as I have said before they were the de facto rules of the peloton...and the governing bodies not only turned a blind eye but may in fact have encouraged it...and Like Nixon...once its done...the things you will do to hide or protect seem far worse than the deed itself...btw I am also a fan of Nixon...so there ya go.
btw...I admire my Mother and Father.....and I love them both....they were both far from perfect/flawless....but their good far far far exceeds their shortcomings...I would defend them with my blood even if I find they lied or took advantage of rules to help their family...Wouldn"t you? Maybe not......NOBODY is perfect...all can create their own Shibboleths....it disturbs me to see how quickly we desert them when they are found to be "less than perfect".
In the grand scheme of things...what did Lance do? He played the game of cylcing the way it was being played and beat the pants off everyone....he survived cancer and felt that creating a foundation that increased awareness helped millions of people face & defeat the horrible disease....and you want to tear him down because he did what?...he didn't lie to UCI or anyone because HE NEVER FAILED A TEST DURING HIS YEARS RACING....do you understand that...HE WAS CLEAN as far as the govenring agency's were concerned why would he confess?....because he wouldn't be intimidated by a bunch of other cyclists who played the same game and got caught? couldn't keep up with him?.and then threatended his livelyhood..are you kidding me ?...I have no sympathy for the Andrieu, Hamptons, Leipheimers, etc....they were in the game to win and they lost.....and now I suppose everyone is happy because now everyone has lost.
Tell me who has won? Tygart? WADA? "the sport of professional cylcing" If anyone thinks the professional sport of cycling will remain "clean "is dreaming. only the names and the methods will change.
Sorry if this is not a poplular viewpoint ..but thats my perspective.
From all of the past threads on this topic, nobody should be all that surprised to discover that I am pretty much fully in the Joseph Lombardi camp on this whole subject!
He denied he doped and now he is confessing he did dope. That means he lied, right? Also, I would never lie to get ahead in my profession, but yes I would lie to protect my family if need be. Big difference. He lied to protect his job. Again, Im talking about Lance the athlete, not Lance the cancer survivor. In all honestly though, I really dont care. This subject comes up every other day in every single sport.
He cheated, he lied, he bullied and intimidated. He stole success from a generation of cyclists who rode clean and almost destroyed a sport I love while slandering two great journalist Paul Kimmage and David Walsh. Yep other than that he is a great guy.
He cheated, he lied, he bullied and intimidated. He stole success from a generation of cyclists who rode clean and almost destroyed a sport I love while slandering two great journalist Paul Kimmage and David Walsh. Yep other than that he is a great guy.
Name one of those cyclists. I won't hold my breath waiting for the answer.
I agree with everything you said except for that part because there wasn't a damn one of them that was clean. Not. One. Of. Them. As far as I'm concerned they were all more or less on a level playing field as they were all doped up so Lance was still the best cyclist. It's naive not to think so.
From all of the past threads on this topic, nobody should be all that surprised to discover that I am pretty much fully in the Joseph Lombardi camp on this whole subject!
And I am way, way conflicted. I am experiencing some cognitive dissonance on this whole thing. Yes, he didn't get caught. But that doesn't mean he was clean. It means he was a better cheater....but almost all, if not all, the peloton was cheating. So moral relativism kicks in and says, "So What?" They were grown adults who made a decision about what to put in their body. So that goes in the 'whatever' category. That was in the 'private' realm vis-a-vis cycling. He rocked. He doped. But he still rocked.
However, his cheating was made part of the 'public' realm when he and his minions "got medieval" on anyone and everyone who told the truth. Was is hubris on his part that made him think he could continue the deceit? Probably. Was it wrong? Yes.
And then there is the Livestrong Foundation......which makes this all so confusing. It is hard...no, impossible...to separate the two. Has it done great work? Undoubtedly. Is its reputation tarnished. Hell Yes!
I think Lance the person is beyond public redemption. But I don't think the Foundation is.....
I know this is rambling....I have been typing and backspacing for quite some time. As the resident Ironman athlete / cyclist in my entire building, I have been asked about this repeatedly. And I still don't have a clear answer to my own conundrum.
And then there is the article that WJ posted about his emails with his Doping Doctor vis-a-vis Ironman. I am still naive enough to think that "our" pros aren't juiced. There isn't enough money in this sport for that..........yet.
At Joe ... Our friggin' age groupers are doped up. Sales of T are skyrocketing and it's naive to think it is not rampant in the AG ranks and the pro ranks. Look at the ST threads on Kevin Moats. But if I follow the logic of some arguments, then it is OK to cheat because, hey everyone lies, everyone cheats, and the pedals don't turn themselves. You know exactly where I'm coming from. The ends do NOT justify the means. It will be a travesty if he is allowed to compete again.
Don’t worry, I’m not gonna’ go all Slowtwitch on these fair citizens of the Endurance Nation. I just need someone to explain to me, because I apparently missed something when I fell off the turnip truck.
I agree with Coach Rich.
Maybe it’s because I see the world in black and white. Or I’m just too left-brained. Maybe I just lack the age and wisdom to observe this situation objectively. Maybe I cannot understand the nuances of the cycling culture that continues to indirectly condone this behavior. Maybe I’m just a lonely and jaded punk. Maybe I’m drunk on GU and Ultragen and can’t see straight. Or maybe it’s all of these (and more…)
I simply cannot understand those willing to defend, forgive or dismiss this man. Let’s review: This is a man who carried on one of the- if not the- greatest fraud in the history of modern athletics. This is a man who cheated for decades, running a portable drug house out of his own hotel rooms. This is a man who may have destroyed his own body through cancer because of his obsession with winning at all costs. And even that wasn't enough carnage.
This is a man who relentlessly bullied his teammates, competitors and cycling leadership to submit to his culture of corruption; growing only more antagonistic, arrogant and nasty the closer one got to the truth. This is man who may have created a noble organization (Livestrong) to somehow atone for his sins (which BTW, he continued to exacerbate for oh, another decade or so) or possibly out of simple self-hate. I suspect daddy-issues. Or maybe he became so lost in his own narrative that he simply became unhinged from reality
Men (egos) such as these have existed in many contexts in history, and folks, the results have not been pretty. This kind of pathology in the criminal world creates Al Capone. In the political realm, we get Gaddafi. If you think I’m going overboard (always possible), then ask yourself what you think the traders at Lehman were saying back in ’08? What do you think Jack Abramoff was thinking back in ‘05? What do you think Jerry Sandusky was saying the past two decades?
These guys were looking around, and saying something to the effect of, “Well if that guy is getting away with it, why can’t I?” Or “People are really stupid. If I got away with this, I bet I can get away with that.”
I think of all the hundreds of promising cyclists whose careers were cut short because of their refusal to go along. Not just by Lance directly. But also by all the others who looked at Lance and made the decision to go along or remain complicit. I am also saddened by all the presumably-innocent folks who were drug into a bona fide cycling Stockholm syndrome because of nothing more than their connection with Lance. The teammates. The investors. Even the wife and girlfriends (it’s believed Sheryl Crow was one of the first huge breaks in the case.) Imagine the hell of divorcing the most famous athlete in the world.
Don’t tell me this man is not a menace to society. He walks away with millions and a lifetime of luxury and convenience. This, while pot smokers and others who have committed offenses far less damaging to our country continue to clog up our prison system.
This is a man who destroyed a sport. It doesn’t matter if he did so in the second inning, the fifth inning, or was the game’s lead-off hitter (hint: I realize he wasn’t.) This was a man so insatiable in his greed and corruption that he wasn’t satisfied with destroying one sport. He was so unmoored from principle and obsessed with his own power that he couldn’t ride off into the sunset (which at any point might have ended the witch hunt and preserved his legacy). No, he decided somewhere along the way that he would destroy our sport as well.
Impossible? Ask yourself what Lance’s fraudulent presence would have eventually done to triathlon- the races that would have been tarnished. The honest competitors that would have inevitably fallen into the rabbit hole. The dozens of young potential elite athletes that would have seen their careers end prematurely with a series of fourth-place finishes, missed sponsorship dollars, or decisions not to sell their soul (a la USPS team) in order to chase their dream.
We live in a society either on the precipice of collapse, or the early-to-mid stages of decline, depending on who you ask. And most sensible people, when they really think about it, will acknowledge that the fundamental cause is the comprehensive surrender of personal responsibility. Call it accountability. Call it the elimination of shame.
And it doesn’t happen all at once, class. Like all great declines (and ascents, as well), it’s often a series of fits and starts, but mostly a slow erosion of morals, bit by bit, pebble by pebble, until one day the rock just cracks in half. And people are shocked at the crack (Lehman, etc.) Their brains are so fixated on the crack, and the media focuses on the crack as well, because they know that deeper analysis is too complex for the population to understand. But it’s the bits that matter. Lance was fits. Tiger was the starts. McGuire and Sosa were the pebbles. And on and on we go.
Heavy, I know. But my point is that the ticket holder fostered the home run record chase. We bear some of the responsiblity for the N.O. Saints bounty system with our NFL cable package subscriptions. We elect the Congress. And we have accounts with BOA and Chase.
At some point enough people have to put their foot in the sand and draw a line. History tells me it’s unlikely to happen in time, but it will happen. It's a quaint notion.
Whether Lance was the most-talented cheater in modern cycling history or not seems completely absurd to me, but I’m open to being enlightened on this. I guess you might also argue Al Capone was one of the greatest philanthropist of his era, the Prohibition. (Which he was. Laugh if you must, but his rise was eerily similar to Lance’s, fwiw. Except for the mass homicides, of course.)
I would encourage all remaining Armstrong sympathizers to read the Texas Monthly article about Pat McCarty. Read the USADA report in full. Watch the Tyler Hamilton documentary. Check out the top signs of a sociopath. (Creeeeepy..) And, A Few Good Men might be a good addition to your Netflix queue as well.
Flame on. You can’t hurt me. My FTP is, like, 150W.
@Bob You asked for one name ;-) - and of course it always hard to prove a negative - but Scott Mercier gave up on cycling because of just this issue. Here is a story on him from the BBC
Also many other clean riders, male and female, rode clean and lost to doped riders. Good example in the news this week, Nicolle Cooke, World and Olympic champion, rode clean her entire career, cheated out of numerous wins by women who doped, and they now (finally) admit to doping. So sad. Here retirement speech this week was pretty powerful. Covers a large number of cycling related topics, not just doping.
At Joe ... Our friggin' age groupers are doped up. Sales of T are skyrocketing and it's naive to think it is not rampant in the AG ranks and the pro ranks. Look at the ST threads on Kevin Moats. But if I follow the logic of some arguments, then it is OK to cheat because, hey everyone lies, everyone cheats, and the pedals don't turn themselves. You know exactly where I'm coming from. The ends do NOT justify the means. It will be a travesty if he is allowed to compete again.
Paul -- The Honor Code still runs through my veins. I still believe in it, and try my best to live it. [Paul and I went to the Air Force Academy, Honor Code reference here: http://www.usafa.af.mil/information...sp?id=9427 ]
Like I said, I am very, very conflicted. The libertarian side of me doesn't care what a consenting adult wants to put in his/her body, what they want to eat, who they want to associate with.... But it was against the rules. But if the rules aren't enforced, then they really aren't rules. If the UCI and whomever else truly turned a blind eye, then the 'enforcing' was nothing more than eyewash. A mere nod to the "rules".
If riding clean were truly a priority, then it would have been a different enforcement paradigm. But it wasn't.
Now, as concerns our sport, I am fully in favor of enforcing the rules. I think random urinalysis of AG athletes should be the norm (and don't give me a modesty argument....we pee while riding our bikes for goodness sake) as well I am in favor of Top 5 testing as well. It is up to us to demand that our entry fees be used for this. And, oh yeah, I am pretty draconian if one is found to be doping --- lifetime ban. [Note - I understand the pandora's box of 'Therapeutic Exemptions' that will be opened if/when this should occur....]
At Bart ... Once again you have proven that not only can you rock women's sunglasses, but you are one hell of a writer to boot. . I fully concur with your take on this issue.
I want to talk about doping in cycling, or actually, Safety in Sports. Some rules in sporting activities merely set the bounderies of the playing field: 60' 6", 100 yds, 10', etc. And some rules are there for the safety of the participants: can't use the helmet as a weapon, can't undercut a player off his feet driving to the hoop. Rules against drugs are both. In the 90s, cyclists were dying in Europe from sludge in their hearts - too much EPO. In the 00s, ex football players are committing suicide cause their brains got rattled. Deaths are literally the tip of the iceberg. The damage and the risk is far more pervasive then just a few guys dying; many more will end up with health damaged. Just google risks of EPO to see recent medical studies of its untoward effects WHEN PRESCRIBED IN PROPER DOSES for real medical problems. And don't get me started on the risks of messing with the body's hormone equiblibrium with testosterone or estrogen.
From my current perch near the end of the life span, I've discovered that young men in their teens and 20s (and sometimes on up thru their 40s) are the LAST people we should expect to have a balanced view of what is safe for themselves and others. Hence, the people in charge of a sport create rules for their safety and, presumably, enforce them. Cycling did the former, but not the latter.
When I first read the USADA report, my reaction was "Well, if this can improve the culture in cycling regarding the use of risky drugs to improve performance, then, despite all the ugliness and sadness, it's overall a good thing." Everything else, to me, is just noise. I guess I'm just too much a child of the 60s, when the hippie ethos encouraged us to "Do Your Own Thing". Judging other people for their choices is something I try to avoid. But helping people make better choices - that's something that does have value.
I agree with you Al 100%....doping/damaging your body in the pursuit of enhanced athletic performance is short sighted and stupid....and I am as dismayed as you that in all walks of life....we have lost ambassadors of right and good behaviour.
I guess I must be really naive. I could never imagine an AGer doping/cheating. Ok its hard enough for me to imagine a pro cheating, but that one is way easier to swallow. But an age grouper? For what? A little piece of plastic and some bragging rights for about 5 minutes? Stupid. I am way new to this sport (~1 year) but I've always said then when I stop smiling, I stop doing it. If it isnt fun then why bother? I'll never understand why people feel the need to cheat. But hey Lance is the one who has to get up every morning and look at himself in the mirror, if he is cool with what he sees, then so be it.
Comments
c'est.
"..from what information they think know.."
Like that phrase.
this.
Sadly, we don't. I will say that his Accolade/Accusation ratio is very high, whereas Lance's is very low.
Greatest Athlete Ever = Ann Trason (ultramarathoner)
Moral Instructor and Philosopher - Brig General Malham Wakin (named one of the 12 great professors by People Magazine in 1975, USOG ethics committee member, etc.)
Courage and Bravery - just about any Airman, Soldier, Sailor or Marine who has faced combat and risked their life to save their fellow members
Service to Humanity - to numerous to state, but how about bone marrow donors and kidney donars to non-relatives. How about Mother Teresa? How about the 911 firefighters?
The point is that the people I admire the most are the least likely to be famous. There are heroic actions all around us and we don't need phonies like Lance Armstrong who will step on anyone to take meet his objectives. He is not the guy you want to 'check your 6.' On the other hand, he does provide entertainment, so I will join the crowds watching Oprah.
Dave, I would like to have 10 bands please!
I admire my mom ..........
We should all have people that we admire...and i'm not condoning lying...but it is a fact of life and in particular I believe you are all unrealistic particularly as it pertains to "cycling" (certainly in 1997-2011) and "professional sports" in general...bemoan the money but thats what "professionial means" ...sorry but frankly I'm not sure that I have any problem with what Lance did...as I have said before they were the de facto rules of the peloton...and the governing bodies not only turned a blind eye but may in fact have encouraged it...and Like Nixon...once its done...the things you will do to hide or protect seem far worse than the deed itself...btw I am also a fan of Nixon...so there ya go.
btw...I admire my Mother and Father.....and I love them both....they were both far from perfect/flawless....but their good far far far exceeds their shortcomings...I would defend them with my blood even if I find they lied or took advantage of rules to help their family...Wouldn"t you? Maybe not......NOBODY is perfect...all can create their own Shibboleths....it disturbs me to see how quickly we desert them when they are found to be "less than perfect".
In the grand scheme of things...what did Lance do? He played the game of cylcing the way it was being played and beat the pants off everyone....he survived cancer and felt that creating a foundation that increased awareness helped millions of people face & defeat the horrible disease....and you want to tear him down because he did what?...he didn't lie to UCI or anyone because HE NEVER FAILED A TEST DURING HIS YEARS RACING....do you understand that...HE WAS CLEAN as far as the govenring agency's were concerned why would he confess?....because he wouldn't be intimidated by a bunch of other cyclists who played the same game and got caught? couldn't keep up with him?.and then threatended his livelyhood..are you kidding me ?...I have no sympathy for the Andrieu, Hamptons, Leipheimers, etc....they were in the game to win and they lost.....and now I suppose everyone is happy because now everyone has lost.
Tell me who has won? Tygart? WADA? "the sport of professional cylcing" If anyone thinks the professional sport of cycling will remain "clean "is dreaming. only the names and the methods will change.
Sorry if this is not a poplular viewpoint ..but thats my perspective.
Now that IS funny!
From all of the past threads on this topic, nobody should be all that surprised to discover that I am pretty much fully in the Joseph Lombardi camp on this whole subject!
Name one of those cyclists. I won't hold my breath waiting for the answer.
I agree with everything you said except for that part because there wasn't a damn one of them that was clean. Not. One. Of. Them. As far as I'm concerned they were all more or less on a level playing field as they were all doped up so Lance was still the best cyclist. It's naive not to think so.
And I am way, way conflicted. I am experiencing some cognitive dissonance on this whole thing. Yes, he didn't get caught. But that doesn't mean he was clean. It means he was a better cheater....but almost all, if not all, the peloton was cheating. So moral relativism kicks in and says, "So What?" They were grown adults who made a decision about what to put in their body. So that goes in the 'whatever' category. That was in the 'private' realm vis-a-vis cycling. He rocked. He doped. But he still rocked.
However, his cheating was made part of the 'public' realm when he and his minions "got medieval" on anyone and everyone who told the truth. Was is hubris on his part that made him think he could continue the deceit? Probably. Was it wrong? Yes.
And then there is the Livestrong Foundation......which makes this all so confusing. It is hard...no, impossible...to separate the two. Has it done great work? Undoubtedly. Is its reputation tarnished. Hell Yes!
I think Lance the person is beyond public redemption. But I don't think the Foundation is.....
I know this is rambling....I have been typing and backspacing for quite some time. As the resident Ironman athlete / cyclist in my entire building, I have been asked about this repeatedly. And I still don't have a clear answer to my own conundrum.
And then there is the article that WJ posted about his emails with his Doping Doctor vis-a-vis Ironman. I am still naive enough to think that "our" pros aren't juiced. There isn't enough money in this sport for that..........yet.
At Joe ... Our friggin' age groupers are doped up. Sales of T are skyrocketing and it's naive to think it is not rampant in the AG ranks and the pro ranks. Look at the ST threads on Kevin Moats. But if I follow the logic of some arguments, then it is OK to cheat because, hey everyone lies, everyone cheats, and the pedals don't turn themselves. You know exactly where I'm coming from. The ends do NOT justify the means. It will be a travesty if he is allowed to compete again.
I would have to call Bull@#^*. (Respectfully…)
Don’t worry, I’m not gonna’ go all Slowtwitch on these fair citizens of the Endurance Nation. I just need someone to explain to me, because I apparently missed something when I fell off the turnip truck.
I agree with Coach Rich.
Maybe it’s because I see the world in black and white. Or I’m just too left-brained. Maybe I just lack the age and wisdom to observe this situation objectively. Maybe I cannot understand the nuances of the cycling culture that continues to indirectly condone this behavior. Maybe I’m just a lonely and jaded punk. Maybe I’m drunk on GU and Ultragen and can’t see straight. Or maybe it’s all of these (and more…)
I simply cannot understand those willing to defend, forgive or dismiss this man. Let’s review: This is a man who carried on one of the- if not the- greatest fraud in the history of modern athletics. This is a man who cheated for decades, running a portable drug house out of his own hotel rooms. This is a man who may have destroyed his own body through cancer because of his obsession with winning at all costs. And even that wasn't enough carnage.
This is a man who relentlessly bullied his teammates, competitors and cycling leadership to submit to his culture of corruption; growing only more antagonistic, arrogant and nasty the closer one got to the truth. This is man who may have created a noble organization (Livestrong) to somehow atone for his sins (which BTW, he continued to exacerbate for oh, another decade or so) or possibly out of simple self-hate. I suspect daddy-issues. Or maybe he became so lost in his own narrative that he simply became unhinged from reality
Men (egos) such as these have existed in many contexts in history, and folks, the results have not been pretty. This kind of pathology in the criminal world creates Al Capone. In the political realm, we get Gaddafi. If you think I’m going overboard (always possible), then ask yourself what you think the traders at Lehman were saying back in ’08? What do you think Jack Abramoff was thinking back in ‘05? What do you think Jerry Sandusky was saying the past two decades?
These guys were looking around, and saying something to the effect of, “Well if that guy is getting away with it, why can’t I?” Or “People are really stupid. If I got away with this, I bet I can get away with that.”
I think of all the hundreds of promising cyclists whose careers were cut short because of their refusal to go along. Not just by Lance directly. But also by all the others who looked at Lance and made the decision to go along or remain complicit. I am also saddened by all the presumably-innocent folks who were drug into a bona fide cycling Stockholm syndrome because of nothing more than their connection with Lance. The teammates. The investors. Even the wife and girlfriends (it’s believed Sheryl Crow was one of the first huge breaks in the case.) Imagine the hell of divorcing the most famous athlete in the world.
Don’t tell me this man is not a menace to society. He walks away with millions and a lifetime of luxury and convenience. This, while pot smokers and others who have committed offenses far less damaging to our country continue to clog up our prison system.
This is a man who destroyed a sport. It doesn’t matter if he did so in the second inning, the fifth inning, or was the game’s lead-off hitter (hint: I realize he wasn’t.) This was a man so insatiable in his greed and corruption that he wasn’t satisfied with destroying one sport. He was so unmoored from principle and obsessed with his own power that he couldn’t ride off into the sunset (which at any point might have ended the witch hunt and preserved his legacy). No, he decided somewhere along the way that he would destroy our sport as well.
Impossible? Ask yourself what Lance’s fraudulent presence would have eventually done to triathlon- the races that would have been tarnished. The honest competitors that would have inevitably fallen into the rabbit hole. The dozens of young potential elite athletes that would have seen their careers end prematurely with a series of fourth-place finishes, missed sponsorship dollars, or decisions not to sell their soul (a la USPS team) in order to chase their dream.
We live in a society either on the precipice of collapse, or the early-to-mid stages of decline, depending on who you ask. And most sensible people, when they really think about it, will acknowledge that the fundamental cause is the comprehensive surrender of personal responsibility. Call it accountability. Call it the elimination of shame.
And it doesn’t happen all at once, class. Like all great declines (and ascents, as well), it’s often a series of fits and starts, but mostly a slow erosion of morals, bit by bit, pebble by pebble, until one day the rock just cracks in half. And people are shocked at the crack (Lehman, etc.) Their brains are so fixated on the crack, and the media focuses on the crack as well, because they know that deeper analysis is too complex for the population to understand. But it’s the bits that matter. Lance was fits. Tiger was the starts. McGuire and Sosa were the pebbles. And on and on we go.
Heavy, I know. But my point is that the ticket holder fostered the home run record chase. We bear some of the responsiblity for the N.O. Saints bounty system with our NFL cable package subscriptions. We elect the Congress. And we have accounts with BOA and Chase.
At some point enough people have to put their foot in the sand and draw a line. History tells me it’s unlikely to happen in time, but it will happen. It's a quaint notion.
Whether Lance was the most-talented cheater in modern cycling history or not seems completely absurd to me, but I’m open to being enlightened on this. I guess you might also argue Al Capone was one of the greatest philanthropist of his era, the Prohibition. (Which he was. Laugh if you must, but his rise was eerily similar to Lance’s, fwiw. Except for the mass homicides, of course.)
I would encourage all remaining Armstrong sympathizers to read the Texas Monthly article about Pat McCarty. Read the USADA report in full. Watch the Tyler Hamilton documentary. Check out the top signs of a sociopath. (Creeeeepy..) And, A Few Good Men might be a good addition to your Netflix queue as well.
Flame on. You can’t hurt me. My FTP is, like, 150W.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19930514
Also many other clean riders, male and female, rode clean and lost to doped riders. Good example in the news this week, Nicolle Cooke, World and Olympic champion, rode clean her entire career, cheated out of numerous wins by women who doped, and they now (finally) admit to doping. So sad. Here retirement speech this week was pretty powerful. Covers a large number of cycling related topics, not just doping.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jan/14/nicole-cooke-retirement-statement
Let's hope a new era is now dawning in the sport.
"He cheated better than anyone else."
Not something I would want on my tombstone, but YMMV.....
Paul -- The Honor Code still runs through my veins. I still believe in it, and try my best to live it. [Paul and I went to the Air Force Academy, Honor Code reference here: http://www.usafa.af.mil/information...sp?id=9427 ]
Like I said, I am very, very conflicted. The libertarian side of me doesn't care what a consenting adult wants to put in his/her body, what they want to eat, who they want to associate with.... But it was against the rules. But if the rules aren't enforced, then they really aren't rules. If the UCI and whomever else truly turned a blind eye, then the 'enforcing' was nothing more than eyewash. A mere nod to the "rules".
If riding clean were truly a priority, then it would have been a different enforcement paradigm. But it wasn't.
Now, as concerns our sport, I am fully in favor of enforcing the rules. I think random urinalysis of AG athletes should be the norm (and don't give me a modesty argument....we pee while riding our bikes for goodness sake) as well I am in favor of Top 5 testing as well. It is up to us to demand that our entry fees be used for this. And, oh yeah, I am pretty draconian if one is found to be doping --- lifetime ban. [Note - I understand the pandora's box of 'Therapeutic Exemptions' that will be opened if/when this should occur....]
Meh.
Pep Guardiola just signed a 3 yr deal to coach Bayern Munich. Now THAT is news!
Lance is yesterday's fish.
I guess this makes Lance Armstrong a drug pedaller.? yuk yuk yuk.... how about
In the end Lance Armstrong stopped trying to defend himself.......He just took his ball and went home ..... and yuk yuk yuk....
I want to talk about doping in cycling, or actually, Safety in Sports. Some rules in sporting activities merely set the bounderies of the playing field: 60' 6", 100 yds, 10', etc. And some rules are there for the safety of the participants: can't use the helmet as a weapon, can't undercut a player off his feet driving to the hoop. Rules against drugs are both. In the 90s, cyclists were dying in Europe from sludge in their hearts - too much EPO. In the 00s, ex football players are committing suicide cause their brains got rattled. Deaths are literally the tip of the iceberg. The damage and the risk is far more pervasive then just a few guys dying; many more will end up with health damaged. Just google risks of EPO to see recent medical studies of its untoward effects WHEN PRESCRIBED IN PROPER DOSES for real medical problems. And don't get me started on the risks of messing with the body's hormone equiblibrium with testosterone or estrogen.
From my current perch near the end of the life span, I've discovered that young men in their teens and 20s (and sometimes on up thru their 40s) are the LAST people we should expect to have a balanced view of what is safe for themselves and others. Hence, the people in charge of a sport create rules for their safety and, presumably, enforce them. Cycling did the former, but not the latter.
When I first read the USADA report, my reaction was "Well, if this can improve the culture in cycling regarding the use of risky drugs to improve performance, then, despite all the ugliness and sadness, it's overall a good thing." Everything else, to me, is just noise. I guess I'm just too much a child of the 60s, when the hippie ethos encouraged us to "Do Your Own Thing". Judging other people for their choices is something I try to avoid. But helping people make better choices - that's something that does have value.
I agree with you Al 100%....doping/damaging your body in the pursuit of enhanced athletic performance is short sighted and stupid....and I am as dismayed as you that in all walks of life....we have lost ambassadors of right and good behaviour.