SyraKelly
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http://www.bicycling.com/news/pro-cycling/lance-armstrongs-endgame?page=0,4His ultimate legacy most likely is out of our hands. Fans who may not yet be alive will decide who he was. To us, today, Eddy Merckx is the greatest cyclist who ever lived, not a fraud who tested positive for a stimulant while leading the 1969 Giro d'Italia and had his 1973 Giro di Lombardia win stripped for the same. Joop Zoetemelk is the hardman who started and finished 16 Tours—a record—and won one. He's not a reprobate who was caught doping at the 1979 Tour, received a paltry penalty of a 10-minute time addition, and maintained his second-place podium spot. Jacques Anquetil is the five-time Tour winner who in 1961 took the yellow jersey on Stage 1 and wore it all the way to Paris, not a boastful cheater who said, during a French television interview, "Leave me in peace—everybody takes dope." And Fausto Coppi is il campionissimo, the champion of champions, not an admitted doper who said on Italian television that he only took drugs when necessary—"which is nearly always."
Well, well, well---I'm watching 60 Minutes and Tygart from USADA asserts that Lance continues to deceive, that although Lance says "everybody does it" Lance's team had information that NOBODY else had, used methods nobody else was. I mean really, what else is new, Lance Armstrong remains the liar and cheater he has always been.
Paximus, why don't we just talk about Lance as a human being, he IS a horrible person. He is petty, vindictive, vengeful, full of anger and pretty much a narcissist and sociopath without a soul. Just a putrid human being.
There is NOTHING good about Lance Armstrong. He was, is, and continues to be a waste of air. He still doesn't get it and never will.
We can talk about Lance the human being all you want but you and I obviously dont agree on how one should go about speaking about and judging other humans. Lance has his problems, everyone does, to call him a waste of air is going too far IMO.
I stand by what I said above, I know sports technology well and where it is headed, Lance is just the beginning of where it is going. He lied, he cheated, whatever, I dont like any of that, but history will judge him much differently than we are, I can assure you that, THAT IS ALWAYS THE CASE with almost everyone, however. We are too short-sighted to see what Lance really represents for the future of sport. Science is fast taking us in the direction Lance already has, period. Enhancing athletic performance is at the forefront of sports science and they will and ARE coming up with ways to do it far better and less detectable than what Lance did and it WILL BE THE NORM in 20 years or less.
I dont like how Lance handled this and if I were his legal adviser I would have him handle it much differently first by talking about how sports science is taking us in that very direction, he needs to educate instead of cover up, too late now. He made the same mistake just about everyone does when caught doing something society thinks is wrong, deny, lie and coverup. He didnt need to, he didnt kill anyone, its a freaking bicycle race, he should have used this opportunity to talk about the future of sports science and how synthetically or genetically enhancing performance is THAT FUTURE. He had a real opportunity there that be blew, bad representation and advisers.
You were right all along, and I was wrong all along. I saw Tygart interview last night on 60 Minutes. He seems to me to be everything you said he was.I know Travis Tygart, the guy who prosecuted Lance, and I can guarantee that he is a straight shooter and believes to his very core in clean sport free from corruption. Two years ago he was given a detailed confession about what went on in Lance's former team (US Postal, yes, sponsored by the Post Office) and he did what any prosecutor would do...he started an investigation. There was also a federal government investigation into possible racketeering opened up at the time too Eventually more than 10 cyclists and multiple team staff came forward and gave Travis and USADA detailed information. They were all prepared to testify against Lance at an arbitration hearing. Travis had no choice but to prosecute this, it's his job and there was overwhelming evidence against Lance.
This is not just about Lance using performance enhancing drugs to win bike races. It's about:
- Lance and team management pressuring other team members into using drugs. This happened many, many times over the years and it's a horrible thing to do.
- Lance and team management acquiring drugs and selling them to team members...trafficking drugs. This included extremely unsafe experimental drugs like Hemassist that were never even approved for human use.
- Lance paid large amounts of money (bribes) to the governing body of the sport, the UCI, to have them look the other way and cover up his doping. The real injustice here is that the UCI management has not been held accountable. The top of the sport is extremely corrupt and Lance was able to use his fame and large amounts of cash to basically join in cahoots with the UCI Presidents.
As for Lance and cancer. I think the inspiration he has provided is terrific. But sadly, his accomplishments came while using some of the same dangerous drugs that doctors only prescribe to cancer patients with serious anemia. Many here have probably had loved ones, or even themselves, take erythropoietin and know how that drug should only be taken with great care.
So Lance did all he could...he gave in to USADA and is doing his best to win the PR war. But don't be fooled into thinking he's a victim of the system...far from it. When you play the system like he did there's going to be some pushback from the true watchdogs.
Good post, I agree with you, I have more to add to that when I get a free minute, againt great post and solid insight, appreciate you sharing!Paximus, PEDs have been a part of cycling (and sports in general) for as long as it's been around. Lance is nothing special in that respect. Riders in the first Tour de France used strychnine and cocaine. And blood doping, the drug/method of choice these days, has been rampant since the early 1990s. The poster child for EPO is the Gewiss team's domination in 1994 (under the care of Michele Ferrari, the doctor who would go on to work with Lance). But the most outrageous doping program in history is surely the state-supported Eastern Bloc countries in the 1970s-80s. They dominated the Olympics back then. Many steroid fueled women's track and field records still stand from that time.
The big problem with Lance is corruption. From the first Tour he won, he was given special treatment. He was "too big to fail". And when doping tests from that Tour were retroactively analyzed years later, they showed that Lance was doping in ways other cyclists didn't dare (because there had been police raids at the Tour the year before). From there, Lance went on to pay the governing body of the sport, the UCI, hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, and the owner of Lance's team even handled investments for the UCI president. It's all extremely slimy, and no different from corruption in any aspect of life. Add to that the way Lance ruthlessly targeted his perceived enemies (who are all pretty much good people), and Lance is a guy who deserves what he's getting.
But I agree with you about the medical technology to come, and I see doping as symptomatic of ethical choices society faces in general. Morality of doping to win bike races aside, upwards of 20 (and maybe many more) cyclists have died of heart attacks over the years from using EPO. EPO is an anemia drug that is dangerous even when used in a legitimate clinical setting. It's not something any truly conscientious doc would ever prescribe to improve athletic performance. The real problem for society (as well as athletes) is the breakneck pace of technological advancement and the messy way it's implemented; so we get drug recalls, people harmed and killed by poorly approved drugs, prescription drug abuse, drugs used off-label in dangerous ways, sketchy medical procedures implemented (think cosmetic surgery), etc....
Today is his deadline to tell the truth!!
I hope he does some time-if he is convicted on the crimes above.
He destroyed a lot of people!!