A place for the discussion of all things not closely related to the sport and its competitive side. (Locked down several times a year during the major championships)
"Psychopath"? Isn't that word reserved for folks like Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy?
For whatever it's worth, here's Oprah's characterization of the interview:
Oprah Winfrey says Lance Armstrong was "forthcoming" in their 2.5 hour interview, a session during which the disgraced cyclist admitted using performance enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France, NBC News has confirmed.
"I think the entire interview was difficult" for Armstrong, Winfrey said. “He was pretty forthcoming.”
“It was surprising to me," she said of his approach to the interview, adding that "we were mesmerized and riveted by some of his answers.”
Winfrey appeared on CBS Tuesday morning to discuss her sit-down with the disgraced cyclist. When asked if Armstrong was contrite, she demurred.
Advertise | AdChoices"I feel that he answered the questions in a way that he was ready," Winfrey said. "I choose not to characterize. I would rather people make their own decisions about whether he was contrite or not."
No sooner is the word out of someone’s mouth than images of [serial killers] like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer come to mind. It doesn’t automatically mean that you’re a criminal or serial killer. When psychologists talk about psychopaths, what we refer to are people with a distinct set of personality characteristics including ruthlessness, fearlessness, mental toughness, a charismatic personality and lack of conscience and empathy.
(Psychiatry) a person afflicted with a personality disorder characterized by a tendency to commit antisocial and sometimes violent acts and a failure to feel guilt for such acts Also called sociopath psychopathic adj psychopathically adv
and (subset from Wikipedia:
Psychopathy Checklist-Revised: Factors, Facets, and Items[3] Factor 1 Factor 2 Other items
While some call him a pathological liar, I do not think that is particularly the case. You could say that he told one continuing lie, rather than he lied a lot (about many different things).
Facet 1 Interpersonal
Glibness/superficial charm Grandiose sense of self-worth [was his sense way out of line with what others thought?] Pathological lying Cunning/manipulative
Facet 2 Affective
Lack of remorse or guilt Emotionally shallow Callous/lack of empathy Failure to accept responsibility for own actions [Other than one huge instance, all the stuff around doping, where is the indication here?]
Facet 3 Lifestyle
Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom Parasitic lifestyle [No] Lack of realistic, long-term goals [NO] Impulsiveness [No] Irresponsibility
Facet 4 Antisocial
Poor behavioral controls [No, usually very good control] Early behavioral problems [not unusual as far as I know, especially for a male raised without a father] Juvenile delinquency [none to speak of] Revocation of conditional release [no] Criminal versatility. [no]
Parasitic lifestyle [no] Many short-term marital relationships [yes] Promiscuous sexual behavior [? with celebrities that situations are very different, did not get the playboy type of image in the 1989-1995 time frame]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/ja ... -statement Nicole Cooke, the 2008 women's World and Olympic road race champion, retired yesterday. If you haven't read the statement she gave yesterday, you really should. This single handedly demolishes any defence Lance can possibly give.
No sooner is the word out of someone’s mouth than images of [serial killers] like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer come to mind. It doesn’t automatically mean that you’re a criminal or serial killer. When psychologists talk about psychopaths, what we refer to are people with a distinct set of personality characteristics including ruthlessness, fearlessness, mental toughness, a charismatic personality and lack of conscience and empathy.
I'm not familiar with the Kevin Dutton dictionary, but according to Merriam-Webster:
Despite all the revelations, I'm sticking with my gut feel that Armstrong wins in the court of public opinion.
I was going to say this earlier in the dialogue, and cite two things: 1. the number of people I know who had said to me something along the lines of "I don't care what he did; I'm gonna keep wearing my bracelet"; 2. 6 weeks or so ago we put a post on or Facebook that was a link to a "comedy site" that had a fake bracelet that said "Livewrong" or some such pun. Not only did it draw some disapproval, it also generated multiple cancel-my-subscription notices.
And now, tonite, a former national-class trackster whom I know well and consider to be a straight-arrow kind of guy, posted, "If YOU somehow finally decided today to chastise Lance Armstrong, or to cut off your LIVEstrong bracelet in some ceremonious fashion, you're an idiot. Vive le Lance!"
No sooner is the word out of someone’s mouth than images of [serial killers] like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer come to mind. It doesn’t automatically mean that you’re a criminal or serial killer. When psychologists talk about psychopaths, what we refer to are people with a distinct set of personality characteristics including ruthlessness, fearlessness, mental toughness, a charismatic personality and lack of conscience and empathy.
I'm not familiar with the Kevin Dutton dictionary, but according to Merriam-Webster:
Psychopath - a mentally ill or unstable person
Merriam-Webster wrote:: a mentally ill or unstable person; especially : a person affected with antisocial personality disorder
gh wrote:Despite all the revelations, I'm sticking with my gut feel that Armstrong wins in the court of public opinion.
Dude's a folk hero.
Six months ago I would have agreed with you. Now, no way. Back then, Armstrong controlled the dialogue, and most of the "general public"(as well as the general media) truly felt he was a put-upon, unfairly attacked legend. After all, he never failed a test, dontcha know.
Then, that USADA report hit, and everything changed. After his major sponsors - particularly Nike - bailed, the once-adoring media turned on him, and the paradigm shift of public opinion was on. Now, reading the online comment sections of Armstrong stories in the local newspaper, the general consensus is he's a pathetic cheater who is desperate to maintain his position in the spotlight, and they really just want him to go away.
az2004 wrote:spin this to track, lance got the bigwigs to coverup for his failed drug tests..
so would the lance of track do the same thing..
without him track is dead...
dealing with the devil can lead to strange bedfellows
Meanwhile the U.S. Government has turned down Lance's offer of $5 million to make amends with the U.S. Postas Service.
Back home, the U.S. government rejected Armstrong's offer of more than $5 million to make amends for fraud allegedly committed against the U.S. Postal Service, according to CBS.
IMO, Lance's biggest crime is not that he doped since the sport of cycling was infested with a culture of doping before he ever joined the peleton, it's not that he lied about doping which all athletes do until they get caught, it's that he was a tyranical, mean-spirited patron who crossed the line in enforcing the omerta, including going after people who only spilled the beans after being subpoenaed, but had otherwise kept their mouths shut. Now it may be true that none of the previous patrons (Indurain, Hinault, Merckx, etc.) were ever accused of being dopers, but I still doubt they would have been as mean-spirited and vindictive as Armstrong was if they were. The only person I have no sympathy for is Floyd Landis who started ratting out Armstrong and his teammates long before he was ever put on a witness stand to sell books. But there's no justification for going after people like Emma O'Reilly.
So it's starting to look like Uncle Sam will join Landis in his whistleblower suit(and why wouldnt they?). A win means treble damages - $90 million. And you can bet with a supposed Armstrong personal fortune of $100 million, the government isn't going to be in a dealmaking mood.
My Facebook friend has responded to the comments on his post
<<You guys are all supporting my statement! I'm talking about people's sudden dismay that Lance was a doper! If you've all hated him for years, then congratulations to you all...you're truly prophets! ....
Lance never fooled me or took anything from me like Hesch....
I'm not defending Lance's doping or anything of the sort! I just personally enjoy his F You attitude, and always enjoyed watching him beat other athletes who were doing the same exact thing. So, for all of those who are so quick to jump on the typical American train of condemnation, I believe they are the ones who should face reality and punish themselves for being so naive. Lance is exactly who I always thought he was.>>
<< I'm not defending Lance's doping or anything of the sort! I just personally enjoy his F You attitude, and always enjoyed watching him beat other athletes who were doing the same exact thing. So, for all of those who are so quick to jump on the typical American train of condemnation, I believe they are the ones who should face reality and punish themselves for being so naive. Lance is exactly who I always thought he was.>>
So anyone who thought he was innocent till proven guilty should punish themselves? Yeah, OK. I always assumed that MOST top TdF riders HAD to at least be on EPO, but the writer of the above opinion has a very jaundiced view of this situation. Jaundice is an illness, by the way.
<< I'm not defending Lance's doping or anything of the sort! I just personally enjoy his F You attitude, and always enjoyed watching him beat other athletes who were doing the same exact thing. So, for all of those who are so quick to jump on the typical American train of condemnation, I believe they are the ones who should face reality and punish themselves for being so naive. Lance is exactly who I always thought he was.>>
So anyone who thought he was innocent till proven guilty should punish themselves? Yeah, OK. I always assumed that MOST top TdF riders HAD to at least be on EPO, but the writer of the above opinion has a very jaundiced view of this situation. Jaundice is an illness, by the way.
Explain "jaundiced view" to me, please. I am lousy with symbolic language.
his "jaundiced" view is that of a national-class runner looking from the inside out, as compared to your look from the outside in. I know which one I trust.
gh wrote:his "jaundiced" view is that of a national-class runner looking from the inside out, as compared to your look from the outside in. I know which one I trust.
??!! It's not a matter of trust, but yes, it a matter of perspective (but certainly you are not thinking just because he is a nat-class runner, he represents ANYone's opinion but his own, which may or may NOT be determined by his nat-class 'prestige'), and yes, his perspective is jaundiced* as evidenced by its content AND tone. I certainly don't expect anyone to 'trust' or 'accept' my perspective, but the exact same thing can be said of his!
*Jaundiced, in this context, refers to his dismissiveness of how STOOPID you must be to have ever had any emotion towards Lance except disgust . . .
gh wrote:his "jaundiced" view is that of a national-class runner looking from the inside out, as compared to your look from the outside in. I know which one I trust.
??!! It's not a matter of trust, but yes, it a matter of perspective (but certainly you are not thinking just because he is a nat-class runner, he represents ANYone's opinion but his own, which may or may NOT be determined by his nat-class 'prestige'), and yes, his perspective is jaundiced* as evidenced by its content AND tone. I certainly don't expect anyone to 'trust' or 'accept' my perspective, but the exact same thing can be said of his!
*Jaundiced, in this context, refers to his dismissiveness of how STOOPID you must be to have ever had any emotion towards Lance except disgust . . .
Well, let me tell you what Mrs Pego's attitude toward Lance is. I think she is one of the public, outside rabid fans (like us) or talking heads. Whenever she watches, for example, Tyler Hamilton interviews, this is what she says (condensed and paraphrased). "You have been doing the same as Lance and he whipped your ass. Sour grapes, Tyler."
lionelp1 wrote:Ask Christophe Bassons or Nicole Cooke about that disgusting criminal.
But it is possible that Cooke has an incomplete assessment of history (and I cannot remember the timing of her career and the money flows). She decries that the funding is dropping for women but does not seem to realize that the money for the women's side increased with Lance's ascendancy. Thus, it might be that it is just going back to the pre-Lance levels. Of course, she also lost placings etc. due to druggies on her side as well (see discusses Jeanson, but there were others as well, especially for the semi-Grand Tours).
Within cycling, what would have hurt most is not merely racing against someone that is using PEDs but against a whole team that is using PEDs, as the team is such an important element. And Lance developed the 'assisted team'. This makes sense also in terms of one of their strengths, which was to keep almost all the riders in the race through to the end. Correct me if I am wrong (jazz, especially), but the greatest cyclist ever, Eddy Merckx, also had the best team (by far?) during his heyday.
Comment on Sally Jenkins:
Maybe I’m not angry at Lance because more informative than the USADA report was an ESPN interview with his former teammate Jonathan Vaughters, who observed: “There is the huge misconception, though, that this is about Lance. This is about a culture that Lance was a part of, and that he participated in . . . If you want people to be truthful and want to know what actually happened, as opposed to chasing ghosts for the next 10 years, then you have to let them know that we won’t chop your head off.”
Of the major players in the game that have commented on this, the sport, and their role in it, I like Jonathon Vaughters the most. Sure, you could say he has an agenda, but that agenda is possibly the best aligned with the those of the sport than others I know.
gh wrote:My Facebook friend has responded to the comments on his post
<< So, for all of those who are so quick to jump on the typical American train of condemnation, I believe they are the ones who should face reality and punish themselves for being so naive. Lance is exactly who I always thought he was.>>
This part of your friends post really resonates with me. I figured out that he was an asshole when he I read his book It's Not About The Bike, and I figured out that the sport was dirty in the late 90's after the Festina affair. By the time I stood on the roadside of the upper slopes of Alpe D'Huez in July 2001 and watched Armstrong pull away from Jan Ullrich in one of the most epic stages in Tour history, the blinders had already taken off my eyes for the most part. As former NFL coach Dennis Green might say, "he is who we thought he was". What I find amazing is how certain folks in the media (eg. Phil Liggett, Al Trautwig, etc) are responding to the confession by doing their best Inspector Renault impressions.
Pego wrote:she says (condensed and paraphrased). "You have been doing the same as Lance and he whipped your ass. Sour grapes, Tyler."
There is, of course, merit in that position also! That's why when posters here lament the PEDness of an athlete from (especially) the 70s - 90s, I say: and you KNOW the other athletes were clean because . . . ?
lionelp1 wrote:Ask Christophe Bassons or Nicole Cooke about that disgusting criminal.
But it is possible that Cooke has an incomplete assessment of history (and I cannot remember the timing of her career and the money flows). She decries that the funding is dropping for women but does not seem to realize that the money for the women's side increased with Lance's ascendancy. Thus, it might be that it is just going back to the pre-Lance levels. Of course, she also lost placings etc. due to druggies on her side as well (see discusses Jeanson, but there were others as well, especially for the semi-Grand Tours).
This is selective. Over Cooke's career many female sports have increased in money due to more acceptance, awareness and more fans enjoying it more seriously as well as people reaslising there is a slowly growing market for female sports. When Cooke was reaching the top as a teenager there wasn't even girl's road racing tournaments in the Uk until she asked for one. Obviously that brings more attention and more money. Or does Lance take credit for better female attention and earnings all sports like Basketball, Netball, Athletics, football etc?
eldanielfire wrote:Over Cooke's career many female sports have increased in money due to more acceptance, awareness and more fans enjoying it more seriously as well as people reaslising there is a slowly growing market for female sports.
What sports are you talking about? I can't think of a single female sport that wasn't big time seventeen years ago, but is now.
26mi235 wrote:Correct me if I am wrong (jazz, especially), but the greatest cyclist ever, Eddy Merckx, also had the best team (by far?) during his heyday.
Actually, bambam could give you a better answer to this question than I can. I was too young to remember when Merkcx was riding. What about La Vie Claire team that Lemond and Hunault rode on in the mid-80's?
26mi235 wrote:Of the major players in the game that have commented on this, the sport, and their role in it, I like Jonathon Vaughters the most. Sure, you could say he has an agenda, but that agenda is possibly the best aligned with the those of the sport than others I know.
I agree with you about Vaughters. If you look at the circumstances, the timing, the candor and the thoroughness of his confession, he seems to be motivated more out of altruism than any of the other players in this saga. His New York Times op-ed, his Bicycling magazine interview and his posts on the cyclingnews.com message board under username JV1973 are must-read for anyone who wants to get a deeper, nuanced understanding of cycling's doping problem.
Last edited by jazzcyclist on Wed Jan 16, 2013 1:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Isn't that word reserved for folks like Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy?
