A Very Bad Morning For Lance

[gh]

My friend's post got 10 likes and these (all negative) comments:

<< Screw Lance...how can you possibly chastise Hesch and then support him?>>

<<Really, [friend's name]?>>

<<Nope. We've all been ripping him for years [friend's name]. Face reality.>>

<<I've been ripping him since he cheated on his wife/mother of his children.
PS: Never wore the plastic bracelet either.>>

[az2004]

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

[jazzcyclist]

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.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/1 ... 83370.html

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.

[guru]

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.

[26mi235]

Not sure how the whistle-blower suit would work, but if they have to show economic damages from the behavior they will probably not win on that score.

[tandfman]

Another writer weighs in:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/s ... g-did.html

[guru]

Not sure how the whistle-blower suit would work...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qui_tam

[jazzcyclist]

Here's the link to Sally Jenkin's column from a month ago. I have a feeling that Conor Dary will appreciate a lot more than guru.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/ot ... story.html

By the way, ESPN's Stuart Scott who has cancer again is also defending Lance.

[lionelp1]

Ask Christophe Bassons or Nicole Cooke about that disgusting criminal.

[gh]

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.>>

[Cooter Brown]

A sign at a local business yesterday read, "Lance, thanks for having the ball to admit to doping."

[Marlow]

<< 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.

[Pego]

<< 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.

[gh]

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.

[Marlow]

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 . . .

[Pego]

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."

[26mi235]

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.

[jazzcyclist]

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.

[Marlow]

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 . . . ?

[az2004]

lance use of his lawyers to destroy people makes me wonder about justice

[cullman]

Newsflash: Performance enhancing drugs have been a part of competitive cycling for the last 125 years.

[Marlow]

Newsflash: Performance enhancing drugs have been a part of competitive cycling for the last 125 years.

I bet cocaine worked dandy in the 1880s/90s!

[eldanielfire]

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?

[jazzcyclist]

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.

[jazzcyclist]

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?

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.

[26mi235]

Jazz, I have more confidence in my impressions given your comments. I have not been on the Cyclingnews.com message board, so I have missed those comments.

[jazzcyclist]

I have not been on the Cyclingnews.com message board, so I have missed those comments.

He starts posting on page five of this thread as JV1973.

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=18436

[tandfman]

Coach Steve Magness comments on his interactions with Armstrong:

http://running.competitor.com/2013/01/n ... rong_64596

[Dutra5]

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.>>

He's exactly who I thought he was as well....which isn't necessarily a good thing.

[jazzcyclist]

By stripping Armstrong of his 2000 Bronze medal, the IOC has undermined their statute-of-limitations rationale for why they can't strip the East Germans of their medals.

The IOC has stripped Lance Armstrong of his bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics because of his involvement in doping, officials familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Two officials said the IOC sent a letter to Armstrong on Wednesday night asking him to return the medal. The move came after the International Olympic Committee was notified by cycling's governing body that Armstrong had not appealed the decision to disqualify him.

The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn't been announced.

The IOC executive board discussed revoking the medal last month, but delayed a decision until cycling body UCI formally notified Armstrong he had been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and all results since 1998. He then had 21 days to appeal.

Now that the deadline has expired, the IOC decided to take the medal away. The letter to Armstrong also was sent to the U.S. Olympic Committee.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/1 ... 94459.html

I hate it when people selectively enforce rules/laws, but I really hate it when people make up rules/laws to punish people after the fact.

[Pego]

By stripping Armstrong of his 2000 Bronze medal, the IOC has undermined their statute-of-limitations rationale for why they can't strip the East Germans of their medals.

The IOC has stripped Lance Armstrong of his bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics because of his involvement in doping, officials familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Two officials said the IOC sent a letter to Armstrong on Wednesday night asking him to return the medal. The move came after the International Olympic Committee was notified by cycling's governing body that Armstrong had not appealed the decision to disqualify him.

The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn't been announced.

The IOC executive board discussed revoking the medal last month, but delayed a decision until cycling body UCI formally notified Armstrong he had been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and all results since 1998. He then had 21 days to appeal.

Now that the deadline has expired, the IOC decided to take the medal away. The letter to Armstrong also was sent to the U.S. Olympic Committee.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/1 ... 94459.html

I hate it when people selectively enforce rules/laws, but I really hate it when people make up rules/laws to punish people after the fact.

Yes.

[tandfman]

Another very bad morning for Lance. The indignities never cease. Now it seems they're not going to invite him to the festivities in July celebrating the 100th Tour de France.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/to ... story.html

I'm shocked, shocked!

[jazzcyclist]

Another very bad morning for Lance. The indignities never cease. Now it seems they're not going to invite him to the festivities in July celebrating the 100th Tour de France.

They should not invite anyone whose ridden in the peleton for the last 20 years if they're going to be consistent.

I'm shocked, shocked!

What I find interesting is that Bjarne Riis didn't garner this same Inspector Renault reaction from the UCI and the Society of the Tour de France when he admitted to doping when he won the Tour. As a matter of fact, the only punishment he recieved is to have an asterik put by his Tour victory, and today he is the manager of one of the biggest teams in cycling. Why does Armstrong's Tour wins get expunged but Riis' only gets an asterik?

[Gabriella]

By stripping Armstrong of his 2000 Bronze medal, the IOC has undermined their statute-of-limitations rationale for why they can't strip the East Germans of their medals.

I hate it when people selectively enforce rules/laws, but I really hate it when people make up rules/laws to punish people after the fact.

What happened in the GDR is totally different, and you'd be wrong (and stupid) to think it wasn't.

I don't know why people are getting their knickers in a twist over Armstrong losing his Olympic medal. So the IOC has underminded it's rule. And what? Did you mind that Katrin Krabbe was target tested, the chain of anonymity around her samples broken and her negative results shared amongst federations prior to her positive test, before this kind of thing 'was allowed'. What about her ban being 'illegally' extended? I doubt it.

Armstrong is a serial cheating so-and-so. If I had my way I'd rid him of everything, including his bike.

[jazzcyclist]

What happened in the GDR is totally different, and you'd be wrong (and stupid) to think it wasn't.

So i'm stupid for expecting some consistency from the IOC? The bottom line is that East Germany had a systematic doping program and I'm disappointed that you find it necessary to be an apologist for them? Their doping program was much bigger and more sophisticated than anything the Armstrong, U.S. Postal or any other cycling team was involved in.


EDIT: I also find it interesting that the IOC will not touch the medals of Vyacheslav Ekimov (U.S. Postal teammate and fellow doper) and Jan Ullrich (convicted doper), the gold and silver medalists from that race.