Lance Armstrong...

Aparantly USPS had a clause in his sponsorship that he can not dope which would void his contract and rumor has it because FLoyd Landis was a whistle blower, USPS will try to get the money back considering it was tax payer money. By admitting he dopes he is opening himself up to all kinds of lawsuits.

 

^^^^this.............. posted pre and post admission,lol.

 

I'm with this guy. I don't believe in the ethical decision to dope but shit, he used his fame to do something stellar for people who needed help. If he used his fame for nothing but self satisfaction I'd have a problem with it.

I wonder how this will change the measures taken to catch dopers in the sport? If the policies change and they're successful at keeping people clean I'm curious to see what the performance bar will sink to.

 

Yeah it's not like he was killing puppies in the off season.

The problem with this sport and so many other endurance sports is that doping is rampant at all levels including amature. I had a frield that was on a D1 crew team, they all doped, everyone did. I guarantee most olympians dope during training and come off before they are tested. Its nothing new.

 

What if his PED use caused his testicular cancer.

That would be some fucked up shit. All the money he made off of his mistake.

:tinfoil:

 

The only way we will ever see a change in sports in regards to PED's is to implement a zero tolerance policy. Your first offence is a life time ban from the sport. Period. Nothing more to really say about it. However, professional sports are a business, and that is a business model Owner’s and CEO’s are willing to enforce.

So until that happens we should just assume the best of the best are using to some degree. Then those players can be inducted into the Hall of Fame with the rest of our sports heroes. With everything considered we have proven drunks, drug addicts, racists, felons, murders all sharing space as the greatest that played the sport. Why not include PED users?

 

I agree with this to a point. He did a lot of good outside of the sport to help people who really needed help. He gave a lot of exposure to a sport in the US that used to be about as interesting as underwater basket weaving to most Americans. All that being said, to say that because he used his fame for good should offset the fact that he cheated to get famous in the first place is a horrible message. I believe that athletes should conduct themselves as role models and a lot of athletes these days are a far cry from anything I would want to look up to. When something like this comes out about an athlete like Lance, even though he did do a lot of great things, it's very very sad to find out that someone you thought you could look up to is just a lying cheat like everyone else. That fact that the rest of the field was doping, to me, is irrelevant.

 

Yea, Id do him..

 

He should have come clean on his own a long time ago, not because he was ultimately painted into a corner and coming clean now was his last resort. He needs to crawl under a rock and stay there. Yeah he might have raised awareness and contributed to fight cancer, but Livestrong will forever be liked to him and the image hit he's given that organization is enormeous. This will only lead to more dropped sponsorship, cancelled business deals, and more people distancing themselves from Livestrong since I'm sure no one wants to be associated with a cheating, lying, arrogant a-hole like Lance.

 

And what about everyone else? They're free to dick around?

I have a livestrong band on my wrist that's been there for 6 years. I wear it not because I'm a Lance Armstrong supporter; but because I support the foundation and anyone else who supports living a healthy lifestyle. It's never come off in 6 years and it's not coming off anytime soon.

 

Everyone else isn't in the public eye, on TV, have sponsors, etc... I think everyone should conduct themselves much better than they do but I believe public figures should do a little better although that is often not that case.

 

Thats not tinfoil material. Its a definite medical possibility.

He was using multiple substances that are known to cause celluar changes and are linked to cancer.

Certainly once he had cancer it was made worse by the steroids and EPO. EPO currently carries a black label warning about usage for people who arent yet cancer free.

 

Interesting thoughts and views here. Livestrong has done a lot of good for a lot of people. But it's also done a lot of good for Lance personally, his reputation, and his own bottom line. The two were, are, and always will be completely inseparable, regardless of what the paperwork says. There's no doubt that Lance's personal fortune would not have grown so large were it not for Livestrong. For a long time, it was a win-win-win for corporations like Nike, Trek, Oakley, etc. to endorse (i.e. write HUGE checks to) Lance personally because of his connection to such a visible charity as Livestrong. It's a blurry line, folks. Lance always looks out for himself first. Always has. Let's not let that get lost in conversations about the good that Livestrong has done. That's as much about Lance as it is about the cancer victims that it helps. Also take a look at livestrong.com, the for-profit (that's Lance's profit) side of the livestrong brand and take a look at how intertwined all of this is. He's no selfless charitable saint.

Also, do not overlook the people whose lives, reputations, and careers that he trashed on his nefarious road to the top. He doesn't even deserve to be called an asshole for the things that he's done to and said about some people. He's lower than that. Far lower. All those folks ever did was try to tell the truth, and he incinerated them, as Travis Tygart put it. No amount of good deeds can ever overcome that, in my view. Let's not let that get swept under the rug. This guy was in a class all his own when it comes to adjectives like selfish, ruthless, vindictive, dishonest, and arrogant. His comeuppance is finally arriving.

There is no argument to be made for it having been an even playing field. Doping is an expensive undertaking. Teams with more money, doped more and doped better. Also, physiology varies among individuals. Some respond more favorably to the chemistry and processes than others. Doping as a practice distorts the playing field. It does not even it out across the board.

 

According to this EPO, the drug cyclists including LA took is not effective at all and does not produce increased performance.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-06/-no-evidence-epo-boosts-cyclists-performance-study.html

I dont think you should have your kids look up to pro athletes are role models based on their personality, but on their work ethic. LA, or Bonds or anyone worked really hard just to get to that level, they used drugs to increase their performance and ability, but that alone did not get them to the top. LA could take all the drugs he wants, but he still has to have the mental strength and determination to ride a bike all day for 3 weeks and put in 100x the effort just to train for the Tour. That's just something that most people dont have and something that should be admired.

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

Lance A. fucked up and but he was not alone in covering up his doping, he had to have help to get away with for so long. They are just as guilty for being spineless. I still like guy, he has brought a lot of positive awareness to cancer research. i accept that a lot of athletes dope, rock and hip hop star and actors do drugs. Choose your role models wisely!

 

As stated before, LA is a 1st rate jerk. He's gone after anyone that's challenged him. That's why you shouldn't say yeah I wanna be like LA he's my idol. What you can say is yeah he cheated but like a lot of pro athletes they still had to put the time in and hard work. To me that's respectable. What he did with his fame is respectable as well. I dont agree with cheating but I can see why anyone would. What I disagree with most is the use of tax payer money to hunt him down. The sport should be doing that.

 

He was badass on a bike regardless of doping and wouldn't have won against other peloton competitors (who were also doping) without PEDs.
He's an egotistical narcissist who bullied, threatened and bribed everyone around him to get what he wanted. But anyone who follows cycling has known this for years. That's what makes him a bad person. If I was in his shoes and thought I could get away with breaking rules to win and make millions, I'd probably do it too.....
He was an animal and I'll always look up to him for winning and crushing a bunch of arrogant entitled Euros on their home turf (especially in a dousche-bag country that hates Americans).
But yeah, certainly not a true athletic role-model like Aaron Gwin or Barry Sanders or Walter Payton TNAF.

 

clean athletes are good role models. they become volunteers at the YMCA and after school sport programs. The probably make under 55k a year on average.

Cheaters dope and become famous, not all. But anyone famous is usually a prick and not what i call an honest to goodness role model.

Except Ray Lewis....he helped kill two people and that shit rules.

 

Ray Lewis , tru dat