Lance Armstrong

What is your opinion of him? Cheating is wrong but I don't know anything about bike riding. I've heard some people say that EVERYONE in that sport dopes so Armstrong is really not that bad because everyone was doing it anyway. I personally think he's a scummy guy because he has definitely hurt a lot of people. I have even heard people questioning whether he even had cancer to start with. Surely that's crazy isn't it!? But for me I would put Mark McGwire up there in the league with Armstrong. Also Palmeiro. They went before the most powerful body in the world and lied under oath in a federal court. Has Armstrong lied under oath or has it just been a he said she said type thing?

 

I bet 90% of the players on our roster have taken steroids at some point in their lives. It's just such a common thing to use that it's hard for me to believe any pro athlete who denies ever taking it. Hell, a large number of my friends have taken it at various times and they aren't pro athletes, they're just gym rats.

 

Doping is wrong whether everyone does it or not (which I find hard to believe) but I wouldn't go as far as saying the guy is scummy. I'm sure that the people and organizations that have benefited from the $30,000,000 per year his foundation has acconted for over the last 3 years in grants, programs and advocacy wouldn't call him scummy either.

 

Well he called other people liars when he was a liar himself and turns out they were telling the truth. He used his celebrity to give him some sense of credibility and done harm to an innocent person. That's what I would say is scummy. I would NEVER want to be called a liar for ANY reason. I bet he winds up getting the crap sued out of him for defamation really.

 

Yeah, he lied. A lot of people lie and don't do anything like Armstrong to help other people. I'm not excusing what he did or said but to completely ignore all of the positive things he used his celebrity status for is wrong in my opinion.

 

I wonder if he is more of a figure head to that place anyway though really because he stepped down from it. I think Mark McGwire is scummy too though because of what he done. I know he probably persuaded a lot of kids to drink milk with his "got milk" endorsement but he also probably inspired a lot of them to do steroids too. Lance's actions are noble. His character is not. I guess that's how I see it.

 

I see what you're saying... still don't think he is scummy.

 

Fair enough.

 

Cheating, not cool. I know, alot of others did it, blah blah blah. Same old excuse. Lying about it? Still not cool. Coercion of other teammates to "play ball or else" - very not cool. Filing defamation lawsuits and accepting MILLIONS of dollars as a result of it - this, in my opinion, makes him a douche. Plain and simple.

 

everybody else was doing it.....so he was still the best......Lance is ok with me in the bike riding part of it

but I think he was mean to people who told the truth about him so thats not cool

 

Doing 'roids? Eh. Lying about it? Eh. Using your position to makewhistleblowers shut up? Eh.
Getting involved with Sheryl Crow?????????????? Scumbag!

 

Wait 'til Bondsfinally admits his steroid use!

 

Well Palmeiro actually LIED TO CONGRESS and he's not in jail! That's incredible to me! McGwire just sat there like a politician and kept saying "I'm not here to talk about the past..." Well then what in the crap was he there to talk about? The thing with Bonds is that I never got the impression people liked him anyway. People did like Armstrong and when someone you like lies to you that is harder to forgive. So I think Armstrong should just get a reality show or something. Almost all of the people on those things are losers but still people like them for whatever reason so if it was me that's what I would do.

 

Some may forgive the doping. However, I will NEVER forgive that hat he was wearing at the first part of that second video!

 

I race bicycles (weekend warrior type stuff) and have followed cycling for over twenty years - that doesn't make me an expert,but I do have some knowledge.

I personally am not that bothered by Armstrongs drug use - most people who follow the sport have assumed he doped from the beginning. The sport has a doping culture always has and still does. If you look at the final standings of most of the tours armstrong won you have to go about 15 to 20 people deep before you get to someone that you cannot tie to doping from some prior investigation. Not that it's ok, and I think he said as much.

The guy that won the first tour de france in 1903(?) also finished first in the second tour - but they found out he train doped, yes, he rode on a train - not a bike - for part of the race. He wasn't the only one either, I think the 5th place guy ended up being the winner. I guess my point is Lance didn't start the fire.

I do have a problem with Lance destroying other people to keep his secret - but I think he has started to pay for that.

I respect him for confessing when he didn't have too, and not ratting out other riders or cutting deals when he did. He has done great things for cycling, and the cancer community. In my book he is still a seven time tour winner.

 

It isn't the doping that's the issue as much as it's how he bullied, harrassed, and threatened everyone in path and anyone who attemtpted to squeal on him. As Steelio just said, "He has started to pay for that." I started to sense Armstrong wasn't who he said he was in 2003, when he bailed on his wife to start dating Sheryl Crow. You know, cancer survivors can be ego maniacs, too.

 

One of my students' father rode with Armstrong for a while in the early 1990s, and was one of the many pushed out by Lance when he would not dope with them. He's been speaking out against him for years, and finally he is vindicated.

 

That's the best thing to come from this is that honest people are being proven just that ya know. Good for him. So you are saying that even THEN he was cheating? Wow!

 

here is an interview about it:

http://www.wcax.com/story/20617514/former-lance-armstrong-teammate-from-vt-on-doping-scandal

 

Let's qualify that. Honest people (after they were caught and wanted to try to save thier own ass as well as bring everyone else down) are being proven just that.

 

Save themselves from what? I thought that people just didn't wanna work with him anymore because they thought he wasn't honest and he talked bad about them. Were they in trouble or something and started dropping his name to not get in trouble? I honestly don't know what you mean by that. I've not really kept up with this story more than just to hear that he admitted doping after he had called other people liars. Were they not honest to start with?

 

Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton lied and fought individual doping convictions for years before coming clean and accusing Armstrong. They seemingly only came forward after they found all their doors back into the sport closed. When they came clean they gave details on Armstrong and the rest of the team - which started the federal investigation. During the federal investigation under threat of prosecution for doping violations and probably federal crimes several other team members confessed and provided details on Armstrong in exchange for 6 month suspensions. The suspensions coincided with the off season in cycling so they didn't miss any racing - hence 'saving their own asses'.

 

Oh. I see. But how in the world can it be a federal crime to cheat in a sport?