Why I should care about Lance Armstrong

[cocodrilo]

That's the question. He ran bicycle races, right? And he won a lot of them. Why is his doping, confessing, etc., such big news? Is cycling really that big a sport? Why don't I care? Do a lot of people, outside of the media which will hype anything, really care?

If a champion bowler was found to be taking PEDs, would anyone care (besides maybe other bowlers)? How about a champion poker player? (For those who may not know, NBC or someone actually televises poker games. I would watch, but I don't like being kept on the edge of my seat. Too easy to fall off.)

I don't understand this guy's big newsworthiness. But maybe I just don't get the wide wide world of cycling.

[gatorman_07732]

Nobody cares about the fraud and j*off now.
It's not so much to doping but the lengths he went to get around the testing and how he treated teammates by forcing them into a bad situation. I also treated people very badly.

[QGator2414]

$$$

I am with you though coco...

[myamiG8R]

no one is asking that you care or telling you that you should... the reason some others care is because his accomplishments were notable to many even outside the cycling world and he held himself out as the great overcomer (of cancer) who accomplished an amazing physical feat 7X...

you may not realize, but many folks live such mundane lives that the latest exploits of kim kardashian, paris hilton, octomom, bob crane, and/or fanny brice are rather noteworthy to them... i don't fully understand it myself, but i accept that this kind of need to know intimately the lives of others is vital to too many folks...

[gatorman_07732]

no one is asking that you care or telling you that you should... the reason some others care is because his accomplishments were notable to many even outside the cycling world and he held himself out as the great overcomer (of cancer) who accomplished an amazing physical feat 7X...

you may not realize, but many folks live such mundane lives that the latest exploits of kim kardashian, paris hilton, octomom, bob crane, and/or fanny brice are rather noteworthy to them... i don't fully understand it myself, but i accept that this kind of need to know intimately the lives of others is vital to too many folks...

The interesting thing is he my have well brought on that cancer himself from drug use. I'm not saying anybody deserves that, but we all of repercussions for out actions. The more I read about this guy the more I believe that he was dishonorable person being more about Lance than anything else.

[ChartsandGrafs]

I don't understand this guy's big newsworthiness. But maybe I just don't get the wide wide world of cycling.

In the grand scheme of things, it's not important. It's just another "big story" the oligarch-owned media can distract and entertain the masses with so they don't think about anything that's truly important.

It's all about the bread and circuses.

[mocgator]

As a competative cyclist it is an important story to me. Not that Lance doped... 90% of them did... It's the people he destroyed while covering for it. Despicable.

[Dreamliner]

I cared because, for awhile there, "Lance Armstrong" was the quickest and most effective way to put a French person in their place.

[QGator2414]

I cared because, for awhile there, "Lance Armstrong" was the quickest and most effective way to put a French person in their place.

lol

[northgagator]

As a competative cyclist it is an important story to me. Not that Lance doped... 90% of them did... It's the people he destroyed while covering for it. Despicable.

He destroyed a lot of people. Many that were close to him at one time or another. He also screwed over and defrauded the US Post Office (His sponsor). This afternoon I hear that he is going to take some people down with him by ratting them out. If that is true he going to need a body guard for a long time.

[oaklandroadie]

As a competative cyclist it is an important story to me. Not that Lance doped... 90% of them did... It's the people he destroyed while covering for it. Despicable.

I knew I loved you for more than the fact you look like Michael Waltrip, errrr, Brad Pitt. I'm a Cat 2 in Nor Cal.

It is a big deal because the Tour de France is like the 2nd largest sporting event in the world. And Lance used that event to get millions donated to his cancer "awareness" organization.

[cocodrilo]

It is a big deal because the Tour de France is like the 2nd largest sporting event in the world.

I guess that shows how provincial I am.

What's the first? The Olympics, I presume. I remember that the Chinese doping or something was big news in the games. But the Olympics are sort of a joke since they started letting multimillionaire NBA players compete. And I thought all the time that the Olympics were for amateurs. Again, that shows how provincial I am.

[Juggernautz]

We weren't the ONLY country using pro atheletes in the Olympics.

[cocodrilo]

We weren't the ONLY country using pro atheletes in the Olympics.

Yeah, but weren't the others cheating by denying they were pros? (Just well-supported perpetual amateurs.) I think the Russians and Cubans were accused of this, if I recall correctly. But now the U.S. is doing it openly, so I guess anyone can.

[GatorNorth]

Cheating? Who gives a shit what he does? I don't.

Profiting while lying, defrauding and suing others for telling the truth? The guy is a POS of the highest order.

[northgagator]

I saw an item on Fox saying that that the IOC is considering dropping bike racing because of the amount of doping.

[cocodrilo]

I saw an item on Fox saying that that the IOC is considering dropping bike racing because of the amount of doping.

Then why doesn't the NCAA consider dropping Alabama?

[corpgator]

I've been saying for years that doping brought on his cancer. You just don't get that cancer that young and have it spread like it did naturally.

Plus, stories of his lifestyle before cancer were insane. He'd stay up all night partying then go out the next morning and win iron man competitions.

[The_Graygator]

Well, it's important to me.

No, I wasn't an avid follower of the Tour D'france, but what we had here was basically an American "hero", a guy that Americans could look up to, someone I myself looked up to, and even defended when the accusations of doping started against him.

Then, after all his denials to the contrary, he comes out after all these years of denials and says he was doping?

Then, on top of all that, he says he was doping because "everybody else was doing it"?!

Are you kidding me?!

Armstrong should have been man enough to MAN UP in the first place and admit what he was doing.

He's an embarrassment to the sport, to our country, and to men in general.

He's an absolute disgrace IMO.

[ufhomerj31]

I think most of the 100m runners cheat.
Bolt,etc

[Spurffelbow833]

I've been saying for years that doping brought on his cancer. You just don't get that cancer that young and have it spread like it did naturally.

Plus, stories of his lifestyle before cancer were insane. He'd stay up all night partying then go out the next morning and win iron man competitions.

Testicular cancer predominantly strikes young men. I would think other sports would be thick with victims (and denial) as well if there were a strong link.

[mocgator]

I knew I loved you for more than the fact you look like Michael Waltrip, errrr, Brad Pitt. I'm a Cat 2 in Nor Cal.

It is a big deal because the Tour de France is like the 2nd largest sporting event in the world. And Lance used that event to get millions donated to his cancer "awareness" organization.

A CAT 2! Good for you! I'm a CAT 3. I rode for Team Podium last year and this year for MetLife Elite Cycling.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g244/mocgator/Atlanta-20120802-00532Small.jpg

[mocgator]

I cared because, for awhile there, "Lance Armstrong" was the quickest and most effective way to put a French person in their place.

"Being French is wrong" - Al Bundy

[T3goalie]

A Tour rider who cheats is not exactly news.

[gatorman_07732]

A Tour rider who cheats is not exactly news.

This particular story really goes just beyone doping

[corpgator]

http://cavalierfc.tumblr.com/post/30172302298/its-not-about-the-bike

But there’s a subscript to his cancer that hasn’t really been explored: Armstrong by his own claim is the most tested athlete on the planet, and given he enjoyed considerable success in 1996 and beforehand, would certainly have been subject to numerous doping controls. Some cancers - including the type Lance Armstrong had - cause enormously elevated levels of human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (hCG), a naturally occuring hormone in the body, but at low levels in males. Now, there are rules for the amount of hCG permitted in an athlete, because it offers a competitive advantage - not enough to overcome the deficiencies cancers cause, but a good advantage in a healthy human being, because it produces testosterone. An athlete is often considered to have failed a drug test if the urinary T/E (Testosterone:Epitestosterone) ratio is greater than 6. So the UCI would have been testing for it, and Armstrong’s cancer would have resulted in an enormously elevated T/E ratio.

But Armstrong never produced a positive sample. Compare that with Jake Gibb whose life, it could be argued, was saved by USADA’s testing, when it detected those hugely elevated levels in an anti-doping test, and advised him to see a doctor. That ultimately led to the discovery of testicular cancer, and Gibb recovered. Lance Armstrong wasn’t so lucky - so we can assume one of two things. Either the UCI’s anti-doping measures were woefully below standard, and didn’t detect Armstrong’s elevated levels of hCG, allowing his cancer to worsen while competing, or the UCI’s anti-doping discovered Armstrong’s elevated levels and didn’t report them. Either way, it’s a massive condemnation in the UCI’s ability to validate itself as a serious entity in drug testing. At best it’s woefully ineffective, at worst it’s simply corrupt.

Ultimately, modern medicine saved Armstrong. That fact has been distorted as years have gone by with Armstrong’s claim to be riding to ‘fight’ the disease - when the only time it’s been beaten is with the help of medicine and drugs. The ironic thing here is that steroid usage has been proven to cause cancer, and was suggested by a former WADA spokesman to have possible been complicit in Armstrong contracting the disease.

[jsc28]

I knew I loved you for more than the fact you look like Michael Waltrip, errrr, Brad Pitt. I'm a Cat 2 in Nor Cal.

It is a big deal because the Tour de France is like the 2nd largest sporting event in the world. And Lance used that event to get millions donated to his cancer "awareness" organization.

That would make it larger than either the Olympics or the World Cup. That doesn't sound right.

[gatorman_07732]

http://cavalierfc.tumblr.com/post/30172302298/its-not-about-the-bike

You know hown he was getting around the tests right?