Lance Armstrong stripped of titles

[rrlbees]

All 7 of,, them and banned for life. He has also dropped his fight.

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[NineOneSeven]

Does this essentially mean he is admitting to using PEDs? I haven't been following this story too closely.

 

[rrlbees]

Does this essentially mean he is admitting to using PEDs? I haven't been following this story too closely.

Pretty much. He's not going to fight the charges.

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[Whitey23]

In his defense the charges are pretty hard to fight. Theres no direct evidence and he's passed every drug test he's ever taken. So it just comes down to his word vs. 3 other guys'.

 

[Orangeyes]

Lance Armstrong to be stripped of 7 Tour de France titles

 

[Guinness]

He made it pretty clear he was not admitting to anything. He said he was tired of fighting a fight that was rigged and he had no hope of winning.

 

[donniesyracuse]

Maybe someday will stop turning athletes into heroes.

 

[MCC]

Pretty much. He's not going to fight the charges.

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Did you read Armstrong's statement? That was anything but an admission. We can argue semantics and whether or not Lance is posturing here, but the man hasn't failed a drug test (to my knowledge) and made it very clear in his statement he's abandoning the fight because he views the entire WADA crusade and upcoming arbitration process in particular as absolutely rigged against him.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I'd love to see a poll on what percentage of people care if Armstrong has taken PED's or not. It seems like the entire cycling sport is/was very dirty and hard to govern. Not much different than baseball/football except in cycling there is no players union. I feel it's very hypocritical since cycling "road" the Lance Armstrong banner for a very long time. Most people knew him and nobody else. I wonder how many people watch the tour de France nowadays. Very similar to baseball with Bonds, Sosa and McGwire. I think this says more about the sport of cycling than about Lance Armstrong. If he cheated, and most likely he did, I feel he was among many who did at the time.

I would think Nike would support he and the LiveStrong brand. They had no problem supporting Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant through their misdeeds. I know they got rid of Paterno's name on the Nike campus, but that's different.

 

[rrlbees]

I'd love to see a poll on what percentage of people care if Armstrong has taken PED's or not. It seems like the entire cycling sport is/was very dirty and hard to govern. Not much different than baseball/football except in cycling there is no players union. I feel it's very hypocritical since cycling "road" the Lance Armstrong banner for a very long time. Most people knew him and nobody else. I wonder how many people watch the tour de France nowadays. Very similar to baseball with Bonds, Sosa and McGwire. I think this says more about the sport of cycling than about Lance Armstrong. If he cheated, and most likely he did, I feel he was among many who did at the time.

I would think Nike would support he and the LiveStrong brand. They had no problem supporting Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant through their misdeeds. I know they got rid of Paterno's name on the Nike campus, but that's different.

There was a poll that said 73% of the people didn't seem to care because of what he and his name and accomplishments were able to bring to the fight against cancer.

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[PoppyHart]

If someone thinks that all of Paterno's good deeds are nullified by his misdeeds, I can't see how Armstrong's legacy cannot be deemed 100% shattered now.

Obviously not comparing the specific immoralities, but the logic is no different. Lance Armstrong is a very, very, very bad man apparently.

 

[rrlbees]

If someone thinks that all of Paterno's good deeds are nullified by his misdeeds, I can't see how Armstrong's legacy cannot be deemed 100% shattered now.

Obviously not comparing the specific immoralities, but the logic is no different. Lance Armstrong is a very, very, very bad man apparently.

Apples and oranges. In fact it is broccoli and pears.

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[OrangeMaNPD]

Did you see he deadspin article? Every one of his vacated titles would go to people who have admitted or are under investigation for doping/cheating.

 

[PeteCalvin]

This is the biggest crock of bs I have seen in awhile. Armstrong has been railroaded throughout this whole process. There is no evidence of any wrongdoing on his part. None. What there is: an organization with deeper pockets than Lance that is determined to get him and they have three hired stooges ready to testify against Lance and say they witnessed him doping. Of course, they have no concrete evidence either. It's just a convoluted he said, he said that is draining Lance financially. He is not admitting to anything other than he can't continue to spend money on a battle he'll never win.

Cycling as a sport is ridiculous anyway. It has by far the highest rate of cheating and doping out there. I find it hilarious that they are hell bent on attacking the one person who brought world wide attention to the sport and made people who otherwise could give a actually watch the Tour de France.

Lance will continue to have the support of his fans and will still be considered the 7-time champion of the Tour no matter what these guys try to do with his legacy. As far as I'm concerned, he beat late stage cancer and showed the world that you can defy the odds and excel at the highest level. I have not seen a test result that proves he doped, so he's still a champ in my book. These witch hunters are chumps.

 

[JD]

If someone thinks that all of Paterno's good deeds are nullified by his misdeeds, I can't see how Armstrong's legacy cannot be deemed 100% shattered now.

Obviously not comparing the specific immoralities, but the logic is no different. Lance Armstrong is a very, very, very bad man apparently.

I hope you are joking because if you are not you are insane. Lance did something that every other rider does while helping millions of people.

 

[StealthTurkey]

Over 500 tests; clean. Feds couldn't charge him. More than half of the USADA's witnesses are receiving some degree of amnesty for their own admitted cheating. USADA's own laws state they can't use that kind of witness, and furthermore they are breaking their own law of an 8 year statute of limitations. It smells bad. Like a witch hunt. Why didnt they nail him after win 2... or 5...or 6? Why wait until he retires? Lets exhume Babe Ruth's corpse and test his bones while we are at it.

The man put cycling on the map, put the race in the minds of America, raised half a billion for cancer research, won 7 TdF.
Dope or no dope, he is a great athlete. Consider Bonds a cheater? Where are his 7 World Series rings? How about Clemens? Or MacGuire?

Why should he go through arbitration when the USADA isnt even standing by the 500 tests they administered? For me to care about whether or not Lance had blood transfusions, prove to me every other rider didnt. Its not like he had a motorcycle up against tricycles. Prove that he didn't train his ass off and ride like a maniac to get to the finish line. Leave the damn guy alone. USADA should be focused on stopping people right now, rather hanging a guy who has over 500 answers to their allegations.

And look, I'm not being blind or naive. He probably used EPO and transfusions. Dont care. Its too late. He won...7 damn times. Not one or two, then pissed dirty. 7.

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[NineOneSeven]

Over 500 tests; clean. Feds couldn't charge him. More than half of the USADA's witnesses are receiving some degree of amnesty for their own admitted cheating. USADA's own laws state they can't use that kind of witness, and furthermore they are breaking their own law of an 8 year statute of limitations. It smells bad. Like a witch hunt. Why didnt they nail him after win 2... or 5...or 6? Why wait until he retires? Lets exhume Babe Ruth's corpse and test his bones while we are at it.

The man put cycling on the map, put the race in the minds of America, raised half a billion for cancer research, won 7 TdF.
Dope or no dope, he is a great athlete. Consider Bonds a cheater? Where are his 7 World Series rings? How about Clemens? Or MacGuire?

Why should he go through arbitration when the USADA isnt even standing by the 500 tests they administered? For me to care about whether or not Lance had blood transfusions, prove to me every other rider didnt. Its not like he had a motorcycle up against tricycles. Prove that he didn't train his ass off and ride like a maniac to get to the finish line. Leave the damn guy alone. USADA should be focused on stopping people right now, rather hanging a guy who has over 500 answers to their allegations.

And look, I'm not being blind or naive. He probably used EPO and transfusions. Dont care. Its too late. He won...7 damn times. Not one or two, then pissed dirty. 7.

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^ This. Good post.

 

[Andpuppets]

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...es-mark-surprising-end-all-time-great-fighter

"From the 1996 Tour title won by Bjarne Riis of Denmark, who confessed several years ago to his own extensive doping, through the 2010 race result forfeited by Spain's Alberto Contador after a protracted legal fight over his positive test for clenbuterol, cycling has been saddled with a 15-year stretch during which all but one champion (Spain's Carlos Sastre in 2008) has been formally discredited in some way, even if some of those championships remain in place."

Seems to be an endemic problem and maybe they felt backed into a corner over this whole issue.

 

[StealthTurkey]

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...es-mark-surprising-end-all-time-great-fighter

"From the 1996 Tour title won by Bjarne Riis of Denmark, who confessed several years ago to his own extensive doping, through the 2010 race result forfeited by Spain's Alberto Contador after a protracted legal fight over his positive test for clenbuterol, cycling has been saddled with a 15-year stretch during which all but one champion (Spain's Carlos Sastre in 2008) has been formally discredited in some way, even if some of those championships remain in place."

Seems to be an endemic problem and maybe they felt backed into a corner over this whole issue.

You are probably right. And I don't see the problem with reform. But if it has been a part of your sport for this long, a la baseball, you can't just shred the history books. Bonds, Sosa, Macguire, Clemens... all basically superstars in their era. You can't just pretend they didn't exist. They helped fuel the sport. They brought INTERNATIONAL attention. They brought kids back into the ballpark. They were heroes to players entering the league today. Are they going to give all the revenue back that they made on these guys? Don't think so. You can attempt to start fresh. But don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Make new rules. I don't know...don't let them work out privately. I'm sure something can be arranged.

And hey, I don't think using PEDs to get ahead of the competition is right. It should be even. If everyone does it, fine. But I know there are guys that wouldn't do it. There are always exceptions, like injuries. That, I think, is ok. But you can't say, "Oh hey it's the worst thing that ever happened to the sport," while raking in millions. Sports are a business. You can't honor and admire and exalt the biggest pumpkin in the patch for decades, and then burn down the farm because you question the farmers practices. It is senseless. I like what Bob Costas proposed. Refer to it as an era in which PEDs weren't supervised and/or detected. Attribute that to apathy, poor management, technology, clever deception, what have you. It's still a part of history, they are still names and faces you won't forget. In the end, it is part of the fabric of its' own existence. We don't pretend Robert E. Lee never lived because he rebelled against the North. We educate. We move on. Nothing will ever be perfect. Such is life.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Over 500 tests; clean. Feds couldn't charge him. More than half of the USADA's witnesses are receiving some degree of amnesty for their own admitted cheating. USADA's own laws state they can't use that kind of witness, and furthermore they are breaking their own law of an 8 year statute of limitations. It smells bad. Like a witch hunt. Why didnt they nail him after win 2... or 5...or 6? Why wait until he retires? Lets exhume Babe Ruth's corpse and test his bones while we are at it.

The man put cycling on the map, put the race in the minds of America, raised half a billion for cancer research, won 7 TdF.
Dope or no dope, he is a great athlete. Consider Bonds a cheater? Where are his 7 World Series rings? How about Clemens? Or MacGuire?

Why should he go through arbitration when the USADA isnt even standing by the 500 tests they administered? For me to care about whether or not Lance had blood transfusions, prove to me every other rider didnt. Its not like he had a motorcycle up against tricycles. Prove that he didn't train his ass off and ride like a maniac to get to the finish line. Leave the damn guy alone. USADA should be focused on stopping people right now, rather hanging a guy who has over 500 answers to their allegations.

And look, I'm not being blind or naive. He probably used EPO and transfusions. Dont care. Its too late. He won...7 damn times. Not one or two, then pissed dirty. 7.

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^^^^This post KICKS ASS!!!!^^^^

The USADA should be ashamed of themselves. Absolute travesty, IMHO. Lance Armstrong is no more of a doper than anyone else who rides a bike professionally. I bet even Miguel Indurain did some questionable stuff, but the Euros don't care because he's not a Yank.

The way I look at it, even if Lance did do something, it wasn't something above and beyond what everyone else in the sport is doing or was doing at the time. A guy who was weaker and almost killed by cancer came back and kicked the World's collective ass. He trained probably more than most guys did just to get back into shape and then stay there. Lance will always be a champion and an inspiration. I hope the Tour de France dies a slow horrible death.

 

[Orangeyes]

If someone thinks that all of Paterno's good deeds are nullified by his misdeeds, I can't see how Armstrong's legacy cannot be deemed 100% shattered now.

Obviously not comparing the specific immoralities, but the logic is no different. Lance Armstrong is a very, very, very bad man apparently.

Lance Armstrong's legacy in the fight against cancer will never be tarnished. He has raised the 2nd most amount of money of any institution or individual in the history of this cause. Cancer patients, their families, doctors, hospitals, researchers and anyone who cares about the cure & care will always view him in the best light.

 

[PoppyHart]

Lance Armstrong's legacy in the fight against cancer will never be tarnished. He has raised the 2nd most amount of money of any institution or individual in the history of this cause. Cancer patients, their families, doctors, hospitals, researchers and anyone who cares about the cure & care will always view him in the best light.

He never would have had the platform unless he cheated. Everything he accomplished was built on deceit. If he was 2nd (or 22nd) in the TDF's nobody would have given a flying f.

I'm not disputing that there are people (survivors,physicians, etc..) who will deify him, but that is also the route that Paterno's fans have taken. It's a natural human response.

It's all one in the same once you separate the nature of the immoralities.

 

[Orangeyes]

Donations to his foundation went up 25x last week, not 25% but 25x the norm.

 

[rrlbees]

He never would have had the platform unless he cheated. Everything he accomplished was built on deceit. If he was 2nd (or 22nd) in the TDF's nobody would have given a flying f.

I'm not disputing that there are people (survivors,physicians, etc..) who will deify him, but that is also the route that Paterno's fans have taken. It's a natural human response.

It's all one in the same once you separate the nature of the immoralities.

Allowing little boys to be raped for 3 decades does not equal doping to win a bicycle race against your peers who were doping also.

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[PeteCalvin]

He never would have had the platform unless he cheated. Everything he accomplished was built on deceit. If he was 2nd (or 22nd) in the TDF's nobody would have given a flying f.

I'm not disputing that there are people (survivors,physicians, etc..) who will deify him, but that is also the route that Paterno's fans have taken. It's a natural human response.

It's all one in the same once you separate the nature of the immoralities.

How do you know he cheated, Poppy? Were you there to witness it?