BREAKING Report: Lance Abandoning Fight vs Doping Charges, TDF Titles Gone

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Travis T. the Tygar wrote:

Mr. Obvious. You sound like a Rojo klone.

The WADA-USADA system is simply incompatible with the U.S. legal system.

USADA will be revamped, either by congress or the board of directors.

Proven that certain normal legal processes must be followed by USADA in the future, and USADA Tygart looking for a new job. What will you do then?

Well, the really strange thing about this unfair process* is that Armstrong's manager had a heavy role in designing the process.

*unfair except in the eyes of the Supreme Court, Congress, and the Presidency. Employed in millions of private arbitrations.

He's not interested in facts, just talking points. Tygar here's another one for you, but not sure if you'll bother since it deviates from the Lance PR script:

Mr. Obvious wrote: Employed in millions of private arbitrations.

You have never been through binding arbitration, where the rules were written by the organization arbitrating against you. That is obvious.

Tor wrote: He's not interested in facts, just talking points.

You fail to understand what a "fact" is. Accusations are what you claim as "facts."

brownsmith76 wrote: go off and do another local race without drug testing, lol. much easier to get away with it.

Armstrong was ready to compete at the Kona Ironman, just six weeks from today. He would have been tested using the latest, and greatest, methods and equipments.

The USADA says no, we don't not want to test you again.

The reason is simple, the USADA knows the risk of destroying their case against Armstrong was simply too great. Tygart would get fired by the Board of Directors as fast as was possible.

Kome on Klowns.

Don't stop know.

Keep it up.

Find more accusations on the internet, and post away.

Foolish, foolish, foolish, fools.

You simply don't get it. He's done. He's sanctioned.

U.S. District Court ruled that the process was fair and constitutional, despite the spin from Lance and his PR team.

Lance walked away from the truth. He's a coward.

He gets it. He's just a nutjob/fanboy/loser.

Look. It's sad for lance and any cyclist who came of age in 1995 or whenever. They faced a tough choice.

But Lance didn't have to pull the deny, deny, deny. He didn't have to say in interviews that if he had doped - it would mean the whole cancer thing was a farce. He chose do that just as he chose to dope.

What's wrong with the truth coming out?

Everyone in society ripped Mark MCGuie for not talking to Congress. I totally respected him. He didn't want to lie under oath.

Why doesn't Lance just come out now and cry and say, "You know what. I doped. So did everyone else. I'm sorry."

Tooth fruity wrote:

I don't get this. So he should be let off the hook for doping and cheating his way through his sporting career because of something he's done outside of sports? I'm all for cancer research but the dude gained his fame and fortune by cheating the system and needs to be taken down if the evidence is there.

I never said he should be let off the hook. However, I believe the USADA is doing more harm than good here. I realize they are trying to make a statement about doping enforcement by taking down one of the biggest names in sports history, but the fact that they are destroying the reputation of a man whose story has inspired millions rubs me the wrong way. Also, the fact that Lance doped doesn't bother me at all. What he did was amazing, and he does not owe the public anything in terms of honesty. Its his life. He doped. Who cares?

rojo wrote:

But Lance didn't have to pull the deny, deny, deny. He didn't have to say in interviews that if he had doped - it would mean the whole cancer thing was a farce. He chose do that just as he chose to dope.

[...]

Why doesn't Lance just come out now and cry and say, "You know what. I doped. So did everyone else. I'm sorry."

Lance could have pulled a Bjarne Riis. And he even left out the "So did everyone else" part and claimed he did it all on his own, although everybody obviously knows that the teams he rode for had systematic doping programs, Gewiss-Ballan and Team Telekom. Riis lost a lot of goodwill but he's still a successful and highly respected team director.

OK, the stakes were higher for Lance because (a) in the post-Festina era doping has been investigated and enforced as a crime, (b) he not only doped, he also allegedly paid to have positive tests covered up, and (c) once there are legal proceedings you can't simply hold a press conference to say "Yes I did it, let's move on" without serious repercussions.

But at the end of the day, people dislike Lance not so much because he doped as because he's been lying through his teeth, campaigning aggressively for his innocence and his smug holier-than-everybody-else attitude, and stringing people along on the whole Livestrong scam. Not to mention that he got to nail Sheryl Crow back when she was still a dish.

Beavus wrote:

I never said he should be let off the hook. However, I believe the USADA is doing more harm than good here. I realize they are trying to make a statement about doping enforcement by taking down one of the biggest names in sports history, but the fact that they are destroying the reputation of a man whose story has inspired millions rubs me the wrong way. Also, the fact that Lance doped doesn't bother me at all. What he did was amazing, and he does not owe the public anything in terms of honesty. Its his life. He doped. Who cares?

So, basically, you're pro-cheating, pro-doping or just in this case?

Did you post in support of Marion Jones and other dopers?

Tygart happily would have given Armstrong a reduced suspension in exchange for testimony against Hein Verbruggen, Pat McQuaid, and his enablers at the UCI. Tygart basically said so in an interview on Sunday.

Travis T. the Tygar wrote:

Mr. Obvious wrote: Employed in millions of private arbitrations.

You have never been through binding arbitration, where the rules were written by the organization arbitrating against you. That is obvious.

The rules were written by Armstrong's agent.

The general rules (not the ones specific to USADA) were the rules of Commercial Arbitration. They were written by the American Arbitration Association. Armstrong did not have to agree to these rules, although he did if he wanted to continue cycling internationally.

When does one get suspected of doping? In Lance's case, he was a talented standout junior athlete. Did he have a huge breakthrough race that took minutes off his time trialing or did he just outright dominate a road race?

When do you all think he crossed the line from clean to "drugged to the gills"? Should all world class athletes being suspected of doping based on hearsay from people in their sport or other fallen athletes who have nothing left to lose.

Another thought, if Landis and Hamilton were around the best doper in the world. How come they got caught and Lance never did? Guess they never paid attention to what Lance was doing.

Even if he did win the tour 7 straight times while doping that is an amazing feat. Look at how much has to go right for a person to win it once. You cannot crash, compete us other dirty athletes, you have to time trial well, survive the Alps then the Pyrennes, and you have to have solid team support. I say bravo to winning it, but it should be noted that he may have been doping during this run.

When does one get suspected of doping? In Lance's case, he was a talented standout junior athlete. Did he have a huge breakthrough race that took minutes off his time trialing or did he just outright dominate a road race?

When do you all think he crossed the line from clean to "drugged to the gills"? Should all world class athletes being suspected of doping based on hearsay from people in their sport or other fallen athletes who have nothing left to lose.

Another thought, if Landis and Hamilton were around the best doper in the world. How come they got caught and Lance never did? Guess they never paid attention to what Lance was doing.

Even if he did win the tour 7 straight times while doping that is an amazing feat. Look at how much has to go right for a person to win it once. You cannot crash, compete us other dirty athletes, you have to time trial well, survive the Alps then the Pyrennes, and you have to have solid team support. I say bravo to winning it, but it should be noted that he may have been doping during this run.

I know the following quote will drive Rojo and Tor crazy but here is what the CEO of the American Cancer Society had to say about Armstrong and his Livestrong organization.

The American Cancer Society is sticking with him, too.

"It is our hope that the foundation will continue its important work,'' said John R. Seffrin, the organization's CEO. "Reducing suffering and death from cancer is a moral imperative, and the Lance Armstrong foundation's contribution is sorely needed.''

rojo wrote: But Lance didn't have to pull the deny, deny, deny.

He chose do that just as he chose to dope.

What's wrong with the truth coming out?

You don't know that your opinions are indeed true. You are guessing.

Why didn't the USADA let Armstrong compete at Kona Ironman? They could have restested him using the latest testing methods available today.

The above I find very odd.

There is Armstrong, like a gift horse. Seemingly, a doper unworried about being tested one more time.

There is the USADA saying we don't want to test you again. Maybe the USADA is afraid they wouldn't find anything.

Anyway, the way the USADA handled this is unfortunate. The right thing to do was let Armstrong compete and use new test results, plus the 10+ accusers, to absolutely destroy Armstrong. Armstrong could not survive a failed test plus so many accusers. There is no possible chance.

Are you really this naive about drug testing? Multiple experts, including Victor Conte, have said that's very easy to pass a test. I think it was Conte who said something to the effect of "if you fail a drug test in competition, you have failed an IQ test."

If you're truly interested in learning more about this case, try reading the article below and the many additional articles that the author references.

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2012/08/the-armstrong-fallout-thoughts-and.html

Personally, I think Armstrong or his camp are paying people to comment on message boards. I keep seeing the same things about how it is unconstitutional, or another common post appears to be neutral by saying maybe he doped, but then goes on to defend it. And by the way, the common refrain, "they were all doping," is incorrect, as only 8 percent of the 1999 samples tested positive for epo, including six of lance's.