Lance Armstrong ESPN column

For the 1 millionth time, I think most people would accept the cheating in the context of the era in that sport. They seem more than willing for every other rider. I think it is hard for most people to get past the complete ass-holery that he continuously displayed.

So its ok that this man doesn't even do any jail time for probably the biggest case of fraud in sports history.

I think a sticking point for many people is that they believe, rightly or wrongly, that he never had a change of heart or felt any real regret. Once the terminus was clear, he went into damage control mode. If that meant a bit of groveling and repeated references to cancer, so be it.

Well if you ask me and you didn't.

I think, in jest, for his dirty deeds

LA should have his remaining testicle cut off,

forced to take female hormones, wear a long brunette

wig to match his baby blue eys; and see if he can

get in as female competitor - interesting theory n'est pas? But I liked the candidness of the article, he should ignore the jests and jeers. Why? It only makes him a stronger person.

So he's banned from most sanctioned endurance sports? Which I think is excessive. LA should keep his personal physical goals in a journal and perhaps pursue a career in autobiography. And all you youngin's out there should heed

the warning --- crime don't pay ---- k?

Tommy2Nuttz wrote:

So its ok that this man doesn't even do any jail time for probably the biggest case of fraud in sports history.

LMFAO. How big is Lance next to the Home Run dopers and their 100 million dollars of contracts and the perhaps billions of ad revenue soaked from advertisers during that "golden era"?

Cycling is a 2-bit, nobody cares sport, and I'm a former racer! No I was not a pro so don't ask.

Regardless of all the doping, lying and so forth, I do believe that he's probably enjoying the greatest amount of inner peace he's ever had in his life. Even for an arrogant SOB, all the guilt and constant denial had to be exhausting. He now has to live with the financial fallout, but he no longer has to live up to any expectations.

Tommy2Nuttz wrote:

So its ok that this man doesn't even do any jail time for probably the biggest case of fraud in sports history.

Yes, your need to equate performance/achievement with quality of person shouldn't result in jail time when someone disappoints you.

Sports fraud is just not that important. It's just a game/race....

The article is more about Rick Reilly, shameless phony that he is. If you've followed his coverage of Lance, he kissed Lance's butt and vilified Lance's detractors up until the day he confessed on Oprah. The day after that, Reilly wrote a phony article explaining how shocked and betrayed he felt. It's no surprise, now, that he's managed to "make peace" with Lance in short order and make himself feel self-righteous at the same time.

Exactly. Reilly spent years profiting off of LA's sweat and toil (despite all the drugs he still did work pretty damn hard to win 7 tours) and surely knew there was no way he was doing it clean. Comes out with articles saying he "knows" Lance is clean because they're "friends" and he "trusts" him.

Then as soon as the news breaks Reilly has his article hit the presses (no doubt he wrote it years ago waiting for this moment) saying how shocked, SHOCKED he is that Lance (of all people!) could be a drug user! How could Lance betray poor ol Rick?

Ah, well, ol Rick, we know him - just a lovable, overly trusting fool that keeps getting tricked by those fiendish athletes who always try to cut corners. Must be hard to make your livelihood spewing whatever sob story comes to mind from your ergonomic desk chair while the athletes you sneer at will go to any extreme to get that extra edge.

Rick Reilly wrote:

The article is more about Rick Reilly, ...

All the rest of what you wrote may well be true .. or not .. but the article is not about Reilly, at all. Did you read it?

I don't care that Lance doped. Hell, the whole peloton was doped to the eyeballs when he was racing. I don't even care that he didn't show any remorse. What I care about is how many lives he tried to ruin (e.g., Greg LeMond, Frankie and Betsy Andreu, Emma O'Reilly) when they questioned whether he was racing clean.

Roughhouse Doyle wrote:

I don't care that Lance doped. Hell, the whole peloton was doped to the eyeballs when he was racing. I don't even care that he didn't show any remorse. What I care about is how many lives he tried to ruin (e.g., Greg LeMond, Frankie and Betsy Andreu, Emma O'Reilly) when they questioned whether he was racing clean.

^^This. Just extraordinary how willing he was to run roughshod over people he knew were speaking the truth.

Roughhouse Doyle wrote: What I care about is how many lives he tried to ruin (e.g., Greg LeMond...)

It certainly doesn't justify Armstrong's actions, but I think LeMond was destined to ruin his own reputation with or without LA's help. LeMond has proven himself to be an incredibly unstable person in his post-racing life. (Never mind the very real possibility that LeMond himself may have cheated in at least one of his TDF wins.)

801 dude wrote:

LMFAO. How big is Lance next to the Home Run dopers and their 100 million dollars of contracts and the perhaps billions of ad revenue soaked from advertisers during that "golden era"?

Cycling is a 2-bit, nobody cares sport, and I'm a former racer! No I was not a pro so don't ask.

Cycling might be a 2-bit sport, but Armstrong had become a national icon and extremely wealthy. Everyone in the U.S. knows Lance. I bet there were a ton of people, mostly women, who had no idea who McGwire, Bonds, and Sosa were during that era of baseball.

In the context of what happened, including the cancer angle, I'm not sure "biggest sporting fraud" is far off. At minimum, he has to rank up there with the "best" of them.

Big Sigh wrote:

Roughhouse Doyle wrote: What I care about is how many lives he tried to ruin (e.g., Greg LeMond...)

It certainly doesn't justify Armstrong's actions, but I think LeMond was destined to ruin his own reputation with or without LA's help. LeMond has proven himself to be an incredibly unstable person in his post-racing life. (Never mind the very real possibility that LeMond himself may have cheated in at least one of his TDF wins.)

What are you talking about?

Tommy2Nuttz wrote:

So its ok that this man doesn't even do any jail time for probably the biggest case of fraud in sports history.

You're putting "jail" and "sports" in the same sentence. Chew on that for a minute or two.

I agree that Lance is probably more at peace now, now that much of the truth is out. It must have been a huge burden to carry that big of a lie.

I have to echo the thoughts though about his real "crimes". It's not about the doping in cycling, and all the lies, but about all the people that suffered when the lie was threatened to be uncovered.

"probably the biggest case of fraud in sports history"

Ha!!!! Get a clue! You and the Brojos really swallowed the "reasoned decision" hook, line and sinker!

Roughhouse Doyle wrote:

I don't care that Lance doped. Hell, the whole peloton was doped to the eyeballs when he was racing. I don't even care that he didn't show any remorse. What I care about is how many lives he tried to ruin (e.g., Greg LeMond, Frankie and Betsy Andreu, Emma O'Reilly) when they questioned whether he was racing clean.

I'm in the middle of Wheelmen and at this point I don't think I like anyone in the cast of characters, very much including LeMond, the Andreus and Emma O'Reilly. Yes, Lance is a jerk, but he's an interesting jerk and an extraordinary athlete. A lot of the rest of them are just jerks.