Lance Armstrong, you're still the greatest

F1nut

This guy passed every drug test given to him and now after he's retired some US government backed witch hunt agency proclaims him a doper......WOW, just WOW!!!

http://aol.sportingnews.com/sport/story/2012-08-23/lance-armstrong-ending-fight-vs-anti-doping-agency-could-lose-tour-de-france-****?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-nb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D196452

Lance, you're still the greatest and Travis Tygart is a POS.

chumlie

Absolutly agree with you. He's probably taken more drug tests than any living athlete. I believe him when he says he's sick of fighting this BS. Even the judge that ruled against him know something fishy is going on at the USADA.

engtaz

I agree.

obieone

Being exceptional is no longer ALLOWED in this country. Fairness shall be REGULATED by all branches of government.:rolleyes:

Malbec

Tygart won't be satisfied until he wrings millions from Lance's bank account under the guise of fines.

I would love to hear Tygart's comments regarding Barry Bonds being at the USA Pro challenge race in Colorado and riding in a pace car no less. The irony :rolleyes:

Matt34

Agreed 100%.

If you want to get your BP a rise, read this crap article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/lance-armstrong-gives-up-fight-against-usada--raising-questions-about-his-innocence-.html

janmike

Very sad indeed.

drumminman

Not trying to rain on this parade of support, but one of the reasons they save body fluid samples is because more sensitive, exacting tests get developed long after the sample was collected that can detect banned substances. A Hammer thrower from I think Belarus was just stripped of the Gold Medal won in the 1984 Olympics for this reason.

I don't want to think that he cheated, but the body of evidence supporting it is pretty convincing.

Upstatemax

The news is very sad to me. I still feel that he did it clean, but I've lost a lot of love for Pro-Cycling. Matter of fact, I don't even follow it anymore at this point. Just too many people getting busted and untill I feel like the sport is clean again, it will not have my support.

Hell, I have "Livestrong" tattooed on my arm. Lance is larger than cycling and no matter what, he has made a positive change in this world.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I view this kinda like baseball, everyone was doping so who cares?

Conradicles

''USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles,'' he said. ''I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours.'' - Lance

He is a hero in my book. Period.

onebadchad

I think its fine if someone wants to take steroids or whatever, its there body.. but the fact is that its not fair to the other contestants if they do.. Im not going to get into the conspiracy argument with anyone, but cheaters dont win, And winners dont cheat.

nwohlford

drumminman wrote: »

Not trying to rain on this parade of support, but one of the reasons they save body fluid samples is because more sensitive, exacting tests get developed long after the sample was collected that can detect banned substances. A Hammer thrower from I think Belarus was just stripped of the Gold Medal won in the 1984 Olympics for this reason.

I don't want to think that he cheated, but the body of evidence supporting it is pretty convincing.

Yes, it is not adequate to say that he passed every drug test, since it is hard to test for EPO. They were definitely not testing for EPO at the time. The testing agency did say that some of his old blood samples are consistent with somebody taking EPO (this is the most you can say).

I always wanted to believe that he was clean, but there is way too much evidence against him. I think he justifies it by saying to himself that everybody was blood doping back then.

drumminman

drumminman wrote: »

Not trying to rain on this parade of support, but one of the reasons they save body fluid samples is because more sensitive, exacting tests get developed long after the sample was collected that can detect banned substances. A Hammer thrower from I think Belarus was just stripped of the Gold Medal won in the 1984 Olympics for this reason.

I don't want to think that he cheated, but the body of evidence supporting it is pretty convincing.

Oops - I meant to say ". . . won in the 2004 Olympics. . ."

drumminman

Besides giving the athlete who uses an unfair advantage, there is an effect on kids. They idolize athletes, and if their heroes do it and win they're much more likely to follow that example.

The use of anabolic steroids is linked to several different types of cancer, emotional disturbances and probably other side effects I can't think of right now.

EPO, which Armstrong is said to have used, has side effects as well: increased viscosity of the blood (which increases the risk of heart attack and stroke),fever, seizures, nausea, anxiety, lethargy.

brgman

drumminman wrote: »

Not trying to rain on this parade of support, but one of the reasons they save body fluid samples is because more sensitive, exacting tests get developed long after the sample was collected that can detect banned substances. A Hammer thrower from I think Belarus was just stripped of the Gold Medal won in the 1984 Olympics for this reason.

I don't want to think that he cheated, but the body of evidence supporting it is pretty convincing.

Seems like there should be a time limitation on such a thing.How about your employer doing this with urine tests and coming back after 15 years of you getting hired and saying hey we now found something we could not detect in 1998 so you are fired!
F'd up deal all the way around here.

Syndil

He threw in the towel after losing a lawsuit to halt the investigation against him, before anyone has a chance to testify against him. Seems to me that is telling. He gets his wins stripped, but this way he can play the victim and claim he was railroaded rather than let the whole story come to light. If he was truly innocent and if he truly cared about his 7 wins and all those years he dedicated to the sport (who the hell wouldn't) I would think he would fight just a little bit more.

To me his behavior just doesn't make sense if he is indeed innocent. Lance is the embodiment of soldiering on when the going gets rough, and now he is preemptively giving up before the real fight even begins? If he is innocent, he's giving up way too easily, way too early. Throwing away his life's greatest accomplishments just to avoid some turmoil only makes sense if he knows he would lose them in the end anyway. Sorry if I'm wrong Lance, but that's the way I see it.

brgman

drumminman wrote: »

Besides giving the athlete who uses an unfair advantage, there is an effect on kids. They idolize athletes, and if their heroes do it and win they're much more likely to follow that example.

The use of anabolic steroids is linked to several different types of cancer, emotional disturbances and probably other side effects I can't think of right now.

EPO, which Armstrong is said to have used, has side effects as well: increased viscosity of the blood (which increases the risk of heart attack and stroke),fever, seizures, nausea, anxiety, lethargy.

Armstrong's problem is that he wasn't making tons of $$$ for the right people.
Lots more kids idolize AholeRod,Barry Bonds,Kobe Bryant,Michael Vick (at least Vick paid the piper) and the list goes on and on.
Meanwhile pete Rose is banned from the HOF while these thugs just keep on keepin' on.

drumminman

brgman wrote: »

Seems like there should be a time limitation on such a thing.How about your employer doing this with urine tests and coming back after 15 years of you getting hired and saying hey we now found something we could not detect in 1998 so you are fired!
F'd up deal all the way around here.

This is different - recreational drugs typically don't enhance performance in a business climate.

rebuy

Armstrong has been given "The Shaft", just like our leaders in Washington have given us "The Shaft".
He's tired of it and so are we, Lance Rules.

nwohlford

drumminman wrote: »

This is different - recreational drugs typically don't enhance performance in a business climate.

It would be more equivelent to some kind of fraud in the work place (e.g., stealing or lying about credentials). You bet you would get fired even if it was a long time ago (or asked to leave gracefully if you were lucky).

There was a statute of limitations, but Armstrong restarted the clock when he made his comeback attempt.

Timothy Smith

If he didn't knowingly cheat, this is a travesty and he is still a hero and role model.

If he did cheat and he's lying about it he's just a one-balled bike pedaler.

doctor r

It is a crime to rewrite history on speculation and hearsay. When the legal fees to defend yourself exceed what you are willing to pay you are now guilty. EPO is a substance produced naturally by your body. It is used medically to help release more red blood cells from your bone marrow and stimuli additional production. Commonly used in cancer patients. There are reports of individuals that naturally produce more than what some of these tests consider the average persons normal level. I am not sure that the new "tests" are able to differentiate between normally produced and medically given epogen. This is more evidence that being exceptional is not allowed in the world today.

fatchowmein

For those fighting cancer or other debilitating/terminal diseases, for those supporting the fighters, and for those supporting the survivors, Lance has been an inspiration, bringing his message of hope. I can't think of any recent athlete that has done so much. I will continue to wear my Livestrong band.

badchad

I think the entire sport of cycling is partially to blame. The cheating is so rampant, he had to choose between doping and losing. This is the problem with doping: An honest, natural athlete can't win.

Let the evidence speak for itself. If the data indicated that he cheated, he should be stripped and fined accordingly.

DMara

Who cares, it's cycling, a much tainted sport :razz: To say that he cleanly won 7 Tour de France titles in a row against the best cyclists in the world who cheated with all kinds of drug, well, that's just a dream.

F1nut

doctor r wrote: »

It is a crime to rewrite history on speculation and hearsay. When the legal fees to defend yourself exceed what you are willing to pay you are now guilty. EPO is a substance produced naturally by your body. It is used medically to help release more red blood cells from your bone marrow and stimuli additional production. Commonly used in cancer patients. There are reports of individuals that naturally produce more than what some of these tests consider the average persons normal level. I am not sure that the new "tests" are able to differentiate between normally produced and medically given epogen.

Not only that, but it's been proven that his heart and lungs are quite a bit larger than the normal person giving him a distinct advantage, yet folks want to overlook that fact.

As you said,

This is more evidence that being exceptional is not allowed in the world today.

BlueFox

I guess we should return to the days of Babe Ruth when athletes were overweight drunks who smoked.

pitdogg2

witch hunt plain and simple. Why don't we go back and strip Arnold of all his body building titles we all know they ALL did roids and enhancements.

pitdogg2

BlueFox wrote: »

I guess we should return to the days of Babe Ruth when athletes were overweight drunks who smoked.

and made little or no money. couldn't hurt i can't afford a ticket myself let alone for my family of 4.

teekay0007

I saw data from a few years ago showing that Lance Armstrong made over $25,000,000 just from endorsements in the past year. That was even years after his real hayday of paychecks. He definately has enough $$ to fight this. If someone is ripping you apart, attacking your character and integrity while at the same time making you look like a cheat and a fraud AND destroying your future earning potential, you fight with EVERYTHING you've got to protect yourself and your good name. You DON'T say, "Oh, I'm tired of fighting them. Go ahead and strip me of everything my entire existence has stood for and amounted to." To me, he's saying A LOT by giving up. Yes, he has passed all the doping tests they've ever done on him in the past, but there has always been masking agents that COULD beat the tests - that might all be in the past. The way he's rolled over on this makes it look like they must have some irrefutable evidence against him, and he knows it.

To me, the saddest part of this is that the charities and foundations he's started, supported and/or endorsed will no longer be able to bring in the money or support they did in the past and LOTS of people will lose out and suffer as a result. Again, with that in mind, along with his giving up, speaks volumes.