Wow, Lance doped (Page 2)

I only watched the first 15 minutes, but did TIVO the rest and will watch the remainder tonight. My view is he didn't seem too sincere in what I saw. The doping part doesn't bother me as much as the way he bullied and lied and sued people who he knew were telling the truth and which in turn ruined people's lives. There is a reason those 7 tour jersey's were not given to another competitor, look back at the top 10 finishers of those 7 Tour races he won, I don't think there is one person who is not connected in some way or another to doping.

That being said, he did bring some excitement to the world of Triathlon in 2012 when he was racing. And I think a lifetime ban is a bit much. But that is not for me to decide. We'll see if he testifies under oath for the USADA and explains who knew what and when. I think that is the only way he gets the lifetime ban reduced, maybe?

One thing that caught my attention was as you saw clips of Lance answering direct questions about doping with stone cold lies throughout his career, his dimeanor was exactly the same as it was sitting there with Oprah.  He was trying to tell Oprah NOW you can trust me...NOW I want to come clean....NOW I am telling the truth.  But is he really?  We (Joe general public) will never know for certain if he will ever tell the truth or do the right thing regarding competetition...and the reason he should never be allowed to compete in any professional sport again. 

As a side note...I also wonder what kind of pressure really existed to cheat on Lance's cycling teams in order to stay on the team.  

Seriously, listen to LA then. In his opinion there was no way he could win without doping.

Breaking the speed limit is not "cheating". Cheating is an unfai radvantage in a competition. DUI and speeding is not gaining an advantage in a competition.

Doping itself has nothing to do with it. He went out of his way to personally destroy people. Hincappie cheated... how well is he respected in cycling? How many people did he destroy? And depending on how cynical you want to get... it is possible LS was nothing more than a PR shield to get away with what he was doing. I do not believe there was nothing but selfish motives behind LS... but it did work pretty well for him... that's a special kind of sick.

I'm not holding him up to special treatment. I have made big mistakes in my life and I hold myself to the same standard. I do not get points for cleaning my act up when I had no other choice. Down the road if we can look at the totallity of what he has done, and he does "clean up his act"... then that's great. I also believe everyone is capable of redemption... but he dug a pretty deep hole, and he isn't going to be seeing any sunshine for a quite some time. 

Last year, when Bo Bikes Bama rode through my hometown, I was upset that I waited too late to get registered for it...Especially since Lance rode that day.  

I am now glad I didnt waste my money to ride with the biggest cheater/fraud in American sports history.

dp

Lance got away with doping?  How could this have happened when his magnifying glass is this big?  

ok..let me amend my post then..ONE of the biggest cheaters/frauds and most likely the BIGGEST A HOLE in American Sports history.  How many others who cheated ruined so many others lives due to suing everyone who accused him of cheating? 

If people are watching this and thinking Lance cheating is the issue at hand...it is not. He tried to destroy peoples lives, most importantly, those that were honest and telling the truth. He pointed the finger and attacked those people, and because of it, their lives have changed for the worse since. Betsy Andreu is one of many that is forthcoming about what happened to her, her husband and her family. Lance ended many careers because he had the power to do so. Last night's interview in my opinion was not "no holds-barred" he avoided questions and decided not to comment on others. Once again he controlled the interview and Oprah lined him up with some easy deliveries as well. He says he is "paying the price" now, but he is not....yet. He stole money from the USPS, government, sponsors, etc. He owes many people, many different things. 

Lance doped, that is not a big deal we all knew that anyway

Lance lied, we all knew that for awhile now

Lance ruined peoples lives, knowing he was wrong because of it, not acceptable. 

I have never destroyed people's careers, attacked their integrity knowing they were telling the truth and made it my mission in life to make their's miserable.  I still think it's amazing that people think this story is as simple as "he broke the rules."

ETA: In other words, what the poster above me said.

I think you are wrong.

From what I gather that was interview #1 of 2? The other one is tonight I guess.

There were only two things that I came away with and both are just opinions 1. I got the impression that he is doing this out of conscious and a way for him to begin his own healing after all the harm he has caused. 2. He wasn't completely honest, I don't recall which points/questions I got that distinct impression from, one had something to do with Tyler Hamilton but don't recall what the subject was. He will never be able to undo the harm him did to some of those who weren't in the pig pen with him. Tyler, Floyd and similar athletes, like Lance chose the same path as Lance, they just weren't good enough to be the "Don". I have no concern for any "damage" they may have suffered from all of this.

I'm pretty sure the other side of the equation has been mentioned.  Repeatedly.

Then take it up with Websters. There are definitions for cheating and criminal acts. And if you want to go there... taking PEDS is a violation of sport rules he agreed to, not a criminal act... but drug trafficing, witness tampering, and purgery are all felonies... you are most certainly correct... some act are most certainly more serious than other... and he comitted some pretty serious criminal acts.

I never thought he was any kind of hero. LOTS of celebrities use their status to benefit charitable causes. when he cheated on his wife and kicked her to the curb that was all I needed to know his charater. I just happen to think he was the best cyclist of all time... and there is a still an argument to be made for that... but hero, please. Give me a break. The word is thrown around WAY too easy these days.

What are you talking about?

I am pretty sure LA helped ruin some lives--or at least portions of them.  "Aggressively lied" is pretty soft to decribe what he did.

It may be nice to 'have the goods' when you call someone out for cheating, but it is never wrong to speak the truth.  It is wrong to call others liars (and worse) when you know they are speaking the truth. 

I realize LA isn't the first to do any of this.  Probably not the worst of its practitioners.  But he did do it on a grand stage--one he helped create.  That stage has benefits and costs.  Just the way it is, regardless of whether one viewed him as some sort of hero or not.  (Personally, I admired his competitiveness but never viewed him as a hero and was never a fan of how he treated some people, even before I became convinced he was also cheating/lying/etc.)

I am not passionate about LA.  I am passionate about being ethical, fair and treating others with respect.  And, yes, I know that I fail on those counts many times.  I do my best to make ammends, accept any consequences of my actions, pick myself back up and try to do better.  LA may FINALLY be on the path to doing this.  For his sake, I hope so.  That said, I also think he should never again be allowed to participate in any sanctioned competitive sporting event (see: 'accept consequences'). 

I think many people are passionate about the subject matter.  And the subject matter is not the man.  He's just the actor in this show.

I didn't answer this part.  I think some people are passionate about the situation because he is a bully.  He had power, money and influence and used those resources, with passion, to bully others who lacked those resources.  This is despictable. 

It's not my place to forgive Lance.  He didn't do anything to me.

Seperately, you are limiting 'value' to income--and at the individual level, too.  I am sure you know there is more to it than that.  I bet Lance is learning more about it as well.

In early 2004, I was recovering from open-heart surgery and my father was dying from renal cell cancer, to be followed by my FIL a few months later from pancreatic cancer. 

Lance's story and the support provided by LiveStrong were sources of hope and comfort for me and my family.  I bought bags of LiveStrong bracelets to pass out at my father's funeral in June, 2004.

Although I was recovering from heart issues rather than cancer, Lance's story helped inspire me to work to return to a healthy and active lifestyle, i.e., triathlon.

I always thought Lance was a jerk in the way he conducted his personal life, but continued to draw inspiration from his recovery from cancer and his athletic acheivements.  I could alibi his boorish behavior against all the good he seemed to be doing.  I gave a significant amount of money to LiveStrong every year and my closet looked like a Nike/Livestrong wearhouse.

Over the years, logic forced me to start questioning his story, but I continued to believe.  It felt good to believe in the fairy tale and I didn't want to give that up.

The last straws for me personally were Hincapie's confession and then reading Hamilton's book.

I have mixed feelings now, but mostly feel betrayed.  I am mostly angry about the damage that has been done to LiveStrong.  I feel angry about the way innocent people were harmed for having the courage to tell the truth.  And selfishly, I am angry about the harm that has been done a sport that I love.

I believe in redemption and I truly hope that Lance can find a way to turn his life around and do some good.  I think he owes that much to all he has harmed.  But that will require him to be humble and remorseful, traits I have yet to see him display.  If his actions now just turn out to be self-serving, then he is just digging a deeper hole.

It's all very sad. 

Mark