Lance makes statement about USADA charges. (Page 4)

also, you can't just discount what the "tainted" fellow cyclists said about him using etc.  REmember, history has shown that in the baseball glory days, everyone discredited Jose Canseco and Victor Conte (BALCO), now they've both been proven right and Conte will be hired by MLB as a consultant.  You can't just say, Canseco was a user himself, and a liar, and therefore everything he ever says, ever is false.

Looks like ESPN corrected their article and the next step... 

"The International Cycling Union on Friday said it will wait for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to explain why Lance Armstrong should lose his unprecedented seven Tour de France titles before commenting on the case."

and "UCI, the sport's governing body, says it wants USADA to "submit to the parties concerned (Mr. Armstrong, WADA and UCI) a reasoned decision explaining the action taken."

Is the entire US Postal team involved in this that was Lances team right? and if so does that remove Jose Azevedo from 2002 and 2004?

I emailed two people within USADA last night for this exact reason..Like I said in my post just a few above yours.  I know nothing will come of it, but it made me feel better.

Shane, not really wanting to get into a for tat, but you asked how I am looking at the facts of the case?  The facts of the case are that he hasn't failed a single test.  Everything else is conjecture.   However my statement was broader - looking at the whole man - I'm a fan of Lance's.  Sorry if you felt I was claiming I knew everything in the minds of the USADA and needed to take their point of view.

Totally agree!   Unfortunately there are people for whom their version of justice must span eternity, regardless of context and circumstances.  They view the world in absolutes, black and whites, with no compromises possible, except when it justifies their ends.  Ok, I'm really hijacked on this issue.  Need to calm down....breathe, exhale, breathe, exhale.

This is the key distinction to me. Are we trying to level the field and ensure fair play for the future? Or are we trying to sanitize the past?

The one argument I can sort of see is that if current athletes know that more advanced future technologies can be used to detect and punish cheating 5 years down the road, perhaps that will have a deterrent effect against someone who thinks they've figured out a way to fool today's tests.

But overall, I do think this is a huge messy diversion that is highlighting not only the downsides of doping, but also the downsides of an anti-doping bureaucracy.

As someone who's got more than a passing acquaintence with the criminal investigation/interview/interrgation industry, allow me to pose some thoughts/questions.

--Is this also an indictment of the testing procedure (past/current/future)

--If they (governing bodies) were wrong in the past, are they right now??

--Witness motivation to provide solicited testimony?? ohh, revenge, leniency, etc.

It would appear that the process went something along the lines of, "well, we couldn't get him with evidence, e.g., scientific/quantifiable testing, so let's find indicted defendants and offer them benefit(s) in exchange for the testimony we are looking for." 

Let's work this conversation- "your facing ???? sentence/consequences, if you'll testify that you saw Lance using PED's we'll give you xxxx benefit(s). 

See where I'm going.  I don't know if he did/did not use.  I do know, I'm bound by the rules of evidence AND witness testimony is just that.

I'll add a little levity here...

A bunch of us who were cycling in the last decade are going to be awarded podium spots for the 1999 - 2005 Tours.  That's how far down the rungs of cycling they're going to need to go to find clean cyclists! 

I agree but won't all this come out anyway in Johan's arbitration case? Lance is tired of this. It's emotional. It's not about money and Tygart has a personal vendetta against LA. Why else would he pursue something that's 17 years old. I just hear Tygart on ESPN with Dan Patrick - when asked about having positive tests against Lance, he wasn't actually sounding very convincing. I'm sure this has a long way to go until it's over.

On top of this is the fact that Joe Schmoe athlete can go to GNC and buy stuff OTC that will make a pro athlete pop positive in a drug test.  That right there is telling me that we have a huge problem.  I see that as I can go buy a set of aero wheels, but the pros cant because they are pros, even though it will make them better/faster.  We are to assume that things sold OTC are safe for us (yes, I realize the stupidity of that assumption)   To me the USADA is just trying to justify their existence.  We already have the WADA...World (includes the US).  Is there a need for every country to have their own doping agency?

Agreed, but, what's going to stop USADA from releasing information? They still might.

Not if WADA controls the doping from WTC/ IM events, which I think they do...but someone who knows more than me will chime in.

Neither you nor I have any idea what was said to the witnesses, if anything. We also don't have any idea what the evidence against him is......but he obviously does and he's not willing to fight it.

There are also tests that are now positive with new testing procedures.

Find me a quote from Lance where he said he has never used any type of Performance Enhancer....I have seen time and again his quotes of "I passed all of their tests".....find me a quote where he says, "I raced clean".  Even in his latest statement he won't say he didn't use.

Once again.....I'm a Lance fan.  It's a good conversation piece.....but I really don't care what he used or didn't use.  I think the field in that era was level.....that's all.