I don't care about the Lance Armstrong thing.

[BobD]

I really don't. It's bicycle racing. I've never watched more than a few minutes of a bicycle race. Does it make me a bad person? I think it's amazing that someone could sit on that little fu#king seat for that long. I admire his charitable work and it's sad that some people may lose help with all of the recent happenings. To be honest, I didn't get all worked up about the baseball steroid stuff either. I thought everyone knew what they were doing. It seemed obvious to me. I get more upset about stuff like Sammy Sosa's corked bat.

How do you feel about it?

 

[Who'saWildManNow]

I wanna run on the boardwalk shirtless with McConaughey one day too...

 

[notredomer23]

The only reason its a big deal is because he is American. 99.9% of them do performance enhancing drugs.

 

[RallySonsOfND]

I really don't. It's bicycle racing. I've never watched more than a few minutes of a bicycle race. Does it make me a bad person? I think it's amazing that someone could sit on that little fu#king seat for that long. I admire his charitable work and it's sad that some people may lose help with all of the recent happenings. To be honest, I didn't get all worked up about the baseball steroid stuff either. I thought everyone knew what they were doing. Its seemed obvious to me. I get more upset about stuff like Sammy Sosa's corked bat.

How do you feel about it?

I feel bad for Lance. I don't think he did it anyways, but just decided to drop the fight because there was no end in sight.

 

[jimmymac]

Here's my take on it. He has made a FORTUNE being the cover boy to beating cancer. Which is awesome... I have several family members who have suffered from cancer and he had certainly served as inspiration. However, he ran ad after ad, campaign after campaign, stating that he did not use drugs, that he did it the clean way. It just rubs me in the worst way because its almost like he cheated not just in cycling but in peoples lives. He served as a false representation of hope. Everything he stood for was created by a lie. And that pisses me off. What kind of message is he sending? If somethings got you down do you fight through the pain or do you bail out and cheat. Pathetic. Makes me want to throw up.

 

[Kaneyoufeelit]

I care more about how his name is being trashed and that Nike dropped him from LiveStrong (really? the only reason LiveStrong matters is because of Lance). I agree with BobD that his charitable work is admirable and I think his story is amazing. I don't care about the PEDs at all.

 

[Rack Em]

"I play real sports, not try to be the best at exercising."

- Kenny Powers

 

[Bluto]

He was the best out of all the rides who were doing this, which according to a report on NPR was pretty much everyone. They stated that stripping him of his tour medals would present some problems because I believe all of the 2nd - 4th place finishers in those tours have been popped for the same thing.

 

[Rhode Irish]

Don't care and I never cared. Biking isn't a sport, and they all cheat. I don't think any less of him as a cyclist because I don't believe he was doing anything everyone else wasn't. But at the same time, I couldn't care less about cycling and never got the obsession in the first place. Non story to me (but I definitely think nobody should feel bad for him, either).

 

[Opus]

Here's my take on it. He has made a FORTUNE being the cover boy to beating cancer. Which is awesome... I have several family members who have suffered from cancer and he had certainly served as inspiration. However, he ran ad after ad, campaign after campaign, stating that he did not use drugs, that he did it the clean way. It just rubs me in the worst way because its almost like he cheated not just in cycling but in peoples lives. He served as a false representation of hope. Everything he stood for was created by a lie. And that pisses me off. What kind of message is he sending? If somethings got you down do you fight through the pain or do you bail out and cheat. Pathetic. Makes me want to throw up.

+1

I don't really follow bicycle racing either but I always believed Lance before when he said he was clean. Now I don't know, there certainly is a lot of evidence to refute his claims of innocence. Personally I hope he's innocent but if he's guilty then jimmymac sums up my feelings exactly.

 

[irishog77]

Don't care and I never cared. Biking isn't a sport, and they all cheat. I don't think any less of him as a cyclist because I don't believe he was doing anything everyone else wasn't. But at the same time, I couldn't care less about cycling and never got the obsession in the first place. Non story to me (but I definitely think nobody should feel bad for him, either).

Pretty much the same, here.

Also, some of the "shock" and "disappointment" people feel about him makes me think back to the mid 90's in baseball-- only a person who did NOT want to believe players were using drugs believed they were not, despite basic human common sense proving otherwise.

 

[Rhode Irish]

I don't think there is any way you can think he didn't dope based on all the evidence and, even without evidence, the fact he DOMINATED a sport that everyone cheats in. I have no doubt he doped, I just don't care. He's a good cyclist, which I regard in much the same way as being a good cab driver or a good dish washer. Just doesn't matter to me at all.

As far as letting people down who cared about him because of the cancer thing, my thought is that if I had cancer I'd cheat or whatever other thing I could to beat it. If that includes drugs or anything else, sign me up.

 

[Opus]

I don't think there is any way you can think he didn't dope based on all the evidence and, even without evidence, the fact he DOMINATED a sport that everyone cheats in. I have no doubt he doped, I just don't care. He's a good cyclist, which I regard in much the same way as being a good cab driver or a good dish washer. Just doesn't matter to me at all.

As far as letting people down who cared about him because of the cancer thing, my thought is that if I had cancer I'd cheat or whatever other thing I could to beat it. If that includes drugs or anything else, sign me up.

I agree with your points, except about the good cab driver. I think if you find a good cab driver it should matter.

Again, I agree with you about cheating if you had cancer but I think what bothers most people is that Lance held himself out as a person who beat cancer "cleanly".

 

[BobD]

I agree with your points, except about the good cab driver. I think if you find a good cab driver it should matter.

Again, I agree with you about cheating if you had cancer but I think what bothers most people is that Lance held himself out as a person who beat cancer "cleanly".

Is there a way to beat cancer dirty? I'd take it.

 

[Grahambo]

"I play real sports, not try to be the best at exercising."

- Kenny Powers

/end thread

This subject is way over done..just like Bonds. I do not care.

 

[Opus]

Is there a way to beat cancer dirty? I'd take it.

Ya that didn't come out to good.

 

[tadman95]

I do appreciate his cancer recovery and more importantly the work his foundation does in the fight against cancer.

The only other appreciation I ever had of Lance was when he retired. Every year when the Tour de France was going on all the little wannabee's would put on their little shorts and those dumb-*** helmets and go 15 mph in the middle of the road. Bicycles don't pay taxes, get outta of the road!

 

[IrishJayhawk]

I think biking is a sport. It's a very very dirty sport.

I liked Lance. I was probably a fool...they talked about his amazing heart that naturally didn't go into oxygen debt at the same rate as others. Probably not natural.

This bugs me, but I don't think about it much. I wish he had been clean, but then we probably wouldn't know him.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

I'm pretty sure I saw something where in Lance's first Tour win, if they stripped everyone who had tested positive or been tied to PEDs the person who finished 23rd would be the winner. Everyone cheats, and he was down a ball anyway. Who cares? He raised half a BILLION for cancer research. His cheating did more good than any of those stuck up French bastards could dream of doing in their lives.

 

[enrico514]

It really isn't that complicated... He's a cheater and like many cheaters before him he used the proceeds from his cheating to help buy himself inner peace.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

It really isn't that complicated... He's a cheater and like many cheaters before him he used the proceeds from his cheating to help buy himself inner peace.

I think you're wrong. It is much more complicated than that. He has done a heck of a lot of good.

 

[enrico514]

I'm pretty sure I saw something where in Lance's first Tour win, if they stripped everyone who had tested positive or been tied to PEDs the person who finished 23rd would be the winner. Everyone cheats, and he was down a ball anyway. Who cares? He raised half a BILLION for cancer research. His cheating did more good than any of those stuck up French bastards could dream of doing in their lives.

The person who finished 23rd therefore deserved to win!

 

[enrico514]

I think you're wrong. It is much more complicated than that. He has done a heck of a lot of good.

I respectfully disagree.

This is not a case where the end justifies the means.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

It really isn't that complicated... He's a cheater and like many cheaters before him he used the proceeds from his cheating to help buy himself inner peace.

He also helped the inner peace of people who were diagnosed with cancer.

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

People don't want to believe anything bad about him since he beat cancer and I don't blame them... but he did cheat.

 

[arahop]

I laugh every time I see LiveStrong clothing at Dick's, I often think about turning them around.

 

[NDinFL]

He rode a bicycle really far.

Good for him.

 

[TDHeysus]

......Everything he stood for was created by a lie......

I think biking is a sport. It's a very very dirty sport.

I work with a few ppl that cycle, one guy is a serious rider, he does long distance riding and also trail bike riding...

they all have been saying the same thing for a long time now, and thats no one could do the things that Lance Armstrong did without doping. All of them say that pretty much everyone in cycling is doping, anyone who is winning any races at least.

I'll see the trial bike rider on the way to work (he rides to work) its kinda cool to watch him because he will never put his feet on the ground while he is on the bike. Whether he is talking to you in the parking lot, getting ready to leave, or if you see him at a corner red light, dude makes a point to never have his feet on the ground, he just balances on the bike.

 

[NDBoiler]

What I've always wondered about this and other suspected "sports cheaters" like Barry Bonds is this - If you were so righteous and didn't use PEDs, why are you not suing your accusers for libel/slander? If you are truly innocent, then you have little to lose. It leads me to the logical conclusion that PEDs were therefore used, and any type of court proceedings would likely reveal that, once all the cards were on the table. It always bugs me how Armstrong would always have a carefully crafted denial something along the lines of "I've never tested positive for PEDS" and not "I've never taken PEDS" implying that he can't state the latter without incriminating himself.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

I respectfully disagree.

This is not a case where the end justifies the means.

Cheating is bad. He shouldn't have cheated.

He has raised more money than I have for cancer research (I have run a Team in Training event...hooray for me). He has comforted a ton of people. He has done amazing things for families fighting cancer. It's just not black and white.

EDIT: Life is rarely black and white.