Lance Armstrong Banned and Stripped of TDF Titles

['Dale]

 

 

Yip! Just taking a couple on a fallen hero

 

 

Good excuse....

 

 

:-)

['Dale]

While Lance Armstrong, former international cycling superstar, has not owned up to doping allegations, the evidence has become too compelling to continue denying. This raises a difficult question: is he simply an immoral cheat? Or is he also a symptom - perhaps even a victim - of unhealthy American can-do-ism? Armstrong, it would seem, represents the best and worst of American competitiveness.

 

 

Read more here:

 

http://www.news24.com/Columnists/EusebiusMcKaiser/Armstrong-Cheat-or-victim-of-American-can-do-ism-20121018

Edited October 18, 2012 by ' Dale

[jcza]

Interesting posturing going on between Italy and Spain over who has the biggest doping scandal. The Spanish could easily end the discussion by finally admitting that tennis players and most of the top footballers were involved in Puerto. That would trump the italians.

[jcza]

Sh*tstorm on twitter re the Wiggo pic with plaster. Fran Millar (PR for Sky) and even response from Jeroen Swart questioning her response regarding the timing.

 

EDIT: Jeroen Swart‏@JeroenSwart

@franmillar @cyclismas since when is the UCI doing blood sample collection post exercise? Makes no sense due to fluid shifts altering values

Edited October 18, 2012 by jcza

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I have a feeling that LA will make a confession in the next few weeks and use his cancer as a excuse.

 

Yeah, I dont know, I dont think he can ever admit anymore, after all these years of misleading the world I dont think he can ever 'fess up, he has lived a lie for so long, no matter what comes up and what information is brought to light, I think he will continue to deny, deny deny, and point to the usual indicators, hundreds of tests, never tested positive etc, its all he can do now.

 

I would like to think differently, but I dont believe he will ever confess, he will take the lie to the grave with him.

[Tubehunter]

 

 

Yeah, I dont know, I dont think he can ever admit anymore, after all these years of misleading the world I dont think he can ever 'fess up, he has lived a lie for so long, no matter what comes up and what information is brought to light, I think he will continue to deny, deny deny, and point to the usual indicators, hundreds of tests, never tested positive etc, its all he can do now.

 

I would like to think differently, but I dont believe he will ever confess, he will take the lie to the grave with him.

 

I'm with GOG on this. He's probably lived the lie for so long it's blurred what is truth and what is real in his daily life. He obviously doesn't believe he cheated as his justification will be that everyone else was doing it too. Would never consider him to be someone who walks the moral high ground anyway! Getting him to come clean would be expecting that! We all know that's got no chance!

[jcza]

Lance will give a speech to supporters at a Livestrong event in Austin tomorrow - video will be on Youtube afterwards. What will he say?

[Tubehunter]

Lance will give a speech to supporters at a Livestrong event in Austin tomorrow - video will be on Youtube afterwards. What will he say?

 

There will be nothing of real substance....

 

"I fought cancer and had no reason to cheat in a cycle race! I was already a winner in the race for life getting beyond the cancer and there's no one who can try to find ways to take that title from all of us who have overcome!"

 

 

Loud applause.

 

"Thank you for coming and your continued support in what really matters!"

Edited October 18, 2012 by Tubehunter

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Lance will give a speech to supporters at a Livestrong event in Austin tomorrow - video will be on Youtube afterwards. What will he say?

 

I think there's your answer right there.... "Supporters" - I doubt they want to hear "Yeah, sorry fellas............... "

 

.....Naa, just kidding, but it will be interesting to hear, I think he is going through some "interesting times" right now, the speech may give some insight to his mental frame??

[petatodd]

I'm the victim of a witch hunt and I've had no due process and I won the tour de France 7 times and thanks for giving me all those millions (and under his breath, suckers)

[jcza]

I think there's your answer right there.... "Supporters" - I doubt they want to hear "Yeah, sorry fellas............... "

 

.....Naa, just kidding, but it will be interesting to hear, I think he is going through some "interesting times" right now, the speech may give some insight to his mental frame??

 

I think he is sitting with the suits (accountants and lawyers) and crunching the numbers. Whatever he decided to do will be calculated and based on minimizing financial loss. There won't be any emotion in this as far as I am concerned, its a business decision.

[eddy]

Here is the best analysis of the situation i have read :

 

 

http://pvcycling.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/the-coming-confession/

 

" The coming confession

October 17, 2012 § 26 Comments

 

Lance is getting ready to confess. He’ll make the announcement in the next few days, or he’ll wait until the UCI strips him of his titles and announce it then.

I’m predicting the former.

Armstrong is the ultimate in realpolitik. He showed his hand when he walked away from the arbitration hearing, betting correctly that there was no way he would beat the testimony of his closest confidantes.

Like an expert chess player losing pieces as strategically as possible to slow in the inexorable march to checkmate, Lance first lost the cycling world, then the triathlon and running worlds, then the sponsored spokesman world, and finally the queen on his chessboard, the chairmanship of Livestrong.

When Nike announced that Lance had misled them for over a decade, and that it believed he cheated to win, the game unofficially ended. Trek, HoneyStinger, Anheuser-Busch, Radio Shack all bravely reversed course after defending him to the bitter end. The only pawn left to mop up is Oakley. They’ll walk when he confesses or when the UCI strips or when they’re the last sponsor standing, whichever comes first.

The text of his confession

What’s most predictable is the text of his confession. He will admit to breaking the rules. He will admit to using performance enhancing drugs. He will apologize for having misled fans.

However, like Leipheimer and Hincapie, drug addicts whose entire careers were built on cheating, he will never admit that his actions were morally reprehensible. He will insist that he had no other choice. He will justify it with the oldest line of all: “If you weren’t there, you’ll never really understand it.”

He will never apologize for tearing down those who opposed him or who rightly tagged him as a drug cheat. He will never say he’s sorry for the damage he did to Emma O’Reilly, Betsy Andreu, Paul Kimmage, David Walsh, Greg Lemond, Tyler, Floyd, or any of the others he tarred as disgruntled liars, media hacks, serial perjurers, prostitutes, and worst of all, as ugly fat people.

There will absolutely be mention of his family, and of the difficulty he had in speaking about it with them. And there will be a brash, unrepentant sortie into the guns of his accusers with a bold statement about his real life’s work–curing cancer and helping those affected by it–and how nothing will ever stand in his way of fighting to achieve these things until his dying breath.

He will thank those who stood by him, without naming names due to their upcoming arbitration hearings and/or possibility of criminal proceedings in their home countries.

He will mention the doping culture in which he developed as a racer, without calling it a drug-crazed free-for-all that, at his apogee, he directed and ruthlessly managed for extraordinary personal and professional gain.

He will, if he’s the Lance of old, possibly issue a call to arms to clean up the sport once and for all, and name himself leader in the fight.

And if the captain’s Tecate is plentiful enough, he may even ask that those who so strenuously oppose doping take a hard look at all professional sports, and see if it’s any different from cycling.

He will reflect proudly on his victories.

He will make reference to the fact that without the drugs he would have won anyway.

And then he will tell everyone to get out of his way so that he can go fight some more cancer.

The end game

Lance’s dilemma is unique, because being branded a doper exposes him to significant litigation and because it chokes off the revenue from his nonathletic endeavors, which are vastly more important than his sporting income.

He knows all of this, and by now he’s simply reviewing the numbers. Mark Fabiani and Tom Herman have told him point-blank that it’s over, that no one who matters believes him anymore, and that soon, the people who matter least of all–the cancer patients, hobby triathletes, and Livestrong Kool-Aid freaks–won’t believe him, either.

“How much is my exposure to SCA?”

“Potentially ten million, without punitive damages. But there’s no guarantee you’ll lose at arbitration, and most importantly, that exposure is there whether you confess or not.”

“Payback to sponsors for breach of contract, fraud?”

“They won’t want the bad publicity of having blindly supported a drug cheat. Minimal risk, but, as with SCA, that exposure exists whether or not you confess.”

“Race earnings?”

“Same. They’d have huge statute of limitations problems and would be open to equitable defenses like laches and unclean hands.”

“Livestrong earnings?”

“You’ll make less since you’re no longer the chairman. But you can still charge the foundation for appearances and the usual stuff. However, there’ll be less of it the longer you hold off on the confession. Nike’s statement that they’re dumping you but keeping Livestrong may be the way forward for a lot of people on the board, and you need to stop that before it starts. You do not want the organization to conclude that it doesn’t have to have Lance to thrive. The longer you deny, the more uncomfortable the foundation will become as people begin asking THE question: ‘What’s the board’s position on his drug use, and why is a career cheater sitting on the board?’”

“Bottom line: What’s my financial risk to confessing now versus confessing after the UCI strips me versus not confessing at all?”

“Confess now, earn a little goodwill, take the heat off your supporters who are having to defend you against popular opinion, facts, and common sense. Active damage control and repositioning can begin immediately. Levi and George are still getting love even within the cycling community and are being called ‘brave’ and ‘courageous.’ Confess after the UCI strips and you’ll look like a shotgun groom. Don’t confess at all and you’ll look like a sociopath. Your value will go to near-zero. You’ll be marginalized, then pushed off the board. And that last part may happen anyway.”

How can you be so sure, Wankmeister?

I’m sure because the only two alternatives don’t fit the facts or the history. The first alternative is that he will never admit the truth because he’s a sociopath in denial. This looks like a good fit at first until you understand that he’s trying to minimize damage. A sociopath such as Bruyneel or Ferrari would have fought the charges in arbitration.

The second alternative is that he’ll never confess because he’s principled. We saw how that played out when he copped to USADA’s claims by abandoning his right to arbitration.

Most importantly, doping in cycling at such an advanced level raises questions about other sports, and the involvement of Nike and the whispers regarding its having acted as the conduit to pay off the UCI’s cover-up of Lance’s positive test in the 1999 Tour mean that real journalists–the kind who rarely cover cycling–may take the same kind of vigorous approach to football, soccer, and track and field that Paul Kimmage took to Lance’s shenanigans.

In short, the most expedient thing for him to do is to stop the bleeding and reassure the world that this kind of stuff only happens in cycling.

And nowhere else.

You got that?

Good. "

A

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I think he is sitting with the suits (accountants and lawyers) and crunching the numbers. Whatever he decided to do will be calculated and based on minimizing financial loss. There won't be any emotion in this as far as I am concerned, its a business decision.

 

Hmm, Hard to say I guess, you would need to be a special sort of person to not feel this kind of pressure. Financially I think he could see himself losing tens of millions and as you say I guess he would want to limit that loss, but I think his first aim now is damage control, hence his rallying the troops as it were at a function, but whether he has enough firepower in his armory to do much is the big question.

[Wayne Potgieter]

Lance steps down as chairman of livestrong.

 

Seems the dominoes keep falling.

[jcza]

SRAM gone, just Oakley left

[petatodd]

Interesting post eddy. After being a fervent ashiest for so long I reckon he'll find the Lord soon.