Lost any or all respect for Lance Atrmstrong?
Replies
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I think using illegal drugs to enhance performance is rife amongst ALL sports. I think it's sad when sportsmen and women use them .. I know I would feel like a fraud to get so much success and pulicity and money from something i didnt achieve off my own hard work.
I also think there are more sides to things than what first meets the eye...0 -
I don't think he was really so much different than others in the sport. He still did things that I will never be physically capable of doing, doped or not.
this ^^0 -
I actually lost more respect for him over the denial than I did over the doping. While I don't approve of the latter, given how many were doing it over the same period it hardly takes away from his riding successes.0
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It really just to me as a parent highlights that you need to be careful who your children admire and put on a pedastel.
You need to be their hero vs some athelete. Because the athelete is probably a dirty cheater.
Perhaps that's cynical, but that's what it has turned into for me.
He looked like on of the "good guys" for a good while.0 -
I tend to think most of the hate against Armstrong isn't because he cheated, but because of how he reacted to the accusations. Read some of the accounts of those Tour teams he was on. He wasn't just doping because everyone else was, he was the ringleader. He encouraged the other riders on his team to cheat as a means to help keep himself on top. He threatened those who didn't "cheat hard enough" with being kicked off the team. He went on the offensive and attacked anyone who accused him of doping.It's played out like he's the antichrist because he took performance enhancing drugs in an era where it was commonplace amongst elite athletes. The dope itself didn't win him the Tour De France. He is a genuine athlete, and probably would've won three or four on his own merit. However at a time and in a culture of doping he worked out how to do it very, very well.
He wasn't just a part of a sport where everyone was cheating, he was encouraging that system. He didn't just get caught cheating, he attempted to destroy anyone who would dare to accuse him.
The cheating wasn't the biggest problem in my book, it was the arrogance and viciousness of the whole thing that makes him a douche in my book. Hell, if he wasn't such a **** about pretty much everything along the way there probably wouldn't be scores of other riders with dirt on him waiting for a chance to tell the story to knock him down a peg.0 -
Well now this is where the book comes in...0
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For me its not so much that he cheated but that he did it to win 7 x's. Thats just flat out greedy. Had he only won 3x's and left it at that I don't think it would have been so bad but he got greedy and went on for 7 and that pissed people off. Then he had the audacity to sue others for telling the truth! That for me was the kicker. That is when I lost any and all respect for the man.0
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didn't lose respect. i think he still would have won one without cheating. i can't find a way to not respect a man who made me give a *kitten* about people riding bicycles.The people who have lost respect for him are the people who looked up to him. I didn't so I could care less about what he did/didn't achieve with/without enhancement.
So let's talk NFL football now.:laugh:
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9ers/Pats superbowl. Bank on it
^agreed
I'm not so sure since Gronk broke that arm again....Ravens are playing inspired ball. But I'm afraid Atlanta will have nothing for San Fran. They are going to be hard to beat.
very true, Ray wants to go out with a bang!0 -
My 2 cents...
It's a terrible thing that Lance did because no one but Lance Armstrong lies... ever. Shame on him for lying about something that would potentially destroy his illustrious career, no one under the same position as he would have ever done such a thing!
...yeah right.
I would say given the history of doping/steroids in this sport, it's not very surprising that the most successful cyclist would also be using. Not sure why everyone is freaking about the issue, maybe I think this way because I never really cared/looked up to Armstrong myself.
Also never tested positive =/= not using steroids.0 -
I tend to think most of the hate against Armstrong isn't because he cheated, but because of how he reacted to the accusations. Read some of the accounts of those Tour teams he was on. He wasn't just doping because everyone else was, he was the ringleader. He encouraged the other riders on his team to cheat as a means to help keep himself on top. He threatened those who didn't "cheat hard enough" with being kicked off the team. He went on the offensive and attacked anyone who accused him of doping.It's played out like he's the antichrist because he took performance enhancing drugs in an era where it was commonplace amongst elite athletes. The dope itself didn't win him the Tour De France. He is a genuine athlete, and probably would've won three or four on his own merit. However at a time and in a culture of doping he worked out how to do it very, very well.
He wasn't just a part of a sport where everyone was cheating, he was encouraging that system. He didn't just get caught cheating, he attempted to destroy anyone who would dare to accuse him.
The cheating wasn't the biggest problem in my book, it was the arrogance and viciousness of the whole thing that makes him a douche in my book. Hell, if he wasn't such a **** about pretty much everything along the way there probably wouldn't be scores of other riders with dirt on him waiting for a chance to tell the story to knock him down a peg.
I agree.0 -
I'm such a sap! But I remember back in the day seeing him bike and just being awestruck at his ability. I'm not athletic and I've always admired this ability in others, be it swimming or gymnastics or tennis or running, whatever. It is amazing to see others push the human body, you know? Then to find out he was cheating all along, and he was a big bully that wrecked others' lives...I almost feel hurt by it, for my gullibility in admiring such a person.
Really honest and really sweet
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he may be morally bankrupt, but I certainly can't bike like that- blood doping or no! I have to respect the accomplishment if not the method of achieving it.
It's kind of the same way I feel about the guys who go for the home run record while on steroids, I don't respect them necessarily as people, but I probably couldn't even get ONE home run!0 -
I agree. I have lost respect for him...all respect.0
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Who cares?0
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Screw 'im.
I have more respect for the single mom on MFP who's lost 50 pounds while working two jobs - all with no other drugs than perhaps caffeine and Ibuprofen...
It just goes to show how we inappropriately label people as "celebrities" and then let them become more significant than the rest of us.
Personally I love seeing people like him come crashing back to reality in a big giant ball of blazing failure...0 -
Who cares?
good question0 -
I hate the fact that he had the audacity to sue people who claimed he used banned substances, and that he ruined the reputations of other riders and bullied them. But, I gotta say: You cannot censure him or hate him for using illegal aids. That is how you win in cycling. Always has been; Maybe always will be. Eddie Merckx used Reactivan. Other guys before him used amphetamines. In 1886, there was a rider who died after using cocaine and caffeine. I believe all but one or two of the last 10 Tour de France winners have been caught cheating. You just don't win in cycling without cheating.
And, we reward the winners. So . . . what do you expect?
Sad truth. In big sports there is too much money and too little concern for the long-term health of the athletes involved. Very much like big horse racing and the top of the show circuits. Only these are people, not animals, and they can choose not to participate. But would I? If someone waved millions under my nose for doing something I was good at a little better by doing drugs?
Hell no, I'd probably take the money. Because that's how you get what little power there is in the world. Money.
Sad, but if you want to change it, change our species, change our societies. Do I respect the guy? Nah. But at least he's not running sweat shops in third world countries. He made his money sweating on his bike and doing drugs to peddle faster.
The lawsuits, though, that's corporate dirty. I hope his victims have legal recourse now that he admitted what he did, but I doubt they will.0 -
imo anyone who completly dominates there athletic event for a long time is probably cheating. If they become more dominate as they get older too like bonds and clemens. I have always thought Lance was on ped's. I think usain bolt is on ped's also and maybe even phelps.0
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OMG!!! An athlete was cheating?!?!?!?! HOW CAN THIS BE?!?!?! Look let's be honest, everyone is looking for an edge and it involves a lot of cheating going on everywhere. I will guarantee it and sign it in blood that many of the cyclists are cheating, the only reason why they haven't been caught or anyone cares is because they are not winning.
Why not look inward and really evaluate yourselves. How many of you can honestly say you have never taken the easy way out, never looked for a competitive edge, never lied or cheated at something? Hell, how many of you have tried diet pills, miracle workouts, miracle weight loss drugs, miracle muscle enhancers? If you're not sticking to just eating right and exercise you are trying to cheat to get that edge, legal or not. If you say you're clean you are absolutely full of it and less of a person for lying about it.
Now seriously, how many of you actually even watch the the tour De France?!?! How many of you can name 5 other cyclists in the race? Probably less than 1% of you without CHEATING and running to google. Stop buying into every load of crap the media feeds you and grow up. Your holier than thou routines are stupider than an entire season of Here comes Honey boo boo.0 -
and life goes on...for lance and more importantly, me....I have more to worry about than his confession.0
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Not to mention if you are going to hate on someone, at least learn to spell his name A-R-M-S-T-R-O-N-G, not that hard, we're pretty much talking a compound word here0
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Nike drops Armstrong, that makes news. Nike sweatshops in Indonesia? No one cares.
Refocus that moral outrage, people.0 -
He's a cheater and it's lame.
But all-in-all I find it hard to care about him in particular since apparently EVERYONE cheated.0 -
Doesn't impact me in the least. I still like the guy and his doping has zero effect on me. He still won seven Tour de France races. You can not make me believe that he was the only one there that doped. The only reason why they singled him out is because of all his wins.0
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Meh0
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The Armstrong threads were good fun when most of MFP was still defending him and denying his guilt.
Now the fun's over, it seems.
So at this stage I've lost interest in the Armstrong conversation.0 -
I didn't quote but I see one other poster has mentioned blood doping, and that is what I was under the belief he had been accused of. IS this the case? If so do you all know what blood doping is?? And do you realise if that was what he was doing that I would put bets on that pretty much every athlete at that time was doing it. It was the in thing and usually did not use anything outside of the athletes own blood to give them an extra pint of blood to boost the red blood cells therefore the oxygen supply to the muscles etc. I remember learning about this in physiology I was in college in those days. I'm not an expert, and may have got the detail wrong, but seriously, it was the in thing. Not saying it was right... and yes if he lied ok, some feel disgust, but this whole thing was a witch hunt from start to finish. Why suddenly after so many years did people start coming forwards about this? Why did he never fail a drug test? Another point , on the athlete that came forwards and had to pay his winnings back and said he was pressurised by Lance, heck, doesn't that go back to the old saying "If I told you to put your hand in a fire....." Guilty? Innocent? I don't care anymore, he's human and has flaws like we all do. He also beat the odds of cancer and did alot of great work for Livestrong, sorry but in my opinion those things make him a champ where it matter whether he is a "cheater" in the cycling world or not.0
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I think everyone makes mistakes. EVERYONE. It's' just that ours aren't as publicized. It's not like he killed somebody. Besides, we don't really know the exact details of what went on. Okay, he's a cheater. He's human. At least he has made a lot of great contributions in society, unlike many self righteous people. There's worse people out there than someone who "doped up" to be elite on some two wheeled mechanism for metal trophies that mean nothing in the after life.0
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Eh. I don't think it makes a bit of difference. He took ENHANCEMENT drugs, but the talent had to be there from the get go. It doesn't magically make you able to do things you couldn't before. Same with baseball players, swimmers, ect. I think if someone wants to take those things and compete, they honestly should be able to.0
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The Armstrong threads were good fun when most of MFP was still defending him and denying his guilt.
Now the fun's over, it seems.
So at this stage I've lost interest in the Armstrong conversation.
there are still a surprising few that still believe he is innocent and a few others who still have full respect for him.
the Cult of Armstrong is strong.
and he's not a horrible person because he took PEDs he's a horrible person because he crushed people's lives through threats of financial ruin and lawsuits.0
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