I like how he's handling this.

 

Me too! Good for him to be honest. Regardless if he won his battle there going to be people who said he doped and those who said he didn't. Why fight it anymore and waste your money

 

I love amateur athletics and non mainstream sports and do think steroid/doping tests are needed etc

HOWEVER, Armstrong retired what, 3 yrs ago?

Seems to me like this organization's leadership has an ax to grind and is going after Armstrong in a process where they control everything from evidence to outcome, I do not blame him one bit for saying "screw you"

He should have went Johnny Cash at the grand ol oprey..

 

Lance Armstrong: Could I get a bottle of water. - - Hey, aren't you Peter La Fleur?
Peter La Fleur: Lance Armstrong!
Lance Armstrong: Yeah, that's me. But I'm a big fan of yours.
Peter La Fleur: Really?
Lance Armstrong: Yeah, I've been watching the dodgeball tournament on the Ocho. ESPN 8. I just can't get enough of it. But, good luck in the tournament. I'm really pulling for you against those jerks from Globo Gym. I think you better hurry up or you're gonna be late.
Peter La Fleur: Uh, actually I decided to quit... Lance.
Lance Armstrong: Quit? You know, once I was thinking about quitting when I was diagnosed with brain, lung and testicular cancer, all at the same time. But with the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike and I won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a good reason to quit. So what are you dying from that's keeping you from the finals?
Peter La Fleur: Right now it feels a little bit like... shame.
Lance Armstrong: Well, I guess if a person never quit when the going got tough, they wouldn't have anything to regret for the rest of their life. But good luck to you Peter. I'm sure this decision won't haunt you forever.



:shifty:

 

I don't get how because he is tired of the witch hunt they have for him, so that means he is guilty?? Isn't it the USADA or whomever responsibility to find proof that he did something before stripping him of everything....?

Think about they are taking everything he worked for without one shred of proof of anything? That's a dangerous precedent to set IMO....

I expect this from a foreign body, but a U.S. agency? It kind of goes against everything we as Americans stand for no? You cant just sanction somebody without proof, I don't get this at all, and am deeply upset of it....

And lastly I don't blame LA, I would be like "Call me when you have concrete proof there fellas"......again it shouldn't be his responsibility to prove it...

 

Exactly FY, the way this works is they accuse the athlete, control the evidentiary processes, there is no court room just an arbitrator, and really no rules there either.

Armstrong said "Nolo Contendre'"

7 time winner of the Tour, possibly the most tested athlete in the history of the sport, then 2 or 3 yrs after he retires they bring this stuff?

Sounds like a witch hunt.

 

If you're willing to give up everything you've achieved, then I think its fair to question why.

I can't for the life of me understand how a man known for endurance racing is tired of a fight his lawyers do all the work on.

This smacks of guilt to me. It seems like he's busted and he knows it, and he's taking his last option available to him. By doing it this way, at least he can say he was never found guilty.

 

dude after a while you would get sick of it.....it is like beating a dead horse over and over and over and over again....lets say he test positive TODAY, it still has no bearing if he did the years he was active....they have no proof of anything, their hope it that something like this would happen, or a confession....

Personally I hope he sues the sh%t out of them....for libel and slander....

Again D where is the proof? other than a few other jealous bicyclers saying he did it...dont get me wrong if proof someday arises, hey he is guilty and ban his *** at that point but until then you shouldn't be able to...

 

Of course, but let me ask you:

Roger Clemons never once tested posted for steroids, he was exonerated in an actual court of law, and yet the perception is..he did them anyway.

Pay millions in legal fees for that?

How about not giving half a damn what other people think, that is what sports is all about, not others opinions, but ones own of yourself.

 

Then why give up? Again, we're talking about his professional achievements taken away. He worked hard to win those, but he's tired of his lawyers fighting it? Really?

He's not paying for perception, he's paying to not have the titles he won stripped.

 

Like Lance said, he knows who won those tour de frances. His opponents knows who won. Thats enough for him.

 

It is probably also costing him an arm and a leg in said lawyer fees, he doesn't do endorsements anymore....it isnt some mega rich dude like A-Rod etc....

dude you are like me in that you want to see the evidence...but until then it isn't his responsibility to get himself off the hook, it is theirs to put him on the hook...this isn't a court case where a judge could just say "enough with the extensions, prepare your evidence and get ready for trial"...this is some "agency" busting his balls over nothing and it could go on forever, nobody is overseeing it....this is nothing, and they are going to take his trophy's from him....

My guess is in his baller days Lance probably told everyone at that agency and others while passing every PED test, to essentially suck his you know what, and now they have it out for him, and wont let it die...cant blame him, you or me would do the same thing if we knew we were clean....

 

Who cares if he used PEDs? You couldnt expect someone to win in that sport if they are clean.

 

So who won those 7 TDF??.......Lance Armstrong did! Thats how I see it and will forever see it. My opinion means more to me and is just as credible than the USADA's (or what ever fancy title they give themselves to sound more prominent or official) mere opinion. The USADA is now officially on my ever growing "acronyms that dont mean $#@!" list.

 

That ***** beat cancer TWICE; he's already earned my respect. Keep you ****ty medals.

 

Don't let Lance Armstrong as a person (great guy, warrior, raised $500m for cancer) be confused with Lance Armstrong (athlete), who somehow beat a whole sport of cheaters by not cheating. Don't believe any of the reports of others that were on the team with him and cheated, or any other reports of cronyism.

If your opinion is Lance Armstrong is a great guy that wouldn't cheat that's fine, but the evidence far from supports how he won those tours without performance enhancers (epo,transfusions, etc.).

 

My view is this, 500 drug tests in, not a single positive test.

A 2 yr grand jury investigation..found nothing

This board went on a witch hunt for Armstrong, a part of that is due to winning 7 TDF's being a non European, which is unheard of, so it was assumed that he would have to had cheated.

The "legal process" is in fact a pre judged arbitration, no rules of evidence, nothing like that.

Two rules of law at work:

-Corpus Delicti, produce the body, it is not enough to say someone did something, you have to have physical evidence
-Nolo Contendre, ie, neither yes or no.

 

Not if I was innocent.
If I was innocent, I would NEVER get tired of defending myself.

 

I wouldn't but at some point money does wear thin....again this isn't LeBron or somebody who has millions of dollars coming in at his disposal every year....

And yes you say that now, but there isnt an end to these proceedings, this isn't court.....this would go on and on forever potentially....there comes a time when it becomes more of a dog and pony show than anything actually relevant......And I think Lance is seeing that now...

I am still just ripped over it, taking a guys achievements from him because he doesn't want to answer the same questions over and over again...

 

I agree to a point. I just think eventually the money and the burdens would lead me to the point of thinking to myself "I know Im innocent, I crossed the lines first and I passed all the tests. Its all opinions from there, and those who dont believe me will never believe me.

It was a guilty until proven innocent sort of thing for Lance. If all the drug tests and court cases were not enough, what could Lance possibly have left to fight with for his innocence? His word? A cross my heart hope to die pledge?

 

Isnt the burden of proof on the USADA? Have they proven anything?

 

I heard this a few weeks ago on some FSR show, and basically the next step outside of federal court was the world sports arbitration court or some nonsense, where Americas are 0-9. I would give up with the odds against me that way too.

As a personal aside, I'd be awful shocked if Armstrong were clean.

 

I'd be shocked if he were clean too, that is a very dirty sport.
However nothing has been proven yet, so why strip him of his medals?

 

http://m.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/24/lance-armstrong-uci?cat=sport&type=article

This really doesn't help clarify, but says UCI is waiting for USADA to give a reason before they step in.

 

I'm pretty sure Dan Marino used steroids. NOBODY could actually throw the football that hard and that fast and have all of those signature moves in the pocket without cheating. I just can't prove it. :shifty:

 

Lance Armstrong was a cheat. The biggest cheat in sports history whose cancer was caused by huge overdoses of testosterone. I am STUNNED that people are defending him.

 

Something tells me this post was made with a smile on your face. This has more to do with hatred of America for a lot of foreigners than Lance Armstrong himself.

What he has done for cancer research and awareness trumps everything else he has done. He cheated his balls off (literally) and the punishment is just, but it also. Egs the questions why the admitted users like Landis, Hamilton and others aren't held to the same standard.

The reality is, Armstrong is a cheater, but this was also a witch hunt. A d the biggest point of all..it's ****ing cycling. Americans wouldn't even give a **** about cycling if it wasn't for Lance. Greg LeMond was no longer anything and its barely a sport that makes the back page of the sports section now that Lance isn't involved.

Foreigners were pissed that Lance and the Americans took over their stupid sport for close to a decade. I think I speak for most everyone when I say, "fine, you can have it back." Oh and all of the cheat.

All. Of. Them. It's a ridiculous sport. I'd cheat just to breakup the boredom of riding a bicycle.

 

Not sure where you live, but cycling is big where I'm from.

I'm not a fan of the guy. I don't like cheaters period. He cheated and used a sob story to get in Sheryl Crows pants and rake in millions of dollars.

Sure the guy did a lot for cancer research, but he's still an lying *******. Just because you don't follow a sport doesn't make his cheating any less egregious.

 

Its nice to see Boomer down here with the commonfolk.

 

People were pissed because it was cheating. And people knew it was cheating for a long time and it was covered up. Had nothing to do with hating America. No-one wwas hating America when Greg LeMond won 3 TdF's.

As for why they're not held to the same standard re: Landis and Tyler - one TdF win between them and no remarkable campaign of bullying to other riders, journalists, etc.

Incredibly myopic view of a sport that you don't like. And some classic xenophobia as well.

;)

 

In fairness to us who defended Armstrong, it was before he was actually caught cheating.

 

If he were a Brit no one would give a ****.

 

What a load of hocum.

 

If it was because he was American, let's make sure we take Greg LeMond apart.

 

This thread is awesome in hindsight

 

Boomer was right in hindsight.

Lance Armstrong was a terrible person and a bully. He ruined many lives. He got what was coming to him.

 

Cancer awareness and research still trumps everything else.

Again, we are talking about a man who rides a bicycle...becoming a worldwide superstar and pretty much parlaying all of hat to help sick people everywhere. All the other stuff doesn't matter as much.

Yes he cheated, we all knew that. Yes he is a liar, again, no news there.

I do find it funny how ecstatic non-Americans are about this. Call me a xenophone all you want, but the truth is, other countrymen (especially euros) were even lighter in the loafers after everything was officially confirmed.

As for me, I still don't give a crap. It's cycling. That stopped being interesting and fun at the age of 12. It is silly that people ae any sport this seriously, let alone an awful one like riding a bike.

 

I knew LA was a cheat 9 years ago. I'm glad he finally got what he deserved.