Not everyone in the States likes Lance...

Raam

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/27793457/

If Lance Armstrong wants to ride in the Tour de France again at the age of 37, I’ve got no problem with it. But for the love of derailleur gears, does he have to make such a mess of it?

dave2pvd

Raam, in response to your title, I can confirm that not everybody over here likes him. Most of the guys I race with/against believe he is a doper. Now, if you ask your average ESPN couchpotato, they won't know very much about cycling and are likely to have the opinion that he is nothing but an all-American hero.

TinyExplosions

dave2pvd wrote: »

Raam, in response to your title, I can confirm that not everybody over here likes him. Most of the guys I race with/against believe he is a doper. Now, if you ask your average ESPN couchpotato, they won't know very much about cycling and are likely to have the opinion that he is nothing but an all-American hero.

Are the two mutually exclusive? You can be an All-American hero doper -like Marion Jones

dave2pvd

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Are the two mutually exclusive? You can be an All-American hero doper -like Marion Jones

Add just about any baseball player to that list....

In fairness though, once an athlete is labeled a doper, they tend to get kicked off the all-American bus pretty quickly, including Jones. I'm also thinking of the likes of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Tyler Hamilton,.... Alas, the doper scrutiny and sanctioning for cyclists and athletes is much higher than for the mainstream sports.

Now, if only the NFL would join WADA....

Signal_ rabbit

I cycle and i'm no couch potato, but i believe that he is a fantastic athlete, especially after coming back from cancer. I think that most people would like to believe he is a doper as the alternative would be to admit he is a super world class athlete.
What he has done for the sport and for cancer is outstanding in my opinion.

Lumen

Signal_ rabbit wrote: »

What he has done for the sport and for cancer is outstanding in my opinion.

I assume you mean "for the fight against cancer".

According to Lance, the chemo helped reshape his body. I certainly don't think he's ever claimed that "beating cancer" made it harder for him to get the TDF wins.

I've heard oncologists say that the old "beating cancer through willpower" idea is nonsense. They see lots of strong people die and weak people live. It's just a nice narrative we want to believe.

Lance is alive because of modern pharmaceuticals, not because of his iron will. This is an observation, not a criticism. I think it would be a nice vindication of our advanced civilisation and its temporary triumph over nature (if not sporting fairness) if it turns out he also doped to win.

Chips Lovell

Signal_ rabbit wrote: »

I think that most people would like to believe he is a doper as the alternative would be to admit he is a super world class athlete.

Why would people not want to admit he was a world class athlete?

Chips Lovell

Gas quote from Ullrich today about Lance:

"He runs marathons, changes women and still can't find what he is looking for. I can imagine that he needs cycling again, to find his fulfilment. He certainly won't return to finish second."

If I didn't know they got on well, I'd swear he was having a dig at him.

dave2pvd

Signal_ rabbit wrote: »

I cycle and i'm no couch potato, but i believe that he is a fantastic athlete, especially after coming back from cancer. I think that most people would like to believe he is a doper as the alternative would be to admit he is a super world class athlete.
What he has done for the sport and for cancer is outstanding in my opinion.

Well, you may be no couch potato, but you just came out with the Lance fanboi statement. Almost verbatim.

As your penance, and for some perspective, go get thee some David Walsh: Lance to Landis

(incidentally, I agree with the fantastic athlete part).

Signal_ rabbit

el tonto wrote: »

Why would people not want to admit he was a world class athlete?

Human nature being what it is, there is a tendency to knock/discredit people who excel at something that may appear to be an abnormal feat. i.e Armstrong, Beckham etc. The more they appear to be in the limelight the more people want them to fail. Admitting they are world class athletes/sportsman tends to buck the trend. There seems to be a certain stigma attached to people who are pro-lance within the cycling fraternity.

I hasten to add the words in my opinion.

Chris Peak

He is a very good athlete.
I’m sure very, very few riders get to that level without 'a little help'. What people have to realise is that taking pills isn’t a shortcut to success. What separates winners from the also-rans is all the preparation before the event. You can if you like, take into account natural ability for the particular sport. But, nothing beats a good training program.










Please enjoy any grammatical errors and spelling mistakes as they add to my overall charm:)

blorg

I don't think anyone doubts that Lance is a world-class athlete with an approach to training that is second-to-none. Whether he doped is a second question.

copacetic

Signal_ rabbit wrote: »

Human nature being what it is, there is a tendency to knock/discredit people who excel at something that may appear to be an abnormal feat. i.e Armstrong, Beckham etc. The more they appear to be in the limelight the more people want them to fail. Admitting they are world class athletes/sportsman tends to buck the trend. There seems to be a certain stigma attached to people who are pro-lance within the cycling fraternity.

I hasten to add the words in my opinion.

Whatever people may think of Lance, I really can't believe you put Beckham in the same post or even the same forum:eek:

Diarmuid

Interview of Lance here. it's a good nose-to-nose no holds barred interview.

Last line is a classic from Kimmage “I regard it as a huge compliment that he thinks so lowly of me,”

TinyExplosions

I like this bit from the piece:

The Kimmage piece Armstrong refers to is actually the transcript of a radio interview he did on a small Irish station when the comeback was announced.

Poor small Newstalk...