Off The Ball Official Thread <Mod Note - Post #1, #533, #6651>

PeterTheNinth

"Are you a complete rookie" ...

humberklog

-Thank you Lance Armstrong.

....Beep, beep, beep.


Very good radio.

threein99

That was disappointing.

NomadicGray

Underwhelming. Wouldnt be surprised if they added in the 'hang up' themselves.

PeterTheNinth

NomadicGray wrote: »

Underwhelming. Wouldnt be surprised if they added in the 'hang up' themselves.

I thought the sound level was slightly different on that section. I mean if Lance puts out a statement to say "that hang up never happened", nobody would believe him anyway.

PeterTheNinth

After the break, Paul Kimmage is coming in to point out to Ger where he went wrong.

Akabusi

It's bad when you are actually siding with Armstrong during that interview

Ol' Donie

Ah, I missed it.

Fortunately, if I know my OTB, it will be repeated on every weekend show for weeks, and every bank holiday show till 2025.

Cartman78

Haven't heard it yet either.....not sure if I want to if I'm being honest

This guy is such a self-promoting, egotistical, narcissistic bully....




...and Lance Armstrong is kinda annoying as well

ballsymchugh

PeterTheNinth wrote: »

That should give Ger just about enough time to ask the first question.

the first question was a complete fck up. it was way too long and Armstrong wanted to go back and do it bit by bit, but Ger has lost the run of it and it went haywire.

all he had to ask was 'you've told all that to USADA and UCI, why don't you tell us now?'

i got sweet fa out of that

pc7

ballsymchugh wrote: »

i got sweet fa out of that

I got such a laugh out of the rookie line

PeterTheNinth

Just listening back. That is some second question.

"My concern I guess with the conference, and even with this interview a little bit, is that you do have a very important ongoing case which it seems might prevent you from answering some of the questions that I think ultimately are gonna lead to closure for a lot of people"

Realbhoy

I tuned in more in hope than expectation. The questions just meandered towards a conclusion which gave LA the chance to nearly rehearse his answer. All in all a bit underwhelming.

gimmick

Tough interview but overall well done by Gilroy. Armstrong is used to every question and is a megalomaniacal bully so he was always going to react like the prick that he is.

Gilroy could have taken the easy route and went softly softly. Which he didn't and kudos for that.

Tell me how

Just listened to the interview. I thought that Ger did well. The incredulous way he asked "Really?" when he didn't believe Lance was perfect in it's simplicity. And it did provoke a more genuine response.

Lance can say he is sorry all he wants, he will never mean that he is sorry. This would be the case even if he sat with Paul Kimmage or when he sits with Ewan McKenna. Paul wants him to genuinely recognize how wrong he was but LA isn't about that. As he said himself, he's a forward guy. He will say whatever he needs to in order to make tomorrow better for Lance.

I watched the BBC 4 film last night. Betsy Andreu was very impressive and what struck me is she isn't looking for an apology. Lance doesn't mean sh*t to her. She just wants him to leave her alone.
If people were to stop talking about Lance then that would probably bother him more than people asking him to apologize.

redbuck

Was funny when Lance said 'wow that's a loaded question' after one of Ger's monologue style questions.

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

Some of Gilroys questions annoyed me, like the one about whether Lance had ever used a motor in his bikes. Felt like petty point scoring or something along those lines. It definitely felt like he was out to make fun of the guy in a way(which admittedly is easy as Lance lives in make believe land). No interview is perfect though, and he wasn't fazed by the brash nature of Armstrongs personality so commendable all the same.

pc7

Kimmage has tweeted the interview with 'Ger being Ger, Lance being Lance'

PeterTheNinth

Dr.Winston O'Boogie wrote: »

Some of Gilroys questions annoyed me, like the one about whether Lance had ever used a motor in his bikes.

Does anybody in the cycling fraternity have any clue what he was on about with this? Is the question as stupid as it seems? It seemed like it was just a vehicle for Ger to get in a sly dig with "well if you were cheating by taking drugs, what is the difference in using a motor". And he got Lance's back right up with that.

pc7 wrote: »

Kimmage has tweeted the interview with 'Ger being Ger, Lance being Lance'

Jaysus, if there were two side to an argument, Kimmage would always find a third position. I was looking up Kimmage after the interview to see if he would react, but he seems to have his hands full with the rugby crowd at the moment.

I wonder is he going to be on the review of the papers today. That would be amazing.

Tell me how

PeterTheNinth wrote:

Does anybody in the cycling fraternity have any clue what he was on about with this? Is the question as stupid as it seems? It seemed like it was just a vehicle for Ger to get in a sly dig with "well if you were cheating by taking drugs, what is the difference in using a motor". And he got Lance's back right up with that.

This was a perfectly reasonable question.

I have no doubt if the technology had been available at that time he would have been aware of it and I suspect would have used it.

I think Lance was ticked because that is what Lance does unless he has already been caught.

Was the most interesting part of the interview for me.

PeterTheNinth

Just heard that Kimmage is writing about the rugby drug issue now. They didnt say if he would be in for the paper review though.

Alf Veedersane

The reason the motor question annoyed Lance so much is because I don't think he will ever think he did anything wrong.

I suspect he still believes all he ever did was level the playing field - because everyone else was doing it - and that he was still the best. That it was still him being the best cyclist.

Whereas 'mechanical doping' would be cheating...

PeterTheNinth

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

The reason the motor question annoyed Lance so much is because I don't think he will ever think he did anything wrong.

Yeah, but there is no evidence that Lance ever used a motor, so what was the point in asking him about it?

PeterTheNinth

Ah this is rubbish without Kimmage. I'd love to hear his response to Ronan O'Gara's article.

Ol' Donie

PeterTheNinth wrote: »

Ah this is rubbish without Kimmage. I'd love to hear his response to Ronan O'Gara's article.

Would love to hear that, but it's still a good show today.

EndaHonesty

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

The reason the motor question annoyed Lance so much is because I don't think he will ever think he did anything wrong.

I suspect he still believes all he ever did was level the playing field - because everyone else was doing it - and that he was still the best. That it was still him being the best cyclist.

Whereas 'mechanical doping' would be cheating...

+100

Exactly this, IMO.

Tell me how

PeterTheNinth wrote:

Yeah, but there is no evidence that Lance ever used a motor, so what was the point in asking him about it?

It's a relevant topic.

Just because there's no evidence, why not get his opinion?

Alf Veedersane

PeterTheNinth wrote: »

Yeah, but there is no evidence that Lance ever used a motor, so what was the point in asking him about it?

He's been painted as someone who sought any advantage, by pretty much anyone he worked with, so it's not entirely inconceivable that he would have been presented with the opportunity to try it.

But I think it was worth pressing him on why he thinks it is different to cheating through the use if PEDs because the very reason that it just might get him to admit that he doesn't think he cheated.

rgace

Like nearly every question in that interview it was so long winded that it caused confusion (possibly willfull on Lance's prt), don't know why he couldn't have just asked would you have used a motor had you thought you would get away with it?

sonic85

I normally download the previous nights podcasts from the Newstalk app and listen to them in work but there hasn't been anything fresh on it for the last week. Anybody else have this issue? It's a right pain