The new improved Lance Armstrong discussion thread.*

[Flying_Monkey]

I too have watched the second part and my thoughts are that this one should not have been shown, it was all about getting sympathy and trying to show the human side of Lance Armstrong.

That was the whole point of this exercise... for Armstrong at least. The problem is that we already know far more than he was prepared to admit in the first part, so the second part just looked contrived and insincere.

Verdict: fail.

 

[deanE]

It would be good to think that it was his son’s argument with another schoolboy that made him realise he needed to come clean, at last. Can’t blame him for a certain amount of damage limitation.

 

[ufkacbln]

Those things could all be got to in other ways.

But would they be as unequivocal or effective?

The fact that WADA are discussing reduced bans is a signal that they think his evidence is important enough to open negotiations?

 

[Noodley]

It would be good to think that it was his son’s argument with another schoolboy that made him realise he needed to come clean, at last. Can’t blame him for a certain amount of damage limitation.

Utter nonsense.

 

[ufkacbln]

It is the obvious and easier route. If letting him have anything at all is the cost associated though, that is too much.

Therein lies the problem......

Too much for Whom?


The WADA has a record of "deals for confessions"

It is simply a case of how far they are willing to go.

There is also an argument that a single massive purge of cycling based on his evidence would benefit cycling if it prevented a long drawn out series of arguments over tag next ten years

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I've not watched either of them and have just hit delete on the sky+ box to get rid.

"I'm a competitor" says Lance. Yep, one with a pathological need to win.

A stop-at-nothing competitor. A win-at-all-costs competitor. A must-win competitor even if it means cheating.

Only an American sports governing body would be dumb enough to allow him to compete at anything more important to the other competitors than tiddly-winks with that attitude.

Nothings changed. Same old same old Lance. He needs to find another way to validate himself outside of sport and celebrity status. He's a cheat, and until he learns to tame his inner win-demon he always will be.

 

[ufkacbln]

Me

.....and for many others as I pointed out earlier, however the WADA will have the final decision as to cost / benefit

 

[Andy84]

Cavendish speaks.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...e-Armstrong-has-tainted-my-sport-forever.html

Oh dear

“One year I was doing so well I was the single most tested rider on the planet.”

 

[raindog]

Cavendish speaks.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...e-Armstrong-has-tainted-my-sport-forever.html

Oh dear

“One year I was doing so well I was the single most tested rider on the planet.”

For one season, that's probably true.

 

[PpPete]

I've not watched either of them and have just hit delete on the sky+ box to get rid.

"I'm a competitor" says Lance. Yep, one with a pathological need to win.

A stop-at-nothing competitor. A win-at-all-costs competitor. A must-win competitor even if it means cheating.

Only an American sports governing body would be dumb enough to allow him to compete at anything more important to the other competitors than tiddly-winks with that attitude.

Nothings changed. Same old same old Lance. He needs to find another way to validate himself outside of sport and celebrity status. He's a cheat, and until he learns to tame his inner win-demon he always will be.

Why are you so dis-respectful to the great and noble sport of tiddly-winks?
Are you trying to say it's not as important as cycling?

 

[rich p]

Cavendish speaks.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...e-Armstrong-has-tainted-my-sport-forever.html

Oh dear

“One year I was doing so well I was the single most tested rider on the planet.”

Pretty categorical and straightforward condemnation though despite that Armstrongism!

 

[Boris Bajic]

I'm an EX fanboy and happy to admit I was wrong and what a totally c**t he is!

None so zealous as the convert.

Former smokers, born-again Christians, now some pro-cycling fans too.

Sorry.... It's just the way it seems to me.

Whatever happened to the middle ground?

 

[dellzeqq]

None so zealous as the convert.

Former smokers, born-again Christians, now some pro-cycling fans too.

Sorry.... It's just the way it seems to me.

Whatever happened to the middle ground?

that's entirely unfair. I think you owe Zofu an apology.

 

[StuAff]

Pretty categorical and straightforward condemnation though despite that Armstrongism!

+1. AFAIK, less 'oh dear', more 'damn right'. And assuming for a moment that the test procedures are as thoroughly carried out as the rules allow, then there is now much less scope for a doper to escape a positive test, either because he's not 'glowing' or because he's hiding under a table.

 

[StuAff]

You occupy it and put everyone else off?

+1.
We don't stick our head in the sand and keep singing his praises despite everything. Doesn't make us zealots. AFAIK, I think a significant majority of cycling fans (regardless of how well informed they are about the sport and its history) would have preferred him to have been innocent, somehow, even if he is a complete jerk (to use a milder term). That was my view, but even before the confession, the evidence was overwhelming. He has hurt so many people, in so many ways, that frankly he deserves the world of pain he is going to slide into in the not-too-distant future. Despite his carefully stage-managed 'apology' and its legal-ramifications-carefully-considered wording, I don't think those now preparing their court cases against him will settle for anything less than (metaphorically) several pounds of flesh.