Lance Armstrong gives up, USADA bans him lifetime and takes his titles...

[nightmare3983]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...8a13ca-ee22-11e1-afd6-f55f84bc0c41_story.html

This is by someone who has written a couple of books with Armstrong, so she's obviously biased towards him. But she points out that 58 out of 60 American athletes who have had cases go CAS (where Armstrong's case was headed) have lost. There's no way he would have won, innocent or not. Just ask Alberto Contador.

 

[ema]

As I read about the topic more, I believe more that he's not innocent. But the bigger problem is, like people said before here, who's innocent? Almost all the seconds from the races that Armstrong has won are also have doping history or they also have been charged by USADA like Armstrong.

Thankfully I've never watched biking except a few Tour de France.

 

[nightmare3983]

As I read about the topic more, I believe more that he's not innocent. But the bigger problem is, like people said before here, who's innocent? Almost all the seconds from the races that Armstrong has won are also have doping history or they also have been charged by USADA like Armstrong.

Thankfully I've never watched biking except a few Tour de France.

I agree with your last statement. If this was something involving basketball or the Jazz I'd be somewhat torn up over it.

 

[JimLes]

This wouldn't even be an issue if they simply allowed professional athletes to use whatever PEDs they want. As they should.

How the hell does it make sense to tell a guy that it's okay to have an utterly unnatural exercise regimen, a diet to normal human does, practice for hours at a time and overall, allow the pursuit of sporting glory to completely subsume his life in every way, but the moment you take anabolic steroids, that's bad?

Drinking protein shakes and whey and stupid stuff like that is sportsmanlike, but synthetic chemicals are not?

 

[JAZZGASM]

The fact is, if they are going to accuse him of cheating, it should be done within a reasonable period after the urine samples were taken, not years later. I believe the staute of limitations set for this type of thing is 8 years, which is ridiculous. Witnesses forget, samples get tainted, etc. Catch him in the act or let it go.

 

[Stifle Tower]

I am so happy he was stripped of these. I'm sorry but the guy was deified for winning titles that it quite obviously (unless you're a naive clown) took him PED's to win. I get others take on it. They all dope. He was tested more than anyone else but they never caught him. I get it, I really do. But listen, I'm here to tell you now, the guy ****ing doped.

God

So of all the dopers, he was the dopiest!

Even after Lance, most of the top riders subsequently tested positive. And, IIRC, a couple of times titles were taken away. Whether or not he cheated, Lance did NOT test positive. It's similar to the witch hunt in baseball. Many substances were not initially banned and/or not tested for. I'm sure Lance - and most of his teammates and competitors - took and did things that were on the edge, but not illegal. The USADA, lacking substantive evidence, is using his former teammates against him, many of whom are cheaters or just plain jealous. In a criminal trial, the defense would tear these witnesses to shreds. But the USADA is like Roger Goodell. They are judge, jury and executioner. Lance has absolutely ZERO chance of winning an appeal that has already been decided against him.

"U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, in ruling Monday that the court did not have jurisdiction, acknowledged that "the appearance of a conflict on the part of both organizations creates doubt the charges against Armstrong would receive fair consideration in either forum.""

So even the federal court acknowledged the appeal process was not going to be fair, but declined to intervene because it is not a matter for the U.S. court system.

 

[JimLes]

The USADA, lacking substantive evidence, is using his former teammates against him, many of whom are cheaters or just plain jealous. In a criminal trial, the defense would tear these witnesses to shreds.

I could argue that in the Sandusky trial, the prosecution also lacked substantive evidence. As a matter of fact, there was zero physical evidence of rape or molestation. Just testimony of witnesses. Potentially just plain jealous ones.

Isn't that America? Where you can get convicted of murder without a body found?

 

[freakazoid]

If everybody's cheating, nobody is.

 

[Dr. Jones]

If everybody's cheating, nobody is.

Ur a philosopher too?

 

[squareinthecircle]

In the end what they have done is destroyed the legitimacy of the races. I mean what does previous eras of TDF mean now?

 

[bordelais7]

Ur a philosopher too?

I think he was quoting The Incredibles

 

[kwb]

He dominated one of the dirtiest sports and you expect me to believe he was clean? He made the right move by playing the victim and it's helped his image even more. Whoever told him to do this is a genius. If indeed he was clean, why not fight this until the day he dies? It makes no sense at all. If he knew there was nothing he did wrong, he could have proved them the idiots but he all the sudden just says, "Enough is enough"? Like some one else said, I believe the USADA had some proof from him and the odds were highly against him so he just gave in and made them look like the bad guys. I have no problem with these athletes using PED's. What I do have a problem with is them denying it up and down that they do instead of just being honest about it.