Lance Armstrong drops fight against doping charges; title losses & lifetime ban pending

[thefuzz]

I wonder why they were after him so hard? What's the honest to goodness point?

Cheated or not, he passed the tests given, and won the TDF. That's all I need to know.

[Katweiser]

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.

[mmmbeans]

i love when people get nationalistic about things they don't really care about.

[Doc Holiday]

i love when people get nationalistic about things they don't really care about.

I actually care, I might not have raced road bikes but I've raced mountain bikes, he's long been a hero to me and the sport and has never tested positive. To me this is nothing more then a witch hunt.

[mmmbeans]

I care too but it seems to me most of this hooplah is reactionary nonsense. whatever... i'm bowing out of this thread.

[Dpantherman]

I don't care that much. But its not football season yet, in fact I wish this would have happened two weeks later.

[Mrs Pantherfan]

just a random old man naked on a bike

[Dpantherman]

He's definitely juicing

[CatofWar]

If he was doping who really cares?

[Mrs Pantherfan]

He smokes his type of dope

[Dpantherman]

idk, look at those biceps ...

[4Corners]

He's never tested positive and if he's just laying down and giving up to this, it goes completely against everything his LiveStrong campaign/company stands for.

[Anybodyhome]

Barry Bonds still has the home run title, Roger Clemens still has his Cy Youngs, Mark McGwire still has his World Series ring. Andy Pettite, Jason Giambi, A-Rod have all admitted using and no punishment has ever come their way.

Lance still won 7 Tours... against an entire field of riders, with all the team leaders likely doping as well.

[Darth Biscuit]

I didn't really know what to think about this deal... then I read this...

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/road-biking/My-Life-With-Lance-Armstrong.html?page=1

Unlike Hamilton, I can’t offer dramatic proof that Armstrong doped—the evidence I saw and heard was convincing to me, but it was also circumstantial—but I can shed light on how he operates as a friend and an employer. This is relevant because Armstrong’s strongest remaining line of defense is that he’s a good guy who’s being victimized, a theme that permeated his statement last Thursday. He still doesn’t admit that he cheated, instead claiming that he’s walking away because USADA’s “charade” is rigged and the legal battles are taking too much of a toll on him and his family. “From the beginning,” he wrote, “this investigation has not been about learning the truth or cleaning up cycling, but about punishing me at all costs.”

---

The standard Armstrong defense starts with the naive assumption that it’s impossible to beat drug tests and usually rounds out like this: Even if Armstrong did cheat, he’s a person who came along when drugs were endemic to the sport of bike racing, and he got sucked into using them like many others did. But that era is behind us, so we should let it drop and move on, celebrating Armstrong for the good work he does as a cancer philanthropist. “Yes, Lance has 2B stripped of his 7 Tour de France titles now,” ESPN columnist Rick Reilly wrote in his Twitter feed. “Still, to millions, his work for cancer victims alone makes him a champion.”

---

The whole process was, in my opinion, grotesquely influenced by politics, faulty and inconsistent judgments, and outright lies. In my view, Armstrong was able to avoid answering my claims by using his power and influence. The judge allowed him to stall for months on giving a deposition, and the case was settled before he ever had to answer questions under oath.

I was powerless, and I was inaccurately portrayed by the media, thanks to Armstrong’s efforts at spinning the story. But I stuck by my principles, which I don’t regret. During the two years of my employment with Armstrong, I’d fulfilled my end of the agreement. I did more than required of any mere employee. I’d been his confidante, minder, protector, and more. For that, I got nuked.