Armstrong on doping past: 'I wouldn't change a thing'

[hoonjr]

I'm mad that he's still rich. Could care a crap about the debate if he truly won those tours because everyone else was doping. Would rather see him have to work a regular job like the rest of us.

And it's friggin' kaiser jan who has to go off the rails instead of Lance. There is no justice!!!

[mjb266]

Who?

[azrider]

Originally Posted by DRZRM

I can't believe I'm even going to get involved in this conversation, I never take part in you guys' Armstrong indignation. Besides the fact that literally EVERYONE was actually doing it, without cheating, he would not have been competitive, so of course he "does not regret anything." He's rich (still, right?), he's famous, he has benefitted from his cheating enormously. He won the tour seven times, against a bunch of other guys who were doped to the gills. We know his name and argue about what kind of a jerk he was and still is, while he still lives his life of fame and fortune. I don't see idiot or loser.

Who knows what he would be doing if he didn't join the program. Maybe a doctor, maybe a waiter, maybe a car salesman? Maybe he wouldn't have found out about his cancer as early and would be dead, or maybe he would not have been able to treat it as aggressively, or maybe without the drugs he never would have had cancer at all. He has lived a life or fame and wealth.

I know what he really did to tick you guys off was to be an unapologetic a$$hole, for which we should all feel free to hold a grudge, but why be mad about cheating in bike racing.

It's like being mad at professional wrestlers who say that the WWF is real. Are you up nights worried that Hulk Hogan is still profiting off of his corrupt winnings?

Seriously, are you guys going to act all shocked when the guys racing now turn up positive on the next generation of tests?

HAHAHAH............absolutely nails it.

"Lance says wouldn't change thing"..........DUH.....if he hadn't doped he'd be a has-been.

And right on about the "he's still this and he's still that"........just let it go already and enjoy your day........HE SURE AS HELL IS

[colker]

Originally Posted by el cheapo

This guy lives on the trash heap of history. The sorry scope of this is that you can lie, cheat, and steal with ZERO remorse and still be remembered long after all of us have departed the planet.

Infamy lasts longer than fame.... from the Informant.. great movie btw.

[OtayBW]

Originally Posted by DRZRM

I can't believe I'm even going to get involved in this conversation, I never take part in you guys' Armstrong indignation. Besides the fact that literally EVERYONE was actually doing it, without cheating, he would not have been competitive, so of course he "does not regret anything." He's rich (still, right?), he's famous, he has benefitted from his cheating enormously. He won the tour seven times, against a bunch of other guys who were doped to the gills. We know his name and argue about what kind of a jerk he was and still is, while he still lives his life of fame and fortune. I don't see idiot or loser.

Who knows what he would be doing if he didn't join the program. Maybe a doctor, maybe a waiter, maybe a car salesman? Maybe he wouldn't have found out about his cancer as early and would be dead, or maybe he would not have been able to treat it as aggressively, or maybe without the drugs he never would have had cancer at all. He has lived a life or fame and wealth.

I know what he really did to tick you guys off was to be an unapologetic a$$hole, for which we should all feel free to hold a grudge, but why be mad about cheating in bike racing.

It's like being mad at professional wrestlers who say that the WWF is real. Are you up nights worried that Hulk Hogan is still profiting off of his corrupt winnings?

Seriously, are you guys going to act all shocked when the guys racing now turn up positive on the next generation of tests?

Forget about past history and who did what. The immediate weirdness of this latest response is that LA celebrates the cheating and holds it up as a model for correct behavior - in sport no less. Just because everybody 'normalizes' bad behavior does not make it the right thing to do. The character flaw here, to me, is returning to all this and validating it again.

And, of course, I could extropolate that type of mentality occurring in all kinds of areas nowadays where it doesn't look any more glamorous, but I digress....

[CunegoFan]

Originally Posted by GregL

Some people simply aren’t capable of remorse. They’re so fragile that admitting fault would destroy them. It’s like a house of cards. Pull one off the bottom row and...

Greg

Why would he have remorse over doping? The rules were written so the UCI could pretend it was doing something about doping. Everyone else was doping. It has been the norm for the entire history of professional cycling, going on a hundred and fifty years. Every great champion in cycling doped.

Good on Armstrong for being unapologetic about it. It sure beats others getting caught then going on an apology tour where they kowtow to the normies and pretend to be sorry for doping.

[Seramount]

Lance simply played the game...

he's a bit of a douche, but I don't spend any energy hating on him.

[GregL]

Originally Posted by CunegoFan

Why would he have remorse over doping? The rules were written so the UCI could pretend it was doing something about doping. Everyone else was doping. It has been the norm for the entire history of professional cycling, going on a hundred and fifty years. Every great champion in cycling doped.

Good on Armstrong for being unapologetic about it. It sure beats others getting caught then going on an apology tour where they kowtow to the normies and pretend to be sorry for doping.

It’s not the doping that I was specifically referring to. It was the sociopathic way he treated others. I’m not judging him for the doping. I’m all too happy to strongly dislike him for the way he treated those who (rightfully) accused him of doping.

Greg

[Hawker]

Originally Posted by azrider

HAHAHAH............absolutely nails it.

"Lance says wouldn't change thing"..........DUH.....if he hadn't doped he'd be a has-been.

Does that mean all the other pro cyclists who tried to win the tour without cheating and didn't...are now all has-beens? Of course not. How about Eric Heiden who is now a respected surgeon?

Like pro ball players and myriad Olympic gold medal winning athletes whose sports don't offer a career; you are not a has-been. You just take the talent, resolve and energy you once had to find a new direction.

Lance will probably always have limited options. Millions don't like him, sponsors are afraid to use him and his only admirers are those of us in this dinky sport who can appreciate what he did on the bike. But lots us in the sport have lost respect for him due to the way he treated people while trying to keep his lies intact and for his lack of remorse. He probably won't die broke, but I wonder if he will die fulfilled?

[CunegoFan]

Originally Posted by hoonjr

I'm mad that he's still rich. Could care a crap about the debate if he truly won those tours because everyone else was doping. Would rather see him have to work a regular job like the rest of us.

And it's friggin' kaiser jan who has to go off the rails instead of Lance. There is no justice!!!

This does not even make sense.

I hate to break it to you, my dude, but Jan is also rich. He doesn't have a regular job. And it may totally shock you to learn this, but he doped.

The same people who hate on Lance for doping are the same people who fall all over themselves to praise Merckx and Cipollini and Hinault and Kelly and Coppi and Pantani and...

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by CunegoFan

Why would he have remorse over doping? The rules were written so the UCI could pretend it was doing something about doping. Everyone else was doping. It has been the norm for the entire history of professional cycling, going on a hundred and fifty years. Every great champion in cycling doped.

Good on Armstrong for being unapologetic about it. It sure beats others getting caught then going on an apology tour where they kowtow to the normies and pretend to be sorry for doping.

100%. History will forgive the doping. But not for being a dick.

[CunegoFan]

Originally Posted by Hawker

Does that mean all the other pro cyclists who tried to win the tour without cheating and didn't...are now all has-beens? Of course not. How about Eric Heiden who is now a respected surgeon?

Like pro ball players and myriad Olympic gold medal winning athletes whose sports don't offer a career; you are not a has-been. You just take the talent, resolve and energy you once had to find a new direction.

Lance will probably always have limited options. Millions don't like him, sponsors are afraid to use him and his only admirers are those of us in this dinky sport who can appreciate what he did on the bike. But lots us in the sport have lost respect for him due to the way he treated people while trying to keep his lies intact and for his lack of remorse. He probably won't die broke, but I wonder if he will die fulfilled?

Doesn't that sound like the point of the interview, though. If he had not been busted then he would have spent the last years jetting around the world as a celebrity. Instead he spent the last seven years with his children during a critical time of their development. He learned to slow down and play a casual sport like golf of all things. He found out who his true friends are. My bet is he dies very satisfied and a better person than he started out as.

[Skenry]

Originally Posted by el cheapo

This guy lives on the trash heap of history. The sorry scope of this is that you can lie, cheat, and steal with ZERO remorse and still be remembered long after all of us have departed the planet.

But he won. That was his job, that's all most American people care about, the winning. Cyclists and even non-fans will see those blank spaces in the winners lists and know the name Lance Armstrong.

[Alaska Mike]

Originally Posted by CunegoFan

Everyone else was doping.

Actually, not every GC contender was. In the post Festina years a few were trying to go clean (e.g. Christophe Bassons) and got steam-rolled by Lance and Postal, on and off the bike. The majority of the peloton was probably doped to a degree, but fears of testing kept it to a lesser degree than in '98. Postal just was more daring in their "preparations".

The whole "level playing field" argument for doping is a joke anyway. Some teams and riders were more sophisticated than others. Some riders responded to doping protocols better than others, achieving larger gains in performance. Some doctors (e.g. Ferrari) were very scientific about their procedures and timelines and others were almost comically inept (e.g. Fuentes). In the years after Festina, when you could no longer mainline EPO because of better testing, micro-dosing routines and transfusions were much more complex to maintain while remaining undetected. I suspect it's even more so today, although it obviously continues to a degree.

Read Tyler Hamilton's book (among countless others) for further information.

And for the record, I believe LeMond was clean. Prior to blood doping entering the sport and the dramatic shift that EPO created, it was easier to win clean. EPO made what the previous dopers did seem almost "quaint". Most of the old concoctions probably did more harm than good in the long run.

[Drmojo]

Originally Posted by dgauthier

Let's not forget an increased risk of testicular cancer is a side effect of abusing steriods. That is, *even his cancer* was probably caused by the doping he was doing early in his career.

The inspirational story of "overcoming cancer" is all part of the lie.

I said this years ago
Testicular cancer is somewhat rare
unless
you mess with androgenic agents
well known in the NFL also