The worst part about the Lance Armstrong scandal
The doping is bad, but the news that he allegedly intimidated his teammates so that they would never tell the truth about what they did is tragic beyond words. The people who broke the silence are no angels, but they are to be commended for ending one of the biggest frauds in sports history.
| Posted at 7:46 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (15)
The more that comes out about this guy, the more shocking it gets. "God Complex" is a start.
http://reader.roopstigo.com/view/roopster/story/595#/chapter/1/
Posted by smarana | October 23, 2012 8:20 AM
I just hope the French aren't upset about this. C'est la vie, non?
Posted by Bill McDonald | October 23, 2012 8:33 AM
Boy, when things go south, they go south fast. And how I thought that The Emperor really did have nice clothes, and his critics just were jealous of his abilities. What a fool I was, to believe Lance. Hard to believe how many people knew what was going on during the time that it was happening.
Posted by Harry | October 23, 2012 8:39 AM
It keeps getting better. Forbes has a breakdown this morning on the issues he faces in having to give back all of his Tour de France bonuses, from a tax standpoint, and the current issues are practically a sidenote compared to what's going to happen to him once the IRS is done. I've watched similar stupidity and arrogance with a couple of businesses (thankfully, I was well away from Ground Zero when they detonated), and all I can ask is "And has anybody thought of what's going to happen when you're busted? Not 'if,' but 'when'?"
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | October 23, 2012 8:47 AM
I never felt good vibes from the dude. People that are truly gifted usually give honest praise to the higher powers and are humble.
And all the sympathy he got for getting cancer from most likely doping, is both ironic and just sad.
Throwing your teammates under the rims is just another chapter of his Greek tragedy life.
Posted by Tim | October 23, 2012 8:51 AM
Lance is a creep, a bully, and a total fraud. He should probably go to jail for something! However he may well be relegated to a single wide in some remote area by the time the IRS and the rest are finished with him.
I do feel sorry for his brood of offspring though. They will have to adjust to a very different lifestyle.
And no more VIP treatment from Phil Knight either!
Posted by Portland Native | October 23, 2012 9:10 AM
It's always the cover up that's worse than the crime in these situations. Everyone juiced back then in this elite cycling world. But no one lied about it with such arrogant bravado, like the Lance team.
Posted by Drewbob | October 23, 2012 9:11 AM
Lance villainized everyone who spoke against him. He had a lot of so-called success with that tactic over the years. It cost him a fortune and an army of lawyers. Everything changed when Big George Hincapie started talking. Levi Leipheimer also was a very credible witness. When their stories matched others' it was over. Lance's scorched earth policy eventually engulfed him. Someone said he should be forgotten. That's harsh.
Posted by reader | October 23, 2012 9:23 AM
The doping, yeah, that was no surprise. You almost had to suspect that, close to the point of knowing it, when he had not just testicular cancer but an assortment of odd cancers at an extremely young age.
The rest of the story comes as a total shock I expect to the public at large. I heard a news report a week or two ago, as his teammates were jumping ship and sponsors were throwing him overboard, that the group of people who still most rallied around Lance were from the cancer community. That bond is just of a different order.
I wonder if that will start to break also. I feel for the cancer survivors, like my younger brother, who will feel this very painfully as a personal loss.
Posted by sally | October 23, 2012 10:27 AM
"Disgraced cyclist threatened Democrats with Livestrong army"
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/report-armstrongs-influence-extends-beyond-sport
Posted by pmalach | October 23, 2012 10:45 AM
On a more amusing note, this from today's WSJ, an interview with Lance's replacement (and he mentions Portland):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203630604578072920179356816.html?mod=ITP_personaljournal_3
Posted by sally | October 23, 2012 11:26 AM
Let's see...
• Cheating.
• Lying.
• Committing tax fraud.
• Engineering a conspiracy (perhaps violating RICO).
• Threatening cohorts to hide the truth.
• Threatening Democrats with a hollow "army of followers."
Seems like a typical Texan to me.
Posted by x-portlander | October 23, 2012 11:52 AM
X-Portlander, let's narrow that just a touch. "Typical Plano resident" is closer to it. I'm not offended by the comparison in the slightest: I just like noting that Lance has disavowed his old home town mostly because too many people remember what he was like back then. Namely, just like his fellow Planoites. (If you've ever been to the place, you'd understand.)
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | October 23, 2012 12:32 PM
In a world of cheaters, Lance was the champ.
Posted by dg | October 23, 2012 1:34 PM
Just heard he's being sued for $12M for a bonus he received that is now negated
The bonus payer originally would not pay out, due to the doping charges and lance sued for his money, based upon the TDF win.
No win, no bonus
Posted by T | October 23, 2012 2:11 PM