Lance Armstrong... greatest doper there was or ever will be

Fuck that, I wanna go to Texas just to see what kind of uproar would there be (probably nothing).

Full article now up

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1180944/1/index.htm

Full article up now.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1180944/1/index.htm

I've never really kept up with the Lance debates, and certainly am not an expert. But if that is the "breaking news" on his doping history then I'm not worried about his legacy at all. There was nothing in that entire article that wasn't hearsay or anecdotal. Nothing that struck me as particularly new. And the only doping evidence was pre 1999 which means it is not pertinent to the current grand jury hearing.

Up to a point you are right, a lot of it is rehearsing what has been said before. Though the Popovytch stuff on its own is significant.
The question is though, will those who have lied before to protect Armstrong continue to do so? Will they want to perjure themselves and risk going to jail for him?
I am not sure what you mean by his legacy? Do you mean the way people who have no real interest in cycling view him? Because among people who do Armstrong's legacy is already established.

Yep, damn well established Sir !

Yah, sorry, when I said legacy I meant the way that the average person who knows very little about cycling views him, i.e. greatest TdF competitor ever. Or, in my case, an American hero. I'm not desperately attached to him, but I still prefer to close my eyes and ears to the evidence as it arises and hope nothing bad enough to change my attitude comes out. So far, so good.

It would also be interesting to know what evidence was sufficient to convict McGwire. From memory, the baseball players that have been uncovered under oath at hearings have been caught via their own admissions. It seems like all the circumstantial evidence in the world, including testimony that comes from people whose motives can be questioned (anyone near Armstrong), won't get it done without him sitting down and saying, "Yah, I took em'".

Reserves copy of The Sunday Times

the biggest problem the sport has is the continuing erroneous belief that some riders are bigger than the sport, and therefore too big to fail.

Like football.

ohhhhhh shite..........

Like football.

Oddly, football doesn't seem to be nearly as badly afflicted. Even whole clubs who were once thought essential can drop down the divisions.

I can't be arsed to dig out the story, but he admitted at his first press conference in Australia for the TDU two years ago that the appearance fee he was being paid was destined for his own pocket, not the charity.
Quite why the Australian taxpayer would be donating to a charity whose work is restricted to the US remains unclear.

You'll have to dig that reference out.

Are you missing the attendance figures mentioned previously? The boost to businesses? Spend money to make money.

Seems like the tide has turned in the US media... everyone loves a hero but the press love a villain even more.

not for TdU but this article suggests the TdF revenue was boosted by 30 million Euros bby Armstrong's return.

Makes it easy to see why he's been protected all these years... or am i being cynical?

there are 2 opinions on lance.
i'm definately one of the haters but somehow i still see him wriggling out of this, he's a manipulator with powerful friends and the authorities/cycling media are complicit in their godlike attitude towards him.

Seems like the tide has turned in the US media... everyone loves a hero but the press love a villain even more.

not for TdU but this article suggests the TdF revenue was boosted by 30 million Euros bby Armstrong's return.

Makes it easy to see why he's been protected all these years... or am i being cynical?

^Not true. Income dropped in 2008 because Paris Dakar rally was cancelled and if anything cash was down on 2007 when he wasn't in it :)

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/12/news/inside-cycling-with-john-wilcockson-armstrong-had-little-effect-on-tour-profits_153716/attachment/screen-shot-2010-12-21-at-5-37-55-pm

Financial crisis and all that has an influence in the revenue dip/pre 2007 figures undoubtedly, no?

I'm inclined to believe the Lance Effect-ProCycling's Jan issue ran Lance on the cover and did an 'article' on all the Lance cover issues they ran-lots of them and at any opportunity-because by their own admission it boosted sales significantly every time.

We should organise splitter drinks.

What sort of a fee should we ask for to stay away?

I'd like in on this.

IoM drinks is very quiet.

That's why .gif is deprecated as a file format; a 6MB image of which 90% could be conveyed by a 30kB static .jpg

it took about 3 hours for BDW's picture to open up, I concur with the mightydcctester

Your internetz is shit

yep

Some good analysis of the SI allegations here;

http://www.theservicecourse.com/2011/01/ifthen.html

and here;

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/01/news/the-explainer-new-old-and-updated-allegations_156198

Also, some interesting follow up to the HemAssist allegation and why the FDA are involved in this here;

http://bicycling.com/blogs/boulderreport/2011/01/18/talking-points/

That's my dinner time reading sorted, Thanks Andy.

Read the comments on the velonews piece

Gone back to dressing up in womens clothing on a Thursday night while calling yourself Betsy, Dov?

I wonder if it's her? 99% chance no but you never know do you?