Lance Armstrong: Next Stage Interview

Not looking to rehash any debates, but this is a great interview with Lance. He was pretty emotion and IMO its one of the most honest interviews hes given.

 

Who?

 

Saw only a couple of minutes last night because of hockey OT.
What's with the puffy bags?
Saw a rumor that he's starting a venture capital firm.
He must be doing alright, profitting off of all that cheating.

 

We’re still giving our attention to cycling’s biggest cheater and liar? Damn, we’re lame.

 

Not sure I would classify him as cycling's biggest cheater....maybe cycling's best cheater....and is it really cheating? I could buy the cheating argument if only 1 or 2 guys were using PEDS, but it's a pretty even playing field. I'm willing to bet there isn't a single rider in the Tour that was not using some form of PED. It's pervasive in all high level sports. So if everyone is cheating, is anyone cheating? Armstrong may not even be the biggest liar...I guess all those that use and remain silent about it and/or deny it are equal liars. What Armstrong is, however, is cycling's biggest A-Hole...smug, arrogant, demeaning, down right nasty and reckless in the way he treated other human beings. I don't fault him as much for the PED's as I do for being an all around crappy person that needs to get his butt whooped to beat some humility into him.....IMHO.

 

He is a "cheater".
He is an "A-Hole...smug, arrogant, demeaning, downright nasty and reckless".

He is getting attention because he is opinionated and interesting.

 

What rider has "won" more TDF titles than this dipsh¡t? That, to me, makes him the biggest cheater and liar. Because he's in the spotlight more than any cyclist before or since. And look at me, bumping an interview. I'm part of the problem...

 

The whole reason I posted the link is because I think he realizes how he acted and is showing sincerity in his feelings towards how he was. He is choked up several times in this interview, and no I don't think it was just for show. Personally, I'm a big believer in letting people recover from mistakes when they show sincere regrets. Especially ones that did not directly affect me.

I find it funny how so many people hate him, think he was such an ass, and will not forgive any mistakes, but he has never done anything personally to them. He has made mistakes, apologized and grown from them. The stories about how a lot of top athletes treated people they went up against are not much different (there's all kinds of stories about Michael Jordan). Now..... Lemond, Betsy Andreu, and Tyler Hamilton? I get they they would not forgive him.

He still does a ton of good and takes time out of his day to talk to cancer patients, etc. He's done far more than most haters have done.

Side note- I posted this in several places besides this board and it is very funny seeing the different reactions from various groups. A lot were surprising.... This boards was not.

 

Thanks for posting your thoughts.

The damage doesn't need to be personal to affect everyone. We are in a crisis of lack of truth. Every time one of these monumental celebrity liars gets a pass, the word of truth is diminished. The population gets not just numb from it – it begins to think that it's a byproduct of success. Hey, Lance is still wealthy and popular, and look at his sordid past. I can for sure get away with my low-level BS on my quest for success!

I'd choke up too if I made a life of terrible decisions and began to get full realization of that after all my "successes" were nullified. And I wanted to regain success with the help of sympathy. Yep, not buying any of it. Can't change the spots on a leopard.

Cheers, @DBMX119.


PS: With his resources, he should be doing far more than principled, low-rent punters like me who also donate to charities.

 

Lemme get somecourtesy of @mike!

I don’t think Lance is getting a pass tho, even though his name is on my entry level Trek roadbike. I think he’s dusting himself off, and ya gotta respect that at least a little. If I could swing it, I’d be an ******* too. That comes with the territory of a dog eat dog world. But that’s the story of a different thread.

 

DBMX; exactly my sentiments. I've been forgiven a ton, and would be kind of hypocritical not to in return. IMO, hope he's sincere.

 

It is a strange sport. All top riders score within seconds of each other. We know this guy, who remembers the name of #2? I went to a ToC event early in the AM and there are a lot of guys just scraping by. There are a few with rented RV's and an entourage. Most live out of a van that also doubles as the mechanics work shop. It was cool, many foreign teams from Spain and Italy. All of the riders were carrying a "Big 53". Levi has his seat very low which was strange, but he won so don't buck success.
One guy gets the headline, the others get to ride
Happy road trails

 

Reminds me of... though not as bad as... professional swimming. You can make a living as a professional swimmer if you are perhaps one of the top two swimmers in the country, and you are getting gold medals and breaking world records (ie Micheal Phelps). Otherwise you are living in a van down by the river. Let's face it - swimming requires less gear and therefore has fewer sponsors.

I told my son he should have been a tennis player. Not sure why - but you can be top 100 in the country in tennis and be making bank. Same thing with golf.

 

There are mistakes. And then there are MISTAKES. It is one thing to forgive someone for a white lie that doesn't harm anyone, or for doing something stupid that has a short-term impact.

It is another thing entirely to create a huge pyramid of cheating and lying over the course of years to defraud a sport and personally gain (ie steal) millions of dollars - destroying reputations and knocking out other riders along the way. Imagine if you were one of the honest bikers out there who simply never got the opportunity to compete at the professional level because of ass-hats like this guy? Worst of all, he almost single-handedly destroyed a sport that was already suffering from accusations of wide-spread drug use, blood-doping, etc.

So I can hope that he learned his lesson and that going forward, his ACTIONS will show that he is genuinely sorry. But I will not forgive him for what he did. I can forgive him for being an imperfect person, like all of us, who makes mistakes. But he is dead to me as a biker - he will never regain any trust in that arena and I never want to see him on a bike, unless it is for charitable activities giving back to the sport that he damaged so horrifically.

As far as interviews / words go - I couldn't care less what he had to SAY about it. He has zero credibility with me after years of lying, so I don't doubt he can convincingly say ANYTHING if he thinks it will serve his purposes. SHOW ME 20 years of charitable work or some other thing he has been doing to give back to the sport and I'll believe he is contrite.

 

Motocross is the same way. Top 5 guys make a KILLING. Next 10 are doing OK, but not well enough to not work after racing. The rest are barely getting by.

I assume a lot of sports outside of the big 5 are the same way.