I saw this today at 150 Watts of Awesome. Link on the right column. It is the last paragraph in a web post. It is so true.
Most of all, I think Mr. Armstrong will go down in history as a man who stayed too long at his own party and a man who rose to the pinnacle of success only to be pulled back down into the depths of reality by the hands of his own demons. There are many lessons to be learned. Some of them we will openly tell our children when they are young and others we will whisper in their ears when they are adults. For the young children, this is why you shouldn’t cheat. You will eventually get caught. You will be humiliated in front of the audience that once lauded you as their hero. You will disappear into the woodwork as a villain, left with nothing but dusty memories of your false glory. You will bring shame upon yourself, your family, your sport, your state, and your country for the entire world to see. And when our children are older, we will remind them that if you do cheat, don’t be obvious, don’t press your luck, and for eff’s sake, remember that the internet never forgets and the first rule of Fight Club is that you don’t talk about Fight Club, especially not in email, text, and video. Cheating is gambling and gambling is all about knowing when to fold. Greed eventually takes out even the luckiest and smartest gamblers. There is an old African proverb that says: when your shadow becomes taller than your person, your sun is setting. I strongly believe that if Mr. Armstrong had stayed retired, then no one would’ve cared or questioned and this entire matter would’ve vanished into oblivion by now instead of being front and center. But his ego couldn’t handle dwindling into the distance. So he came back… to cure cancer… I mean to promote awareness of cancer, but only because he can’t cure cancer… because you can’t cheat your way to curing cancer.
Love this part: When your shadow becomes taller than your person, your sun is setting.
I think it’s sad all the other wankers who cut deals with USADA got off so easy basically for backstabbing the hand that’s been feeding them for years. I seriously doubt LA held a niner to their heads. They just wanted to get rich, and now that most of them retired they finally step forward. I’m not impressed.
I agree somewhat with The Cyclist. I think it’s good that all the cheaters are being exposed. I think it’s BS that Lance Armstrong is the one being portrayed as the worst villain of them all. Yes, he cheated along with all the rest of them, but he was stronger and faster than all of them (maybe because he doped better, I don’t know). Either way, he was at the top because he was winning. His circumstance caused him to be the biggest villain. Had he been just another doping domestique, his name would be mentioned here and there, but this wouldn’t be a big deal. He got sponsorships because he won. He got fame and fortune because he won. He had exponentially more to lose than any of the other dopers, so he defended himself vehemently. I think a lot of the other dopers would have done the same if they were the ones winning 7 TdF’s.
Is this an excuse for his behavior? No, but I think it’s important to realize that his circumstance ended up being far different from everybody else’s. That also means he ended up with a lot more responsibility to stop it from happening and he never did that. Honestly, how many people would have been strong enough to do so? He’s a human being and he screwed up big time. I don’t think he’s evil and I do believe he has done some good with the fame he has gained. Has he single-handedly destroyed the sport of cycling? I don’t think so. He had a lot of help and a lot of people counting on him to win. Anyway, I’ll stop rambling, but I think it’s important to realize why he is the center of attention in this whole thing. He was far too successful.
Wow. Youre either apologists, new to the sport, or havent actually read the reasoned decision or even been paying attention the last ten years.
He is the most obvious and vocal villain, doping is not what made him this, it was his treatment of other human beings and the disregard for anyone not named Lance Armstrong that earned him that.
He would not have that fame had he not doped, some other doper would have…what a terrible argument.
I’ve read the Reasoned Decision and all of the supporting documentation. Been following the sport about 10 years. You took what I wrote and flipped it around into something I never said. And had he not doped, yes, another doper would have probably gotten all the fame. I’m not an apologist. What he did was wrong. He chewed up his “friends” and spit them out when he was done with them. He seems to have a severe personality disorder and he’s alienated and isolated himself because of it. I get all that and it makes him a shitty person. The fact is, though, that because he was so successful, he had a lot more motivation to protect his image. I’m not apologizing for him and I’m not sad he’s been finally caught, but even Tyler Hamilton says he feels bad for the guy. Lance Armstrong did not invent doping though. Somebody else introduced him to it too. I just think everybody is focusing all their anger on the one guy when they should be angry at everybody. I guess it’s partially because Lance was on tv telling lies to everybody’s faces and they feel personally hurt by it more, especially after reading about how he treated those close to him. Anyway, time to hop on my bike for some fun in the KS wind.
Fair enough. For the record and to my disdain I feel sorry for him as well, not only does he seem to have a personality that cannot admit being wrong, it seems he has (as noted by Hamilton) built such a lie that it isnt even possible to come clean. Given his personality, even if he did it would only be because he thought that was in his best interest.
I dont buy the “he had more to lose” idea simply because I find those to be ill gotten, so he shouldnt have had them in the first place. He was brazen (or dumb) enough to win 7 times, flashing it in everyones face.
I 100% agree with the fact he didnt invent it, and hopefully the powers that be do not let this go feeling good they got a few riders and LA. It will be the biggest missed opportunity in sporting history to do something right if the team doctors, directors, managers, mechanics, and support staff that even the average fan knows several names of are not brought in and shown the same veracity for justice.
I wrote I’m not impressed. With anyone. That would include Mr Armstrong. Probably Anquetil, Merckx and all the other so called greatest mega stars of cycling too. I’m not impressed with anyone anymore. Except Pou-Pou maybe. All TdF victories should go to him. Raymond Poulidor. Allez, Pou-Pou!
wow,,, nice said…150 WoA will be on my short list of blogs to read.
Not only did he come back but from what I have read there was evidence that he was doping in 2010. I haven’t evaluated the evidence for this but it is incredible if it is true. . By 2010 you coudn’t make even the weakest rationalization thet doping was ‘part of the system’.
Don’t agree. He’s writing like Lance is dead. He’s just lying low, like David Bowie.
http://nailheadtom.blogspot.com/2012/10/two-armstrongs-lance-and-george.html
Exactly what I was trying to get at, but I’m no wordsmith like the author of that piece. That doesn’t tell the whole story of all of the intimidation and lies and such, but the main idea is there. Everybody needs to take a step back and look at the bigger picture I think.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-15/interview-with-joerg-jaksche/4314002
http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/12980/