BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I'm sure he'll cry...

I can imagine the interview now (feel free to add to the imaginary conversation)

Oprah: so why did you do it?

Lance: I just believe so much in the sport that I wanted to give the fans the best experience I could. The fans deserve it; it’s all about the fans.

Oprah: So then you thought you could get away with it?

Lance: Look, it’s not about me; it’s all about the sport and the fans. Anything I could do to grow the sport, to give the fans what they deserve was worth it.

Oprah: So how do you feel about having to give those jerseys back?

Lance: Those jerseys aren’t mine, they belong to the fans. I’ve done all of this for them. I’m a really humble person.

I expect him to play the cancer card:

Oprah: Why did you do it?

Lance: [Holds up photo of child] I did it for Timmy. I thought that if I could just win this one race, that would give him the courage to believe that he, too, could defeat cancer.

Oprah: What about the other races?

Lance: [Holds up sheaf of photos] Well, there was also Billy, Steve, Sandra...

Aww, Marko and Jona..... now I feel like I don't even need to watch the interview. I think maybe you just did me a favor!

I bet that he knits a framework making the

masses and people not in the know sympathetic

without actually admitting. It will be a

massive whitewash where public opinion goes

from "most tested ... french vendetta" to

"everybody did it, he had no choice.. he

was just keeping up"

Poor Lance.

yeah seems likely. i'm wondering if he's going to call out other sports as well, which seem to be much more lax. i mean he's got to be an expert on anti-doping policies. Found this interesting chart on the wall st journal site. The Professional Bowler's Association really needs to step up their anti-doping game. Not really sure why they only picked just the Tour de France to analyze, and not the general governing body like they did for most other sports, but interesting nonetheless

I remember back in the 1950-60s there was a TV Show, This is Your Life, where they'd have special secret guests from a person's background waiting in the wings - why yes, Mr. Milton Berle, here's your fifth grade teacher Mrs. Murgatroyde to tell us about you as a student back in the day... - imagine if Oprah brings out Cheryl Crow to discuss Lance's committment to cancer patients.

I could see him jumping up and down on his chair and gushing over Katie Holmes...

More importantly, what will everyone in attendance receive as a gift?

I'm hoping for carbon fiber beach cruisers.

Lance:

1. Wildly gifted athlete.

2. In a sport that is full of doping.

3. Came from a family that his father said f-u.

4. Mom is a motivator.

5. Lance becomes wildly motivated to win the big race, the TdF.

6. Trains and does what would be needed to win competing against others doping like crazy. He perfects it, but so do others including Jan, who happens to be my favorite cyclist that says, "second is fine with me".

7. People enjoy watching Lance win races and beat cancer as well as starting a charity that helps other cancer folks.

8. All is great.

9. Oh Lance did what the field did. Wait, he isn't superman because he couldn't be the filed without doing what everyone else was doing.

10. What, he isn't superman?

11. F Lance, he was my idol, but he is like everyone else and doped.

12. He is now the poster boy for drugs in sports and everyone hates him for doing what everyone else was doing.

13. There hasn't been a clean TdF since when? The early 70's perhaps.

14. The Tour is a joke because the rewrote history and makes the fans feel they watched all this for nothing.

15. The Gyro is the real deal.

Oh yeah, they were TOTALLY clean before the 70s.

"The Gyro is the real deal."

I agree. Yummy.

Wholly crap of LOVE GYROS! Where is the best on in the Burgh?

GG- you missed the steps where he strong

armed and bullied a bunch of people and

ruined a bunch of lives and careers... Good

timeline though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taWGQNKUgQQ

Here is a great video of Lance chasing down

a young clean rider and pulling him out of

the break. He told him he would see to it

that he gets no results in his life.

I think he won't admit to any wrongdoing, but will pledge to find the real killers.

Also, +8million points for the O-girl if she asks Lance, do you think you gave yourself cancer by pumping your body full of various chemicals until one of your testicles had to be removed ?

(what-too much?)

Lance is a douche.

I wonder how much Oprah is paying Lance. Probably a couple million? Pay off some debts and lawsuits, and she gets to promote her network.

Then again, Lance is supposedly making $120MM/yr, though I'm not sure if that's the case anymore after he lost all his endorsements.

Sans bodyguards, how hard do you think it would it be to kick his ass? (off the bike)

"Then again, Lance is supposedly making $120MM/yr, though I'm not sure if that's the case anymore after he lost all his endorsements."

His net worth has been estimated at $125M, so I find this figure hard to believe. NY Times: http://tinyurl.com/ar5fac4

Via Drunk Cyclist:

everyone in the audience gets free EPO.

Oprah will be ripped and they'll talk about how great EPO is. Then they'll go on a bike race and Oprah will win.

His net worth has been estimated at $125M, so I find this figure hard to believe.

Hmm, I may have misread then. I thought with his endorsements over the past decade, he should've made way more than that. Tiger Woods (endorsements and winnings) was netting close to $115MM per year at his peak, and Lance & Livestrong was a bigger brand than Tiger.

Together they will exonerate the Livestrong Foundation. Everyone will have a yellow bracelet under their chair. Lance will give bicycles to Oprah's schools in Africa. I like the jumping on the couch vision, but Sloaps beat me to it.

#boycottlance

#ignorestrong

ruh roh:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/14/lance-armstrong-confesses-oprah-interview_n_2475422.html

^haha "press leaks" are the doping of the pseudo-journalism circuit

[edit] ....ratings enhancement

this is now a 2 night event

...does anyone even get this channel? If I have it, I can't find it...oh wait, I wasn't planning to watch anyway. I'm sure every media outlet will have the two nights whittled down to 6 paragraphs...

If you are looking for me, I will be in the basement riding the trainer and taking my EPO shake.

i think you can stream it on oprah.com

http://tinyurl.com/9wmjlgs

i'd rather see a 2 night interview with lemond.

gregstrong? livemond?

I waiting for Trek to issue an apology to Lemond for making Lemond apologize to Lance

Salonikas has an amazing gyro, downtown. Just..ya know, to bring that back up again.

@ Pierce I waiting for Trek to issue an apology to Lemond for making Lemond apologize to Lance

Y'know, Armstrong has so much to answer for beside a few drugs. I'm surprised that there wasn't much talk about what a thug he was before the dope stuff really hit.

Or at least not that I was aware of. You guys that folloowed this stuff: was there much talk of the bullying garbage? Or was that just viewed as running a tight team?

Was Armstrong thuggish before he lost one of his testicles? Just wondering if any of the "dope" he was taking was testosterone prescribed to supplement his own diminished production. I still think he's a dick though.

Hm. I guess I need to hear the interview. I'm conflicted, and not sure how to feel about all of this.

Mostly, I'm glad my kids are young enough to not really know who he was (or who we were led to believe he was). I don't know how I would explain ALL of it. There's just so much.

It may boil down to: "dude was/is a d-bag." But that statement impacts so many layers: cycling, TDF, current riders, past riders, cancer past, present and future, people who were inspired to their own recoveries, people who were inspired to help other people with their recoveries, people who donated because they just wanted to help...

It's just a lot.

@ALMKLM I agree, with everything you said.

I had been a LA fan, I resized he was a lier long after most of you did. I feel his lie affects so much more than cycling and the lie has grown out of control. He has destroyed so many people to keep the lie going. I feel most upset about the damage he did to Livestrong, no one will believe in it again. The effects on the many people he inspired with cancer is devastating. I'm glad he severed all connection with Livestrong but it's too late.

Also I don't believe this will clean the sport up. After Frank Schleck and Alberto Contador getting a slap on the wrist for their doping that they still deny. I feel like it's happening all over again.

Keep in mind the Livestrong Foundation has raised over $470 million for cancer research. You can hate Lance or whatever, but he did start that place and cancer is a very important issue to all. I never was a big fan of his personally. Just couldn't relate to him. I was more of a Jan fan. I was just watching the '97 Tour. That was pretty awesome and he was only 23. What an eliete, but he did like his pizza and beer there some of those years. I am taping that Oprah Show. Like I said, I was never some big fan, but he was the greatest of that time. I just figured everyone was doing the same thing, and if the people that want it to stop, what better way than to go after an American that won that many in a row. He is the target.

Has the LF raised 470M for cancer research or 470M for cancer awareness?

I won't be watching, I couldn't care less one way or another. It's all just media nonsense.

Welcome to the human race everyone, you have to be a huge asshole to excel in any field, be it bike racing, politics, broadcasting, business. And it's all just business. That's the way we have chosen to set up the system. We toss the losers in the trash. Sometimes the winners end up there too.

^ I thought the losers went on Dancing With the Stars...

I just hope that Oprah has the balls to ask Lance if all his doping might have led to his ball cancer in the first place. My guess is that she won't go there, because that makes the creation of Livestrong somewhat of a sham too.

Lance totally crushed cancer, thats bigger than winning bike races or making millions. He didn't let cancer stop his dreams.

Lance Armstrong Admits To Using Performance-Enhancing Drugs To Show Remorse

@unimike.....now THAT is funny!

OK, one thing has got to be said -- Lance didn't crush cancer on his own. Cancer treatment has gotten increasingly sophisticated over the years, and many forms of cancer that were once death sentences can now be cured. My own brother-in-law survived late-stage liver cancer. Should he then be forgiven for anything he does with the rest of his life? Having survived cancer does not give you the right to cheat and lie, the way Lance has.

You're saying two different things there, jonawebb.

First you're saying Armstrong "didn't crush cancer on his own," suggesting he just got lucky and the advances in cancer treatments did all the work. So you're devaluing the fact that the guy was diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer that then spread to his brain and lungs, that he endured brain and testicular surgeries and chemotherapy?

Guy may have been a d-bag, but debasing cancer is BS.

Does it give him a free pass, not in my opinion. But like I said, there are two things here - he DID beat cancer and he DID provide a huge inspiration to millions of people.

Unfortunately he's also a d-bag. I don't think he cheated and lied about cancer. That was pretty much kept to the cycling. And, I don't think he cheated and lied BECAUSE he had cancer. They are separate issues.

But the two issues are inextricably linked. I remember back when Lance was competing his surviving cancer would come up every time people said he was cheating. And now, whenever we start talking about Lance and Oprah, the issue comes up. You can't separate the two, and surely while he was cheating people looked the other way (or even helped him) because of his history. That's part of the reason he was so successful at cheating, because he'd "crushed" cancer.

@Boazo Lance totally crushed his possibly performance-enhancing-drug induced cancer,

Fixed it for ya.

@jonaweb can you expand on that last statement: "That's part of the reason he was so successful at cheating, because he'd "crushed" cancer."

I'm not sure I understand your point? Are you saying the cancer treatments also gave LA some sort of competitive edge?

No, I'm saying that people were willing to look the other way, and some were willing to help him with performance-enhancing treatments, because he was a hero for beating cancer.

Hm. But you're also saying he deserves little credit for surviving cancer...

The Washington Post has an interesting piece on this today. Apparently the US Department of Justice has until Thursday to decide whether to join a whistleblower suit.

....According to USADA’s code, a lifetime ban from competition can be scaled back to no fewer than eight years — and that’s assuming the athlete confesses fully and provides new information that helps USADA ensure clean competition in the future.

That’s the sticking point.

Armstrong, 41, isn’t interested in cooperating unless he can return to competition much sooner. He’s arguing that USADA has the latitude to lessen that penalty, as it did with the cyclists who confessed their own doping in testifying against him in June. They were suspended six months.

Armstrong’s negotiating window with the Justice Department is much shorter. Unless both parties agree to an extension, the Justice Department must decide by Thursday whether to join a whistleblower suit filed by Floyd Landis, another disgraced cyclist who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title.

The suit asserts that Armstrong defrauded the federal government by doping while his team received roughly $35 million in sponsorship revenue from the U.S. Postal Service. Its contract made clear that riders were to compete “clean.” In whistleblower cases, damages are typically tripled.

The suit would be strengthened considerably if the Justice Department gets involved, because Landis would have to bear the legal costs going forward, and it’s not clear what Armstrong can offer in terms of restitution or information.

There's also the possibility that the US Department of Justice will require him to come clean under oath, and not just on national television.

Hardly seems like Lance wanting to do the "right thing" because his conscience was bothering him.

Say what you want about the guy, for him to sit down to a three hour interview with Oprah took real ball.

Its nice that you get two to start with in case you lose one.

http://drunkcyclist.com/2013/01/16/the-oprah-winfrey-lance-armstrong-interview-drinking-game/

@boostuv

IMO, the pic is far better than the article

I wonder how much mention they'll give to the careers he's ruined to keep the whole thing a secret.

On the plus side to all of this guys, our days of being called "Lance!" while out riding should decrease significantly

And now Lance is also not an olympic winner...

Lance Armstrong stripped of Olympic medal"

so, what actor is most likely going to play lance when the movie comes out?

"Say what you want about the guy, for him to sit down to a three hour interview with Oprah took real ball."

I don't know. Put yourself in his place, I'd probably want to get this off of my chest too. Given the circumstances, I'd probably want to have Oprah interview me rather than 1000 other celebrities that I can think of.

But I'm not judging. I may make light of the situation... but not judging.

Some good can come from this...

@erock so, what actor is most likely going to play lance when the movie comes out?

Steve Buscemi

http://thefluffingtonpost.com/post/40783861690/kitty-armstrong

just saw this, thought it was relevant.

hmm, not sure, but maybe....

@pbeaver no no no, I want to play LA in the movie, I already have the cycling kit and Trek bikes.

@ Marv, don't hate me, its Mick's fault.

@pbeaver. its Mick's fault.

It always is.

There's no way he's not going to jail after this.

Nah, he's white and affluent, he should be fine

Lycra collar criminals never do time

It's sorta like how Bill Clinton never had SEX(ual) relations with Monica.

That's what lawyers do, they keep lycra collar criminals on the streets.

Prickmeister

A man who is the ultimate prick, an über-prick. This prick is a model for others on how to be more prick-like.

my three word summary of last night; "I did, BUUUUUUUUT..."

my two word analysis; "fuck lance"

One thing Lance knows is America always forgive athletes/celebrities. America forgave Ben for rape, Ray Lewis for murder, L.T is still a Hall of Famer despite admitting to using cocaine before every game and sleeping with under aged girls. New England still has their rings even after getting caught cheating. Athletes have done horrible things, much worse than doping and they are still loved. In a few years LA will be back on top just like the rest of them. Thats why he is doing this. He knows he will make money again.

No one forgave Ben for the alleged rape, many still think he did it.

All of Ben's endorsements came back to him.

I don't forgive scumbags

well, this was funny

http://vimeo.com/58191312

Bravo!

Especially enjoyed how they folded in the right reactions and not just the words. Oprah squinty eye at :20 and 1:03 and look of disgust/pity around the :30 mark, her chiming in with "creep" at :57 and the chained Armstrong hesitation moments just before "I don't belong here" at the end of the video... all pure comedic gold.

I watched the whole thing on Oprah and also watched Travis Tygart, the CEO of the USADA who is obviously going after Armstrong as a personal vendetta. Why would I say that? Tygart lied on 60 Minutes like a champ. He indicated that Armstrong was alone in doping. Are you kidding me? Who came in second? Jan? What about Alberto? Floyd? The list is HUGE and you are going to say, Lance was the the only one? BS! I don't care how much people HATE Lance Armstrong. You have to at least be logical and look beyond your own hatred. It is very obvious after watching that 60 Minute interview with that a-hole Tygart was all about taking Lance down and it was very personal. Here is my take on that whole situation. Everyone handled this correctly except Tygart. What you say? When you have a field that has found a way to cheat and it is very deep like that, you can't just say the races didn't happen. What about the fans that wasted time watching those races? You are gonig way back and rewrite that history? What about the countless people that have cancer that were heading into Chemo that watch Lance, read his book and used all that for inspiration? The best way to handle this whole thing was to say, we let that slide over those years and the field was polluted. Once they starting checking riders year around, the field was forced to change. You don't go backwards, you go forward. That is what they did in the NFL. They never rewrote the history books because teams were pumping TONS of crap in their veins. They cracked down and looked forward. Imagine if the NFL told a team, hey, we are taking your Super Bowl away because we found too many of your linemen were on Steroids. Do you think that would go over well? Heck, the Patriots were caught cheating flat out and they go to keep their Super Bowl wins. The NFL knew better than to go backwards. There are way too much collateral damage. In the case of Armstrong, it was the countless cancer folks using him for motivation. To be quite honest, that is greater than any TdF win. That is hope for people in a very dark place. The story is gone now. The races never happened. The TdF is a joke. Was it worth it to go way back in time and change everything? Nope, but this a-hole Tygart pounded his chest and wanted to change everything. He did that, but no way was it worth killing all that hope for cancer folks, killing all my fine memories of watching Jan try and take Lance down. I wanted Jan to win, but they were fun to watch. There is no memory now. Those races are erased. Worth it? NO! I can understand people hating Lance. I never related to him much, but I did like his story and beating cancer as well as racing in the TdF after all that. It was an inspirational story that could have helped ANY of us, because we have about a 50/50 chance to get cancer. I would have read his book if I was diagnosed for some inspiration. Not now though. All bad memories.

I guess le'douche just can't help himself http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324445904578284144255080394.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Never heard of Strava. Kind of a cool idea, but it seems pretty dangerous.

More than five admited to dope: Rasmussen: dope van 1998 t/m 2010 : http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/wielersport/21260066/__Rasmussen__dope_van__98_t_m__10__.html http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rabobank-decries-doping-at-team-it-sponsored-for-17-years : The bank announced in October that it was ending its sponsorship at the end of the year. Levi Leipheimer described doping on the team in his affidavit as part of the USADA's 'Reasoned Decision”, and the team was and still is involved in a lawsuit with Michael Rasmussen. Since then, Thomas Dekker, Marc Lotz, Danny Nelissen and numerous anonymous riders have reported doping in their times at the Dutch team. Dekker, who called it “a way of life” at Rabobank, recently said that he will disclose all doping details to the Dutch Anti-Doping Agency.

It is just like any sport. People found a way to cheat and money motivated them. Lance was far from "alone". That a-hole that went after him is as bad as Lance. He lied like crazy. People in the world seem to love to form a lynch mob these days. I never really liked Lance as a person, but I liked the fact that he beat cancer and could move on. That was important to me because you never know if you are going to get the big C. The story was really important and to hang someone had too much collateral damage. It was handled very poorly and headed up by a lier. Anyway, I know people hate Lance and that if fine, but for some that cancer thing is pretty huge. They should have looked forward and fixed the future, not crush the past. That was stupid just to fry someone. There are millions dealing with cancer and that hope WAS important, but I digress.

I didn't even look at this thread until the board came back to life, a couple of weeks after the show aired. My 3 cents: * There sure seemed to be a lot of hype about this announcement. It's hard not to think this wasn't a push to get the ratings up, which to me means big advertising bucks. * From that, I make the bold leap that there might be some collusion between Oprah and Lance to fund some of either his or his charity's operations, at least for a while. * Not in this thread, it was an earlier one, someone recently posted a chart showing the top 10 winners in a bunch of bike races going back 10 or 15 years, and how many of them have tested positive. To me, that's the damning piece of evidence as to how widespread doping is in the competitive cycling world. * But I do think the fact that he beat cancer is still worth giving the guy some respect. I don't give a rat's ass about bicycle racing on this level. The Tour de France is as relevant to getting John and Jane Q Public out of their cars and onto bicycles as the Canadian Curling Association's national championship.

The Armstrong Lie is playing at Filmmakers during the 3 rivers film fest. http://3rff.com/films/armstrong-lie For years, after seizing international fame as the cancer survivor who won seven Tour de France titles, Lance Armstrong fiercely denied accusations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. For this film, award-winning director Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side; Enron:The Smartest Guys in the Room) had extraordinary access. He masterfully explores the fall of this disgraced champion, attaining rare interviews with former teammates, alleged doping mastermind Dr. Michele Ferrari, and Armstrong himself. Print courtsey of Sony Pictures Classics.

radio story: new book 'Wheelmen' Exposes Doping Culture And The Armstrong 'Conspiracy' http://www.npr.org/2013/10/21/239081497/wheelmen-exposes-doping-culture-and-the-armstrong-conspiracy "Albergotti and O'Connell have written a new book called Wheelmen which chronicles Armstrong's emergence as a rich and powerful athlete, and explores the remarkable breadth of the doping culture embraced by his pro cycling team. There were many co-conspirators, group blood transfusions on the team bus, and extensive efforts to silence and intimidate those who might expose the abuse."

I get a kick out of everyone's focus on Armstrong. I guess he makes a fun fall guy and the media loves extremes. Lets face it, pro cycling at that time was like the NFL was like in the 70's. The NFL handled it much better than the way pro cycling handled it. The NFL moved forward and didn't look back and take away Super Bowls from teams/cities. The media sure love taking top dogs down and people also live for it. I don't really like Lance much and really cheer for Jan because I related to a pizza/beer drinking cyclist, but Jan was no doubt doing the same thing and so were countless others. I am sure the countless others are happy the focus is on one guy. The American! Yahoo!

If you think that they are focusing on only the American because he is American, then why is Chris Horner still racing without question? Also if you read more than just the American news, you will see that Ferrari, Bruyneel and other people who are not American are in for it.

Yeah... as far as American news, it's also fair to say that they focused on one guy when Lance was winning races and not in the spotlight for doping too. L.A. is a household name and has been since long before he got busted; the other racers, not so much.

For me the kicker was it coming out how much of a bully-boy Armstrong was. I'm sure there were other dopers and other bullies, of course, but none as visible at it as Lance.

It seems that LA was a dick in Pittsburgh too... "An Italian rider, Roberto Gaggioli, claims that Armstrong gave him $100K in a cake box to throw a 1993 race in Pittsburgh. “It was a young American colleague,” Roberto Gaggioli said, according to the paper. ”He offered me a panettone [a traditional Italian Christmas cake] as a present and wished me a merry Christmas. In the box there were $100,000 in small bills. That colleague was Lance Armstrong" http://www.cbssports.com/general/eye-on-sports/24374392/lance-armstrong-feels-he-was-singled-out-by-usada

Marko82 wrote:claims

Shame people assume there is guilt when anyone "claims" anything. We sure haven't grown at all from the old lynch mob days, that is for sure. It is what it is I guess, but I wouldn't believe anything that silly, unless there is way more proof than "claims". Whatever.

I'm willing to let 20-year-sleeping dogs lie. I never had much use for Lance or that type of racing, drugs or not. I am curious how he plans to reinvent himself, though. Is there anything useful to say here that hasn't already been said? Lacking that, can we be done with this, please?

stu you know the answer to both questions is "no". american cycling fans worshiped him to the point of idolatry no matter what evidence was shown that, drugs or not, he was kind of a dick. now that its undeniable that he was not only a jerk, but a cheater they are going to reject him with equal fervor. its going to be awfully hard to reinvent himself as the most likely avenues he would have chosen, politics and triathlon, are both pretty much closed to him now. he's banned from professional triathlon and with all the skeletons so publicly displayed, anything beyond a local election is probably pointless.

He's a bully and drug user, if he renounces bicycles he could become the mayor of Toronto