USADA now after Lance

Discussion in 'The Roadie Hangout' started by Pain Freak, Jun 13, 2012.

  1. Patrick

    Patrick Member

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    If you followed the criminal case here in LA, there was a mountain of evidence and testimony that was about to go public and slam the door on him. Until, the prosecutor got "a call" from Washington ...err Texas, instructing him to drop the case. The investigators and legal team were outraged and wanted to speak out but had a gag order put on them. Within local legal circles the case was a lock against him, his team, coaches, entourage. It looks like the case work has moved over to USADA which doesn't have to prove anything criminal. Personally, I hope he goes down. What is to gain? Maybe integrity of the sport, maybe the Euro factor, maybe not, neither I care about. What I care about is my family and I followed him and he captured our hearts as cycling fans and Americans all those years. The performances were undeniable, but a cheat is a cheat and fraud is a fraud, no statute of limitations. Branding yourself as philanthropist is the oldest trick in the book, that fraud is completely different story.
     
  2. Kid A

    Kid A now with 40% more bacon

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    Osama? I thought we killed that bastard and dumped him in the ocean!!! Oh USADA. My bad, carry on.
     
  3. Waldo

    Waldo Lebowski Urban Achiever

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    So you were invested in him and feel burned. Fair enough. I didn't feel invested and don't feel like a victim of fraud. I also see it as an era in many sports where PED's were common, and if he was cheating then he was the best of many.

    I don't think that stripping him of his titles would do much for the integrity of the sport. I think the general public would just see it as further confirmation that the sport is dirty from top to bottom. It couldn't clean up it's own act, and needed a quasi-governmental agency to do the job. I'd rather see the time and money go toward better systems and technology to make the sport clean now and into the future.

    Maybe this is a really dumb question, but can someone explain to me just how a USADA decision would determine whether or not he retains his Tour titles, since they're not the sanctioning body for that race?
     
  4. FlynRide

    FlynRide New Member

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    This is just posturing. People need to justify their existence.

    It's a waste of time and tax payer money. Who cares if he cheated or not. What will this prove? Its a stupid bike race....
     
  5. jae2460

    jae2460 Active Member

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    Yep. He most likely did dope, but at a time when they all did. I don't believe the doping made Lance better than everyone else--that there's some secret sauce he took which made him better than everyone else. I believe they were all taking it. But who knows. And, frankly, I really don't care. I still watch the Tour. Merckxx doped, Pantani doped, Hinault doped...

    Lance is probably like the Richard Nixon (or Bill Clinton) of cycling--the worst thing he did wasn't doping, it was lying about it.
     
  6. jae2460

    jae2460 Active Member

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    You mean the morons who don't realize most American athletes (Golf, Baseball, Football, Running, etc., etc.) take more in one day than a cyclist does in a year and who bring up Lance and how he doped when you talk about cycling?
     
  7. dirtvert

    dirtvert Whine on!

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    Don't do the time (trial) if you can't hide the crime.

    Still, I hope Lance beats 'em. Again. As usual.
     
  8. fongster

    fongster Active Member

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    Sounds like some agency is trying to justify their existence. Like when you hear one grant-funded research study says coffee is bad for you and an another 6 months later says coffee is good for you.
     
  9. Fullerton Mike

    Fullerton Mike I LOVE BIKES!

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    What a freaking joke waste of time and money. Long live Lance
     
  10. warmblood

    warmblood Member

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    Lance Armstrong is a tough topic. He has done a lot of good for cancer research, and for cycling in this country. I loved it when he was riding and winning. Go USA and cycling...a win/win. However, recent information suggests he and a lot of his fellow competitors were doping, and the truth needs to come out. I don't care if he did it fifteen years ago, it needs to come out for the future of the sport. I love cycling, but I wouldn't encourage my son to be pro cyclist because of the drugs that seem to be part of the pro cycling environment. I wish this would change. Cycling is a great sport, but the top tiers of the sport seem to have asked and encouraged the athletes to lie and cheat to be sucessful. Cycling is no better than the NFL or MLB with all the steroids and illegal supplements. This is an embarrassment for such a great sport that demands such self discipline and sacrifice. It should be the athlete who trains the hardest is the winner. I'm not rooting for or against Lance Armstrong, I'm rooting for the truth. If USADA can shine some light on the mistakes of the past, and embarass the cheaters, maybe just maybe, we can clean up our sport.
     
  11. dstepper

    dstepper (R.I.P.) Over the hill

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    If people would just stop lying the world would be a easier place to understand. Don't do things you are not proud of and you won't have to lie. Of coarse they all juiced I am not naive enough to believe differently. I have more respect for those that are truthful than those that win a any expense. To make a even playing filed I suppose that you just don't test people because those with big money can hire experts to stay ahead of the testing protocols.
     
  12. Pilas

    Pilas Member

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    Bingo! I truly believe that the top riders are always a step ahead of everybody else when it comes to performance enhancing substances. Maybe some of the stuff they are taking can not be detected yet. Let's not forget that riders were using EPO way before it could be detected by modern tests.
     
  13. Waldo

    Waldo Lebowski Urban Achiever

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    Well, I didn't call anyone a moron and I didn't make any assumptions about the volume taken by cyclists vs. other athletes, but otherwise, yeah, that's roughly what I said.
     
  14. Rumpled

    Rumpled Longtime Newb

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    The timing of this is all a stick in the eye to Lance, I'm sure. Right before his first full IM.
    Did USADA even exist when he won most of his tours?

    I am a bit bothered by the fact that if you are under investigation, then you are suspended. They could drag that out and cost an athlete a season or more. And at that level they really have a precious few number of seasons. Not everyone can be like Hincapie and race for 19 years. Most of them probably have about a 5-8 year window to succeed, one year of that is huge.
    And, it nothing comes of it; the athlete has lost a year for nothing.

    I, myself am not sure about Lance. He's either the best cheat ever; or he didn't dope. Whatever testimony and evidence they have is going come from dopers.
    Is there credibility in that?

    I actually wanted to see him race in Nice and Kona.
     
  15. rojomas

    rojomas A.K.A The Oxx

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    Awe come on!! This is absolutely stupid. People keep talking like they know he's guilty and they just want to see him to fry for cheating. He has been tested over 500+ times and never failed a single test. He won the Tour 7 times and the French threw everything they had at him and nothing stuck. Where as others racers win ONE stage and get nailed for doping.

    I really don't see how this is going to bring back the reputation of cycling? All it will prove to me is that if they don't like the outcome of an event, that they will keep going after the athlete until they get the desired results.

    So what? Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis are going to testify that they saw him doping and that's going to be enough proof to convict him? Even though they did all the blood, hair and urin drug tests and they all came up negative? All that will prove is that they will convict without having hard evidence. That would be like a known druggie telling your boss they saw you doing drugs, your boss giving you a drug test, you passing the drug test but the boss fires you anyways because the druggie said he saw you doing them. Plus, if they still have blood samples who's to say that it hasn't been contaminated or tampered with?
    This is freakin retarded.

    BTW it's USADA, not the USDA for those who have them confused.
     
  16. jae2460

    jae2460 Active Member

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    MLB and NFL is way worse than cycling. Some morons are even giving their high school aged kids steroids and illegal substances to give them an edge / stay competitive with the others who are doing the same.
     
  17. merc13000

    merc13000 Member

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    Shouldn't it be innocent until proven guilty? Frankly I don't care if he doped or not..a lot of other guys doped in the race and LOST. Doping isn't some magic pill that automatically makes you win. The worst though is that they're taking away precious races in the twilight of his career. I'm so sick of hearing about it tbh and they need to drop it and find some other hot button topic.
     
  18. ManInAShed

    ManInAShed New Member

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    1. I have no problems with dopers. Everyone who competes already does and takes a million other unnatural performance-enhancing drugs, foods, and odd tricks and cheats to alter their physiology to win. If some are going to dope, they might as well all do it and level the playing field. May the fastest lunatic win.

    2. If Lance did dope, I hope he is finally caught. Nobody likes a liar, least of all not a successful one who uses influence and positions of power to evade accountability. If he had passed all his tests, then that'd be one thing, but since he didn't...

    3. He still had to train like hell and build that huge vo2max, & strength, & skill, and have an entire team sacrifice their own decades of training on his behalf, & then use it all just right to pull off those wins. The epo and sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber every night might help, but Lance still had to race and win the TDF. ...against an army of guys doing the same things.

    4. The USADA going after 15 year old foreign bicycle race results seems extremely frivolous.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 14, 2012
  19. rojomas

    rojomas A.K.A The Oxx

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    Okay, I'm confused. When did he fail a test? It's my understanding he passed 500-600 tests and never failed.
     
  20. dstepper

    dstepper (R.I.P.) Over the hill

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    Ok every time this subject comes up I post this so why should this time be any different.

    As prophet Daniel Tosh would say:

    "I think pro-athletes should be forced to use steroids. I think we as fans deserve the greatest athletes science can create! Lets go! Anything that will make you run faster, jump higher! I have High-Definition TV! I want my athletes like my video games! Lets go! I could care less if you die at 40. You hate life after sports anyways. I'm doing you a favor."
     

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