PedalTrout

His first book, It's not about the bike made me a fan. Since finishing that read I have felt as if I was part of his life somehow. It was so well written in that it opened up his life to the world and let us in.
I have always believed him to be drug free. I've just thought of him as an arrogant, stubborn man who strives to win at everything he ever attempts. Isn't that what heros do?
The whole gong show that his former team mate Floyd Landis pulled before the tour cearly wrecked his focus. Lance was ready to win an 8th tour, he could have done it I am sure.
Today I learned that he will also not be defending his Leadville 100 crown. My alarms are sounding, something is up. Since the tour Lance has been very private. His once over active Twitter account has become silent, I once found annoying, but now find troubling. Somehow I miss it.
As I am always one to think the worst, I can't help but think maybe there is some truth to the rumors that Lance was involved with performance enhancing drugs. A recent article in todays Herald indicates that if he was, we will soon find out. The toughest drug cop in the world has his sights set on Armstrong.
If it is discovered that he was a doper, I doubt that my opinions of him will change, he was a man on the very edge of deaths door, and came back to become one of the worlds greatest athletes. No matter how he did it, it is still an inspiring story.
However I fear what a positive drug test may do to the Livetrong Foundation. Through Lance Armstrong, millions of dollars are raised for Cancer research. If Lance is proven to be a fraud all of this could be lost.
Is the truth really worth the price of a cure?

I agree Troy

lots of people on the top have doped or do dope.... millions are spent trying tofind ways to not get caught

Lance's days at the top of cycling are over... by continuing this witch hunt I think all your doing in hurting his foundation

it seems odd to me that the US gov't cares so much about him doping that they are looknig for any angle to get him.... tax evation for seelnig team bikes.. come on

since when did sports doping become soemting that so many resources are thrown at

regardles of how many people are caught people will always try ot get an edge.. soem via trianing some via doping

Well said by both of you guys.

My take is - He probably is a doper. They all are, but .... find a way to turn a blind eye and let him continue to raise massive funds for reasearch. Also, the Livestrong Foundation does much more for cancer than just research. They provide support infrastructure for families and patients of cancer and that goes a long way to a persons recovery and survival.

If they do take him down, they should take down as many people at the same time as posssible, and I don't me 7 or 8 [aka a team] I mean 60 0r 70, all with the exact same penalty and repercussions. Don't make him a poster boy.

I have to agree with bignose in that many should be taken down at once. The blind eye to Lance though in order to keep Livestrong going strong poses some problems for me. If someone has cheated, you have to think of the folks who didn't cheat. Do they not deserve some sort of retribution? I also believe that if Livestrong folds as a result of bad publicity, another organization(s) supporting cancer research will gain any support that was given to Livestrong. The support for the fight against cancer won't disappear if it is determined that Lance was/is a doper. Doping and supporting the fight against cancer are 2 separate issues.

As for the doping issue...is it worth all the money and efforts to fight this issue?? Should everything/almost everything be made legal?? I've read many, many term papers from my students arguing both sides of this issue and each year I become more and more unable to take a stance. I think I will always sit on the fence with this one. However, what I have decided is that I believe that there is a very high percentage of top athletes in the world doing something that is illegal/against the rules and that there are very few athletes that are publicly proven and announced as cheaters. So if there are many athletes breaking the rules and most not being publicly charged and penalized plus with the enormous cost of trying to "catch" cheaters, what is the point of putting all that effort into only "catching" a few? I find myself just shaking my head at major sporting events and wondering why we even have them. But then again, I find myself watching the TDF or the Olympics (etc., etc.) and being fascinated by what an athlete can do even if they are "cheating". As I said, I guess I will always sit on the fence when it comes to "cheating" in sports.

We're a big part of the problem. We (and by "we" I mean Joe Blow, society in general) worship athletes and treat them like superheroes. We support a system where some of them get paid zillions of dollars for being faster and stronger and we support a system that doesn't care how they achieve it. Why does someone who hits a baseball for a living make more than someone who works in an ER or helps underpriveleged children?

As long as society wants records to be broken, athletes will cheat. I wonder what would happen if we decided that instead of celebrating speed and power (natural or not) we would celebrate determination, tenacity, sportsmanship, leadership and the desire to set a good example?

Oh wait - I must be insane. Those things will NEVER sell tv commercials.

Professional sports is an excellent example of supply and demand. I guess you could say we are a problem in that society is the demand, but that's if you perceive it as a problem. If you eliminate the current economy of professional sports then professional sports wouldn't exist as we know it. That might be nice for some people, but as the "demand" suggests, more people say othewise. Money makes the world go 'round.

I'm starting to base my thoughts on doping on the root of the problem. I ask myself why performance enhancing drugs are banned. (I use the same argument for recreational drugs, which I don't nor do I intend to use.) Are they illegal because they are dangerous? So are burgers and fries, over training, cigarettes and alcohol, most of the sports I enjoy... the list goes on.

Are there other reasons that performance enhancing drugs are banned?

Given that sports are heralded as a helathy attribute to one's lifestyle I think it's most logical to assume that doping is banned because it's dangerous. If it were legal, every athlete would feel compelled to do it because it would be totally ludicrous to try and compete without doping. Athletes are considered role models - do we want our kids growing up worshipping people who are considered great because of the drugs that make them that way?

...and on the topic of the economy of sports, I think the problem is not sports themselves, or even the economy, but rather the aspect of sports that we really value. I see athletes and fashion models as similar beings - if you've got the genetics to be fast, strong or beautiful, things like personality are irrelevant in both the sports and fashion worlds. Competition and skinny thighs are both entertainment and entertainment is money.

I think sports are really important, when we participate they can teach us a lot . When we treat them as entertainment, however, what do we gain besides couch potato asses and the message that it IS whether you win or lose and not how you play the game?

Ludicrous is a bit of a stretch, but you're right in some sports more than others there would be a compulsion to use performance enhancers.

I'll also on occasion be in the camp for making some enhancers illegal based on their perceived danger. I suppose I just struggle with the definition of performance enhancing drugs. I find it too subjective.

Sports can be appreciated on many levels... not really sure what your trying to suggest. It's a bit of a stereoytpe to say those who are entertained by sports don't get anything but a fat ass.

Sports can be appreciated on many levels... not really sure what your trying to suggest. It's a bit of a stereoytpe to say those who are entertained by sports don't get anything but a fat ass.

That's not what I said at all - re-read please! I'm saying that most of what I perceive to be the real value in sport - exercise, leadership skills, learning to cooperate, self-discipline, etc. - cannot be obtained by simply watching. To gain these benefits you have to actually participate. The manner in which sporting events are broadcast is designed to hype the competition, the speed the adrenaline, the glory of winning and the agony of defeat. I see little value in that other than the value of entertainment.

Oh, I see. I guess I see the real value being singularly as them being fun. But we digress.

I think doping should be allowed, but there needs to be a special category for the event. All competitors who dope who wish to compete will forever be stuck in this category for their entire careers. The prize money by law should be lower than the norm. Lastely, all competitors should have their skin died blue so they look like Avatars just so the human element has appeared to have been removed. Competition among man is about pitting the best Humans against each other, not the best freaks!