That is a sane approach taken by someone who doesn’t have an ax to grind or a preconception, who is interested in the truth rather than in getting someone they hate.
I have no idea if Armstrong is guilty. I know a set of facts, and a lot of people’s opinions, and a lot of hearsay testimony (hearsay not in the legal sense, but in the sense that I have read what others said, I don’t have a chance to speak directly to the people, ask them questions, and judge their veracity for myself).
And of course, he is either guilty or not, and that is already true, regardless of what we know. We are trying to devine the past, but there is an objective truth, we just don’t know it.
To me, the overriding fact is that Cycling has rules, and those rules have an enforcement mechanism — much like every sport has rules and various enforcement mechanisms. And by the measure of those rules and those enforcement mechanisms, Armstrong was never found “guilty” of what he was charged with during his career. Just as a soccer player may be “known” to be dirty, but the ref never catches them, nor does it show up on video. We just are told by other players.
And many people here have claimed that everybody in the sport uses drugs. If you believe that, a LOT of people are using drugs but are never found guilty. So if they could now prove that he had certain drugs, and just missed it all those years, it wouldn’t bother me. I understand why the TDF might want to remove his titles if they decided he used drugs during their race, because they want to make sure everybody is scared of getting caught.
But, in my opinion, there is NO CALL for the USADA, an ‘arm’ of our government acting with our money but outside our laws and our control, to go after a guy after he is retired, who isn’t interacting with the USADA in any way, and to then think they can “strip” him of titles that are given out by other bodies.
What i don’t understand is the inconsistancy. If the argument was that Lance Armstrong, unique in the sport, cheated to win, gaining an unfair advantage, I could understand the outrage. But a lot of people who decided to take drugs, now complaining that Armstrong was better at it than they were? Crocodile tears.
And I guess the stories about Armstrong being a “crappy person” don’t bother me, because I’ve never been one to idolize athletes beyond their athletic achievement. I would guess that a lot of athletes are not people you’d like to know personally. I know people in other fields who are really good at things, and that can lead to being stuck up and boorish.
If drug use in Cycling is that open and widespread, why are they zeroing-in on him now?
It does appear though, on the surface, that “they” need a “prime fall guy” and LA is the “chosen one”, since he’s got the 7 TdF titles which they somehow don’t think he (an American) should be entitled to earn and hold.
Who “they” is/are, I don’t know, yet. I haven’t followed that sport or the politics in it, and I sure don’t want to get into any “black helicopter” theories, here.
Just thinking out loud, after reading so many articles/stories/testimony in the past few days.
I’m still keeping an open mind about the coming testimony/evidence etc.