Posted on 08/23/2012 8:23:23 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Thursday night it will strip Lance Armstrong of his unprecedented seven Tour de France titles after he declared he was finished fighting the drug charges that threaten his legacy as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.
Travis Tygart, USADA's chief executive, said Armstrong would also be hit with a lifetime ban on Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
My son’s father in law is an avid cyclist. He says steroid abuse is rampant in the sport, even among amateurs. He’s in great shape for mid-50s, but he no longer competes because he doesn’t do the juice, and it’s just not a fair competition. Yes, 50 year old guys are doing juice to win amateur cycling events.
Screw it; I won’t care until they start flinging the folding metal chairs and chase each other around with chainsaws.
Why would they want to ban and strip him unjustly?
Use the anti-doping agency to screen for cops who are using steroids. ‘Roid Rage costs taxpayers.
Ki.I.S.S.
Keep it simple,it really is.
Who has greater motive in this case?
The USADA is motivatated by imcompetence and/or they are motivated by kind of personal vendetta against Armstrong for some unknown reason.
OR...
Armstrong is motivated to cheat so he could attain worldwide wide fame and money.
Which is more likely... hmmmmm?
I don’t think they would go out of their way to persecute him. I think it’s much more likely that they are trying to operate as a responsible governing body despite people like you attacking them.
it must be super competitive. guys I see all over the Twin Cities compete for how much ad space they can wear on their lycra uniforms just to ride around in traffic annoying people.
The problem with the question is that they obviously believe their actions to be just. However, when they ask for public acceptance and endorsement of that stance, they have an obligation to show WHY it is just.
It could be a simple personal vendetta by Tygart. It could be a completely rational conclusion. From the evidence at hand, I cannot make any determination.
To me, it appears they are change the rules after the fact, and using innuendo and hearsay to justify their conclusions. Even if they are correct in their conclusion, their methods are a great danger to justice - pursuit of a conclusion unsupported by accepted evidence is a concept completely foreign to justice and rational thought.
They may believe that what they are doing is the right thing to do. But if they want ME to believe it, they need to show me the evidence.
This is not something I follow, though it’s hard not to notice it in the news.
My (ill-informed) guess is that they were happy to have the publicity when Armstrong was winning. It put the Tour de France “on the map” in the sports world. I think before Armstrong, few people had heard of it. I will bet they suspected him when he was winning, but they didn’t want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Now that he is retired and of no more use to them, they go after him.
So I suspect he is guilty, but it is disingenuous for the governing bodies of sports to look the other way for a winner, then suddenly find a reason to punish him when he is no longer winning.
(s) but the USADA really really really really believes he cheated regardless of the real evidence. Hearsay counts if they say it counts. It is not fair to the USADA to not allow them to change the rules midflight. (/s)
Yes, he should have been punished long long ago. He is a cheat and a fraud. Shame on Armstrong.
“He supports gun control and wouldnt surprise me if he supports obama too.”
He’s a Hussein Head.
http://www.sundayszaman.com/sunday/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=164438
It’s still sad how many conservatives really really want to believe Big Media headlines, as long as they’re not DIRECTLY related to politics.
Why trust Big Media on ANYTHING?!
Armstrong is an obama supporter, however this is not a political debate. This is about being able to present evidence in an open forum.
If the USADA was REALLLLY not scared of evidence, why resort to binding arbitration? what is the USADA hiding?
for that matter who is paying them for this witchhunt? Should every winner now be subject to execution because they do not fall into the USADA clique?of course not.
The usada’s own actions have eradicated their reputation.
Kind of like how politics is kept COMPLETELY separate from reporting of the weather by MSNBC/TWC?
NOT.
I choose to distrust and question EVERYTHING reported by Big media, and in this case they’re expecting me to defend poor li’l’ ol’ Lance from the eeeevil USADA.
I’m not buying it.
In Obama's America, proof is not needed. The allegation is enough.
That’s bad...but funny!! 8D
I’m no fan of Armstrong, but the effect this had on me was that you can’t trust the results of these events any more, even for a decade or more.
The fact is that he passed over 500 drug tests and failed zero. If they want to revisit stuff as far back as a single year, fine, but older than that should be off limits if, for no other reason, to preserve the sport.
Frankly, I don’t care if I ever see another tour and I own them on DVD. That is probably not the effect they were going for.
I don't know. Why do liberals always say you're a racist, homophobic teabagger?
Hmmm, good point. The second place winner(s) in these races have got to be puckering up by now, wondering if they're going under the microscope. Perhaps it get so bad that the titles roll down to...
—I fail to see what has been accomplished here.—
This. I am getting a glimpse though. I noticed this and another case of an olympic athlete losing an 8 year old title due to new testing techniques applied to old drug samples.
Its impact on me is to lose interest in the sports. If I know that today’s winner can have their title stripped decades from now, meh...
—I fail to see what has been accomplished here.—
Apparently, in sports, the fat lady never really sings.
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