alitogata said:
[off topic]Without kidding now and without want to be mean, I don't believe that LA had brain cancer at all, and I say that because I know people that had this disease and believe me non of them got out from a brain surgery unharmed. [/off topic- I apologize for any inconvenience]
It occurred to me years ago that Armstrong's camp may have exaggerated the claims of how progressive his cancer bout was. I do find it odd that he had no cranial surgery. No scars. All chemo. Fully effective. But that's been touched on here before.
The LA patented rule book works. But it is conditional. You need to have really been sick. Sick enough that any exaggeration gets overlooked. Cancer is cancer. It brings with it sympathy and empathy. Step two, create charity to help your image. Then use charity selfishly to spruik personal image and for personal profit.
The Armstrong method works, but it is reliant upon the psyche and conniving and lying traits of the perpetrator. Armstrong is a brilliant liar. The recent attempts from Wiggins to mirror Armstrong have worked, but only to a degree and mostly with the British exclusively. The convenient timing of the Queens jubilee and the Olympics helped hog the headlines and Wiggins love in for LA these past few years. It also covered a lot of the idiotic and hypocritical stances that revealed damning and poor character traits possessed by Wiggins whilst the USADA business unfolded.
So there are exclusion to the effectiveness of the LA method copied by Sky. It does not last and is not as effective the second time.
Personally, I'd say you are better off copying someone like Evans. Keep your damn trap shut. Say nothing, invest in some PR training so you can meander your way through the hard questions that do arise and again, just say generic stuff. Look at Contador as another good example. Says almost nothing that isn't just generic answers. Doesn't sway one way or another, and focuses on straight answers. They avoid the 'emotionally invested' replies or the 'full blow ***' lies that scream you are a doper or scared out of your wits. Keep it calm, cool and collected and say nothing. That way you're not a hypocrite and you don't draw the suspicions of the Clinic. Getting into a public biff on the road with a blatantly obvious doper doesn't hurt either. You get sympathy from the anti-doping brigade in the form of them looking to the side at your doping over the blatant doper.
Contrast Contador to other Spanish riders at the end of last year, like LuLu, Valverde and Rodriguez. They went full ***. But there in lies the real determining factor on how to conduct yourself as a doper. Have a brain. Most pro's aren't very smart. Below average for most. Smart cyclists are few and far between. Evans and Contador happen to be two. Same with Basso. They say very little and give very little, even when the spotlight is on them. IMO their play books have been the best. If you're not a big winner, but still classy rider, I say mimic Oscar Freire. His image went up a lot of points when he blamed Valverde at the Worlds. Imply that you would have won if the obvious doper hadn't been greedy and out performed by a better doper on the day. That's Golden PR profiting. Makes you look clean by comparison.
The most amusing? Hahaha, not by a long shot. I like the full blown *** methodology and the LA play book keeps the Clinic spinning each year. Never underestimate human stupidity on both sides of the ball park. The PR BS speakers and their audience.