Joe Papp interview

[JRTinMA]

Originally tweeted by FestinaGirl.

A fun read with a lot of what we have seen on here and a few new points as well. I really want to hate Joe Papp but I find myself unable to dislike the guy.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blog/blazin-saddles/article/1100/

 

[joe_papp]

I don't know if I should be especially pleased that someone finds it difficult to hate me, or horrified to know that people are actually surprised when they realize that they aren't inspired to strong feelings of dislike and loathing towards me. I'll take what I can get right now.

Who's excited for the Vuelta?!

PS. I'm excited for the Vuelta, too! But also a bit melancholy, for the season is ending. If I could follow any one race in a team car, just for fun, it would be Lombardia on a bright, sunny day.

Anyway, the video interview is referenced below. I haven't watched it in its entirety, but I feel like I was as honest and open as I could be, and I went a bit deeper in explaining the psychology of the attraction to sport and the susceptibility to doping of an athlete who might be subconsciously worrying about things not connected to cycling.

I recognize there will always be trolls, unfortunately, but I'm not interested in being lured into an argument for the sake of the person trying to incite the exchange. So you can make inappropriate comments if you want after watching the video, but hopefully anyone doing so is flat-out ignored by the posters who are actually interested in discussing the topic and how it connects to cycling and relates to doping.

 

[Anonymous]

My vote is for Sayers as being the douchebag who gave the death threat.

Note: Sayers' blog was titled "Missing Saddle" if I remember correctly. That could very well explain the disposition.

 

[JRTinMA]

I don't know if I should be especially pleased that someone finds it difficult to hate me, or horrified to know that people are actually surprised when they realize that they aren't inspired to strong feelings of dislike and loathing towards me. I'll take what I can get right now.

Who's excited for the Vuelta?!

Ha! I guess I'm more the latter but its entirely based on the doping stuff, thats not really who you are I suspect. You have changed my mind about dopers especially regarding the lifetime ban. If I imagined myself in yours or any pros shoes at the moment of truth I can't say for sure what decision I would make and I'm glad I never had to. There is a lot at stake on both sides. Good luck with the next big phase of this thing Joe.

Vuelta, my favorite stage race! Go Frank go!

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

A full interview with Joe can be seen here. A little over a half-hour, taken from late last year. He talks quite a bit about his life and how he ended up where he did; for those curious about the whole story.

 

[sometriguy]

Joe P is da man!

 

[Epicycle]

Joe, when is your federal case going to be decided? Is there a trial looming or just sentencing?

 

[Neworld]

A full interview with Joe can be seen here. A little over a half-hour, taken from late last year. He talks quite a bit about his life and how he ended up where he did; for those curious about the whole story.

Great video, thank you for sharing.

Joe Papp should be respected for the place he was 'at' and his mature ascension into what he is today. Bravo. Hopefully he will stick around this website for a while so that we can all share from his insight and experiences.

NW

 

[Escarabajo]

I love this interview. These are my favorite parts:

If they make the whole US Postal story into a film, which actors should play Lance/Floyd/yourself? Matt Damon is a fine choice to play Lance, though I wonder if he has the capacity to realistically portray a sociopath...

Renshaw's head-**** was unorthodox this year in the TdF, but what's the most controversial move you've seen in recent times? The most agro I saw was in Chile, in 2003 or 4, when a snotty Chilean guy called an Argentine "hijo de puta". The Argentine started screaming at the Chilean - things like "You talkin' to me?! You calling my mum a puta?" (all this at 45-9kph) - and the Argentine finally just grabs the Chilean, who was on his right, by his left arm and yanked him off his bike onto the ground and crashed him. All because he insulted his mother. The Latin American mother is sacred, I guess.

Yes, it is sacred. I got into fights 2 times in my life and one of them was for that reason.

Were any riders not doped up to the eyeballs on the 96 Tour? If there were, I doubt they were more than just a few. My former teammate finished that Tour over three-and-a-quarter hours down on overall on GC, and he admitted to me on more than one occasion that he had to dope himself "up to the eyeballs" as you say - just to do domestique duties. JUST to be a domestique! And to lose over three hours!

Interesting that even a Lanterne Rouge would have to dope just to finish the Tour within the time limits.

 

[richwagmn]

Originally tweeted by FestinaGirl.

A fun read with a lot of what we have seen on here and a few new points as well. I really want to hate Joe Papp but I find myself unable to dislike the guy.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blog/blazin-saddles/article/1100/

Hate the guy? Why?

Direct your anger towards LA.

 

[python]

A full interview with Joe can be seen here. A little over a half-hour, taken from late last year. He talks quite a bit about his life and how he ended up where he did; for those curious about the whole story.

an interesting interview. some never reported demons akin to gregg's joe had to deal with.

i'm still ambivalent about floyd's doping case and find joe's explanations about him a bit artificial....still i highly recommend the video to anyone who's interested in getting their personal sense re one of the most informed posters in the clinic.

 

[JRTinMA]

Hate the guy? Why?

Direct your anger towards LA.

I actually said i like him in my OP. I found myself torn because he is a doper. I would hang with that cat given the opportunity. I have no more or less anger towards LA, he may be a jerk and a doper but he had his reasons I suspect. A long time ago he was just a guy who had to make a decision to dope or not. We all know the decision he made but why he did it we have no clue.

 

[NashbarShorts]

...LA may be a jerk and a doper but he had his reasons I suspect... We all know the decision he made but why he did it we have no clue.

Okay, here's your clue: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Salary: approx. 3M/yr
Endorsements: approx. 15M/yr
Livestrong.com: who knows
Speaking fees: who knows

This is not rocket science. We probably don't need a room full of psychotherapists to understand why Johnny Blacksocks doped.

 

[redtreviso]

Okay, here's your clue: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Salary: approx. 3M/yr
Endorsements: approx. 15M/yr
Livestrong.com: who knows
Speaking fees: who knows

This is not rocket science. We probably don't need a room full of psychotherapists to understand why Johnny Blacksocks doped.

Lance was doping all along IMO.. but when Indurain went past Lance in 94 Lance knew he would have to fall back on his college degree soon.

 

[JRTinMA]

Okay, here's your clue: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Salary: approx. 3M/yr
Endorsements: approx. 15M/yr
Livestrong.com: who knows
Speaking fees: who knows

This is not rocket science. We probably don't need a room full of psychotherapists to understand why Johnny Blacksocks doped.

If these things were the spoils of doping then all dopers would be filthy rich. Sadly many are poor, dead or facing jail time. These things were not imaginable when he made his choice. You almost go so far to suggest he chose cancer.

 

[I Watch Cycling In July]

It goes against all forms of basic logic and reasoning to deny that athletes choose to dope to (a) maintain a job and their livelihood... or even better (b) to dope to the gills, paying for the best form of PEDs available, to earn the most money they can.

Doping just isn't all about money.

 

[Cobblestoned]

How and why did this turn into an Armstrong thread?

Another .. thread !
Great !
richwagmn is the winner here.


Joe for president !

The twitter (hi)story - just great

 

[Anonymous]

I was just reading through trying to figure that out, not surprising we think alike as we have that special bond. I have to admit I assisted in derailing my own thread. Yes LA was mentioned by Joe in the interview and Escarabaja posted about his favorite part of the interview and that was the first LA mention, probably harmless. Then along comes Richwagmn, he seems to be the principle LA derailing ***. I should have just dropped it but I took the bait and the piling on began.

This forum needs a LA only area, this sounds crazy but its true. Most narrow minded people would suggest this is what the Clinic is for but that is really a shame. I have read these forums for a long time and the Clinic used to be a really good place to understand doping from a broader perspective. Today its just a mess of baseless rumors and half baked opinions. If there was an LA area doping discussions could be held in the clinic and it could be "educational" again. All of the mindless LA drivel could be in another part of the forum, for all I care it could be lawless, we can call it Mexico.

As with anyone, I'd bet we have a lot of similarities if we hashed it out. Anyway, Joe has always been a very honest and open person in any contact, posts, articles, or blogs I have had or seen with him. He made some bad choices and some very good ones too. I suspect that is true of most of us.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

I believe that Joe's a good guy, and that's a lot coming from someone's who is really anti dope. He's doing what he can...

Are you telling me Unicorns aren't real?

 

[flicker]

Exactly my thoughts. Don't hate Joe, direct your anger at LA? Why by angry at/hate either person. Personally, I'll reserve my hate or anger for those who really deserve it, such as murderers, rapists, child molesters, etc.

Armstrong a sociopath? Maybe a narcissist, but aren't most pro athletes? LeMond certainly seems like one. See, now I brought LeMond into it, perfect.

Back to the topic now. Good interview Joe. Keep up the good work.

I can't hate anyone. It is just to tiring. I like Lance though as he never fails to entertain. Joe is all hung up on getting beat by ephedrta fueled Levi and pesky blood values. I have no time for that pain.

 

[karlboss]

My favourite part was talking about how those caught and assist are dealt with. Do anti dopers not see this? they need inside men catching extracting information and handing down the same punishment anyway, there is no incentive to give up anything and we'll see more and more vinokourov's in the peloton. Start offering a real choice, take your ban or give us actionable leading to a conviction info and return to racing tomorrow. Dreaming I know, it's much more complicated.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Huge Kudos to Joe!

It takes balls to be as honest as he's been, and his disclosure will ultimately help the sport. If a clean sport is what we're after...

I see a lot of 'ostrich posts' on CN - ignore the problem and it'll go away...

It won't.

I really believe that getting the UCI out of doping control, and keeping the IOC at arm's length, is the only way to gut the sport of dopers.

If people want clean sport, then I really think that we need an international body that deals only with doping. Not an IOC that wants to line it's pockets every couple of years, and no

 

[BroDeal]

My favourite part was talking about how those caught and assist are dealt with. Do anti dopers not see this? they need inside men catching extracting information and handing down the same punishment anyway, there is no incentive to give up anything and we'll see more and more vinokourov's in the peloton. Start offering a real choice, take your ban or give us actionable leading to a conviction info and return to racing tomorrow. Dreaming I know, it's much more complicated.

Oh, they see it. The system is built like that for a reason. The authorities do not want riders spilling their guts after they are caught.

 

[Anonymous]

I believe that Joe's a good guy, and that's a lot coming from someone's who is really anti dope. He's doing what he can...

Are you telling me Unicorns aren't real?

No, unicorns are real, but they are only real if you are doping...real hard.

 

[180mmCrank]

Obviously like many of us I don't really know Joe and only have a passing familiarity with his story. I found the watching the interview really helpful for many reasons - several have been mentioned already. I do hope that Joe is able to fulfil his ambition to get back into cycling in a meaningful way. It is obvious that he is passionate about his chosen sport.

I suspect there is a way to go before this is possible. Fortunately time is a great healer.