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Official "be nice" Lance Armstrong thread

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pmcg76

Mar 6, 2009
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garciadb said:
...and from here then on, we will. Oh Lance! Let's accept it folks, we all admire Lance from 1999 through 2005. No cyclist would not, period. In "ANY WAY" he mastered those seven years,, it is a class act that i don't believe anybody in my lifetime can ever do again. Multitudes gave him due credit for that. Yet when he announced his comeback, i really thought it is for cancer awareness and that add to my admiration of him. I even thought he would be paying some dues to those comrades that HELPED him in his course to glory. I WAS SADLY MISTAKEN! I wish it's not too late for him to accept that life is always GIVE AND TAKE! I can't imagine how glorious it would be to see Lance being the super domestic for a teammate that deserves.
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I think you will find most people on here were Lance admirers if not fans up until about 03/04 and that includes most who fall into the 'hater' category. This is when people started to question the Lance fairytale, incidents like the Ferrari connection, Simeoni affair, his attitude to doping etc slowly turned a lot of people away.

I think a lot of people then started to look back at earlier incidents like Bassons, Cortisone cream for which he originally got a pass but people now questioned. By the time he retired, many were glad to see the back of him. He went from Lance the hero to Lance the arrogant, manipulative, bullying, lawyer loving, rodot rider who was very soft on the hot issue of doping.

After he retired came the French allegations, a lot of his former team-mates and competitors testing positive, Puerto. His attitude in retirement was just as bad, who remembers the "French positive for being assholes joke" at the ESPYs. If you didnt question him at that stage, well sorry but your head was firmly in the sand. There was just too much to dislike for many cycling fans.

Those outside the loop only got the 7 time Tour hero, we got the full details. To the cycling world Lance is just one huge dollar sign, for many he is a necessary evil as he attracts the unquestioning fringe fans, more bike sales etc. He is not that popular within the cycling community.

I think a lot of people developed into 'haters' from 05-08, people who developed their own impression of Lance from looking at the evidence available and actually having the sense to question everything. There was dismay at his return as people now knew what they were getting and that is exactly what we got.

To the fanboys, for every Lance 'hater', I can gurantee there was a one-time Lance fan who is perhaps a little bit more cynical or has a better grasp of reality, whatever way you wanna look at it.
 
unsheath

unsheath

Mar 13, 2009
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I'm another!! And a staunch one at that.

I'll even admit to reading It's Not About the Bike and believing it's tripe. Oh the Shame.. :(
 
thehog

thehog

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Dear Editor:

As I watched the final days of the Tour de France, then saw Lance Armstrong had achieved the amazing victory of standing on the winner's platform, I was thinking Aspen should welcome him “home” with some form of acknowledgment of his tremendous accomplishment which reflects so highly on the qualities of discipline and perseverance.

It's another example of “wrong thinking” for Aspen City Council to decide not to honor Lance's accomplishment just because there are locals who have also struggled to obtain athletic prowess who have not been honored by this town. If that's the case, honor them, but don't let council be so narrow in their thinking that they decide not to honor Lance's victory just because Aspen has failed to honor other victors when they should have in the past.

This is another example of Aspen's choosing to be exclusive instead of inclusive, and it's sad. Towns throughout the world celebrate and honor their citizens who achieve great physical feats. Aspen should show more maturity by celebrating those who achieve physical greatness. This can only enhance our sense of community and accomplishment.

name withheld (thehog)

Aspen
 
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garciadb

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pmcg76 said:
I think you will find most people on here were Lance admirers if not fans up until about 03/04 and that includes most who fall into the 'hater' category. This is when people started to question the Lance fairytale, incidents like the Ferrari connection, Simeoni affair, his attitude to doping etc slowly turned a lot of people away.

I think a lot of people then started to look back at earlier incidents like Bassons, Cortisone cream for which he originally got a pass but people now questioned. By the time he retired, many were glad to see the back of him. He went from Lance the hero to Lance the arrogant, manipulative, bullying, lawyer loving, rodot rider who was very soft on the hot issue of doping.

After he retired came the French allegations, a lot of his former team-mates and competitors testing positive, Puerto. His attitude in retirement was just as bad, who remembers the "French positive for being assholes joke" at the ESPYs. If you didnt question him at that stage, well sorry but your head was firmly in the sand. There was just too much to dislike for many cycling fans.

Those outside the loop only got the 7 time Tour hero, we got the full details. To the cycling world Lance is just one huge dollar sign, for many he is a necessary evil as he attracts the unquestioning fringe fans, more bike sales etc. He is not that popular within the cycling community.

I think a lot of people developed into 'haters' from 05-08, people who developed their own impression of Lance from looking at the evidence available and actually having the sense to question everything. There was dismay at his return as people now knew what they were getting and that is exactly what we got.

To the fanboys, for every Lance 'hater', I can gurantee there was a one-time Lance fan who is perhaps a little bit more cynical or has a better grasp of reality, whatever way you wanna look at it.
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By saying "those outside the loop" do you mean we who are half around the globe from USA whom you think was not aware of "the full details"? And by "cycling world" do you mean Americans or english speaking people? For the unquestioning fans, i don't have anything to say. It is anybody's right to believe what they want to. If Lance is not that popular in the so called cycling community, then nobody knows cycling. I can understand the sentiment of those who felt betrayed. But guys, what we need is a little more understanding and compassion to our brothers in the professional rank. If there are those who are to blame, why don't we turn our heads to those sponsors who are putting too much pressure to our cyclists. OR, better still, let's all blame TOUR DE FRANCE for being so popular.
 
Ninety5rpm

Ninety5rpm

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Lance contemplating riding RAAM??? WTF???

On Twitter:

Maybe I'll do RAAM one of these years. Am I crazy? Anyone know how many miles a day they avg?
6:04 AM Aug 2nd from UberTwitter
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Anyone know how many miles a day they average? He doesn't even know and he's thinking about doing it. I'm no big RAAM fan, but even I know it's around 16 mph average, 24 hours per day. That works out to 384 miles PER DAY for, what, 7 days or so?

The only pro cyclist who's ever done it, is Jock Boyer, I believe. Boyer has done it twice. Maybe he should do a sanity check with that guy.

I guess it would be good publicity for RAAM, especially if he does before he's a bonafide has-been.
 
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ggusta

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anubisza said:
BREAKING NEWS:

Lance might have had toast for breakfast this moring.

The world deserves to know.
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Whole wheat? White? Rye? Does He use butter or spread? Does he sleep with this little wristbands or put them on upon rising or does? Do they ever irritate his skin?

Tell me...TELL MEEEEE ...... I MUST KNOW

I won't know what type of bread to buy until I find out. If he is on whole wheat and I am on rye I don't know if I can survive that.
 
rhubroma

rhubroma

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fulcrum said:
Lance is a loser.

He announced his return to cycling and behaved the worst possible way. From the very beginning he knew he wanted to ride the tour with J. Bruyneel and Astana. Since he knew this was going to create problems and upset the team make and balance, he started by saying he was going to race the Giro.

Then after people got used to that idea, he said he might race the tour. When people in Astana, namely Alberto Contador, got uneasy about that and tried to leave, both JB and Lance made up this stories about how Alberto would be the team leader etc etc.

Then when the Tour started, they changed their tune once again, saying that the "road would decide who the strongest rider was". From the beginning, Lance took effective control of Astana, even though he was not even a payed employee. While leveraging his personal friendship with Bruyneel to the professional detriment of Contador, and also leveraging the economic opportunities he is able to offer as the boss in a new team, he isolated Contador in the team. He made public comments against him. He practice phsycological warfare against his own teammate. He pulled every dirty trick in the book to distract Alberto. He made all sorts of announcement regarding his new team once he knew Alberto was making the headlines thanks to his talking on the road. Lance together with Bruyneel, set a "team strategy" that was counterproductive to Alberto's strengths and capabilities.

When all of the above failed, Lance truly showed his colors by his behavior at the podium, post race party etc. It's time for the world to know the real Armstrong.
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+ One freekin million!!!
 
red_flanders

red_flanders

Apr 3, 2009
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Amsterhammer said:
Thank you, Laura!

Can I just say - let's all please realize that LA is not the center of the universe and that he does not have to be talked about in one way or another all the time.

There's a whole world of cycling to talk about without having to drag LA into the discussion.

So, let's all try real hard to make (as) nice (as possible).;)
Click to expand...

can you forward these comments to Phil Liggett and the Versus team?
 
L

lucybears

Mar 10, 2009
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interview.cyclingfever.com
Eurosport Awards
http://eurosport.yahoo.com/04082009/58/tour-de-france-blazin-saddles-retroactive-tour-awards.html
The High-School Biggest Bully Award: Lance Armstrong (pictured), who despite his worthy intentions in the global fight against cancer, proved to be both nasty and oppressive at times. One side showed the Texan getting chummy with virtually everyone in the peloton (and Hollywood) while another saw the 37-year-old terrorize his team leader with a series of undermining interviews and posts on Twitter.
Worst Professionals: Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel for spitefully upstaging both Contador and Astana with information of their new RadioShack outfit before the race had even finished. No doubt, had the American been in yellow at the time, the focus would have been somewhat different.

Lance Armstrong = Giant Douche?
http://www.gunaxin.com/lance-armstrong-giant-douche/25144
 
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davestoller

Mar 15, 2009
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I can see now these forums are going the way of other forums where Lance bashing is the desired goal, not merely the norm.
THis really bites since there are basically no places to hang and talk cycling.
 
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pmcg76

Mar 6, 2009
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davestoller said:
I can see now these forums are going the way of other forums where Lance bashing is the desired goal, not merely the norm.
THis really bites since there are basically no places to hang and talk cycling.
Click to expand...

Then you have finally realised what I have always believed, the majority of true cycling fans do not like Lance and are dissappointed to have him back. If Lance was not around, there would be lots more talk about cycling in general which is why many dont like Lance. He is a media magnet that draws all the attention away from the other issues in our sport and when he behaves the way he does, what do you expect.

I thought it was telling that somebody mentioned they had withdrawn their support for Livestrong because of his actions. I happily give money to any cancer charities but refuse to support Livestrong because of Lance. He could end up doing as much harm to Livestrong by coming back.
 
Jonathan

Jonathan

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thehog said:
Good Article. The conclusion is poignant.
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I like the article too, but disagree with the first part. People should feel free to support any athlete for whatever reason; I think it's a good thing that there is such a thing in life. It's not up to the author of the article to decide if Armstrong objectively deserves anyone's support, because I don't think there are objective criteria.

If he wants to support a baseball team because of the floor they train on, that's fine.
 
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dblueroom

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very well said - winning the race and pulling a team win are totally different. Astana, well Bruyneel doesnt get to where he is now without Contador's win. There was not possible astana 1,2,3 on podium, so I dont understand what they complain about. I dont mind a Armstrong win if he had it, obviously he is acting as a sore loser and only done a better job at manipulating the media...

Another word on Bruyneel, a great team still needs a super star to win the tour. I dont know how many years left for armstrong and seriously question whether he'll ever have it to win the tour again. Bruyneel just dissed Contador and Contador will be the biggest obstacle for him to win the tour with any other team in the next 5-7 years. good work Bruyneel.
 
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