Ok, I just saw Lance's new Nike ad.

[Anonymous]

The guy is scum. His voice over says "they call me arrogant" "they say I am a doper" "they say I am a fraud" etc, etc, etc all while alternating between video of him riding a bike and video of various cancer patients. That he is using others cancer to legitimize his record in cycling, image, and personality is disgusting. At the end he says that he is "not riding for them" referring to those who consider him a doper and fraud. Well Mr Armstrong, you have proven you are exactly what "they" say you are. A fraud.

What do supporting cancer and his record as a doper, etc have to do with each other regardless of which side you are on?

Its all about controlling his image in the media. I want to puke.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I am not going to say that lance armstrong isn't or is a doper. What i am going to say that he says "they call me arrogant". He and Johan Bruyneel are the most cockiest people i have ever heard. Some of their comments about other riders is disgusting. I remember a few weeks ago that bruyneel said that "contador was a step above the rest". It may be true but please show some humility. I don't have anything against contador but i don't want astana to win.

 

[hfer07]

somehow, I see the add as a way of him acknowledging the doping use throughout his carrier by simply saying "I don't care" and it should be acceptable at some point by the public, since he's doing it for a "noble & higher purpose"....

 

[Anonymous]

The guy is scum. His voice over says "they call me arrogant" "they say I am a doper" "they say I am a fraud" etc, etc, etc all while alternating between video of him riding a bike and video of various cancer patients. That he is using others cancer to legitimize his record in cycling, image, and personality is disgusting. At the end he says that he is "not riding for them" referring to those who consider him a doper and fraud. Well Mr Armstrong, you have proven you are exactly what "they" say you are. A fraud.

What do supporting cancer and his record as a doper, etc have to do with each other regardless of which side you are on?

Its all about controlling his image in the media. I want to puke.

and blah blah blah... same always from you.

Great commercial. Effective, inspirational.

And his legs are about to do the talking.

June 25 was his 35th drug test.

he trained on the cols last week.

Only Contador can beat him, and that's not certain.

 

[Anonymous]

and blah blah blah... same always from you.

Great commercial. Effective, inspirational.

And his legs are about to do the talking.

June 25 was his 35th drug test.

he trained on the cols last week.

Only Contador can beat him, and that's not certain.

His legs will do the talking for what? Cancer? His assertions that he is clean? His assertions that he is not arrogant? His assertions that he is not a fraud?

Again, using cancer for purposes like that is truly disgusting. But I understand you do not see that.

Again, you are as predictable as the rise of the sun.

 

[Kennf1]

The commercial is not a statement of how Lance feels, nor is it a public service announcement. It's a slick commercial. Put out by Nike. To sell stuff. End of story.

I can't recall Nike ever making a bad commercial.

 

[Anonymous]

The commercial is not a statement of how Lance feels, nor is it a public service announcement. It's a slick commercial. Put out by Nike. To sell stuff. End of story.

I can't recall Nike ever making a bad commercial.

TFF thinks all things lance = evil

so all nike ads are great, except for the one lance is in.

Again, he is as predictable as the rise of the sun.

 

[stephens]

For the record, I usually can't stand cancer survivors. I'm not exactly sure why the whole armstrong/livestrong/whatever thing doesn't bother me as much as much fight/survive cancer talk.

But I've seen about a dozen threads on various cycling forums about this new Nike ad, with responses from hundreds of people. Thoughtforfood's response is very much in the minority. So much so that it's almost as if you watched a totally different commercial than other people did. But that can't be it so it must just be that you are so much smarter than everyone else.

 

[byu123]

TFF thinks all things lance = evil

so all nike ads are great, except for the one lance is in.

Again, he is as predictable as the rise of the sun.

Careful now with TTF. I currently have him under therapy to overcome his "JuanPelotaPhobia" complex. I can't have you upsetting the careful progress I have made to date. TTF thinks evil of no one. He, like I, is a person of faith. We both adhere to the law of "Vengeance is mine . . . sayeth the Lord." Romans 12:19.

Secretly TTF has nothing but warm fuzzy feelings in his heart for Lance.

 

[Epicycle]

The commercial is not a statement of how Lance feels, nor is it a public service announcement. It's a slick commercial. Put out by Nike. To sell stuff. End of story.

I just saw it a few minutes ago and that was my reaction. The website displayed at the end is Nike.com. Certainly crass but that's to be expected.

 

[skippy254]

I find it interesting with how "arrogant" some of the Lance haters are. You accuse him of arrogance and are drowning in a cesspool of your own arrogance.

 

[Johnny Colnago]

and blah blah blah... same always from you.

pot. kettle. black.

 

[byu123]

I find it interesting with how "arrogant" some of the Lance haters are. You accuse him of arrogance and are drowning in a cesspool of your own arrogance.

I agree. But look at the number of posts of all the Lance haters. Its in the hundreds. They congregate here and engage in groupthink therapy about how evil Lance Armstrong is. Most people who admire and Armstrong and believe he is clean "get it" and don't need the therapy of hanging out with like minded adherents in a biking forum to the tune of 500+ posts. I am probably the only poster here with 100+ posts which is an admirer of Armstrong and believe he is clean. But . . . I'm on vacation so I have time to blog . . . as well as being such a cycling fan that I feel like a man dying of thirst in a desert approaching an oasis that I should arrive at by Saturday at the start of the TT in Milan. Thus my prior . . . "I come here to sate a casual interest in cycling . . . ." comment.

 

[michael]

Great add from Nike.
I don't know what the problem with it is? Doesn't it show that people with cancer have motivation like the rest of us to achieve great things with their lives.
Whatever you think of the guy, he has done more for cycling and cancer awareness than any of us has.

 

[chopper]

as a cancer sufferer and bike rider i dont think theres anything wrong with the add.As a tdf fan and follower for over35 years, ive followed lances career closely, i do not think he uses any illegal methods, he is unique, both physically and mentally which has helped, but unlike eddy merrckx and big mig indurain,( both cycling heros of mine) lance specialised in the tour which helped him seem a cut above the rest, but also with the team members hes had around him and Johan Bruyneel in charge, it made him un beatable, so as for all the lance haters out there, i dont think he should be back unless its to win, but as a cycling fan and a lance fan i think its good for the sport, as he has been for years.

 

[whiteboytrash]

I love the readers comments to this article: - maybe there are no chics left in Austin to shag ?

take your narcissitic, hollywood wanna be loser self to another state and see if we cry! pollute their beautiful countryside with a conspicuous consumption mansion like you did here and suck their water supply dry instead of ours. and please dont come back in the winter either.

Good riddance Lance!! You aren't the same Lance you were 20 years ago, philanderer. Let Aspen take on your wasteful, ridiculous habits.

wonder if him or his giant ego will be missed.
___________________________________

http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/other/2009/07/01/0701sptmakers.html

SPORTS LIFE

ARMSTRONG TALKS UP COLORADO AND HIS $9 MILLION NEW HOME

Before he went to France for the bike race that will begin Saturday, Lance Armstrong was spending most of his days training not in Austin but in Aspen, Colo., where he's built a $9 million house.

"The altitude will help," Armstrong told a Denver Post reporter. "I'm here more for other reasons. My kids are here. I've got the new house here. I love the community, and the people are great."

Besides, he says, these aren't exactly great days for training rides around Austin.

"It's so hot in Texas," he said. "Right now it's already 100. It's good for winter time. It's home.

"The kids have school there, but we don't have the climbs in Austin. Obviously, we don't have the elevation. And it's grown a lot. Austin is not a bad riding city, but it's not what it was when I lived there 20 years ago."

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I just saw it a few minutes ago and that was my reaction. The website displayed at the end is Nike.com. Certainly crass but that's to be expected.

I'm probably the only person on here who has worked with the almighty Swoosh. I worked for a firm that did subcontracted work on ads for them for several years. They were the 800 ton gorilla (not that their rivals were much better, but they were). As Epi says, crass, in your face, and up front is their style. It always has been, and it's not going to change. They've sponsored Michael Vick, Joey Barton, Justin Gatlin, Marion Jones, etc. over the years. It's all about money.

Some of us see their ads and see inspiration. Others see arrogance. I don't see either anymore.

The only thing I'll say is that I'll don't plan on ever working for them again. And it has nothing to do with Armstrong.

 

[rhubroma]

Some of us see their ads and see inspiration. Others see arrogance. I don't see either anymore.

This is the essense of the matter: how people see and respond to what is being presented. But in regards to whether or not Armstrong is a positive forse, not from a business standpoint (for obviously he is), but form an ethical one in cycling, or in regards to a personal assessment of his character based on episodes with riders like Bessasons and Simeoni: then I think there are those who have a good critical head on their shoulders and those who simply do not.

Ultimately it is an issue of taste and good (or poor) judgment, where, in this extremely narrow case, good taste and good judgment exist and vice versa.

 

[rhubroma]

I find it interesting with how "arrogant" some of the Lance haters are. You accuse him of arrogance and are drowning in a cesspool of your own arrogance.

Here you confuse "arrogance" with outrage. Outrage over how so many simple minded people can believe in the whiter than snow, hard worker nonesense, who can thus also support a man who has gotten away with murder throughout his entire doped career, bullied those a man in his postion of power within the cycling world is capable of who have dared to try and expose the omertà which is killing the sport, and who even now has coopted the cancer community to promote himself as "Lance the Thaumaturge" who can even save the hopeless while gaining the benifit of impunity on the one hand and idol worship on the other.

 

[msjett]

pot. kettle. black.

lol - Exactly what I was thinking!

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Didn't know you were from the great state of Texas, WBT?! Seriously, your posts sometimes crack me up.

My point on the Nike ad was this: What did you expect them to do?!? Put a video clip of Lance chasing down Simeoni or Bassons, or hugging Heras or Tyler, or standing on the podium next to Ullrich or Pantani? Nike is a for-profit company (as is Lance) and going to make money how every way they best see fit, and have pushed the boundaries of etiquette or propriety to the limits for years now. I'm not saying that means you have to like it, or think it's right. Just that I am not the slightest bit surprised by it.

I guess it would be more honest if they showed him doing those things I listed, and saying "we're here to win at any cost and sell as much product as possible, while paying workers the lowest wages possible. All just barely within the limitations of the law." But that's not how advertising works.

 

[uphillstruggle]

Personally not a fan of Lance mainly due to his attacks on others in the cycling community that stood in his way and for making the tour boring for a few years, however, I personally don't think there's too much wrong with him promoting a cancer charity. Yes, he is also promoting himself so I don't consider him an altruistic philantropist, but if it raises money and awareness for those in need then it's not a bad thing.

I think the slant of the add is where he loses credibility. It would, in my opinion, be more insperational of him to go along the lines of: I was told I probably wouldn't live let alone ride my bike etc - and I won 7 tours (which he did by the way, and they all doped), rather than bringing into question those who questioned his attitude and methords.

What was remarkable about what he did was that he beat, what by all accounts was a nasty bout of cancer and went on to win the tour, not that people think he's arrogant and a doper but look he's really a good guy.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Good points uphill.

 

[whiteboytrash]

Funny enough it was announced yesterday that Lance is being investigated by the SEC. It appears that whilst sitting on the board he missed 11 meetings in one year ! There are also financial irregularities which are being investigated. He may be able to buy off the UCI but I don't think he'll be able to do the same with the SEC. Certainly not in the current climate.

Didn't know you were from the great state of Texas, WBT?! Seriously, your posts sometimes crack me up.

My point on the Nike ad was this: What did you expect them to do?!? Put a video clip of Lance chasing down Simeoni or Bassons, or hugging Heras or Tyler, or standing on the podium next to Ullrich or Pantani? Nike is a for-profit company (as is Lance) and going to make money how every way they best see fit, and have pushed the boundaries of etiquette or propriety to the limits for years now. I'm not saying that means you have to like it, or think it's right. Just that I am not the slightest bit surprised by it.

I guess it would be more honest if they showed him doing those things I listed, and saying "we're here to win at any cost and sell as much product as possible, while paying workers the lowest wages possible. All just barely within the limitations of the law." But that's not how advertising works.

 

[Anonymous]

the usual slick, well put together nike ad.. they may make footwear for chavs, but they do make good tv adverts...

Poeple will remember it, talk about it etc.. Thats what advertising is about..

oh as nobody has linked it..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph6Gd2Cg4gc

its certainly better than this old pile of tripe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjcZNR6MiRE&NR=1