Maxiton said:
When LA was a new and somewhat unknown quantity, first as a rider and even later as a post-cancer new winner of the Tour, drawing him as a tool and potential victim of the big boys made sense.
The thing that's always characterized Armstrong, though, is that he insists on being not just a player but the player. He doesn't take orders from anybody, and he's going to be, at the very least, an equal among senior partners in any endeavor, whether sporting or business, one the other partners defer to for final decisions. He insists on hearing every detail and making an informed decision. In this he perhaps has something in common with the late Steve Jobs.
So to suggest that he has now been blindsided or broadsided by the "big boys" strikes me as wrong and very likely disingenuous coming from someone who speaks with such authority. Armstrong could take down all these fat old fools, and you can bet he would if he thought they were screwing him. (Weisel is the only one of the bunch who holds any prospect of having more juice - the money-and-political-power kind - than Armstrong.)
If these supposed big boys don't go down, it'll be because Armstrong doesn't want them to. And if doesn't want them to, it'll be because they've done everything in their power to protect him.
Maxiton, you could be right and I could have misunderstood enormously.
I agree that Lance was given a seat at the table with the big boys. He worked for it and he earned it. And he certainly has enough "dope" on every one of the others at the table to do some damage. But not alone.
He was stupid. He should have gone to the USADA two weeks ago and told the truth, the whole truth, and taken those consequences. Instead he wanted to hold on to his fortune (not really all that much), his power (where reality quickly becomes illusion), and mostly his own image of himself.
Doing so wouldn't take down the other big guys at the table. And I agree that Weisel is untouchable - the biggest crooks always are. He could have taken McQuaid out (maybe), I doubt Verbruggen.
Personally I couldn't believe Lance's decision not to go to arbitration. Well I didn't expect him to go to arbitration, I really expected he would not go to arbitration but I expected, frankly, that we would all be blindsided, again, by Lance. That he must have something we are all looking at but don't see. He simply must. And then that late Thursday night at the witching hour when he writes: "There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say . . . ." I thought, poor guy, someone should have at least helped him write a decent statement. And then as the witch is mounting her broomstick with Lance's blood, you hear Herman and Luskin in the background sounding like Lance in the parking lot after getting thrown out of the bar for drinking too much: "Finally, you are on notice that if USADA makes any public statement claiming, without jurisdiction, to sanction Mr. Armstrong, or to falsely characterize Mr. Armstrong’s reasons for not requesting an arbitration as anything other than a recognition of UCI jurisdiction and authority, USADA and anyone involved in the making of the statement will be liable." I thought, Lance couldn't have believed that letter. He couldn't have believed his lawyers.
No, I don't think Lance ever really called the shots in his life. Not from the moment Carmichael put the first pills in the palm of Lance's hand until the witching hour came (and went). Lance is his own man now. Let's see how he calls the shots. His best friend might very well be Travis Tygart. Personally, I think he holds less in his hands than you give him credit for. But I do think you describe his personality better than I could have.
Lance as a victim? Sure. If he took dope like so many other riders take dope. Yes, he would be a victim. Still responsible for his actions, still a cheat, still sanction-able, still (in some cases, Lance's definitely) a criminal. But also a victim of a team manager, a team doctor, sports organizations, sponsors, and even the fans who actively or passively participate in the "win at all costs" mentality. But now, no longer. I could have sympathy for him as a human being, for someone who wrecked their life. I wouldn't kick him if I saw him lying drunk on the street, and I certainly wouldn't ruin myself by hating him. But I have no sympathy for what he did and for the persons he injured. (Mike Anderson might have been naive and might not have handled his affairs well and perhaps should have had more responsibility for himself . . . But Lance was a jerk, Lance was wrong, the courts were wrong to play Mike as they did, and Mike is better off today as far as possible from Lance. And there are so many other Mikes, bigger and smaller.) Lance was also a victim of cancer, even if it was "self-inflicted" as
Sports Illustrated suggested (and I tend to believe). But his lying and deception to other cancer victims and their families is abhorrent. I have not an ounce of sympathy for that. He needs to get out of the cancer world and stay out.
For me Lance Armstrong is a bully, a cheat, and a womanizer. He is a two-bit punk. And, yes, he got thrown under the bus and there is nothing he can do about it now.
I'm not an authority (on anything). You can question my sincerity or motives (as so many here want to do - "What color cowboy hat is she wearing behind her computer?"). It's not about "me" (any "me") and it's not even about Lance. It's about the kind of sport we want to have and the kind of society we want to live in.
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