[Baynative]

Bike Ping

"Cycling officials let doping flourish and broke their own rules so Lance Armstrong could cheat his way to becoming the superstar the sport badly needed, according to a scathing report into its drug culture."

Still another bad mark against the UCI, in my opinion. In fact this statement not only doesn't make sense, it mocks the sport and [again in my opinion] shows some culpability in helping LA ruin his life.

It raises two simple questions:

1. If everyone was allowed to juice, then wasn't LA still the best rider at the time and...

2. If they had clamped down on usage heard from the start, would he not have still dominated?

Back to my former statement from years ago:

"Sport is entertainment. Let them all do whatever it takes to thrill the spectators and fans, it's their choice. We like film and recording stars that are artificially enhanced, why not athletes?"

[bigbob]

Then eliminate the rule. I object to the hypocrisy more than the juicing.

[babble-on]

1. It wasn’t a level playing field of juicing. Armstrong was the pacesetter in juicing, innovating, taking risks, demanding risks be taken by his teammates, and if they expressed misgivings, he ratted them out and crushed their careers, all the while secure that the UCI would never come after the champion, the guy selling all those bicycles in America.

2. We’ll never know. I’ll never care.

[Mercat]

Please add me to your ping list.

[SuzyQue]

” It raises two simple questions:

1. If everyone was allowed to juice, then wasn’t LA still the best rider at the time and...

2. If they had clamped down on usage heard from the start, would he not have still dominated?”

Exactly.

[Boogieman]

“1. If everyone was allowed to juice, then wasn’t LA still the best rider at the time and...”

Or maybe he had the best juice, or just used it more than others.

[Yogafist]

Wasn’t it Al Davis who said, “If you ain’t Cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’.”

Lance won those tours, and anyone who follows cycling knows it. Lance’s problem was his personality, which also contributed to his winning ability.

There isn’t a single top tier athlete that doesn’t cheat, or bend the rules to help him/her win. I was watching an Angel’s game last year, and the announcers were talking about how the opposing team allowed the grass on the infield to grow longer to slow the ball down a little because their infield lacked quickness. That started a conversation about what other teams were doing, and it was pretty amazing. Sorry, it is a fact of life, everyone tries to get an advantage.

[HangThemHigh]

I don’t really like Lance ever since his statement that God had nothing to do with his wins.

That said, I think Lance would have still have won a Tour or two if he was the only one not doping, he was that good.