Posted on 06/13/2004 6:37:02 PM PDT by jern
Actually we've went through this for three or four years now. You see, there are four problems with Lance Armstrong :
1)He's an American
2)He's dominating a huge European event.
3)Some of the biggest European names in cycling have had drug problems in the past five years.
4)He's on the verge of doing something that no European (or anybody else for that matter) has ever done.
Bob Roll said three or four years ago, that because of the factors above, that every year until he retires, the European press and other Europeans with a financial or nationalistic interest in the race are going to try and tie Armstrong to drugs, anyway they can. He said you'll hear articles, innuenedo, etc. coming out and it won't come out in the fall or winter or spring, it'll come out right before he's due to race.
In other words, the Europeans will try and distract him, even if they don't have solid allegations. It's not enough to change the stages/course of the Tour every year, here and there, to try and take away any advantages Armstrong has over his competition.
Low and behold, less than a month before the Tour, Bob Roll is right again, for the third or fourth year in a row. Armstrong is one of the most tested athletes in history. They want to him so badly, that if they had even the slimmest of things on him, he'd have been gone.
I had a lengthy response above, but you summed it up in one sentence, lol.
Go Lance! Go USA!
Like was said, their contract was up. I heard (take this as rumor) that they felt that because they really only get publicity during the tour (even if they are using him in their ad campaigns) that they felt their dollars would be better spent on a higher-visibility situation, such as NASCAR. They have a very limited amount of advertising, and with UPS, Fedex, DHL, etc. really leaning on them in the package arena, it would make sense to move their money elsewhere.
I implied earlier that all Europeans hate him. I shouldn't say that, many are rooting for him. There are, however, many who do not want him to win. Some of the media in Europe are just as bad as our media, and will print anything.
A quote from a Champion from the 50's / early 60's is relevant here because......?
Ping!
Semper Fi
Y'all know, it ain't the Tour de France, it's the Tour de Lance! ;)
Appears that he thinks he knows more about drug testing than Tour officials.
Burden of proof has always been on the accuser. And there's no logical way for Armstrong to prove he DIDN'T do something.
And by the by, welcome to FreeRepublic.
Woopsie. Spoke too soon I guess.
Of course no one knows one way or the other, however, but I do think that it is safe to say that doping/steroids/performance enhancing drug use is widespread in many performance sports, including cycling, don't you?
If you DO agree with that, then you should probably expect that this sort of criticism goes with the territory. I don't know how you prove NON-use over a career.
There is only one reason why athletes use these techniques.....they work. So, an exceptional performer like Lance Armstrong, who denies the use of performance enhancing drugs, is naturally under suspicion. You can even create a statistical model which virtually proves such use......but, of course, that doesn't mean it's true.
The sports world needs to wake up. If you do it and get caught.....you are banned for life, and any titles you have won are stripped from you. That is the only way to handle it. Even the lowly defenseman in the NFL should be subject to this sanction
Maybe we can dream of a day when sports are a healthy competition between athletes with nothing but God-given abilities, but for now it is just a dream.
Today in sports it's victory to them with the best drugs.....where's the fun in that for participant or spectator?
Triamcinolone is found in anti itch creams.
Yes indeed, as I recall, he tested positive, but well below the allowable level, due to use of an approved creme for saddle sores. The cream contained some corticosteroids.
This article is indeed a hit piece - trying to spin this well-known bit of old news as if he failed a drug test and got a pass from officials.
Seems that Armstrong will have a lucrative slander suit ahead, but no way he has been tested positive for drugs.
The French can't stand it that an American (from TEXAS, no less) is going to supplant Bernard Hinault by winning his sixth Tour.
First off the French are as patriotic as you are blindly lead. Armstrong doesn't beat a Frenchman in the records, it's a Spaniard named Indurain. He won 5 and Lance tied last year...now he beat it. In terms of doping. Don't be so asinine (to those that think Lance is innocent). EVERYONE dopes on the tour. You can even keep certain drugs in your blood at a certain level since a certain mg is actually allowed. Don't point a finger at the French. How dumb is that? The number 1 critic is Greg Lemond the real American cycling hero. Lance threatened his business and called him saying he doped and that if he said anything he'd destroy his business. Lemond sayed quiet until now. Now why would an honest American lie? ;-)
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