Some other things that might convince me would be finding drugs in Armstrong’s possession, physical symptoms associated with PEDs or credible testimony from someone who has provided LA with drugs or seen him use them.
I’m not asserting as an absolute fact that he isn’t doped, btw, just that I haven’t seen any proof. It’s a presumption of innocence type of thing.
Oh, and this is just a completely out of my ass, non-expert opinion, but he just doesn’t look like he’s on steroids. He doesn’t have that puffy, marshmallow man look, or a huge neck, or a bloated face or a bunch of pimples, or any ofthe other “tells,” that I’m familiar with.
Yes, I know it doesn’t necessarily mean anything, it’s just that nothing about him sets off my “roidar.”
What about the intense scrutiny under which LA has been over the past six years? Doesn’t that add to the strength of the drug test argument? Were Lemond, Millar, or the Cofidis riders tested as often for as long a time?
Hmmm, maybe, maybe not. Wasn’t he married to the lady and didnt’ she have his children, and didn’t she see him through cancer? And then when he got all famous and well-known, she’s suddenly out of the picture and he takes up with a celebrity?
I know she said that they still “get along” and she “wishes him the best” and all, but what else is the jilted wife supposed to say to the media and still save some face???
Good grief, threemae, you even insinuated that LA’s testicular cancer was a result of being doped, again with no actual evidence. Give it a rest, already.
I don’t know. I’m not really into dissecting other people’s personal lives. I have no idea whether Lance was a cad to his wife or not. I just know that I wouldn’t kick Sheryl Crow out of bed.
[QUOTE=CanvasShoes]
Hmmm, maybe, maybe not. Wasn’t he married to the lady and didnt’ she have his children, and didn’t she see him through cancer? And then when he got all famous and well-known, she’s suddenly out of the picture and he takes up with a celebrity?
QUOTE]Yeah, that does kinda stick in my craw, too.
Me either, but he’s a public figure. As spooje said, as an athlete and so called hero, it sorta “sticks in people’s craw” that someone of that stature, would behave in such a way.
I don’t think it has anything to do with whether he dopes or not, I was really just commenting on the “lucky Cheryl” comment. I don’t know if I’d consider her lucky. Statistics show that if he cheats on her to be with you, he’ll eventually cheat on you too. Which, and this is ONLY mho, makes me kinda wonder if he “cheats” at other things too.
Um me either about the normally prying into other people’s lives part, NOT the not kicking Cheryl Crow out of bed part, uhm she’s not my type, wrong parts and all
When people admit to doping despite never testing positive, it proves that the tests don’t mean very much. There have been some other threads about this, and between masking agents and other cleverness, it’s clear that teams and riders that cheat are WAY ahead of the authorities here. So that has to decrease the value of the “he’s never tested positive” argument - it just doesn’t prove very much. There’s no proof he has, but given all the other stuff I don’t think it’s necessary to attack people for being suspicious.
So, basically, you have people saying that they know for a fact that other people on Lance’s team dopes, and you have other people saying that they believe Lance dopes. That doesn’t exactly constitute evidence. It’s like saying my best friend screwed around on her husband, and some coworker believes I’m screwing around on Dr.J, so obviously that proves I’m screwing around on my husband.
I ain’t got a dog in this fight, but I’d have to see something more concrete than rumor and innuendo to convince me that Lance is doping. Sorry, till you can come up with something better than that, I’m giving the man the benefit of the doubt.
But that brings me back to a question I asked earlier; how could he prove he’s not doping? What evidence would be acceptable that he’s clean?
It seems like the official method (piss tests) are not considered reliable but wht else can he do? This seems like an impossible situation for someone who really is clean. There’s no way to make people believe it.
Fuck off, DtC. You post something I agree with! :smack:
threemae, you are so far off the on this, you deserve derision. Let me ask you this. Whom is your favorite cyclist? You must have someone for all this vitriol. You stated in the thread title that Lance has, in fact, doped. How this has survived deletion is beyond me. There are a few Dopers that told me you fuck sheep. Have I brought it up? No, because I don’t have proof.
threemae, you are hereby offered my cock to swallow. Pit Lance on something factual, or go back to “petting” your cats.
Just as a bit of reference here, but it’s worth noting that different sports have different naughty drugs. A power sport like a specialist baseball slugger would definitely be interested in steroids for instance, because explosive muscular strength is the goal. Same deal with a pro football linebacker as another example.
But endurance sports traditionally tended towards stamina oriented drugs, and prior to the late 1970’s amphetamines (and their variants) were the common poison of choice in sports like cross country skiiing and pro cycling. That and blood doping.
Lasse Viren the famed long distance runner in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics was infamous for his use of red cell blood doping - effectively a physical version of what EPO later achieved synthetically in the early 1990’s. The goal is increase oxygen carrying capacity and in pro cycling, power to weight ratio is everything. All those guys already have all the leg muscle they could ever possibly need - the goal is to raise their oxygen carrying capacity, and to also raise their waste scavenging capacity too.
To that end, two distinct sorts of drugs have been perfected this past 12 years. The former raises stuff like heamoglobin ratios, and red blood cell ratios etc etc. The latter group (while far less famous but equally effective) work towards helping the immediate reduction of muscular waste - stuff like lactic acid etc. The combination of the two provides an incredible performance benefit, and absolutely nothing is outwardly visible - not even to the most trained and knowledgeable physician.
In some respects, this last group of drugs are a bit like the wizards who work on Formula One cars. They’re working in such esoteric areas that they’re actually way, way, way in front of what the rule makers are aware of - and further, it’s in their interests not to divulge any of thier knowledge either. The goal nowadays is to tweak the body’s natural capacities and functions, and quite frankly, steroids are looked upon as being almost neanderthalic.
