On the one hand he is “disgraced,” on the other he is richer, better looking, more successful and more popular than I will ever be.
Being a doper is not that big of a big deal to me - it was par for the course in cycling at the time. I don’t think I could live with doing the things he did or tried to do to other people though; that would haunt me for the rest of my days.
I guess you could say that if my own moral compass would not cause me to be tortured forever by the thoughts about what I had done, I would not be too bothered by the public disgrace. That is as long as the money, family and loyal fans were still there.
He still has fans, many fans (just go to some cycling forums - they’re there) - more than you, me and the rest of the SDMB put together probably. Although he lost some money, and also has limited earning potential, there is nothing I have read that indicates that he will be leaving the 1% any time soon, or ever. If you have a cite that contradicts my last point, please post it - I have been unable to find anything that indicates that he will go broke.
In other words, if you were Lance Armstrong, you wouldn’t mind being Lance Armstrong? :dubious:
As for the money, family and fans:
[ul][li]he’s settled lawsuits and is still facing a big one from the USPS, and all of his sponsors dropped him after the USADA report came out.[/li][li]he divorced one wife, and broke off an engagement with Sheryl Crow.[/li][li]fans? What fans? see loss of sponsors above; nobody wants to be associated with him.[/ul]My moral compass would leave me uncomfortable with having done what he did - both the cheating, honor-wise and dollar-wise, and the throwing of innocents under the bus to continue his cheating - and I would much prefer my happy ten-years-and-going marriage to his string of relationships. [/li]
Nope, don’t want to be Lance Armstrong.
The fact that blatantly violating explicit and aggressively enforced rules was par for the course doesn’t say good things about the sport of professional bike racing.
Actually, reading this article is what prompted me to write this thread.
[QUOTE]
As for the money, family and fans:
[ul][li]he’s settled lawsuits and is still facing a big one from the USPS, and all of his sponsors dropped him after the USADA report came out.[/li][li]he divorced one wife, and broke off an engagement with Sheryl Crow.[/li][li]fans? What fans? see loss of sponsors above; nobody wants to be associated with him.[/ul]My moral compass would leave me uncomfortable with having done what he did - both the cheating, honor-wise and dollar-wise, and the throwing of innocents under the bus to continue his cheating - and I would much prefer my happy ten-years-and-going marriage to his string of relationships.[/li][/QUOTE]
Please reread what I have already written and do some research and come up with cites that contradict what I have said, none of what you write here is consistent with facts regarding the life of Lance Armstrong today.
It certainly does not, I am not a huge fan of professional cycling - I never have been.
The Tour de France has always been plagued with cheating scandals even from its beginning in 1903. The winner of that tour, Maurice Garin, was later in his career stripped of two titles for taking the train.
The Lance thing took immorality to a whole new level though.
But seriously, I’d like his money. And I don’t particularly care about his doping. He did some amazing feats, drugs or no.
I don’t want to be associated with the shady things he did to get away with doping for so long, though. Which is why, despite not thinking there’s anything wrong with PEDs, I don’t use them.
And in general, despite the bullshit I deal with all the time, I would not want to be another person than myself. Lance can still donate his money to me, if he wants.
Money? OK, you got me there, he’s filthy rich - for now. Some sources say he’s reportedly worth $125M these days, although the article you linked to suggests $60M. The pending USPS lawsuit is reportedly trying to take $100M from him. Depending on what you believe his net worth is, this suit could either leave him with $25M or $0M. I’m happy no one is coming after my nest egg.
Family? According to Wikipedia, a series of short (and apparently troubled) relationships so far. I don’t envy anyone trying to raise kids from a previous marriage, regardless of the custody arrangements. These days, maybe he’s finally found his One True Love with Hansen; time will tell. Along the way, I wonder how easy it was for him to teach his kids not to lie, cheat, and steal when he himself did so on such a massive scale. I don’t make a claim to perfect sainthood, but I’d surely rather have what I’ve got than what he’s got. I’ve known my wife for 15 years, been married to her for nearly ten, and I expect we will enjoy each other’s company until one of us dies of old age.
Fans…the article you linked to said this:
[quote=]
No endorser will touch him. Nobody wants him to speak, even for free. He is banned from any marathon, triathlon, bike race, 10k, 2k sneak, even if it’s for charity. He’d like to write another book, work with cancer patients again, maybe have a role in sports. But that all seems eons away.
[/quote]
No I wouldn’t. For one thing, to have achieved his cycling success he’s had to work day in day out for years and I’m just too comfortable having an easy life to want to do that. Aside from that, I couldn’t live with myself if I’d doped AND been so fucking sanctimonious about not doping:
If he’d just gone along doing his doping without making such a big deal about being clean he’d be like any number of other moderately disgraced cyclists who’ve been caught doping, but he couldn’t do that, he had to be a complete cockhead about it.
Additionally the money isn’t a big deal for me. I won’t say that money can’t by you happiness because I know that it can make life a lot easier and that can make happiness easier to achieve, but at some point having more money stops making life easier, it just lets you buy more stuff. All I desire from money is to have enough so I don’t have to think about how much this week’s groceries will cost and not worry about how big the power bill will be, and I have that now, multiplying my income by thousands wouldn’t be a meaningful change for me.
So, no, I would have no desire to be Lance Armstrong at all.
Put me down as a long time fan of professional cycling. Yes, even despite the cheating through performance enhancing drugs. As a one time avid cyclist myself, I have a level of appreciation for the sport that others may not or cannot relate to.
Armstrong was one of the more charismatic faces and names of the sport and there are moments in races in years past that I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
Having said that, I would not want to be him at this point in his life nor would I be able to live at peace with myself if I’d behaved in the manner that he did. And I don’t mean simply because he doped to win races. I mean the way he threatened and maligned and bullied those who threatened to expose him.
Nope. I don’t understand people who cheat. The desire to win I definitely understand. But the desire to cheat I don’t. If you don’t cheat to try to win and you DON’T win then you can still hold your head up high as long as you gave it your best shot. But if you CHEAT. Well, you may win in the short term, but if you get caught your reputation is destroyed pretty much forever. I’d rather give it my all and finish 2nd than CHEAT to win, be found out later, and be disgraced for a lifetime.
If you’re a loser you can’t hold your head up high either; at least in this country. Yeah maybe they’re is something to be said for being an honest, nice guy you can feel in your heart you’re a good person blah blah blah.
I myself am not one to cheat or lie, ever; but I don’t think it really offers any sort of great reward - it’s just how I am for better or worse.
