Lance Armstrong: His Threats and Bullying Are the Real Story - Slate Mag

Good summary of the bullshit Lance spewed during his Oprah interview.

http%3A//www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2013/01/lance_armstrong_s_oprah_interview_his_threats_and_bullying_are_the_real.html



• he's a psychopath.

• No, he's a sociopath. He wants what he wants and he gets it regardless of the collateral damage.

• It's worse. He's a psychopath that just because he was a successful athlete was put on a pedestal.

• He has no remorse and is soulless. And those beady shifty eyes!!! He really is frightening.

• Finally, Lance Armstrong has admitted using performance enhancing drugs in his remarkable feat of winning seven Tour de France races before retiring. He made the admission in an interview with Oprah Winfrey to air Thursday and Friday on her network, whose survival is as threatened as Armstrong’s reputation as a straight shooter. After a decade-plus of vehemently denying using drugs, Armstrong coming clean hardly undoes the damage he’s done to his reputation and, possibly, to the sport (if one can call the Tour de France a “sport” rather than a tradition). After surviving the usually fatal testicular cancer, he insisted he would never put foreign substances in his bloodstream that might reintroduce cancer to his system. That seemed so logical, that to think otherwise defied common sense. But it was a lie. What is true about Armstrong’s racing career is that no cyclist — perhaps no athlete in the history of sport — has undergone so many tests for doping (some 500 of them) with no evidence of drug usage. Now that his usage has been confirmed, the explanation is that his use of drugs was so advanced, so sophisticated, that detection methods never caught up. That sounds suspiciously like a cop-out — of fabricating an explanation after the fact. Regardless, he is now guilty of using drugs in his races. Despite hurt feelings of those who believed Armstrong and now feel betrayed, there has never been a cyclist of his talent, stamina, perseverance. What should be remembered is that the Tour de France and cycling are notorious for doping. Over the years that Armstrong was winning the Tour de France, virtually every cyclist who mounted the podium after the race has tested positive for steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. A case can be made that one cannot become a world-class cyclist without help from drugs. Those who deny such usage risk falling into the trap Armstrong inadvertently built for himself. Yes, he’s lost his medals, his record has been expunged, but what cannot be changed or denied is that he was by far the greatest cyclist of his time. Perhaps ever. In a sport where so many of the good ones were doping, Armstrong was competing on a field that was more or less level. No one was in his category. We can look at other sports — baseball’s Roger Clemens (another denier), Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, even the Yankee’s A-Rod for a time. They stood out among others who were on the juice. Ben Johnson — fastest sprinter in the world in 1988 until he was caught using steroids and lost his Olympic gold medal to Carl Lewis. Where is the justice in that? In fact, there are some who believe that most runners who make the finals in the Olympic 100-metre sprint are on some medication. But believing something is a far cry from proving it. It seems that years of denying wore Armstrong down: He cheated. The stellar work he’s done on behalf of cancer, his raising of awareness of the disease, his inspiring, personal example of fighting cancer and not letting it conquer him, fade with the admission of his deceit. He’s now something of a pariah. Perhaps deservedly so. But he’s still the greatest cyclist who ever lived. That cannot be denied.

• And yet, I heard several women talking about this and their take was: But he's HOT, so it doesn't matter.

• R4,

  http://robinbward.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/jmb-08-2601.jpg?w=640&h=392&crop=1

  beady soulless eyes

• I am sorry to say a narcissist like Armstrong cannot change. It is in his nature. He will always be a danger to human society. The best thing to do would be send him to prison for a very long time so he can't scam anymore and take all of his money to give back to his victims.

• He did say to Oprah that he was a bully.

• Yeah, we'll there are also women who send Drew Peterson marriage proposals in prison r6.

  Sheryl%20C.

• We'll= well

  R10

• This freaks me out about Lance Armstrong: "after Mr. Hamilton had testified about Mr. Armstrong’s doping and after Mr. Hamilton’s cooperation with federal law enforcement officials had been publicly reported, on June 11, 2011, Mr. Hamilton was physically accosted by Mr. Armstrong in an Aspen, Colorado restaurant. … Mr. Armstrong said, “When you’re on the witness stand, we are going to fucking tear you apart. You are going to look like a fucking idiot.” … “I’m going to make your life a living … fucking … hell."

• Sheryl, you've got some balls showing up here.

• R5 is an utter falsehood. None of his wins can be taken seriously because he was high the entire time. No one can ever know if he was or was not a great cyclist because he always took performance enhancers to win. The "everyone did it" argument doesn't hold water in the slightest. He is not the greatest cyclist ever. Not even close. And he won't be remembered that way.

• Textbook sociopath. If he were more violent or more focused on sex, he would have been another Ted Bundy.

• Once again, the coverup is worse than the lie.

  The Ghose of Richard Nixon

• He's the same person he was when he was idolized, by the way.

• He's a dessert topping AND a floor wax!

  New Shimmer

• He needs to commit suicide. Seriously, it's the only way a morally bankrupt, parasitic maggot on humanity like Armstrong can redeem himself. And in his suicide note he needs to apologize to the world for inflicting his diseased existence upon it.

• Narcissists rarely commit suicide.

• R5, who wrote that bullshit? No serious cycling fan ever said Armstrong was the greatest cyclist, regardless of drugs. No one, no one has ever said Armstrong was the most talented cyclist ever. If that was true, what the fuck was he doing in his four Tours when he withdrew from 3 of them and finished 36th in the remaining one? Bernard Hinualt won in his try at the Tour. Greg Lemond was 3rd in his first tour, 2nd in his 2nd and won his third. Truly great talents don't wait until their late twenties to win or place in the Tour. His early career, a period which he admitted to doping, showed a good rider who was capable of winning one-day classics. There was never any indication he was going to be a grand tour contender. Basically, it would be the equivalent of a good shortstop in baseball who averaged .295, 15 home runs, 35 doubles and 40 steals in his first five seasons to hitting 60 home runs and driving in 150 RBIs for the next 7 seasons of his career. It doesn't fucking happen and if it does, it's likely due to dope. Again, bullshit written by someone who doesn't know cycling except Lance Armstrong "won" 7 times. That screed was obviously written by someone who doesn't follow or understand cycling. The only argument that may be made is Armstrong was the greatest cyclist with the best doping program ever. That title he can hang onto.

• True r20 -- and they are the reason behind many suicides.

• Don't be so sure R21. The other night our local news interviewed the owners of two cycling stores. The first sounded very much like you, which I expected. The second was a diehard hero-worshipping Lance Armstrong fan. He said everyone was doing it so why should Lance be vilified. Both these guys are prominent in the local cycling community. I know it's not a scientific sample but, as we well know, if Lance's supporters are loud enough...

• He's one of the biggest cheats in sports, ever.

• [quote] After surviving the usually fatal testicular cancer, This is BULLSHIT. Testicular cancer is one of the most curable cancers out there.

• NPR interviewed bike people in Austin yesterday. it's about 50-50 split on thinking he's over vs. forgive him and move on.

• Listening to news reports this morning, people figure he's not sorry for what he did. They think he's only confessing the drug use as a way to get back into sports.

• oh course he's not sorry.

• Oh, he'll bounce back like the rest of them: Tiger, Pete Rose, Mark McGuire... straight men love that stuff: "I did a bad-bad. Now I will be good. I will be better." And everyone swallows their pride and forgives them, because the money's good. They'll always be little boys because no one made them grow up. Sneaking around and tricking everyone to get what they want.

  http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/02/05/former-buckeye-schlichter-suspect-in-probe.html

• I think this is one guy who won't bounce back. He's been too nasty for too long. A lot of people want their money back. He won big lawsuits against people who said he used dope. Those people want a refund.

• Suicide watch? Or is he safe because his ego is too big to succumb to such an act of weakness?

• I can't imagine a suicide watch. He still feels he was justified in doping --- win at all costs.

  Sheryl%20C.

• You all are so jealous of him. I mean Poz Face Obama says "It's perfectly fine for illegal aliens to cheat and lie and I will reward them for this by allowing them to stay." So why do you praise Poz Face and hate Lance? Because he's not a 'mo and Poz Face is so deep in the closet? Well you all are such hippo-crits.