What do we make of the inspirational Lance Armstrong now?
The great Lance Armstrong was once an American hero. Question is, is he still? (AP photo)
Lance Armstrong was more than a guy on a bike. Indeed, he titled his as-told-to autobiography, “It’s Not About the Bike.” And he wasn’t just a guy who had cancer and lived to tell the tale. He was an inspiration, a role model, an object lesson regarding the power of the human will.
He beat testicular cancer and didn’t just go on with his life. He became bigger than life. He won the Tour de France seven years running. He was named Sports Illustrated’s 2002 sportsman of the year and took multiple ESPYs as the male athlete of the year. Above and beyond all that, he was the guy who gave us the yellow bracelets, the ones bearing the name of his foundation — Livestrong.
And now he stands revealed as … what? A craven cheat? The hypocrite of all hypocrites? The guy who swore his innocence right up until the point where he decided to stop swearing?
“I am … finished with this nonsense,” was Armstrong’s rationale for dropping his fight against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which took his words as an admission of guilt and moved to strip him of those seven Tour de France titles. (Though the International Cycling Union is waiting for further information to take action.) The USADA has vacated, to invoke the college sports word, everything Armstrong achieved in his sport from 1998 on.
And we’re left to do … what? To recall all the good will and admiration we directed toward Lance Armstrong all these years? To feel cheated ourselves? To feel — diving deeper here — that this beacon of hope actually was a manifestation of everything we have hoped against hope isn’t true? That the games aren’t rigged, that sports are indeed a measure of character, that the bad guys don’t always (or ever) win?
If we’d been honest with ourselves, we might have wondered if the Livestrong story was the stirring saga it appeared to be. Armstrong was under suspicion even as he was winning those Tours. (This being cycling, everybody is under suspicion.) He would dispute every allegation, but the weight of the whispers began to give some among us pause. But not, I would suggest, the masses.
Most of us still saw Armstrong as a hero. He had cancer and still he became the world’s greatest cyclist. That was the more gripping narrative, and also the more palatable. Reality, alas, tends to get complicated.
Armstrong insists that he has admitted no wrongdoing, that he has simply chosen not to keep fighting the USADA. In a statement, he said this: “USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles. I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours.”
And now we’re again scrambling for purchase on that slippery slope. Did Southern Cal win the 2004 BCS title or not? (The Trojans were stripped of the title owing to sanctions involving Reggie Bush, who has since returned his 2005 Heisman Trophy.) Who’s the real home run king — Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds? We have reason to suspect that Bonds didn’t generate all 762 homers on the up-and-up, but MLB kept letting him play, did it not? And, for further discussion: Should Mark McGwire be in the Hall of Fame? Should Rafael Palmeiro? Should Roger Clemens? And what of A-Rod, who might well hit 763 home runs?
This is a terrible time to be a sports fan. (Last week Melky Cabrera, this week Bartolo Colon and now Armstrong.) For all the joy that’s supposed to come from following these athletes and their trivial pursuits, we keep slamming into chilling truths, or half-truths, or truth laced so heavily with fiction that it’s not true at all. All any of us can know for sure about Lance Armstrong is that the first part of his stirring saga stands: He did beat cancer. Everything afterward is open to interpretation. Everything afterward could well have been a lie.
And all among us who have, over the years, sported those yellow bracelets? We could have shared his lie. Some feel-good story this is turning out to be, huh?
By Mark Bradley
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337 comments Add your comment
The Libertarian
August 24th, 2012
1:07 pm
He never failed a test. I love America ,but our government sux.
Joey
August 24th, 2012
1:08 pm
Armstrong quit fighting when last week a court threw out his case, then discovered that 10 former teammates were ready to testify against him at this arbitration.
Balco Labs founder Victor Conte said last week about Melky, “the only athletes getting caught failing tests are the stupid ones.”
Armstrong was a master at the PED use – that’s why he never failed a test.
He is a cheater who made $Millions.
Ostrich Racer
August 24th, 2012
1:11 pm
“Armstrong quit fighting when last week a court threw out his case, then discovered that 10 former teammates were ready to testify against him at this arbitration.”
This. This is what I’ve been trying to tell you people. Thank you, Joey, for saying it better than I did.
Joe from Gainesville
August 24th, 2012
1:14 pm
so you really think LA shot up drugs in front of 10 teammates? BS
Tom
August 24th, 2012
1:16 pm
Maybe this should be a lesson to you about assigning so much weight and importance to those engaged in activities that, in the grand scheme of things, don’t mean a f*cking thing. If you’re disappointed and feel let down, you’ve only yourself to blame.
chaff
August 24th, 2012
1:16 pm
NO evidence means Not Guilty… So why do they continue to pursue him? They must have it out for him… what idiotic comments… who in their right mind would not fight if it weren’t true… Cycling has been shrouded for years with doping scandals. You are obtuse if you believe he is innocent…
Ted M
August 24th, 2012
1:16 pm
Armstrong won on a level playing field as they are ALL cheating.
SJ
August 24th, 2012
1:17 pm
He tested negative during all his career and they still haven’t proved anything yet, for all who care that is a bunch of BS
zilla
August 24th, 2012
1:18 pm
Witch hunt, plain and simple.
Ostrich Racer
August 24th, 2012
1:18 pm
@CheatStrong — A tad harsh, perhaps.
Splavistic
August 24th, 2012
1:23 pm
If Lance is so ’strong’. Why can’t he keep fighting the good fight? What’s a few more hearings and proceedings? Was USADA stalking his wife and children? Leaving burning bags of poop on his doorstep? Sounds like he just can’t live the lie anymore. Another case of ‘crime & punishment’ where his tortured soul must speak out.
collegeballfan
August 24th, 2012
1:24 pm
The real story here is the testing system the anti-doping agencies use. Armstrong passed over doping 900 tests while he was riding. How?
How did he pass those tests? If he was doping, why did they not catch him? Obviously the ‘testers” were incompetent. If they were incompetent then, what evidence is there that they are not incompetent today?
That is the real story.
So they put a lifetime ban on a retired person. That is cute at best.
So they lifted the titles they do not have the authority to lift. The 7 titles billions around the world saw with their own eyes on their local TV. He did not win them?
To answer the questions:
Yes, USC won the 2005 BCS.
Yes, Barry Bonds hit the most home runs.
I saw both with my own eyes.
gfc
August 24th, 2012
1:25 pm
Mark, up to now I greatly enjoyed the majority of your columns and writing. After this column, though, your credibility and respect as a journalist takes a huge hit in my eyes. As was mentioned in the comments, he has spent millions trying to defend himself. It has already contributed (I say “contributed”, not “responsible for”) one marriage. His statement talks about the drain on his family. And, I think at least equally important to him, the drain and PR hit on his foundation. After 17 years of fighting this, to finally throw in the towel – even at the expense of (common) public opinion – is understandable. In his eyes, his family and his work with cancer is more important that his public reputation.
I, though, thought you were better than the layperson. I thought you’d at least have some degree of unbiasedness and be able to contemplate/consider at least the possibility that this is not an admission a guilt but more him – and I really hate to say this – quitting the fight. At this point, there is simply no more convincing to do – you have the people who firmly believe (in) him and the people who firmly believe he doped. There no longer is anyone on the fence.
Personally, I believe he was clean. Maybe I believe that because I desperately want there to be some hope for the sport. More than that, though, are the facts:
Never tested positive for any banned substance
USADA will not produce their “proof”
Two of the “witnesses” are, yes, former teammates but are also – more recently – former opponents with an agenda
The same two witnesses made deals with USADA
The other governing bodies over cycling and doping both cleared him of allegations
The US Gov cleared him of allegations
If you want to argue that because his chemo was specifically tailored for him and designed to make sure he could still compete in cycling, he had an unfair advantage, I’ll listen to that argument – there might be some degree of validity to it. Bottom line, tough, is that I still believe in the concept of innocent until proven guilty. When the USADA (or any other accuser) produces valid evidence, there is nothing to prove guilt.
marks
August 24th, 2012
1:26 pm
hey Mark, where is the evidence he cheated? How many innocent people that plead guilty although they are innocent but do so to get it over with? Lance has NEVER been found to have banned substance in his body fluids. No matter what WE think, he is INNOCENT and the doping people needs to PROVE he did what they suspect. These people are pathetic and I wish he would sue them for all they have.
Hash browns anyone
August 24th, 2012
1:28 pm
First Maybe Lance armstrong was goin broke in court case’s they do cost folks…and some people hopein like cheapstrong whateve was sayin i hope he gets cancer back is just beyond stupid from U….I hope some supreme court case be that and they vote 9-0 to overturn it and give back his titles…Lance u did what is best for family n kids from the daily crap….so i guess next PBS will Pull lance armstrong off arthur now in reruns too!
Downey Soffet
August 24th, 2012
1:29 pm
Mr. Bradley, the USC Trojans did not win the 2005 BCS championship game. The Texas Longhorns defeated the Trojans on January 4, 2006 in the Rose Bowl Game; that contest determined the BCS winner for the 2005 season.
NCAA Critic
August 24th, 2012
1:32 pm
I would suggest that we not look to professional athletes in our search for heroes. Probably would avoid politicians and actors, too.
The Carnivore
August 24th, 2012
1:34 pm
The evidence is in all the people lined up to testify against him. There are too many to ignore – former teammates, former opponents, team officials, tour officials, team doctors, etc. At some point it is best to stop fighting. We allow witness testimony in criminal trials, and that is what you people fail to see. We were about to hear plenty of witness testimony against Lance, and he knew all those years of lies were about to catch up to him in a very public way. Better to end it like this than face mountains of evidence in a courtroom.
Hmmmmmmm
August 24th, 2012
1:36 pm
It’s almost like the NCAA is investigating this… How absurd this has become…
Don't Wake That Dog!
August 24th, 2012
1:36 pm
This is a perfect example of a sleeping dog that should be left alone. Lance was the best of his generation and is doing more good now than almost any other former athlete. We can’t know the truth so the USADA should have dropped it years ago. Someone has a vendetta.
watcher
August 24th, 2012
1:38 pm
There are people who have been in prison for copping a plea to rape and murder.. who are later exonerated on DNA evidence. The only evidence against them were eyewitnesses. Why wouldn’t someone fight to the end if they are innocent?
Because, at some point, they just give up during a process that is stacked against them.
USADA cannot prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, Lance Armstrong’s guilt. That pretty much says it all.
Hmmmmmmm
August 24th, 2012
1:39 pm
@Carnivore
Your an IDIOT! He never failed a test that was required… Just get some help!
Ken Stallings
August 24th, 2012
1:40 pm
I was waiting to see if someone hiding behind an alias would actually lower himself to say he hoped Armstrong’s cancer would return (which is tantamount to actually saying he hopes he dies). Unfortunately, given the crass world we live in today, I did not have to wait long!
I hope no one in life you care about dies from cancer! However, being so crass in your effort, it may be true that at least for you, there is no one in the world whom you care about!
Livestrong supporter
August 24th, 2012
1:42 pm
@cheatstrong – that’s an awful wish on someone, innocent or not.
Hmmmmmmm
August 24th, 2012
1:42 pm
I think for the most part that people are just Jealous of all his success… What has come to us all to try and take a man down because we are jealous… It’s really pathetic…
Call It Like It Is
August 24th, 2012
1:46 pm
He didnt grease the right palms during his career now its payback. These guys will do whatever it takes to bring him down. So before Armstrong how many on this board had even watch a bike race? You can soar like an eagle but if you fly to low, the turkeys will bring you down.
Pat
August 24th, 2012
1:46 pm
USADA a bunch of loser terps with unlimited funds. Armstrong was tested before and after every race and 100’s of time inbetween and since, test results zero. USADA losers can go “F” themselves.
Big D
August 24th, 2012
1:46 pm
He never failed a drug test!!!
robert sands
August 24th, 2012
1:48 pm
They did not give him the honors, can’t take them away. They have no proof. He has tested drug free five time. This organization is private.
Anyone who raised five hundred million to fight cancer has to be right.
Anita
August 24th, 2012
1:49 pm
He is still a champion in my eyes. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Even if he was using something and all of the other athletes were using something then he is still a winner. The USADA are the dopes. USADA needs to get a clue and worry about something else.
Stuart
August 24th, 2012
1:51 pm
Evidence that he cheated? Upon actually READING the articles that came out today, the USADA has his blood samples from ‘09-10 that tested positive for doping. Upon sharing this with Lance, he then decided to stop fighting the accusations… and he is not guilty? This somehow isn’t evidence? To go along with the testimony of 10+ colleagues who don’t want to be charged for perjury (as would Lance, I assume, if he continued to court and stated under oath that he wasn’t doping, only to have this evidence brought out… another reason to drop out now – or admit under oath to cheating).
Now, one could argue that these blood samples weren’t from his Tour-winning years, but since he had already been suspected of doping before ‘09-10, you’d have to be pretty naive to assume he just started then, especially considering that it’s undisputed that he was introduced to steroids and PEDs initially via prescription when he was recovering from cancer.
The testing methods are slowly catching up to the PEDs. He did not test positive during his Tour-winning years, but the tests couldn’t detect everything then that they can now. But as Victor Conte keeps stating even today, there are still PEDs athletes are using that are ahead of the testing curve.
The Carnivore
August 24th, 2012
1:52 pm
@Hmmmmmm – First of all, is it required that a jury witness a murder firsthand to actually convict? Of course not, witness testimony is certainly allowed. Second, you were speeding this morning and didn’t get caught by the police. Does that mean you were not speeding? Third, it’s “you’re”, not “your”.
The mistake you are making lies in your belief that a doping test is the sole determinant of innocence or guilt. Your one-dimensional view of this situation is laughable and irrelevant to serious discussion.
Artie
August 24th, 2012
1:52 pm
How the hell does a U.S. governing body strip him of the titles from a French event??? I call b.s. on this!!! The IUC (international governing body) has never charged Lance and currently supports his claims of innocence. News stories already using the term “could” lose his titles. Most randomly drug-tested athlete in the world with NO positives. Testimony has come from disgruntled ex-associates…go figure!!!
Doug Chalmers
August 24th, 2012
1:53 pm
What a ludicrous article. Because he’s been accused again, he must be guilty? What of the fact that he’s defeated all of the other charges? One can easily understand Armstrong finally deciding that years of having to defend himself against these allegations is enough, and that he would prefer to spend his days living his life rather than having to defend his name – AGAIN. Shame on Mark Bradley.
racewalker46
August 24th, 2012
1:54 pm
He never had a positive test(neither did Barry Bonds), so I find it hard to conclude that he is guilt of anything. One the other hand, cycling is one of the dirtiest sports, so if in the end he did cheat, I would not be surprised. I am more surprised that he decided to give up his fight for his innocence.
Hmmmmmmm
August 24th, 2012
1:55 pm
LOL ok Carnivore…. I leave the serious discussion to you….
Ronin
August 24th, 2012
2:01 pm
Yep, it’s a WITCH HUNT. It would appear that with the USADA, you’re guilty until proven innocent. He’s made the money, has the fame, at some point you simply say no more. One of top cyclist in the world dogged by a government agency. Yet another story how government is there to help. In the land of the free and the home of the brave, we owe our ability to pay our monthly entitlement checks to Communist China.
bikerdave
August 24th, 2012
2:05 pm
If Lance is willing to let USADA do this to him and walk away Michael Phelps should be scared he’s the next target. After all, he did win 22 or 23 Olympic medals and how many other awards in world championships over the past 12 years. In our current “hate the successful” USA society he couldn’t possibly have been that great a swimmer without help from the locker room pharmacist or our federal government as presbo likes to claim.
I just hope USADA doesn’t get away with this without having to show thier evidence. That scares me the most. The news agencies really need to demand all the evidence be put out on the table. Lets see the smoking gun! How can a guy pass hundreds of drug tests during competition, be acquited by the european agency who had it in for him all those years, have the case dismissed for lack of evidence by our own federal prosecutors, and yet USADA can claim they are all wrong and he cheated?
I want to see what USADA says they have on him before I label him a cheat and kick him under the bus. You are innocent until proven guilty in this country. Lets see the undisputable proof. Maybe he is truely just sick and tired of getting beat on by a government agency with too much power.
Hmmmmmmm
August 24th, 2012
2:10 pm
Oh, and thanks for the grammar class…
You’re an IDIOT…. Better…
IBelieveLance
August 24th, 2012
2:11 pm
He’s never failed a drug test, despite being the most tested man in the history of sport. USADA is a joke.
Gman 84
August 24th, 2012
2:19 pm
Is anybody really surprised by any of this anymore?
Either everyone else was lying or Lance was.
I live near Floyd Landis in Murrieta, CA and by chance, had an opportunity to speak with him a year or so ago-got the impression when he came clean he was telling the truth-he really didn’t have a lot to gain otherwise. He comes across as beaten down by the whole thing but a pretty reasonable person nonetheless. By contardiciting his original claim of cleanliness, he was easily branded unreliable as a proven liar and cheat, but much evidence supported his claim.
sharecropper
August 24th, 2012
2:21 pm
Stands “revealed” as a cheat? Because he would not submit to an arbitrary arbitration process? He has admitted nothing and they have proved nothing. Whatever we may think, and all the circumstantial evidence points to his guilt, if for nothing else than the absurdity of seven straight titles, nobody proved nothing and by refusing submit to further stalking he certainly did not admit it. That they were so quick to toss him says to me their minds were made up and he was right: the meditation would have been a farce. We really have to stop this mouthing about innocent until proven guilty until we start to mean it.
Ken Stallings
August 24th, 2012
2:24 pm
What article says the USADA has samples from 2009-10 that tested positive? No article I have read says that. But even if USADA claims this, where did the sample come from? Undoubtedly it would have come from Armstrong’s last Tour de France in 2009. And the UCI had systems in place to test those samples then and they all came up clean.
I’m all about catching actual drug cheats. Marion Jones admitted to using PED’s — that’s a confession. Armstrong made it very clear in his most recent press statement that he is not confessing to anything and has reasserted his innocence. USADA is not a court of law. They are a private company given limited Congressional authority over Olympic sports in the US. I have learned that Armstrong won a bronze medal at the Sydney games, so USADA would it seems have the authority to take away that medal unless the IOC or USOC objected.
Again, the problem with all this is the USADA acting as inquisitor, meaning investigator, judge, jury and executioner. There is a reason no one person or agency has this much power. It is unfair on its face. Remember, even the federal judge who ruled he has no legal standing to end the USADA’s actions also ruled clearly he has serious doubts as to the veracity and motives of USADA.
Hmmmmmmm
August 24th, 2012
2:27 pm
Buffy and carnivore, match made in heaven….
Ken Stallings
August 24th, 2012
2:29 pm
Carnivore, if you truly think it is laughable that guilt be proven by reasonable standards which are objective, then you are laughing at the very system that keeps the United States from being an arbitrary police state where all citizens enjoy their liberties at the pleasure of the government!
If Armstrong was actually proven by busted drug tests to have cheated, I’d be the first to call him guilty and reject him. But, the man has always passed those hundreds of tests. To claim after the fact that the tests were all inadequate (despite so many others being busted by them at the time) is wholly arbitrary. Moreover, if people are going to find their careers and lives ruined by post-de-facto innuendo and shadowy claims by non-authorized bodies to have something, then all of our liberties are forfeit! It would only be a matter of time or getting in the crosshairs of a bureaucrat with an agenda to have your life ruined!
That’s not the kind of society I want to live in, nor one who’s actions I would long tolerate!
Fair n Balanced
August 24th, 2012
2:30 pm
Tested and found not guilty. What else do you want?
creative
August 24th, 2012
2:30 pm
Anyone who knows anything about cycling, which is like 2 people here, knows that he is guilty. Most people, in the cycling community, knew that he doped years ago on an ongoing basis. Most rednecks who love the fashion of the yellow bracelet and American pride are the one’s commenting here with “He never failed a test” There are a million ways to pass those tests especially back then. Do you think that he would have doped if he thought he would get caught. Use your brain idiots. Nobody can go from almost dying to improving their time to better than they were before the cancer without doping.
PineNeedle
August 24th, 2012
2:30 pm
Did I miss something? Did any of his tests show positive? Is there any proof other than allegations?
There must be an end to the mess at some point. There is no sense in Lance wasting all of his money paying lawyers for the rest of his life.
The Carnivore
August 24th, 2012
2:33 pm
Here is what everyone else thinks …
http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/polls
Norm
August 24th, 2012
2:33 pm
Armstrong is the most drug tested athlete in sports history, and he passed every one.