Lance-elot No Longer

The shinning knight and doer of good for many people is the bully and ruthless man others have accused him of. 

I don't mean to put down what LiveStrong is and does.  LiveStrong helped, and still does help, many people with Cancer live better lives.  That didn't change and hasn't changed.  Opinions on Lance Armstrong isn't opnions of LiveStrong....had to get that out of the way.

Cycling was a sport that was riddled with participants that where doping.  Many past champions were busted for doping along with numerous participants.  Lance just never got caught.  If you thought that Armstrong never used performance enhancing drugs to win 7 Tour de Frances you where either very loyal to him, turned a blind eye, or knew very little about the sport of cycling at that time.  

In the big scheme of things, if all he did was cheat to win a bunch of cycling events...what's the big deal?  Does anyone outside the Cycling world care if Armstrong used PEDs?  As a normal working stiff, I don't recall any "water cooler" arguments at work on whether Armstrong's Championships are legit or not. 

The people and articles that concentrate on Lance cheating to win are missing the point.  I don't know how many articles and posts I've read that concentrate on that.  Do a Google search on "Lance Armstrong" and just read the titles.  Not one points out Armstrong's behavior and some of them never mention the things Armstrong did to preserve his reputation.  You have to dig into the articles to see the real crimes that he has done.

I can't believe there are articles out there that praised Oprah's interview.  To be truthful, I haven't seen the whole thing, but from what I've seen/read she never pressed him about his behavior to those around him, concentrating on the doping part...which in my book is weak.  At this point, even the hardcore Armstrong loyalist knew that he lied about not doping.  I'm siding with the crowd that said it's a publicity stunt for Oprah and her failing TV channel. 

Oprah let him slide when asked about what his teammate and his wife (Frankie and Besy Andreu) said about over hearing the doctors say to Armstrong.  Something Armstrong has denied happening and he avoided commenting about in the Oprah interview except to say he didn't call her fat.  Armstrong had publicly bashed the couple, saying that Frankie's wife was crazy and ridiculed her. He could bash them in public, but couldn't apologize to them in public.  Oprah never pressed him about the other people he sued...money he took from them for reporting the truth.  She never pressed him about Greg LeMond, who Armstrong has seemed to have a personal vendetta against since LeMond talked about Armstrong's relationship with Doctor Michele Ferrari who has been accused of administering PEDs.  Oprah never pressed him about the $1.5 million he collected in a settlement with London's Sunday Times.  Nothing about the stories written about Armstrong threatening teammates that came forward to say they had seen him do PEDs.  Tyler Hamilton claimed that Armstrong told him he would make his life a living hell after Hamilton admitted on 60 minutes that he saw Armstrong taking PEDs. 

I really can't take seriously the articles that say, "Armstrong comes clean..." when he hasn't really been confronted with his real crimes. 

The real crime is that Armstrong used his position as a highly regarded, loved by many, championship athlete to get what he wanted.  He prosecuted people in public and even sued some of them for telling the truth.  He let friends and family, including his children, defend his lies. Although, all that was because he doped, his doping to win is the least of his crimes.  He publicly went after anyone who came forward with what they new about him.  People took Armstrong's side of the argument because of who he was....Lance new it and did it for his entire career. 

What I really don't get is the people who are now defending him.  I've even seen a small upsurge in sportscasters now pushing to legalize PEDs in sports. Look, I understand that Armstrong did a lot to help people with cancer, but how does that translate to defending his actions for crushing the reputations and credibility of those other people? 

I really can't take Armstrong seriously until he comes clean about the things he did to the people and the organizations who accused him.