[Blue Dome]

LA still in the news -- with BigSteve still beating him up. Heh. FWIW, I think BS is right. Dishonest litigants should be paraded to serve as examples. I saw LA in a recent interview where he said, paraphrased, in the same environment and circumstance he'd probably do it again. He looked bowed, but not broken. No excuses for LA, but his crime was being the best cheater, liar, and jerk, in a big pool of liars and cheaters (and probably some jerks) who were doing pretty much the same thing. Granted, not every rider was doping. If you think every other high-level professional sport isn't rife with the same problems -- the sham/scam/phony facade (NFL, anyone?) -- you've got your head in the sand. LA is just a reflection of ourselves. On some level we knew he was a lying cheater, but we wanted that tanned, golden-haired, white-toothed Texan on that European podium, year after year, the American flag waving in the background, showing the world how we were the winners! We wanted that icon of victory! We got it, alright, until we didn't have it. There's a lesson there, somewhere.

[DIYSteve]

I agree with what you say about people embracing myth and disregarding evidence. But, be careful about throwing around the term "we" and "ourselves." Lots of people -- including most people I know -- figured out long ago that he was a lying cheating bully hiding behind the cancer card, and those people are not part of the "we" of which you speak. Lance may have fooled a big part of the American public, but he was terrible at lying to those of us who regularly deal with witnesses: Go back and watch the interviews, Lance's flat affect, shifty eyes and overall creep factor. And I'm not buying "everybody does it" theory/excuse. IMO, the arbitration panel majority nailed with the findings of "an unparalleled pageant of international perjury, fraud and conspiracy" and "almost certainly the most devious sustained deception ever perpetrated in world sporting history." Lance, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemons are outliers, not representative of the norm. And Barry and Rocket didn't play the cancer card. Lance is a very special kind of megalomaniac. He could have settled with SCA years ago and come clean with the feds (as nearly all of his teammates did) and walked away with $100M, a slap on the wrist and adoration from most of the public. But instead he kept doubling down on the lies, fraud and bullying. The only explanation is that Lance is a megalomaniac. But, hey, I figured that out long ago.

[Blue Dome]

[DIYSteve]

[Toonces]

[Blue Dome]

I'm in your corner, but I have to admit, I believed Lance through his first three TDF victories -- without close scrutiny, I thought he was believable. Though, by the fourth TDF I was doubting him. I wasn't a TDF fanbois, but just enjoyed the spectacle and competition.

[tmatlack]

I think it's relevant to note that none of the last 3(?) TDF winners have the shadow of PED upon them....yet. Tom

[DIYSteve]

Yeah, but none of them stole $14,000,000 via fraud, serial perjury and witness tampering, destroyed the lives and careers of those who sought to tell the truth (e.g., Frankie and Betsy Andreu), all while yellow[wristband]washing it by playing tens of millions of people for fools via the cancer card. Again, this isn't about PEDs. It's about a narcissistic megalomaniac who sought money, power and fame at any cost, destroying all who attempted to expose him for the criminal he was. What I don't get is why so many of those he played for fools continue to support him or brush it off with the everybody does it excuse. I guess some people just cannot acknowledge that they've been conned.

[iron]

[Bernardo]

This year's Tour is winding down. I don't know if the riders are clean, but it's been interesting. Bike racing is just fascinating. The disgraced Lance Armstrong is doing a daily low tech podcast where he talks about the race and racing. He is knows a lot about cycling, doping, and the business of cycling. He describes himself sometimes as the disgraced Lance Armstrong. Seems to see himself as an average Joe with average morals. He does say he regrets being a bully. He's like some guy you randomly meet who happens to know a lot about cycling. Pretty interesting race insights if you can get past the history.

[Layback]

Meh. F Pharmstrong and everything he stands for. Why would anyone want to listen to anything that comes out of the mouth of a pathological liar? I haven't listened to his podcast but I was more than happy to give it a negative review when I first heard about it. Great tour. Lost a little bit of respect for Cav, a lot of respect for the UCI and ACO, and I regret that Porte took out Dan Martin and not Crash Froome. Martin and Ulran rode amazing races. Next year it will be exciting to see my man, Dumoulin, take on the evil empire.

[Backpacker Joe]

Sigh. And I was such a Lance fan before all that crap came down. Remember Greg LeMond's Tour 1989 win. I didnt think I could be anymore proud of an american. And by 8 seconds. LeMond was something..

[DIYSteve]

[graywolf]

Interesting interview: http://www.velonews.com/2017/07/news/former-uci-head-mcquaid-talks-armstrong-cookson-racing-schedule_444924

[trestle]