Tag Archives: Tour de France

Going Strong Minus Lance

23 Oct

Embedly Powered

via Hulu

You know that scene in the cop show where the cop finds the killer but it turns out they were just a confused 10 year old. The cop doesn’t think the kid should go to jail but has to reveal there findings because it’s the moral thing to do. That is exactly how I felt about the busting of Lance Armstrong. I know that there is a now a mountain of evidence proving that the 7 time Tour de France winner was a mastermind of doping but I hate to see him go down.

The ultimate irony of this being that there will be literally 7 years in the Tour de France history without a winner. There is so much doping in cycling that it is impossible to give the titles to runners-up.

On the upside Armstrong’s Livestrong cancer foundation is still bringing in money. Armstrong resigned as chairman of the organization in order to protect it from criticism. In the past two weeks donations to the foundation have doubled. Let’s hope people continue to look past the doping scandal and focus on helping cancer survivors.

-M

Lance Armstrong Losing Everything

23 Aug

If you have been following Lance Armstrong originally appealed the USADA(Unites States Anti-Doping Agency which is a non-profit organization that receives partial funding from the federal government) right to investigate doping allegations but the case was thrown out. Armstrong was expected to appeal the decision. Instead Armstrong has decided not to fight anymore. This means he will lose all 7 of his Tour de France wins. He was also be hit with a life-time ban from cycling, which he retired from a year ago. And I guess we can no longer consider him the greatest cyclist of all time.

When asked for comment Armstrong said,”I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. The toll this has taken on my family and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today – finished with this nonsense.” Regardless of what you think of Armstrong doping you have to be sad for his foundation Livestrong which helps survivors of cancer. I’m sure it will be harder for them to raise money after this.

Armstrong has been accused by several former teammates of taking oral testosterone(yeah that’s everybody’s favorite recently). To cover-up for using the banned substance it is said that Armstrong received blood transfusions(aka. blood doping). He was also accused of supplying other teammates with drugs. This is despite passing nearly 500 doping test. He also survived a Federal investigation earlier this year for doping.

This once raises the issue of doping in sports. Even the teammates accusing Armstrong of doping were all suspended at one point for doping. If you look at the wikipedia page for doping cases in cycling it is incredibly long. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doping_cases_in_cycling) All the major cyclist have been accused of doping at one point in their careers.

I think it is time that we have the debate about how much of an edge do steroids give athletes. If we gave everyone the same steroids would they all perform the same? How much of them winning is the extra edge and how much is natural? I can tell you that even if an average dude took the same steroids that Armstrong is accused of taking they still wouldn’t be able to win the Tour de France.

-M

 

 

 

 

 

 

Armstrong Loses in Court

20 Aug

Seven-time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong, has lost his case against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. A federal judge in Austin, Texas threw out the lawsuit against the USADA claiming that in fact the USADA has jurisdiction and their claims do not violate Armstrong’s constitutional rights. This means the USADA can keep investigation Armstrong for doping. Armstrong has several options: he can appeal the decision, accept the charges(which means he could lose his titles), or proceed to an arbitration. He will make his decision by Thursday.

The USADA filed charges against Armstrong back in June claiming that he was part of cycling conspiracy where him and 5 other cyclist used banned substances and blood transfusions to get ahead. Even the judge rejecting Armstrong’s case was skeptical of the USADA’s claims nothing that they were not very specific. Regardless the USADA does still have the right to bring the claims.

It is time’s like these that I wonder why we are spending tax payers money to try to rip apart the legacy of a hero and cancer survivor. Even if Armstrong did dope, does it really matter now? If they could catch him the seven times he won the Tour de France then what makes them think they will catch him after the fact? Just another example of our government hard at work spending our money on a pointless matter.

-M

 

 

 

 

 

A Little Late Don’t You Think

13 Jun

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has brought formal charges against former cyclist and CANCER survivor Lance Armstrong for doping. They are looking to take away his 7 Tour de France wins. To make it even worse they are banning Armstrong from competing in Ironman triathlons, which apparently is his new hobby.

Good job Anti-Doping Agency catching someone after they won the Tour de France 7 times. What tipped you off, the 7th win? And hasn’t Armstrong been through enough, I mean the man survived stage 3 cancer. Can’t we just let him have his 7 wins in peace?

Also, the Olympics are about to start shouldn’t the Anti-Doping Agency have their hands full with that. Or do they only care after an athlete wins. It’s so much better to get to strip a title. Bureaucracy is so efficient.

-M

 

Giants Struggle, Dodgers Dominate

8 May

Monday night the San Francisco Giants had their asses handed to them by the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-1. The game was so painful that my friend who is a die-hard Giants fan asked me to turn off the television. It was so bad that you would have thought the Giants had never played baseball before. Literally they couldn’t even keep their gloves on.

The night had started out badly when the Giants were told that reliever, Guillermo Mota, had tested positive for drugs and would be banned for 100 games. This is not the first time that Mota has been banned for drug use, he missed 50 games with the Mets back in 2006. Mota’s drug of choice is clenbuterol. Adam Katz, Mota’s agent, thinks it is a little extreme that he was banned for 100 games for using a less extreme steroid children’s cough medicine. If you are wondering why a grown man would be taking a children’s cough medicine it is because the drug also causes increased metabolism and anaerobic capacity. It is the same drug that caused Spanish cyclist, Alberto Contador, be stripped of his win in the Tour de France in 2010.

The Giants had already lost star hitter, Pablo Sandoval, who is out for 4-6 weeks for hand surgery. It is so bad that they had to bring in outfielder, Aubrey Huff, who hasn’t been playing due to a panic attack disorder.

Something needs to change soon for the Giants . . . maybe a new coach.

-M