Excellent.

Armstrong was a child of single mother with a father that willfully disowned him. That subconscious damage runs very deep. Really deep. Mothers are good at caring for children, but without a father to cushion the fundamental sociopathy of general human society (oh, you thought we had a moral, upstanding world out there?), the child learns pretty quickly to distrust everyone.

Inevitably there's a stepfather. That stepfather doesn't care about the child, only cares about the woman and the child is baggage. So the child learns to distrust the motives of even those closest to them. The child trusts nobody. Any shelter and support is conditional, and can be removed at any time.

From these fires can come champions, psychological torture that steels the mind for uncompromising competition. Nobody cares about the child, so he doesn't care about them. Outwork them, outsmart them, and outcheat them, because they will do the very same thing. If there are rules, and they aren't being applied to the enemy, then why should the child follow them? They are just another way of disadvantaging the child, who is already disadvantaged. And the child has had enough of that.

The child learns to form its own code. The laws, customs, culture of the world didn't protect the child growing up. Labels that should have protected the child, like "mother", "father", "guardian", "friend", have been proven to be lies a dozen times over. So what is a true friend? What is true protection? What is loyalty? What is love? What is success?

The child defines its own meanings, rules, signs for those. Usually they are more idealized that what most people practically regard them, since the child did not live them, only knows them in theory, in ideal, without the warts of living them in real life.

This child seems to value trust above all things, and if the trust is violated, a trust given very very carefully, it provokes the vindictiveness that only a childhood of pain and betrayal can provoke. The child sees an enemy worse that any peripheral enemy like "journalist" or anything else. The child sees their father: someone that should have protected him, but instead betrayed him in the worst way.

The child seems vindictive, sensitive to slights, devalues relationships, trusts nobody. The child is competitive, driven, and a very hard worker. The child is desperate and hungry.

The child becomes rich and famous.

The child sees that fame brings an entirely different breed of distrust. Motives of people around him become even more contemptously shallow. They want his money. They want his fame. They want to make money tearing down his fame.

The child sees a system that used to protect the dopers (if they were European dopers) but doesn't now that the doper is him. The child sees a sport that was organized around team doping and doping culture for decades, the sport that he followed the unwritten rules on, be turned against him, now that he is the success. The child only sees a world that is out to get him, when others were not punished. The child sees an unfair world.

...

Okay, does that excuse his actions or free him from complicity of his sins? Nope.

But I believe that is the psychology of Lance Armstrong. I don't know if that makes him a psychopath (I believe psychopaths are fundamentally born without empathy, not conditioned to reject it as Armstrong's upbringing suggests).

I believe the world is ugly, mean, capitalist, and unfair. The culture values winners at all costs.

Our values produced this man and his career. To lay the blame on him as a "bad apple" rejects the very nature of the society we have constructed and the gladitorial bloodsports we blindly cheer.

The difference is, the NFL/NFLPA doesnt really hide behind the facade of a "doping" program. The NFL nor the NFLPA want nothing to do with a doping program, and only want the bare min requirements. Which is why they've continued to pretty much block following any real WADA approved program, and they certainly have that right to, because it's a private run business, and a damn successful one at that. It's actually a great business strategy, where as cycling/tri/track have a more stringent code they have to follow.

ETA: I've never once heard in my life from an NFL/NBA athlete, "I'm a clean athlete", as I think they pretty much all accept that doping is apart of the program, but everyone is seemingly willing to be ok with that (team mangament, NFL mang. and players). Whereas in cycling, it's like everyone wants to accept doping, but then they are still held to this higher standard of controls, so they are in limbo with how to really deal with doping problems.

BDoughtie wrote:

Just look at how people deal with doping. You dope in cycling and you become scum of the earth. You dope in an US based pro sport, and you catch 1 day of flack and then your back before you know it. It's as if its an honor because they were doing it to "help" the team. US fans just don't really care, and I don't even think they care about it in cycling. But because its held to a higher standard, the actual doping stains the sport more. It's almost it's own worse enemy.

Yes and no. I think it's more of an individual sport thing. Yes cycling is a team sport, but the winner it is awarded as an individual. Take baseball. No big deal as far as team record. but when it comes to the home run record people in baseball REALLY care.

BDoughtie wrote:

Just look at how people deal with doping. You dope in cycling and you become scum of the earth. You dope in an US based pro sport, and you catch 1 day of flack and then your back before you know it. It's as if its an honor because they were doing it to "help" the team. US fans just don't really care, and I don't even think they care about it in cycling. But because its held to a higher standard, the actual doping stains the sport more. It's almost it's own worse enemy.

Yes and no. I think it's more of an individual sport thing. Yes cycling is a team sport, but the winner it is awarded as an individual. Take baseball. No big deal as far as team record. but when it comes to the home run record people in baseball REALLY care.

The difference is, the NFL/NFLPA doesnt really hide behind the facade of a "doping" program. The NFL nor the NFLPA want nothing to do with a doping program, and only want the bare min requirements. Which is why they've continued to pretty much block following any real WADA approved program, and they certainly have that right to, because it's a private run business, and a damn successful one at that. It's actually a great business strategy, where as cycling/tri/track have a more stringent code they have to follow.

ETA: I've never once heard in my life from an NFL/NBA athlete, "I'm a clean athlete", as I think they pretty much all accept that doping is apart of the program, but everyone is seemingly willing to be ok with that (team mangament, NFL mang. and players). Whereas in cycling, it's like everyone wants to accept doping, but then they are still held to this higher standard of controls, so they are in limbo with how to really deal with doping problems.[/quote

Right because sadly people value their gambling based entertainment over the health and wellness of the entertainers. There are a ton of ways to make football safer, rpolong careers and still have great catches, awesome throws and last minute heroics. reducing steroids would be one them. decreased mass and speed would reduce power of impacts in hits. Further, all the stress on joints from over developed muscles has to increase risk of strcutural damage. Even if linemen were 25% smaller and everyone was 15% slower, it;d stikll be a great game, even more compelling to watch IMO. Of course I hardly watch it now as it is because of the dope. And I sure as shit hope the 49ers win so the murderer doesnt get further portrayed as a "hero" if the Ravens win.

Why should we hate him? He learnt the language, trained here, ate our food and appreciated our fine wines and finer women.
European fans at large tend to be educated about cycling, and it pains us to see a great talent, a guy who could have made quite a few firsts on one day classics, throw it away for tainted glory.
Most people here tend to agree that Armstrong, however bad he was at times, is just the symptom of a disease at the top of the UCI.

G

For the win
http://m.youtube.com/...ed%26v%3D1SUKZD6eqgo

A big YES to everything in bold. Likewise, the tour de France would be equally exciting if everyone climbed Alpe d'Huez in 45-50 minutes....in the end the entertainment value is relative to the players on the field, not the absolute performance. As for the last line after the part in bold, we are in agreement. I have difficulty watching the post game interviews after the Ravens win.

Cortisone. LA finally admitted that the prescription was backdated

When did that happen because on Oprah he denied it still

is that part of the transcript from the interview?

does anyone know if this springs world baseball classic tournament will use tougher standards? mlb players will be filling most rosters