Armstrong to admit doping

[dave]

Report: Armstrong to admit doping


Jan 12, 2013 8:14 AM ET


Lance Armstrong plans to admit to doping throughout his career during an upcoming interview with Oprah Winfrey, USA Today reported late Friday.

The interview, scheduled to be taped Monday and broadcast Thursday night on the Oprah Winfrey Network, will be conducted at Armstrong's home in Austin, Texas.

Citing an anonymous source, USA Today reported that the disgraced cyclist plans to admit using performance-enhancing drugs, but likely will not get into details of the allegations outlined in a 2012 report by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that led to Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from the sport.

His representatives declined comment late Friday, including attorney Tim Herman, but Armstrong sent a text to the Associated Press early Saturday morning saying: ''I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I'll answer the questions directly, honestly, candidly. That's all I can say.''

The New York Times first reported last week that Armstrong was considering making a confession.

The 41-year-old Armstrong, who vehemently denied doping for years, has not spoken publicly about the USADA report that cast him as the leader of a sophisticated and brazen doping program on his U.S. Postal Service teams that included use of steroids, blood boosters and illegal blood.

Continue at:

msn.foxsports.com/cycling/story/report-lance-armstrong-to-admit-doping-oprah-winfrey-interview-011113


He'll get no sympathy from me. He's had ample opportunity to confess in the past. And he's ruined the careers of others.

[Deleted]

Dave I agree with you. I used to think highly of this guy thinking how strong he was to endure the physical strain of his sport. And all the time it was DRUGS that was driving the bike. It is a shame. Just like at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown--no inductee's this year because they are all drug users. Makes me sick.

[Clipper]

I don't imagine we are going to see any major confessions here. Probably simply a faked humble apology and whatever he can say to try and save face.

He has sued accusers, caused untold grief for those that have pursued the issue, and in the end, it has turned out that he was guilty as charged.

I will be surprised if he is not sued by those that he has hurt with his denial and lies.

The only sad side to this is that his charities and foundation will suffer for his wrong doing. He has raised a lot of money for charity over the years and his foundation has benefited many.

Over the years, doping seems to have moved from horse racing to just about every sport known to man. Pretty sad state of affairs when doping takes the place of hard work and intensive training.

[Clipper]

Alan, I am of the opinion that they have already put people in the hall of fame that were probably using performance enhancing drugs, and should have long ago elected Pete Rose to the Hall of Fame.

[Deleted]

Pete Rose banned from baseball


The evidence was so staggering that it was difficult to fathom. Records of phone call after phone call made to bookies, sometimes just minutes before the national anthem. Records of bets, one after another, day after day, on virtually every team, including the team he managed, along with the amount of the bet. Nearly $20,000 a day being waged on bets.

The baseball world -- and the world in general -- was staggered by the amount of evidence, leaving little doubt that Pete Rose, baseball's all-time hits leader and one of history's greatest and celebrated players, had gambled on baseball and bet on his own team.

Rose was known as a huge gambler, often seen at race tracks. But then rumors began swirling in early 1989 that he had gone too far, that he had actually gambled on baseball.

On Feb. 20, 1989, Rose and his attorneys were summoned to New York to meet with then-commissioner Peter Ueberroth. The next day, word was out that the meeting concerned gambling allegations against Rose. One month later, on March 20, the commissioner's office released a statement that it was investigating "serious gambling allegations against Rose."

On April 1, the IRS seized betting slips with Rose's name, writing and prints on them. The next day, it was reported that Rose had bet $8,000 to $16,000 daily on baseball games during the 1987 season. Then, on May 9, the avalanche fell when baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti received a 225-page report from investigator John Dowd that contained depositions, documents, reports, transcripts and other materials illustrating that Rose had gambled on baseball. A handwriting expert determined that Rose's writing was on betting slips, as well as his fingerprints.

Rose was cornered. Finally, after a series of motions were filed by attorneys from both parties, and a series of phone calls between Giamatti and Rose's attorney's, it was Judgment Day for Rose.

THE MOMENT
August 24, 1989, Thursday, 9 a.m. Giamatti, the commissioner of baseball, steps up to a microphone in New York City.

"One of the game's greatest players has engaged in a variety of acts which have stained the game, and he must now live with the consequences of those acts," he tells a packed room of reporters.

With that, Giamatti announces that Rose, baseball's all-time hits leader and one of history's greatest players, has been banned from baseball for life for gambling on baseball.

"There had not been such grave allegations since the time of Landis," Giamatti says, referring to Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the commissioner who suspended for life the Chicago White Sox players involved in the Black Sox scandal after the 1919 World Series.

The previous evening, Rose had signed a document stating that he would neither admit or deny he had gambled on baseball, that he would be banned from the game for life, but that he would be given the opportunity to apply for reinstatement.

Shortly after Giamatti holds his press conference in New York, Rose and the Reds hold theirs in Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, announcing that Rose is no longer the Reds manager because of his banishment from the game, and that one of his coaches, Tommy Helms, will be taking over.

At the news conference, Rose continues to deny he gambled on baseball, despite the enormous amount of incriminating evidence.

"Despite what the commissioner said today, I didn't bet on baseball," he tells the media. He does, however, admit that he bet on other sports. "I made some mistakes and I'm being punished for mistakes," he says.

Back in New York, Giamatti is convinced that Rose has gambled on the game that has made him rich and famous. "In absence of evidence to the contrary . . . yes, I have concluded that he bet on baseball," Giamatti says. He is asked directly if he has concluded that Rose bet on his own team, Giamatti says, "Yes."

Back in Cincinnati, Rose, holder of 19 major league records and now the 15th person banned for life in baseball history and the first since 1943, insists "I don't think I have a gambling problem at all."

The city of Cincinnati is in mourning. The streets are empty. Everyone is watching the live broadcast of Rose's press conference. Big TVs, small TVs, every home, every office, every store. Rose's words echo through hallways, buildings, the entire city.

He is asked to explain why he regards Giamatti's penalty as "fair" if he did not bet on Reds games. "I could get a year's suspension for betting on anything," he would say. "I've already admitted I've bet on other things."

"My life is baseball," Rose would say. "I hope to get back in baseball as soon as I possibly can. I've been in baseball for three decades, and to think I'm going to be out of baseball for a very short period of time hurts.

"I made some mistakes, and I'm being punished for them," he would continue. "However, the settlement is fair. One of the mistakes wasn't betting on baseball. I have too much respect for the game, too much love for the game."


sports.espn.go.com/espn/espn25/story?page=moments/5

[dave]

www.windsweptpress.com/images/logo pbs.jpg[/img]


Why Lance Armstrong May Be Coming Clean About Performance-Enhancing Drugs

PBS NewsHour
The Morning Line

ANALYSIS AIR DATE: Jan. 16, 2013
Why Lance Armstrong May Be Coming Clean About Performance-Enhancing Drugs

SUMMARY
What will be the fallout of Lance Armstrong's confession of doping during his prolific professional cycling career? Ray Suarez talks to two writers who have followed Armstrong's career: Daniel Coyle, co-author of "The Secret Race: The Hidden World of the Tour de France," and the Juliet Macur of the New York Times.

RAY SUAREZ: More now on the Armstrong story and why he may have changed his mind about his admission to Oprah Winfrey and potentially others. It comes from two writers who have long followed his career.

Juliet Macur has been covering this for The New York Times. And Daniel Coyle, co-author of "The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France."

Juliet Macur, why do you think Lance Armstrong is talking in this way to Oprah Winfrey and talking now, when just a few months ago, when the report came out, he denounced it?

JULIET MACUR, The New York Times: Yes, it's pretty -- it's a pretty dramatic turn after so many years. Really, it's been almost 15 years of these vehement denials that he's never doped, that he's sued people that claimed he had doped, and he won those lawsuits.

I mean, he's threatened people who said he has doped. And finally he's going to come out and say that he did it, only because he wants to compete again.

Right now, he's been banned from all Olympic sports for life, and the only way he could get back into competition is to tell the truth and say he was doping and to help the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency build cases against other people. And in doing that, he could possibly return to competition as soon as eight years.

RAY SUAREZ: So, Daniel Coyle, are there a lot of thing Lance Armstrong knows, but hasn't said that could still get a lot of other people into trouble, sponsors, business partners, people who were involved in one way or another with his years on the Postal team?

DANIEL COYLE, author of "The Secret Race": Nobody knows more than Lance. He was the kingpin. He was the Tony Soprano of this world for a long time.

So he does stand to contribute a lot to the investigation, if he will. That's the question, how much. How much will he hedge? How much he will admit? How much will he share freely? And the biggest signal he's sending now, as David Howman pointed out, is that he's taking his story, not to the authorities, not to the governing body, but to Oprah.

Continue at: (transcriipt or audio)

www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/sports/jan-june13/armstrong2_01-16.html

[chris]

Oprah dropping in her ratings since she weent on OWN manages to coup this interview. Lance knew what he was doing from day one and the cost ......time to pay the piper. I am getting sick and tired of these celebrities with negative behaviour and wanting to get away with it.

[Clipper]

Maybe he found that taking steroids helped with the inflammatory pain of pedaling a bicycle with a prosthetic testicle. Nahhh! Probably not.

[Deleted]

He wants to be able to compete in some Ironman competition is what I heard.

[dave]

www.windsweptpress.com/images/logo hwood reporter.jpg[/img]


Oprah and Lance: The Era of the Mea Culpa Interview Is Dead


OWN wins this round, but who really cares?

by Tim Goodman

1/18/2013


Let's all come out about drug use to Oprah Winfrey so we can call her Doprah and her cable channel, OWN, can make a comeback from the edge of disaster. Let's do like Lance Armstrong did during Part 1 of his "Let Me Tell You What You Already Knew" tour -- which drew 3.2 million viewers Thursday -- and Friday's Part 2, which is likely to be a much less pleasurable "Bless Me, Oprah, for I Have Sinned" moment.

Do you know what the Armstrong interview did? It didn't help him. It didn't tell anyone except the utmost of lost souls something they didn't already know. The big deal here is that people found out where OWN was on their cable or satellite package. Congratulations, Oprah, your moribund cable channel is now less moribund but not exactly primed for continued success. Unless, say, Barry Bonds wants to give this a go.

The truth is, OWN was a complete disaster until Oprah recently decided to get more involved with it. She realized that she is the brand -- the brand does not extend to other people, other shows, other things on the channel. OWN only truly works when she's on it. When Oprah does what she does.

Continue at:

www.hollywoodreporter.com/bastard-machine/oprah-lance-era-mea-culpa-413619?google_editors_picks=true

[Clipper]

One thing that disgusted me with Lance Armstrong was that even after the doping allegations came out, and he denied them, he did not quit doping. He simply kept doping and kept riding, further damaging the sport, and denying other HONEST competitors the opportunity and the glory to win honestly and drug free.

There is simply too much money to be made from these athletes. People like Barry Bonds should have been banned long ago, just as Pete Rose was for gambling. A failed drug test should be "the last day of work" for ANY professional athlete. Darrell Strawberry was a perfect example of repeated drug use and he was allowed to come back and play time after time.

Lawrence Taylor was another great athlete that was busted multiple times for cocaine as well as for soliciting an undercover police woman in Miami.

When an athlete cannot live up to his image as a role model and the face of the sport they play, they should lose their job the FIRST time they are caught on a drug test, or arrested. It's not like they don't know what they are doing is illegal and forbidden. There ARE some places where the first offense should be the last, and professional sports is one of those places.

[dave]

I don't know when the idea of professional athletes as role models got started. Whether it was in the service of selling more boxes of Wheaties or simply the answer to the question, "Why the hell are we watching grown men run around on the grass or court and make lots of money?"

Whether "Listen, Junior, buckle down, study hard, do your chores, stop thinking of girls and you'll grow up to be like Mickey Mantel and get your liver replaced," helped all that much in rearing our youth I can't be sure.

But I suppose I'm not the first not-very-athletically-inclined person to wonder that. Of one thing I'm sure, however, and that's the world we're asked to believe in as it revolves around professional sports is not the world as seen from inside. In there it's all about money, and evidently anything goes.

[bobbbiez]

Dave, we're the same age and as far back as I can remember growing up and in our school days sport athletes have always been role models to kids who love their chosen sports. I still remember our school sport heroes and cheering them on......Eddie Hill, Roger Potocki (basketball) Doug Flutley (football) Roger Herbowy (wrestling) John Mootz (track) Jim Caramadre, Dave Cash (baseball) and I can go on and on about others in all sports. They all had their idols in their chosen sports. No different then my own kids in their sport fields. Many went on to college and played in hopes of being chosen to play in the pros as their idols. I know with many I mentioned and with my own kids they all went on to become very successful in their futures with or without going further in their sports.

For every one athlete that disgraces there are many, many more that are definitely great role models for our kids. I see nothing wrong with that. I don't care what sport you talk about these kids grow up with having grueling hours of practice, games and still have to keep their grades up to play. They are off the streets just hanging on corners or in video rooms playing useless games. They choose this at an early age to be just like their sport heroes. They are dedicated to their sport. They are disciplined in their sport. I can still remember many times when my five year old sons on Sunday morning shaking me awake reminding me they had to be at the rink for a 6:00am practice or them willing to give up a holiday weekend to play in their little league play offs.
At this early age money doesn't even enter their minds. They just want to play the sport they love.

Armstrong absolutely did wrong. He totally disgraced himself, not the sport, and he will pay for it dearly. He will lose everything he worked hard to gain. I see that as a good damn example for up-coming athletes in what not to be like. No different then Richard Nixon getting impeached for doing illegal activities. It will not stop the dream of a young boy or girl from wanting to become the President of the United States but it did set a damn good example of what is unacceptable and what they stand to lose. I guess I'm willing to give our kids more credit for having the brains to learn from others who have screwed up in all walks of life.

[chris]

and now A Rod.....he doesn't deserve to get off the hook either.

[dave]

True, Chris. In fact, as Bobbbiez pointed out in the post above that I somehow missed earlier, their downfall should prove a good example of what those in sports should not be doing.

Bz, you're right about local sports, and I remember the heroes as well. It's natural to look up to those who excel in sports. But the professional scene seems to have gotten out of hand over the years. Even as I kid, I collected baseball cards only half heartedly, and probably because the other kids did it. To me, it was more fun walking up to Murnane Field and watching a muni league game and appreciating their prowess. Those were the heroes. (And older kids in Babe Ruth Leagues as well.)