Automatik;1292459 wrote:His good work has absolutely nothing to do with him doping. I don't know why people even bring that up.
He denied, denied, denied.
No hard proof? How do you know that? He didn't want to face the music.
Really? The tremendous amount of good he has done has nothing to do with his doping? Sorry, but I look at individuals as a whole and not fragmented parts of their lives. Furthermore the two were inextricably linked. He allegedly doped and won in such a way that inspired a sport to take off in America, inspired cancer patients to keep fighting and started a cancer research foundation that has raised millions of dollars. To me it looks like the two are attached at the hip.
The man made cycling relevant in America. It increased the popularity and participation in a healthy exercise for Americans (especially older men). I know before Lance I don't recall seeing so many men in spandex riding miles on bicycles to stay fit and healthy.
Beyond that there is the whole cancer fund raising and inspiration to cancer patients.
This man has done so much good that trying to sully his name seems counter productive, why tear down someone that has done so much for something as trivial as possibly cheating in a sport where EVERYONE cheated. It's not in an effort to clean up the current sport as that has already been done for the most part (that's the current sentiment). This only looks like a purely vindictive grudge being waged using tax payers dollars.
It would be one thing if they had hard evidence. But they don't. The only have testimony from teammates.
Name one positive outcome of this continued attack on this man? I can't.
It doesn't help clean up the current sport.
It only harms the reputation and image of someone that means a lot to people in need of inspiration (cancer patients).
It has possible but unlikely ramifications on support for a cancer research fund (possible but unlikely as I think the fund will survive as in general people don't care whether he cheated in a sport where everyone cheated).
The enormous amount of time and effort looking into someone retired could have been spent elsewhere like current athletes as there still are people cheating. As long as there are sports, people will cheat. These efforts can be used to either look for current offenders or heck, better evolve technology so they can catch people cheating while they do it more often than waiting 5-10 years for the tests to catch up to the act.
I look at a person as a whole. No one is pure good or evil. Humans are just a bunch of different shades of grey. To say that the good he has done has nothing to do with the doping is wrong.
As far as no hard proof. They don't have a drug test that they have retested and proven doping. All they have is testimony.
