I posted a blog about the Lance Armstrong documentary last week. Well it finished up this week.
Lance Armstrong certainly marched to the beat of his own drum. And he still does today. He said multiple times in the taping of the documentary that he wouldn't have done it any other way. He wouldn't change a thing about what he did.
I know most people can't stand the guy today. I understand that.
But he wasn't the only one who doped. I said that last week, too. He was the best cyclist who doped.
The positive stuff he did certainly hasn't outweighed the bad for most people. But he did help sell 80 million bracelets as part of a Livestrong fundraiser. That's $80 million. He also made hospital visits with cancer patients and wasn't looking for attention from the media.
But Lance Armstrong burned a lot of bridges with former teammates and those involved with those teammates. He sued a lot of people who accused him of doing something he later admitted to doing. So he definitely had flaws.
Some other observations from the rest of the documentary that aired tonight on ESPN:
- Lance Armstrong still hates Floyd Landis and Greg Lamond. No love lost there.
- I didn't know Lance Armstrong's son, Luke, plays football for Rice.
- He admitted to doping with Oprah Winfrey in 2013. He did everything on his own terms. He admitted to needing a nuclear meltdown.
- The documentary's final seconds shows Armstrong jogging, not cycling, and he says he's sorry for the way he led. He wished he was a better man. But also said he has no trouble sleeping at night.
- Armstrong wasn't always the best decision maker in general. The decision to come back and race in the Tour de France in 2009 was a dumb choice. His career was done and over. But coming back three years later put him back on the map. He placed third that year but his competitive fire always seemed to win out in his decisions.
- Floyd Landis won the Tour de France in 2006 but also tested positive for PEDs. After he came back from his suspension, Armstrong's team denied him entrance back on the team and Landis took that personally. He felt like he took a bullet for the team when he was caught.
- Landis was so mad he went public and became the whistle blower for doping in cycling. He went all in.
- Tyler Hamilton suggested in one of his interviews that doping in cycling went all the way back to the 1980s.
- The first two-year investigation into doping and Armstrong resulted in a charges being dropped. He was off the hook until the UCI brought about new charges that led eventually to his demise.
- The charges forced the UCI to strip him of his seven Tour de France titles. Testimonies by his friend George Hincapie, Tyler Hamilton, Frankie Andreu, Christian Vande Velde, Michael Barry, Stephen Swart and Jorg Jaksche all played a role in Armstrong's guilty verdict.
- That led to sponsors Nike, Oakley and Giro to cut ties with Armstrong. They were all gone in 48 hours. And then Livestrong cut ties with him shortly after that.
- Armstrong cannot use a potato peeler. He cut his finger using one and even said on camera to his fiancee that he had no idea how to use it.
- His biggest regret was the way he treated Emma O'Reilly. He called her a whore during a live interview and admitted in the documentary that he was in "full attack mode."
- He also regretted the way he treated Felippo Simeoni, who testified against Dr. Michele Ferrari. Armstrong said in the documentary that he was a "fucking asshole" to him.
- Armstrong denied all of the allegations that came out in O'Reilly's book. He said in the documentary that you "can't dope and be honest."
- I found it laugh out loud funny that Matt Lauer made the documentary as someone reporting the demise of Armstrong. Lauer would later meet his demise in a sexual assault scandal.
Armstrong was an amazing athlete. He won seven straight Tour de France titles in an era where everyone was doping. He basically went 100 days on the tour without crashing.
The documentary didn't paint a better picture as to who Armstrong was. Most will come away from the four hours with the same opinions they had before. But I was wildly entertained and enjoyed spending my last two Sunday nights watching.
Lance is a fascinating sports figure for a documentary. He was clearly the best in his sport for an entire generation if not all-time. He exhibits the same traits as Michael Jordan but i think they are interpreted differently form an athlete in a quasi non team sport.
ReplyDeleteWhen We spent time in Italy i was very surprised that cycling is as big as soccer. Everyone was disgusted at how filthy the sport had become. They were not disgusted with Lance or the Americans. They were disgusted that their beloved sport became tainted. Lance was the best cheater of all the cheaters. I guess that makes him the best. However, his obituary will include how cruel he was to those who came against him when he was in full denial. Perhaps the most telling thing to me in the documentary was how his college aged son seemed so uncomfortable to be anywhere near his dad. It is one thing to not know your son’s jersey number. But his son looked like he would rather lay on train tracks than spend any time with his dad.
I appreciated Lance’s openness and candor during the series. I would have a beer with him. He seems like a likeable if not entertaining guy. I’m not sure I would trust him though.
Oh....and what about the dude that calls himself College. How hard is it to come off as the biggest d-bag in a series about Lance Armstrong? That’s quite an accomplishment. He knows all the girls. Ok dude.
Yeah that's what I try to tell people. He cheated but hell it sounds like everyone else did too. Not right. But at least we can still say he was the best at the sport because it seemed to be an even playing field.
DeleteI didn't get that vibe with the son. He wasn't on it enough for me to tell but he certainly talked more about the younger kids than the older ones.
He's an interesting dude. But he did treat folks terrible during the denial stages. I think he'll regret that someday even though he doesn't lose any sleep over it.