dear forumers: lance is now retired

mr tibbs

so you can stop kissing his ass.

sorry. couldn't take it anymore. here's to a great rider, but now it can be about cycling again.

Chance3290

I'm not a great LA fan myself but I have to wonder, how much cycling will there be for us to get back to.
Let's face it, he brought a lot of people and attention to our sport. But, here's hoping that those who came for LA will stay around because they enjoy the sport.

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rejobako

I'd be willing to bet that on this forum, there has been more Lance bashing than ass kissing. I don't condone posts that heap praise upon Armstrong by criticizing other riders, but as a general premise, I don't see why posts highlighting his accomplishments should bother you so. Instead of questioning the motivation of "Lance lovers", perhaps you should examine the etiology of your own meanspiritedness.

Crankster

Cycling is a niche sport. Some people use cycling to distance themselves from other, non-cyclists. We feel more superior to drivers and pedestrians. We are also more often arrogant than other, more team-oriented athletes - soccer or basketball players, for example.

Lance bashing has nothing to do with Lance. It has everything to do with being a contrarian - taking an opposite position to the one taken by majority. If many people who heard of cycling a little bit are amazed by Lance's 7 wins, the only reason to separate yourself from the crowd is to start bashing him. That will make you cool again and will "elevate" you above masses. Some national feelings mixed in here too. People are not used to american domination and will constantly point out that Lance is an arrogant american from Texas. I find it ironic as the biggest Lance bashers also happen to be the most arrogant posters on this board, constantly resorting to personal attacks and using logic of "how dare you disagree with me, you must know nothing about cycling!".

The LA bashers often cannot explain why they dislike the man so much. Would they feel the same way if LA was french or german or austrian or brittish? Maybe, maybe not. Would they feel the same way if he finished 2nd 7 times? Nobody really knows. But plenty of people bring their own personal bias in these judgments. I think I can safely say that my respect for Armstrong the athlete has nothing to do with his nationality. If my respect for a record 7-time winner of the most gruelling, most competitive endurance event on the planet can be interpreted as "ass-kissing" by original poster - well, I think it says more about the original poster's character than about my character or Lance's character.

HellonWheels

I admire LA mostly for his work to promote cancer awareness, but it helps that he's a cyclist too. I've been following the TDF since the 1970s when my hero then was EM. LA didn't bring me to the TDF, so you know I'll be staying.

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Tonto

Not trying to be smart, but only one race will be different now that LA has retired. The Belgians, for example, will still be out in force on the Mur de Huy next year and LA won't cross their minds for a second. But yes, the Tour de France will be haunted (and I mean that in a good way) by him until the next patron comes along.

wilmar13

This is dead on... the rest of your post was perceptive as well.

mr tibbs

i'm sorry, i wasn't lance bashing. well, i wasn't trying to lance bash. sorry if it came across that way. posts highlighting his accomplishments don't bother me, but so often in this forum it seems if there is a percievable slight against lance people latch onto immediately and start attacking (kind of a strong word...) each other.

hmm. i'm not really sure where i'm going with this, but if you read the post right below your original post (crankster's, i think) you'll get a psychoanalytical breakdown of why people lance bash (did it really come across that way? even though i called him a great rider and didn't say one derogatory thing about him?) basically calling people that don't like lance snobby eiltitsts. that's the kind of thing i was posting about originally. i admit it was a bit abrasive, but i never "lance bashed". you reading this crankster?

tinks

It can get very annoying at times. Invariably a discussion about anything will degenerate into a debate about Lance Armstrong.

Personally, for the sake of my sanity, I like to live in willful ignorance. Lance? Lance who? .

Fixey

Load of dribble!
Just because cycling may not be a mainstream sport in the USA does not mean it is a niche sport dude, cycling is HUGE in Europe.

LA bashing IS about LA end of story, the man is an obnoxcious arogant
prick.....and MANY MANY people have spelt out why he is so hated but blind devotion such as yours seems to be just that...blind...you seem to skip read anything that is not praising your hero and write it off.

Cubflyer

Just what we all expect from a 14 year old punk with a vulgar cartoon for an avatar. Thanks for meeting our very low expectations.

Lachlan

Crankster

Out of curiosity, are you european? A lot of Simpsons fans over in Europe?

I have plenty of respect for LA, and even though I suspect he may come off as arrogant, and perhaps he is in personal life, in his public statements he is nothing but humble, respectful of other riders, and of his teammates. If you are talking about arrogant riders look no further than statements from riders like Pantani, Simoni, McEwen, Gonzalez DeGaldeano, and others who are all talk but cannot back it up with their riding. How many time this season did we hear about Armstrong and Discovery being weak, and how many times did we hear it in previous years? At the same time Bruneel, Armstrong and Co were taking critisism quietly before blowing the critics away every July. Is arrogance is defined as finishing 4 minutes ahead of his closest competitor yet still acknowledging their effort, as Armstrong always does? I have never heard Armstrong saying that Ullrich is weak, or that Basso's team sucks, the way some other competitors would talk about Armstrong and his team.

Regardless, I will not be able to convince you as you are looking at everything through your own distorted prism.

Even if Armstrong won zero Tours, he would still have my outmost respect for the work he did for cancer patients. You may call him an arrogant prick, but he has changed the world in a way hundreds of other so-called "non-arrogant" cyclists wouldn't even dream of. His personal battles with this terrible desease and his triumph over it, plus his amazing Tour de France record is an inspiration to millions - cancer patients or not.

How about yourself, you think people will remember you the same way? Have you done anything that qualifies you have never met "obnoxcious arogant
prick" (sic).

You think they will remember Simoni or Heras or Beloki 10, 20 years from now? Somehow I doubt it.

cheapie

while i am a big lance fan, i will be glad to see him go. there are so many other riders that deserve attention and aren't getting any because lance is so huge here in the US.

i really wish that oln had devoted as much time to getting interviews w/julich, leipheimer (sp?), landis, etc. as they did with lance. these guys are the present/future of american cycling. i want to know what they are thinking and going through.

and niche sport? yeah. i'd have to agree. while it's big in europe, that's def not the case in the rest of the world.

homeycheese

all right folks, get a grip. this is the "grand tours" forum so with all due respect to our euro friends and the Mur du Huy fans, this is and has been about the impact on the TdF. despite what many of you think (pro or con LA) the business side of the TdF will suffer due to the lack of the LA story. it's a business and the world media will not be out in force next year, the chances of OLN covering the tour this extensively next year are slim and those of us in the US who follow the sport will once again feel like 2nd class consumers while our euro friends go on their blissful way. it has always been about money and I can speak form first hand experience that some businesses in france will miss the american dollars.