Lance Armstrong... Yes or No?

[meehs]

In light of the popularity of the "Why does Armstrong provoke such strong pro/anti feelings?" thread, I thought it would be interesting to take a poll to see who is and is not a fan of Lance Armstrong.

In addition I thought it would also be interesting to see where the fans and non-fans were from. Sorry to lump everyone who isn't from either Europe or the USA into a generic "somewhere else" catergory but I had to draw the line somewhere.

 

[limerickman]

Originally posted by meehs
In light of the popularity of the "Why does Armstrong provoke such strong pro/anti feelings?" thread, I thought it would be interesting to take a poll to see who is and is not a fan of Lance Armstrong.

In addition I thought it would also be interesting to see where the fans and non-fans were from. Sorry to lump everyone who isn't from either Europe or the USA into a generic "somewhere else" catergory but I had to draw the line somewhere.

It is 9.20pm GMT 6th February 2004 and I see from your vote that
it's split 50/50 between fans and non-fans.
This would appear to bear out my "strawpoll" in my thread,
"Why does Armstrong provoke pro/anti feelings" .
This vote indicates the premise that this Yellow Jersey appears to divide our sport like no other Yellow Jersey.

 

[meehs]

Originally posted by limerickman
It is 9.20pm GMT 6th February 2004 and I see from your vote that
it's split 50/50 between fans and non-fans.
This would appear to bear out my "strawpoll" in my thread,
"Why does Armstrong provoke pro/anti feelings" .
This vote indicates the premise that this Yellow Jersey appears to divide our sport like no other Yellow Jersey.

Very good point! It'll be interesting to see how this poll looks after more folks have responded. There's no arguing with the fact that you started one very interesting thread!

 

[limerickman]

Originally posted by meehs
Very good point! It'll be interesting to see how this poll looks after more folks have responded. There's no arguing with the fact that you started one very interesting thread!

Meehs, I'm sorry that I ever mentioned Lance Armstrong !
Two threads, and half dozen LA fans verbally beating me up !
It's a sbad as trying to chase him LA in the TDF (I wish !).

This man is killing me !

 

[DiabloScott]

I vote "present".

 

[meehs]

Originally posted by limerickman
Meehs, I'm sorry that I ever mentioned Lance Armstrong !
Two threads, and half dozen LA fans verbally beating me up !
It's a sbad as trying to chase him LA in the TDF (I wish !).

This man is killing me !

Hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion! Please understand that I meant nothing personal in any of my posts. I'm sure the verbal abuse can't possibly be as bad as the beating Lance (or Jan or any of the pros for that matter) would give you (or me!) if we were foolish enough to think we could compete!

Have a great weekend!

 

[limerickman]

Originally posted by meehs
Hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion! Please understand that I meant nothing personal in any of my posts. I'm sure the verbal abuse can't possibly be as bad as the beating Lance (or Jan or any of the pros for that matter) would give you (or me!) if we were foolish enough to think we could compete!

Have a great weekend!

Sorry my last mail was meant to be amusing !
There you go !

Trying to catch Lance Armstrong in the TDF : oh, to have even 1% of their ability !
It's what I love about this sport : no matter how well you think you're going (or have gone in the past), these pros train so hard that eeven on your best of best days, you (or me) would be lucky
to even stay with these guys for 5 minutes.
It's why I admire them all (and I include LA !!).

 

[zewol]

I'm from Canada , and I like much more a rider who shines is more than a few races.....

 

[Kez Deale]

Hey mum!! I'm on TV!!!.... oops..... wrong place....... .... haha

Well I dont know much about Lance.... heard a hell of alot .... but... I dont dislike anyone untill I meet them.,.. so I'm a "For Lance Armstrong"..... he seems to have a nice enough persona.....

He's obviously trained damn hard to get where he wants to get, so he has my thumbs up ...

I still think Brad McGee is way better tho... hehe... as I'm just Aussie at heart ...

 

[meehs]

Interesting... So far everyone from the USA has voted that they ARE a fan and for those from Europe or elsewhere it's about 50%/50%.

I guess that we Americans are bias in favor of Lance?

 

[mrs dalloway]

I'm from Canada and I like the guy. He says what he has to say and does what he has to do. I think it's called "walking the walk". What difference does it make how flippin nice he is? When was the last time a guy with a Stanley Cup ring or SuperBowl ring phoned one of us up and said "Hi. How you doing. Want to get together?" Ever see the other superstars from sports or movies or television blow off the media? Yup. Plenty. He is just who he is and that's that. He owes no one a damn thing. He is true to himself and to his profession. Twenty bucks (Canadian) says that if you ran into the guy somewhere on a ride one on one he'd take the time to show you a few things and share some of his time. If you want someone to complain about I've got a boat load of Canadian politicians you can have..........

 

[davek]

Originally posted by limerickman
Two threads, and half dozen LA fans verbally beating me up !

Limerickman, it's not because you are not a fan that you have had to endure a bashing.

For the record, I don't define myself as a "Lance Armstrong fan" but I admire him and his achievements so I have to vote pro in this poll. If you were going to ask me who I'd cheer on in a race it would be David Millar every time. Patriotic US voters aside, the vote seems to be marginally under 3-1 pro-Lance at the time of posting.

One US voter anti-Armstrong! Must be an Al Qaeda infiltrator. String 'em up!

 

[Insight Driver]

I saw the pole after not having logged onto the board for a few days and decided to vote without looking at any posts. I was interested to see, after I had voted that I am a fan of Lance that it seems to be the consensus of the majority, no matter where they live.

To be honest I never was into pro bicycling and the only reason I hear about Lance and in the past, Greg LeMond is because they were leaders in what is considered by a lot of us in the US as an European sport.

No matter what one thinks of the man, Lance Armstrong one cannot deny that he is up there in the stratosphere of the very best in the history of pro bicycle racing. His coming back from cancer adds to his panache. The fact that he has divorced gives the message that he is a mortal human like the rest of us. The fact that he has won the Tour De France 5 times in a row also says he is one of the strongest riders in history.

Lance Armstrong has name recognition in a country that is practically only a baseball, basketball and football nation.

 

[limerickman]

Originally posted by davek
Limerickman, it's not because you are not a fan that you have had to endure a bashing.

For the record, I don't define myself as a "Lance Armstrong fan" but I admire him and his achievements so I have to vote pro in this poll. If you were going to ask me who I'd cheer on in a race it would be David Millar every time. Patriotic US voters aside, the vote seems to be marginally under 3-1 pro-Lance at the time of posting.

One US voter anti-Armstrong! Must be an Al Qaeda infiltrator. String 'em up!

You don't have to justify your point of view to me, DaveK.

Nothing wrong with supporting Millar after all you're living in Kent and presumably you're British.
I was an unashamed Sean Kelly supporter in my day.

 

[Beastt]

Originally posted by meehs
Hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion! Please understand that I meant nothing personal in any of my posts. I'm sure the verbal abuse can't possibly be as bad as the beating Lance (or Jan or any of the pros for that matter) would give you (or me!) if we were foolish enough to think we could compete!

Have a great weekend!

They can only ride away from me once. It's not like I'm going to catch them.

 

[jhuskey]

I admire what he has accomplished as I do Albert Einstein, for different accomplishments of course. Could care less about his personal life or what anyone else thinks of it.

 

[firegooroo]

I like the guy, I hope he wins his 6th tdf. My only negative is that his only strong race is the tdf. If you look at the UCI standings in the top 25 Lance is I think 8th. He doesn't compete well in other tours unless he is purposely not doing well to save for the tdf. I do hope he wins, but remember right after the tdf is the Olympics and we shall see how true of an athlete he really is. He wants that gold real bad so lets see.

 

[fuelrider]

Originally posted by firegooroo
I like the guy, I hope he wins his 6th tdf. My only negative is that his only strong race is the tdf. If you look at the UCI standings in the top 25 Lance is I think 8th. He doesn't compete well in other tours unless he is purposely not doing well to save for the tdf. I do hope he wins, but remember right after the tdf is the Olympics and we shall see how true of an athlete he really is. He wants that gold real bad so lets see.

The general public could care less about the UCI standings, or the Olympics for that matter. The TDF is the super bowl of cycling and always will be. The fact that LA kicks euro butt in their own backyard is like Berlin winning the World Series. Euros hate the fact an american embarrasses them every year. LA wants to win the TDF - that's it and he makes no argument for anything else.

 

[bill garner]

Originally posted by meehs
In light of the popularity of the "Why does Armstrong provoke such strong pro/anti feelings?" thread, I thought it would be interesting to take a poll to see who is and is not a fan of Lance Armstrong.

In addition I thought it would also be interesting to see where the fans and non-fans were from. Sorry to lump everyone who isn't from either Europe or the USA into a generic "somewhere else" catergory but I had to draw the line somewhere.

I am from Houston which is only a couple of hours away. What we hear so much about is of course his cancer,beating the cancer and being the best he can be. I think his time may be winding down but for an American to dominate the Tour for as long as he has says alot about him in every aspect. Whether you vote for or against him, he deserves what is bestoyed on him.

 

[Fixey]

I hate to see a guy loose his title... was gutted for Mig in 96, Pedro in 89 ect but I just cant go for Lance, he comes as cross as SO damn arogant to me. Read his first book and this reinforced my opinion. How ever I have never met the guy so......
As for Lance the Cyclist...he is definatly the smartest if not the best rider over the past 5 years....cant take away what he has achieved and good on him, I have enjoyed the tour more since 2000..... im always disapointed that he wins but im always interested.....id say he has done more for cycling in the world than anyone else in modern history, Love em or not your gonna watch to see him win/loose