Lances Foot in the mouth Syndrome

[hemplands]

Is there any other cyclist that manages to make as many crass remarks as Lance? He does something good and then boasts about it big time.

Examples. The Pantani incident on Mont Ventoux.
In his second book, boasting that he doubled the team bonuses at the end of the tour.
How he sorted out a team mate's financial problems.

Oh yeah I'm Mister Bountiful, I can do anything.

 

[el Ingles]

Originally posted by hemplands
Is there any other cyclist that manages to make as many crass remarks as Lance? He does something good and then boasts about it big time.

Examples. The Pantani incident on Mont Ventoux.
In his second book, boasting that he doubled the team bonuses at the end of the tour.
How he sorted out a team mate's financial problems.

Oh yeah I'm Mister Bountiful, I can do anything.

Well , few of his ex-domestiques have good things to say , and Vasseur is still claiming he was not pay´d promised bonuses . It does seem to an outsider that there´s a " what have you done for me lately " atitude about the guy but that may be him just playing the ' crass American ' role that he seems to adopt at times .

 

[firegooroo]

hemplands,

when you enter a tdf and do what he has done then you can come out here and bash him all you want. Until then find things within your relm to complain about.

 

[hemplands]

Firegooroo

I'm not knocking him on his achievements in cycling, but just wonder why he feels the need to broadcast his do-good deeds to the whole world. He surely can't have an inferiority complex and needs the world to know what a great and generous guy he is.

I would much prefer him to talk about his charity work, the racing and keep the tittle-tattle away from the press. He likes to have a 'private' life and he should be gracious enough to allow others to have the same.

 

[Beastt]

Originally posted by el Inglés
Well , few of his ex-domestiques have good things to say , and Vasseur is still claiming he was not pay´d promised bonuses . It does seem to an outsider that there´s a " what have you done for me lately " atitude about the guy but that may be him just playing the ' crass American ' role that he seems to adopt at times .

I was under the impression that the team via its sponsors was in charge of paying the members of the team. Since when is Lance in charge of offering bonuses to team members and seeing that they get the pay they were promised?

 

[Allen H]

Originally posted by hemplands
I'm not knocking him on his achievements in cycling, but just wonder why he feels the need to broadcast his do-good deeds to the whole world. He surely can't have an inferiority complex and needs the world to know what a great and generous guy he is.

Well, I'd say he's never outgrown the chip on his shoulder he had from growing up poor, and on the "wrong side of the tracks" - based on his first TdF biography, at least. He's channeled most of that anger into his riding, with great success, obviously. But the book certainly gave me some insight to his attitude, which still comes across at times as way out of proportion to the event/slight itself, IMO.

 

[JohnO]

A lot of cyclists make crass remarks. A lot of non cyclists make crass remarks. I make crass remarks. You probably have made a few yourself at one time or another, without ill intent. They just sort of popped out.

The only difference between Lance and us, is that we aren't having our every living moment analyzed, reanalyzed, examined for hidden meaning, held up as evidence of doping, or judged regarding our fitness to be a role model.

 

[hemplands]

Dear Beastt

Yes they do get paid by the sponsors etc. In addition Just read Lances second book with all the gory details about the distribution of the TdF winners money which by tradition is paid to the winner, who unselfishly gives it all to the other members of the team. And then he doubled it from his own money.

Fine let him play Mr Bountiful, but why did he feel the need to publish it in black and white? I'm afraid if I had received the money I would have thrown it back in his face humiliated.

JohnO

I agree crass remarks can happen unintentionally (I suffer with this syndrome as well.) but I don't think ones printed in books can be called slip ups.

 

[amorevelo]

Originally posted by hemplands I'm afraid if I had received the money I would have thrown it back in his face humiliated.


Shut up, no you woudn't. That's 50 g's for the race and then another 50 for giggles. C'mon, last time i checked cyclists weren't the highest payed athletes on the face of the planet. I can see where the animosity comes from, and maybe I am taking his side, but I know that if I was a team leader and I won the tour for the 5th time in a row I would cetainly give a little sumin sumin to my domestiques. It wasn't about the money anyway, it was about a job well done and a thank you for not leaving his side when it looked bleak.

 

[Beastt]

Originally posted by hemplands
Dear Beastt

Yes they do get paid by the sponsors etc. In addition Just read Lances second book with all the gory details about the distribution of the TdF winners money which by tradition is paid to the winner, who unselfishly gives it all to the other members of the team. And then he doubled it from his own money.

Fine let him play Mr Bountiful, but why did he feel the need to publish it in black and white? I'm afraid if I had received the money I would have thrown it back in his face humiliated.

Well, not that it's likely to happen, but if it does, would you mind throwing the money in my direction? I wouldn't feel humiliated at all!

 

[hemplands]

Its not the giving of the money, his team worked well for him and they deserved it. but why does he need to tell the whole wide world what he's done. It wasn't as if he said it in an interview which would be there and gone, he had to put in in his darned book for millions to read. Egotistical or what?

In the UK the norm is that earnings are between you, your employer and not forgetting the Inland Revenue and the matter stays private. There may be speculation but people prefer to keep it quiet.

So is it different in the US allowing access to anyone and everyone to know what you earn, and it can be broadcast all over the world?

Just a little memorandum on the bottom, I wouldn't throw the money nack either, I feel really sorry for them having to work for a 'tyrant' who can't keep his mouth zipped.

 

[Beastt]

It seems that if you really don't like the guy, you could maybe come up with something a bit better than the fact that he tries to do good things but then has the arrogance to mention them or the fact that he followed the long-honored tradition of dividing the prize money among team mates. Like maybe if he hadn't followed that tradition? But he did. So instead he gets slammed for mentioning that he did. If you ask me that's looking really hard for something about him to dislike.

I don't see any threads about Simoni's comments regarding "demolishing Armstrong in the mountains". I don't see any complaints about Ullrich stating that the 40 seconds Lance gained on Luz Ardiden wasn't a problem, following up by saying that he could make that up easily in the time trial, then risking a crash with other cyclists to grab a 4-second intermediate sprint bonus.

How about Pantani and Ullrich talking smack about Lance's 1999 win not being meaningful because the true contenders weren't in the race that year? They were both embarrassed by Lance in 2000. If you want to bag on cyclists for comments, there are much better opportunities. This looks to me like, "I don't like Lance and now I have to find a reason why."

Just my opinion.

 

[hemplands]

Its not the mention that he did divide the money its just the fact that he gave the figures. He could have put it down as he did the normal thing and gave then a bonus on top, no need to boast about how much it was

How would you like your earnings plastered where everyone could see it?

 

[amorevelo]

Originally posted by hemplands
Its not the mention that he did divide the money its just the fact that he gave the figures. He could have put it down as he did the normal thing and gave then a bonus on top, no need to boast about how much it was

How would you like your earnings plastered where everyone could see it?

Me being in the military, i would love to have my earings posted for everyone to see, maybe then people would send me money.

 

[shokhead1]

You sure get sh$t on alot when your the best.

 

[pineapple]

OK maybe it slightly degrades the good intentions of the act if you then go and tell everyone about it. OK maybe he has a tendency of telling people how good he is (not very many people write two autobiographies - what is that about!!). But it seems to me that at the end of the day he does good things and tries to have a positive effect on those around him. Sure it might be crass, but the important thing is that he makes the effort, right?

 

[limerickman]

I've got to agree with you Hemplands -
take a look at this comment from The Times interview yesterday
about Pantani :

Lance also talked of Marco Pantani: “Of course …. I was sad, but I wasn’t totally surprised. People could see it coming, but, of course, when it happens there is real shock. We weren’t close … but I respected him. He was damn good.”

People could see it coming ??????????????????????
Very subtle.

 

[bdmcdd]

Maybe publishing the details is just showing how appreciative of his team he is. I don't remember it word for word but im pretty sure he mentions somewhere he had a tough time and the team really pulled him through. I think hes just pointing out that they deserved it.

 

[limerickman]

here is a pertinent comment :

Cycle Sport : February 1997 : Indurain Tribute Edition :

Gerard Rue (Super domestique at Banesto) :
"Miguelleon is so tranquil and placid. The man is a superstar, yet he never makes a show. Look at the way he conducts himself with the team - he doesn't sit at the top of the table, he will sit
in a seat beside the younger team members and he listens to their conversation.
I remember when we were flying to a race in Valencia and there
was thunder storm during the flight. We were getting a bit edgy
but Miguelleon just said "Tranquillo - everything will be all right".
The man is so humble. Look at the way he gives away his prize money to his team. At the end of the Tour (1995), he was so humble, he pushed me and the other eight riders to the front as we reached the place de la concorde, this was his moment, yet here he is thinking of his team. This was his moment, yet he wanted us to hit the finish first.
That night, he split his prize money with all of the team : he
didn't accept any money for that 5th win.
What more can you say about the great man ?
I know that with his leaving, I couldn't work for anyone else because we were all so happy - I just hope that he was happy with us, as we were with him"
end quote.

 

[flyingdutch]

Like so many people at the peak of their endeavours and in the limelight, they inevitably get surrounded by all sort s of people. The majority of them are probably great, but some of them just cloud the central person's perspective on 'lfe out there'.

I think LA is a god but i think when a publisher comes to you and no doubt with constant 'needs' to make a book readworthy/sellable, the chile always gets thrown in the mix.
His judgement in this regard has been rather D-grade

His ability to achieve so much counts for zilch with me everytime I realise what a failure he has been as a father. All that ability, and yet not a clue...