Sticks and Stones

Multi-millionaire, self promoting superstar Lance Armstrong just has to have his way. It will be his downfall. Armstrong has been in a childish war of words with the chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Dick Pound. Pound has been like a bull in a china shop when it comes to doping in cycling. He calls it as he sees it and that bothers people, especially dopers like Lance Armstrong. Doping is about to kill the professional sport of cycling (read HERE to learn that Discovery is pulling their sponsorship (sure, they claim it had nothing to do with doping but that's just another doping related lie)). History shows that every time there has been a drug related crisis in cycling the solution has been to sweep the problem under the rug and essentially ignore it. "It's better for the sport if we keep the high profile riders in the races", and, "The teams have assured us that they are taking every step necessary to ensure that their riders are clean" are typical comments we hear from leaders in the sport.

So along comes Dick Pound and he's not interested in hiding the problem. He's interested in fixing it and to fix something you have to first recognize that it's broken. Lance Armstrong, on the other hand, has no interest in having the world recognize the fact that top cyclists dope. Armstrong is much more interested in himself - he doesn't care about the sport of cycling. He also likes to whip out the cancer card at every turn because he knows that it's his way of tricking people into believing him on the one hand, and shutting up people like Dick Pound on the other. If the truth about Armstrong's vast doping program came to light he would be knocked off of his pedestal and become forever known as a liar and a cheat. For a man with Armstrong's ego and need to be in the spotlight that just won't do.

Dick Pound, no that's not my porn industry name

The cancer card has been the knock-out punch for Lance and he is simply not used to people being able to take the punches and keep standing. So what does Lance do? He files complaint after complaint regarding Pound. He demands that Pound be fired from his post. I love that one; a doper demands that the anti-doping chief be fired because he is doing his job as the 'anti-doping' chief. Get it Lance? Anti doping. Oh forget it. You wouldn't understand what riding clean means would you? Read HERE and HERE how Lance's complaining resulted in Pound being asked to "exercise greater prudence" when making public announcements. Lance, with his typical dishonesty calls this a "major victory". Major victory? You demanded that Pound be fired and all that happened was that Pound was asked to choose his words carefully. I'd call that a major defeat as well as further evidence that Lance is being dishonest about his motives regarding cycling. And note the headline of the NY Times article, "Ethics Rebuke for Doping Chief". What would be wrong with a more accurate headline like, say, "War of Words Over Lance Armstrong's Failed Drug Test Continues"?

Lance also said that the committee's recommendation that Pound only be asked to be more thoughtful was not the resolution that he had in mind. Wait a minute. I thought that you said it was a major victory. Wasn't a major victory what you had in mind? Is it considered a major victory when you don't get what you had in mind? I don't ever recall thinking that a little kiss on the cheek at the end of an expensive date was a 'major victory'. Then again, I'm not a rich and famous doped up egomaniac. They obviously think different.

Lance calls Pound a "clown" and an "absolute disaster". Nice. Nancy-boy Lance cries like a baby when Dick Pound speaks the truth and as soon as Pound is asked to be more civil Lance lowers the discourse even further by resorting to name-calling. What a creep! You see, this is where Lance's over-active ego will be his downfall. He'd be best served by keeping his mouth shut and going on a low-profile vacation with his boyfriend. All Lance does by this childish bickering is keep the words doping, EPO and Lance Armstrong in the same sentence.

Anti-Doping chief Dick Pound said it best; "He (Armstrong) keeps alive this whole thing that he should be trying to fade away, that a French accredited laboratory found that he had six positive samples for EPO in 1999. Maybe he thinks if he huffs and puffs, all of this will go away, but it won't". Amen, brother!