2012 Anti-V Moment of the Year: Bullies are really just pussies
As referenced in the 2012 V-Moment of the year article and ensuing discussion, it was a most Vawesome year for cycling. It’s been hypothesized here and on cycling sites with more integrity that the fantastic racing of 2012 may be, at least in part, attributed to a cleaner peloton. Unless you watched the Tour de France you’d think the days of foregone conclusions and three week coronations are quickly becoming a thing of the past. It is in this vein we bring to you the Anti-V Moment of 2012: Lance Armstrong’s ceasing to fight the charges against him.
Now usually, we try our best not to delve into the seedy side of cycling. There is just way too much cool about our sport to focus our collective energy and attention on asshats. Besides, we’ve got bikes to ride. But the COTHO’s public announcement that he would no longer fight, er, defend himself against allegations of systematic doping, money laundering, blackmail, intimidation, and international douchebaggery has to be the biggest Anti-V moment of the year, if not in the history of pro cycling.
The COTHO could have feasibly taken one of three tacks as the winds of pressure, evidence, and public opinion continued to blow against his house of cards. Tack one would have been to continue lying, bribing, and digging an ever deepening hole as he steadfastly proclaimed his innocence. This obviously hadn’t been working for the past 10-odd years but at least it allowed him to maintain his base of supporters. Even as it became more difficult for him to maintain the façade he still had a sizable group of survivors, apologists, journalists, and mis-guided cycling fans who believed.
Tack two would have been to come clean (pardon the pun) and admit to the whole sordid mess he created but he didn’t have the ball to do this either. Who knows what his reasons are for not being honest? Best guesses are he’s rationalizing a set of excuses ranging from mitigating his financial liability, evading criminal implications, and blaming the corruptness of the sport. Maybe he’s trying to save face in some twisted way. But for as cliché as Tyler Hamilton even admitted in his tell-all; the truth will set you free. The COTHO could have stood in front of those microphones and cameras and said “Hey, you know what, I doped. I made some poor choices and lied to everybody and for that I’m deeply sorry.” Had he done so his detractors would probably still be his detractors and he would have given his supporters a legitimate reason to continue supporting him but at least everybody could say he fessed up and there is some integrity in doing that.
Alas, he took the Anti-V tack. He stopped defending himself, er, lying without admitting to anything and seems to be hoping to just fade into the background. In essence, he’s taking his toys and going home. What’s striking about this is that it is contrary to what we’ve come to understand about the guy. If anything, we’ve come to know him as a fighter, both in life and on the road. But this latest, and hopefully last maneuver was just plain weak. (Notice I’ve added the categories of “Evanescent Riders” and “In Memoriam” to this article in addition to “Awards”. The first two are much more fitting.)
Perhaps it belies the true nature of the man. A nature that involves intimidation, serial emotional and physical aggression and even violence. A nature that includes socially isolating his victims, arguing them into submission, and propagating rumors, gossip, and lies about them to sway public opinion in his favor. A nature that involves amplifying the mistakes of others in order to strengthen his own self-image. A nature whereby there are many innocent bystanders who are too fearful of repercussions to come forward themselves. The nature of a man who may be trying to compensate for his own insecurities and feed his own narcissism and megalomania. The nature of a simple bully who ultimately shows himself to be a big pussy.
Saw this on George Takei’s FB page.
I’m not a prude by any means. I fucking say what I fucking want to. My words are my own. And COTHO deserves every bit of what is coming his way. But ya know…I sorta draw the line at making jokes about what cancer does to its victims. Cancer is a bigger motherfucker than COTHO could ever aspire to be. At the same time, nothing cancer has ever done to anyone excuses COTHOs actions. Fuck COTHO. And Fuck cancer too.
@eightzero
Yeah I have seen a lot of posts on various forums slagging Armstrong off and in particular using the cancer as a point of humour, reference etc, which always bothered me, there is no real need for that, his illness and him being a complete twat are two separate issues. Having recently lost my wn father to cancer and seeing the devestation and suffering it can cause first hand then I for one would condemn the jokes and comments.
Well, I apologize for posting that. Maybe someone can remove it.
If you can really be bothered, play some LA-OW interview BINGO!
Holy shit, he is admitting it.
It had integrity until the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ questions ended. Then he was allowed to talk and the bullshit got deep in a hurry. The fucker is such a megalomaniac even Dr. Phil could diagnose his ass.
@Sauterelle
They should have sited my article. No worries. Takei’s shit is funny.
Yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
stopped listening right there Fucker!
@Marko
Yeah, I was surprised at first. Now he’s doing what I expected. Douche.
This is furthering the Anti-V. It’s like Absolute Zero V. There’s no less V. It’s as anti V as anti V gets.
@Marko
That’s a good way to put it!
@Sauterelle LA: ‘We’re done wih the yes and no, now?’ ON: ‘Yes. And the interview. Goodbye.’ That would’ve been more convincing. But I still gotta keep watching …
Ferrari is a good man?! This is becoming unhinged.
@G’phant
Sort of like gawking at a car wreck.
@G’phant
I know! I almost threw one of my Sidis at the TV a minute ago. Trainwreck.
Yes, but
Yes,although
Yes, (insert qualifier here)
‘I will spend the rest of my life apologising’? Uh huh …
@Marko
Yep, but strangely the world now feels like a better place to me. The catharsis has really started.
If COTHO was run over by a bus tomorrow, I would feel nothing. What a total prick!
@Bianchi Denti
He did just call himself a prick too.
I try to be an enlightened individual and maintain a progressive world view, but I gotta say that I’ve had it up to here with the language of recovery/therapy. “All of this is a process for me…” Yuck.
@Spun Up
It’s comments like these that make me wish we had a “like” button on this site.
@Spun Up
Well, as long as he admits it and he’s going thorugh a process, then everything is ok then, isn’t it?
I’m sure that is how a lot of people will see this…morons!
Morons, yes! Two of them just unfriended me on Facebook because of what I said there. Fuck ’em.
@Bianchi Denti
This is what the Oprah audience likes to hear. He know’s it, she know’s it. It’s good theatre.
OK. Last post or I’ll end up on here all day.
Oprah is an even worse interviewer than my lowest expectation of her (which was really low). How she can let him tell her that he is not answering the Betsy question is just inexcusable, and she should have shut it down right there. But there’s advertising money at stake, so she lets COTHO run the show. She is a waste of space!
That’s all. I’m out.
Can’t watch any more. Just don’t want to hear any more from him, or her. It’s making me depressed. The worst thing is that there will be no doubt so much dissection and post mortem analysis I won’t be able to escape.
Must be time to go out on (lots of) long rides, alone.
They oughta check his crawlspace for bodies.
Seriously.
Well, I’m not sure he was lying most of the time but he certainly wasn’t telling the complete truth, But if that’s lying, then so be it.
I think he told the truth with the yes/no questions. He sure was holding back later though. I didn’t know this was going to be in two parts.
@Marko
A V-acuum?
@Tobin
Australian TV is reporting that “Armstrong Used Uggs.”
@Sauterelle
No worries. Pancreatic cancer is not funny. Cured testicular cancer is.
I learned it at school.
Glad I didn’t watch. Having followed online here and elsewhere: He can undergo his fucking process in the comfort of his own home and not burden the rest of us with it. Fuck off already.
@Sauterelle
Well done!
I just saw this comment on another forum and thought it was perfect:
“An apology, and then measured, occasional ‘truths’.
It was a classic case of watching a sociopath work the room.”
@Nate There’s really nothing he could do to make me care at this point. My local cycling club held a big party tonight and we swapped gifts, drank beer, and shared what we love amongst good honest folk. If COTHO walked in and asked for a tube because he punctured down the street, I doubt anyone would have spared him a second look. Popular gift tonight was Tyler’s book, must have been 6 copies floating around.
@roger
Nice.
@Sauterelle
Exactly. This was his shot at some redemption and he totally blew it, predictably.
WTF is the second part of the interview going to be about?
The preview said something about the sponsors and Livestrong for tomorrow’s show.
@Nate
Well said. My thoughts exactly.
@xyxax
@Sauterelle, you’re the first non-Australian to say something so inappropriate that they asked to have their post removed. And you’re a woman. The site is officially international/cross-gender. I think that means we have “made it”. When do the checks start rolling in?
Oh, and you’re fine. Dr.Ferrari – the good guy – suggested his cancer was caused by his doping. Cancer is a massive asshole and no one should get it and it is no laughing matter. But when you cause a cancer on yourself and survive, it falls into to “fair game” category.
@frank
Nipple lube. Can she have a +V badge, like forever?
Let’s not be churlish… there’s a whole lot more shit coming that man’s way, thoroughly deserved. Whether or not he dresses it up in excuses and half-truths might cut it with Oprah’s viewers but I don’t think it will influence lawyers for SCA, the Sunday Times, David Walsh etc.
I suspect some questions will be asked in the US Justice Department too.Something like “So we spent two years investigating a case, convening juries, sub-poenaing witnesses and then we dropped it… and now the subject of the investigation has gone on television to admit everything we thought we couldn’t prove.” From pure embarrassment they could get very righteous on his ass.
Best/worst bit for me – I called her crazy, I called her a bitch but I didn’t call her fat. That’s meme-gold. Print the t-shirts now.
@frank
As safe as orange juice.
Don’t have time to find it just now but I read an interesting article about limits in the legal system regarding COTHO on Velonews.com. Something about how there are limits regarding how far back the law can go. If he lied in court 6 years ago about certain stuff he’s immune to prosecution as the limit is 5 years for some cases 3 for others and you can be sure his legal team have been through it all to see how much damage he can avoid.
COTHO
@ChrisO
Indeed let’s not get too carried away:
1. The sponsors were already chasing him for damages. I would imagine his lawyers have cut deals with some of them prior to this interview.
2. If you are already guilty, everyone knows you are guilty, the evidence is there, then you do not have much to lose by fessing up.
3. I wonder if he has negotiated his way out of any federal action (perjury) before coming on TV?
4. Call me a cynic…but surely this openess now leads to his next book?….er…hello!
Let’s be clear, this is too little too late and actually admitting the drug taking is only admitting what we already knew. The pressure on Kimmage, the things he said about David Walsh…all publicly and verifiably tells me what he is really like, someone who is not worthing knowing or knowing about.
To be balanced, I have not watched the interview (I could not stomach it) and the posts seem to indicate I made a good decision (I don’t rubberneck either).
The one thing that does bring a wry smile to my face is the shitty feelings all those Lance Lovers will have today….he duped them all and they were blind/deaf enough to believe him. It’s not nice to poke fun at those people, but fuck they deserve each other!
I would like to think I was on my bike when this abomination of an “interview” happened. I really have no idea, because I have no idea when Douche Day actually stormed the beaches. Two glory hounds past their prime, even though Oprah was just slightly fading in my opinion – until now.
@itburns
I think I was either on the bike or recovering….50k first “proper” ride out post operation and the ankle was solid. Sadly for me the turbo training has actually let me start this year where I ended last year, even with the ankle operation. FUCK! That means I am going to have to use one again now because it obviously bloody well works!!
@snoov
That’s why he only admitted doping up to 2005. That must be the limit his legal team set to avoid prosecution. Cunts.
@Nate
That where the family gets discussed and the tears start. And that’s where 80% of the audience falls back in love with COTHO. Cunts.
I am looking forward to seeing him cry, even if they are crocodile tears. Does that make me bad?
Based on my brief post – work review of a handful of internet web news reporting sites, the court of public opinion still condemns COTHO as a fucking massive c**t. It’s not hard to see the hand of legal self interest working very hard here to admit to so much and not an inch more, while flirting with the court of public opinion to assess his future career prospects. Watching the snippets, he looks more the politician than an athlete and he appears to be looking further down the line of his career than ‘coming clean’ or any big break that Oprah has (probably) been punting to the general public. This whole is frankly quite sickening. Lance’s version of events is going to be the most widely reported and accepted by the general public because of the mode of delivery.
One thing I’m still hoping for, is jail. Fuck him.
@scaler911
Whew. I don’t feel so bad now.