Lance Blasts Bode

[Gleb]

Lance Armstrong says he is "not a fan" of Bode Miller and that he expects more doping investigations from the World Anti-Doping Agency, according to a wide-ranging interview to be released next week.

Armstrong, speaking to Tom Brokaw for an article in Men's Journal magazine's July issue (on sale Tuesday, June 6), said Miller's accusations last winter that the seven-time Tour de France winner used performance-enhancing drugs stung him particularly hard.

"Listen, I'm not a fan. He attacked me, and it's hard to be a fan when you get attacked personally." Lance Armstrong, on Bode Miller, in Men's Journal

"Listen, I'm not a fan," Armstrong said. "He attacked me, and it's hard to be a fan when you get attacked personally."

Prior to the Olympics, Miller told Rolling Stone magazine: "Right now, if you want to cheat, you can. Barry Bonds and those guys are just knowingly cheating, but there's all sorts of loopholes. If you say it has to be 'knowingly,' you do what Lance and all those guys do, where every morning their doctor gives them a box of pills and they don't ask anything, they just take the pills."

"I wanted to be a fan, but then you quickly become not a fan," Armstrong said. "He's such a rebel; I thought he'd raise his level and win big. I really think he's a gamer ..."

He added: " ... Ultimately, I don't think what he did was fair. I mean, look, doping isn't fair. But getting people to invest in your story, in your career ... that's not fair if all we came away with in the end is somebody saying, 'Yeah, but I partied at the Olympic level.'

Armstrong also told Brokaw he expects the World Anti-Doping Agency to continue to scrutinize him despite the fact he has retired from competitive cycling. The Men's Journal interview was conducted before a report, commissioned late last year by the International Cycling Union, cleared Armstrong of allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his first Tour de France win in 1999.

Brokaw: "Do you think you're out of the doping business, in terms of people coming back and asking about it?"

Armstrong: "No, no, I'm not out of that. There are too many people. It's really become a story. Not so much for me. I mean, if it's Barry Bonds, if it's track and field ..."

Brokaw: "It's now systemic to investigate world-class athletes."

"...You have a guy like [World Anti-Doping Agency chairman] Dick Pound -- he absolutely hates me with a passion. He'll never let it die. He'll find a reason to investigate at some point." Lance Armstrong, on doping investigations, in Men's Journal

Armstrong: "Yeah, but you have a guy like [World Anti-Doping Agency chairman] Dick Pound -- he absolutely hates me with a passion. He'll never let it die. He'll find a reason to investigate at some point."

Armstrong also said that he doesn't have the urge to return to competitive cycling and the Tour de France.

"You know, I don't miss it at all," he said. "I miss the training. I miss the team atmosphere. I miss my guys. But the last couple of years, I would even say I hated racing. The only peaceful times were when I was at training camps, alone or with a few teammates, or at the races, in the hotel room, at the dinner table with my guys. That's the stuff I really love. I won't miss the Tour."

Armstrong will host the ESPY Awards on July 12 on ESPN, and said he's looking forward to it.

"It's something new and different, and I never would have thought I'd do that. An athlete's never done it. It's the Oscars of sports. And to be the Billy Crystal -- there's a lot of pressure."

Brokaw asked if Armstrong was going to sing. "I'm not opposed to anything," he said. "I won't dance. But that's it."

source

I remeber when Bode was talking about all that. Totally unclassy in my opinion, especially with all the hype and he himself couldn't deliver. It defintly made me less of a fan of Bode. Tisk tisk.

[Alex Walters]

Bode has never had class and I've never been a fan. There are so many other ski racers with class and skill, he just flings himself down the mountain and and does his whole "rebel" thing when he happens to gets lucky and win. His performance at the olympics was appauling. He has a lot of talent but he just seems to waste it, it's really dissappointing.

[Gleb]

glad someone else agrees for the most part. Although i do respect his skill, he just failed to meet the hype and also comes out looking like a jackass. I respect athletes more for their character and then their abilities. I could careless if he does win the world cup or gets a medal, he trash talked an American symbol. Lance brought American mainstream to cycling and he did it with class. Bode will never touch that.

[Alex Walters]

glad someone else agrees for the most part. Although i do respect his skill, he just failed to meet the hype and also comes out looking like a jackass. I respect athletes more for their character and then their abilities. I could careless if he does win the world cup or gets a medal, he trash talked an American symbol. Lance brought American mainstream to cycling and he did it with class. Bode will never touch that.

exactly, I agree he has talent but like I said, he just seems to waste it. I mean as much as I don't like him and say he wastes his talent he's still a world class skier, I'm not saying I could do better but I'm saying other world class skiers have just as much if not more talent than he does and they have class too, and that's what makes them great athletes.

[tex1230]

I hear Bode is next in line for Sheryl Crow...that's why Lance is really ticked.

[Gecko]

I hear Bode is next in line for Sheryl Crow...that's why Lance is really ticked.

OK that was just WRONG

[Gleb]

:lol:

you can't be serious. I never follow the whose goin out with who or whatever cuz i could pretty much careless but that would blow.

Alex, I agree 100%

[ncermak]

Bode has never had class and I've never been a fan. There are so many other ski racers with class and skill, he just flings himself down the mountain and and does his whole "rebel" thing when he happens to gets lucky and win. His performance at the olympics was appauling. He has a lot of talent but he just seems to waste it, it's really dissappointing.

Bode has maintained an unprecedented streak of consecutive races on the WC level...he just this season sat out some races after the olympics for the first time in years. To win on the WC level (let alone the overall) requires much more skill than merely flinging oneself down the hill and getting lucky. His style (albeit unorthodox) is somethhing that he developed as a means of finding speed. he did not get to this level without having very sound fundamentals. furtehrmore, he has changed the way skiers attack race courses. His race performance at the olympics was no different than he had been performing all year on the WC. I cannot grasp why we americans expect him out there and win four medals, when he was clearly not having a good season across the boards. Last year...yes, I would have expected a medal. 5th in DH, 6th in GS. on track to win combined. remember that these guys have to be on the edge to be competitive. they don't complete 3/5 of their prctice runs too.

As for class...I don't disagree. Bode did not present himself well at the olympics. However. He gavethe press what they wanted: a story.

I hope that with some of the pressures gone, he will be able to just go out there and ski this year...

[neil sunday]

Bode's a great skier- perhaps the best America has seen since the Mahre brothers...

USSA should put a muffle on his mouth and keep him out of/or away from the press. Nothing positive comes out of his comments other than the same, passive-aggressive blah, blah, blah of only skiing for himself and no one else.

Long after Bode blows out his knees and is retired, Lance will still be seen as a survivior, and the greatest athlete of all time.

My two cents.

[ncermak]

Bode's a great skier- perhaps the best America has seen since the Mahre brothers...

USSA should put a muffle on his mouth and keep him out of/or away from the press. Nothing positive comes out of his comments other than the same, passive-aggressive blah, blah, blah of only skiing for himself and no one else.

Long after Bode blows out his knees and is retired, Lance will still be seen as a survivior, and the greatest athlete of all time.

I can't agree more...

[Gleb]

Bode's a great skier- perhaps the best America has seen since the Mahre brothers...

USSA should put a muffle on his mouth and keep him out of/or away from the press. Nothing positive comes out of his comments other than the same, passive-aggressive blah, blah, blah of only skiing for himself and no one else.

Long after Bode blows out his knees and is retired, Lance will still be seen as a survivior, and the greatest athlete of all time.

My two cents.

could not have said it better myself.

[neil sunday]

I dont know where he went "off track." I admire(d) both athletes. I watch the tour de france and skiing events whenever i can just to follow these guys- then i hear things that bode says to the press... it's truly dissappointing.

As a coach of a snowbaord team, I'm always around the youth skiiers as well. I can tell you this- the skiing youth follow Ted Ligety now more than bode- even they understand...

[skatha]

As a coach of a snowbaord team, I'm always around the youth skiiers as well. I can tell you this- the skiing youth follow Ted Ligety now more than bode- even they understand...

They understand the old adage" it's nice to be important, but it's even more important to be nice"....

Bode's got skills...all that one legged skiing I saw him do, including the run where he fouled his skis and skied with one behind him while he manuevered it back into position at thw Olympics, but.....he couldn't handle the country-wide exposure or pressure....

Ted, on the other hand, knows the best way to handle pressure is to smile sweetly and just keep plugging....

As Mark Twain said "Is better to remain silent and be thought an idiot, than to speak and remove all doubt"

[Gleb]

wow i like that twain quote. So true though. Pretty much sums it up.

Neil, its true because I think most people know Bode isn't role model material. I'd kill to ski anything like him but whatever. I'm loving my board too much:1luvu:

[Alex Walters]

Bode has maintained an unprecedented streak of consecutive races on the WC level...he just this season sat out some races after the olympics for the first time in years. To win on the WC level (let alone the overall) requires much more skill than merely flinging oneself down the hill and getting lucky. His style (albeit unorthodox) is somethhing that he developed as a means of finding speed. he did not get to this level without having very sound fundamentals. furtehrmore, he has changed the way skiers attack race courses. His race performance at the olympics was no different than he had been performing all year on the WC. I cannot grasp why we americans expect him out there and win four medals, when he was clearly not having a good season across the boards. Last year...yes, I would have expected a medal. 5th in DH, 6th in GS. on track to win combined. remember that these guys have to be on the edge to be competitive. they don't complete 3/5 of their prctice runs too.

As for class...I don't disagree. Bode did not present himself well at the olympics. However. He gavethe press what they wanted: a story.

I hope that with some of the pressures gone, he will be able to just go out there and ski this year...

I'm not saying he doesn't have sound fundamentals and isn't a good skier, I mean no matter how much I dislike him he's still a world class professional skier, I'm just saying that in my oppinion he lacks the grace and skill that most other guys have. when I say 'he flings himself down the hill and hopes he gets lucky' I mean that retavily, as in compaired to many other athletes at his level he flings himself down the hill, he's not like a little 5 year old waving his arms and flying down a bunny hill. And I didn't expect him to win gold in every race and he did decently in the two events he managed to finish, but he didn't even finish 3 of his 5 races! He had all this hype sorrounding him, the least he could have done was get down the hill. And as for "they don't complete 3/5 pracitce runs" I'm no olympic ski coach but isn't that why it's practice? if you don't finish in practice you can go back up the hill and come down again but isn't the idea not to do that during the race?

[skatha]

I cheered all Americans-including Shaun

Bode....I kept on expecting at least something....

Chad Hendricks is from Spring-a stone's throw from my house

When I heard that Bode was seen drinking and slutting around on a nightly basis by people who'd gone to Turin to support Chad....well, then, my expectations dropped significantly

[nils]

source

I remeber when Bode was talking about all that. Totally unclassy in my opinion, especially with all the hype and he himself couldn't deliver. It defintly made me less of a fan of Bode. Tisk tisk.

New light on this topic...French tour followers were always suspicious about Lance's performance and it seems he will be stripped of all his titles....basically it means the tour's last 50 years is a doped circuit...i'd like to see a list of winners and see who's officialy been stripped of the title...Scary

[davekempmeister]

New light on this topic...French tour followers were always suspicious about Lance's performance and it seems he will be stripped of all his titles....basically it means the tour's last 50 years is a doped circuit...i'd like to see a list of winners and see who's officialy been stripped of the title...Scary

no news here.

dirty sport - everyone knows that. been that way for decades, really.

Bjarne Riis won the tour in 96 and admitted to having doped 10 yrs after. First he was stripped of title and then written back in with an "asterisk", as we say. Now he owns a team, is one of the old guard in cycling, generally respected (as he should be) and still remembered as a Tour Winner. All good and fine but what message is sent to young riders 15 years on?

A Pete Rose style lifetime ban can set the disciplinary tone. Lance might be to Dick Pound what Pete Rose was to Bart Giamatti. If those names mean nothing to you Nils, all apologies. Though I wouldn't understimate you, of course.