Thursday, August 25, 2005
Aborted Rare Sports Post
Because I haven't been particularly kind to him in the past, I was going to come to the defense of Lance Armstrong who has been accused, again, of doping, specifically using EPO, a red blood cell enhancer.
Armstrong has insisted throughout his career that he has never taken drugs to enhance his performance. In his autobiography, "It's Not About the Bike," he said he was administered EPO during his chemotherapy treatment to battle cancer.
"It was the only thing that kept me alive," he wrote.
I was going to say that, given that revelation, perhaps a trace of the cancer treatment drug remained in his system and urine into his first victory at the Tour De France in 1999. Lance, however, has chosen to refute that defense by guaranteeing there was no EPO in his urine at his first Tour win. The champion necessarily implies then that the old sample has been tampered with. I have to admit that I find that a little hard to swallow. It reeks of conspiracy theory. I like my defense better. But perhaps there was just too much time between the cancer treatment and the first Tour win for the legal EPO still to have been in his system.
Another beautiful theory destroyed by the merest brush with the facts.
UPDATE: Lance comes right out and says it plainly: "There's a setup here and I'm stuck in the middle of it," Armstrong told The Associated Press. "I absolutely do not trust that laboratory," he said.
Armstrong has insisted throughout his career that he has never taken drugs to enhance his performance. In his autobiography, "It's Not About the Bike," he said he was administered EPO during his chemotherapy treatment to battle cancer.
"It was the only thing that kept me alive," he wrote.
I was going to say that, given that revelation, perhaps a trace of the cancer treatment drug remained in his system and urine into his first victory at the Tour De France in 1999. Lance, however, has chosen to refute that defense by guaranteeing there was no EPO in his urine at his first Tour win. The champion necessarily implies then that the old sample has been tampered with. I have to admit that I find that a little hard to swallow. It reeks of conspiracy theory. I like my defense better. But perhaps there was just too much time between the cancer treatment and the first Tour win for the legal EPO still to have been in his system.
Another beautiful theory destroyed by the merest brush with the facts.
UPDATE: Lance comes right out and says it plainly: "There's a setup here and I'm stuck in the middle of it," Armstrong told The Associated Press. "I absolutely do not trust that laboratory," he said.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 6:18 AM 
