Armstrong Case
Points to make:
1. What was the issue? Who was cheated?
a. The people who were not cheating
b. The sponsors supporting those who were not cheating
c. Bad image for the sponsors supporting those who did cheat
d. Teammates being forced into doping
e. Public, as they weren’t witnessing a fair competition
2. Who is to blame?
a. Authorities were doing far too little to take drastic measures to stop these athletes from making a mockery of the sport of cycling and doing significant harm to its long term credibility
b. The system was flawed, they needed to come hard onto the people doping but they didn’t and hence perpetuated this environment where to “level the playing field” you needed to dope
c. The incident where Armstrong paid off UIC when he failed the tests
i. Doping cover ups ii. UIC’s Ticket to America – ticket to a lot of money
d. Needed to incentivize the whistle-blowers, but seems like there was no incentive for whistle-blowers to come out clean either
3. Sympathetic view point
a. Level the playing field – everyone was doing it
b. Grow up with a single dream as evidenced by Taylor Hamilton’s decision to race with broken collar bones and shoulders
c. Lance doesn’t consider himself a cheat – looks up definition of cheat
4. Unsympathetic viewpoint - What about the idea that “others were cheating too”
a. It is absurd, not only at an intrinsic level, but also when compounded by how Armstrong was willfully exploiting his narriative to become a symbol that transcended both cycling and sport, all while knowing he was guilty, and bullying and suing anyone who happened to speak the truth – for example Nike Ad
b. Not everyone was cheating
c. Not everyone was cheating equally – those with more resources at their disposal had better doctors and could get ahead of the cheating curve
i. “Most sophisticated, specialized and doping program the sport has ever seen” ii. Blood doping – sophisticated, people who knew iii. Ferrari scientific knowledge
1. What was the issue? Who was cheated?
a. The people who were not cheating
b. The sponsors supporting those who were not cheating
c. Bad image for the sponsors supporting those who did cheat
d. Teammates being forced into doping
e. Public, as they weren’t witnessing a fair competition
2. Who is to blame?
a. Authorities were doing far too little to take drastic measures to stop these athletes from making a mockery of the sport of cycling and doing significant harm to its long term credibility
b. The system was flawed, they needed to come hard onto the people doping but they didn’t and hence perpetuated this environment where to “level the playing field” you needed to dope
c. The incident where Armstrong paid off UIC when he failed the tests
i. Doping cover ups ii. UIC’s Ticket to America – ticket to a lot of money
d. Needed to incentivize the whistle-blowers, but seems like there was no incentive for whistle-blowers to come out clean either
3. Sympathetic view point
a. Level the playing field – everyone was doing it
b. Grow up with a single dream as evidenced by Taylor Hamilton’s decision to race with broken collar bones and shoulders
c. Lance doesn’t consider himself a cheat – looks up definition of cheat
4. Unsympathetic viewpoint - What about the idea that “others were cheating too”
a. It is absurd, not only at an intrinsic level, but also when compounded by how Armstrong was willfully exploiting his narriative to become a symbol that transcended both cycling and sport, all while knowing he was guilty, and bullying and suing anyone who happened to speak the truth – for example Nike Ad
b. Not everyone was cheating
c. Not everyone was cheating equally – those with more resources at their disposal had better doctors and could get ahead of the cheating curve
i. “Most sophisticated, specialized and doping program the sport has ever seen” ii. Blood doping – sophisticated, people who knew iii. Ferrari scientific knowledge