Does Lance Armstrong deserve another chance?

This question should not even be posed. ie asked. It means that the author of the question is trying to get a debate going to get comments. A lot of the riders , team mates, helpers and reporters slandered, hurt, sued and lied to have not been addressed. The lie has to do with a narcissistic personality disorder. The public and sponsors have been sold a crock of goods wanting to believe in a hero and a sportsman for well over a decade. He has hurt the sport. Initially the head of the USADA gave an opportunity to make a plea and was I believe sworn at. in an interview. Enough people know the truth and can fill in any gaps by reading the books and interviews. The time has come and gone let it die... and go away. There is still much good racing and racers to watch and enjoy.

So your ethics dictate that only murderers and rapists deserve punishment? Viciously attacking people who are telling the TRUTH doesn't matter? Only if Lance tried to murder or rape his victims should he be punished? He didn't get any jail time for the doping (conspiracy, trafficking) or perjury that he clearly committed. I think a lifetime ban from sport is pretty light. Dude deserves criminal charges. He can get a regular job like anyone else, which is way more than he deserves.

Personally I would not care who takes over as AFL-CEO as long as it isn't Eddie McGuire,he would have to be the most biased personality on television, Collingwood would get an even bigger slice of the cake,and god knows they get far more than their share now.

Completely agree liquorbox. I still don't understand why editors didn't even remove this silly sentence from the article.

Sure he made people suffer but to be compared to a murderer, rapist of paedophile is ridiculous.

Great concise summary of why NO is the only possible response. As an American, I'm still extremely disappointed the Justice Dept didn't purse criminal charges for lying under oath.

You seriously need to do some research on the lives and careers he destroyed.

the average person is never going to understand what truly happened over those seven years. no drugs were used during the years from 2000 onward, until they took the blood bags (usually halfway through the tour) they were essentially clean. Look up Hautacam in the 2000 tour. He won by 4 minutes and did it clean. the blood bag wasn't taken until stage 13. you must evaluate each tour individually on a case by case basis. when people unfamiliar with cycling hear about his drug use it all gets summarized into the idea that "he was always on drugs", this is completely false. People need to do their research and not just believe what they hear in the news. this is not like baseball where you do not really need to take drugs to win. would you all rather have had him not come back (in 1999) at all, if he didnt win those 7 tours another doper would have. its a given in most all sports, cycling and baseball just have somewhat legitimate testing programs. do not be fooled, the NFL is full of drugs, its not natural to be that big without steroids and growth hormones. just look at the average weights of todays players versus 30 years ago.

Lance received a default lifetime ban because he ignored USADA's offers, and ultimately refused to fight their charges! This guy had no intention of going along with USADA, no matter what was offered to him. It was business as usual for Lance, meaning he would apply brute-force tactics. This included lobbying in Washington (using his Livestrong charity!) in an attempt to defund USADA. But the jig was up before Lance knew what hit him. So now, after all is said & done, he's whining that he was treated unfairly. Don't cry for Mr. Armstrong.

Will every armchair philosopher go back in their cages and get real. Armstrong was a unique character which is not to everyone's taste. Bully - yes. Drug taker - yes. Cancer survivor - yes. One of the bunch - yes. What do I mean. Well, I don't remember many pro cyclists of that era (yes it was different) standing on the various rostra and declaring "I may have won the Tour of whatever but I cheated". Did David Millar till he got arrested? Did Floyd Landis till he got caught? You get my drift? Enough. Give the guy a break

Professional Cycling is overrun with drugs and everyone is determined to blame Lance Armstrong. Drugs were a problem in cycling before Armstrong and will continue to be a problem after he's been banished. There is an assumption that because Armstrong is a cancer survivor that he should be held to a higher standard than his fellow cyclists, many of whom testified against him after themselves being revealed as drug cheats. How many other athletes have been given a second chance after being proven drug cheats? Lance Armstrong deserves the same chances as them, no more no less.

Armstrong is the man. The poor guy probably needed his drugs as part of his cancer treatment. Let's be real he only took some of his own blood and a few drugs to win a bike race. He's no hardcore criminal. You've heard the saying "grow a pair". The poor guy only had one and he still managed to be more of a man than most. As for the lying and bullying, well your mother lies saying she likes your wife or girlfriend. You probably bullied someone at work to get that promotion. So Lance is no different than anyone else. Except he can ride a bike.....

Yes

Agreed Leon. For me it wasn't so much the doping but the standover tactics etc he employed to keep the charade alive. Not just a cheat but a really nasty piece of work to go with it.

No. And to any of Armstrong's supporters, which part of 'NO' don't any of you understand? The 'N' or the 'O'?

The fact that this question appears like some Zombie from the grave every five minutes is proof of the enduring power this bloke has over the cycling world. He is a convicted cheat who perjured himself to defraud his insurer of millions, sued newspapers in libel for printing the truth, and acted as a one-man standover goon to his own team and half the peloton, ably assisted by a bevy of acolytes who profited from his rise. He is a genital wart on the sporting world, and should no more be let near the sharp end of a starting line than Hein Verbruggen be allowed to give lectures in ethics and accountability.

Agree! The man is a disgrace to humanity!

Exactly Leon. I think Onewayaround has overlooked Lance's likelihood of actually rehabilitating his pathological behaviour. I have no sympathy for the man, who has so far showed no remorse for his own actions. Let him suffer.

I say let him compete, he wont realistically compete at the highest level and wants to be able to be in a competition for his own reasons. I don't see the harm, even if he competed and was still on drugs, as long as this is known then who cares. He cheated and everyone knows it, why should he get a bigger penalty that others that did the same crime? I would love to see how a clean Armstrong goes, is a clean Armstrong better than a clean other athlete? Did the drugs just make a supreme athlete who would have won anyway even better or was he an inferior athlete whose performance was boosted by drugs? I think this article is very biased against one individual and not against the crime and punishment. On the weekend Alejandro Valverde had a win in a race, and he had previously been banned for drugs, where is the outcry? "Would you feel comfortable in letting a convicted paedophile, serial rapist or remorseless murderer back into your community?" I don't see any comparison between Armstrong and any of these types of crime, who did her permanently injure, whose life was destroyed by him? Armstrong is like a white collar criminal, we all know they exist and we cant always prove it is occurring and when it does we feel disappointed and then claim we knew all along.

His conduct went well beyond simple cheating. He actively pursued, sued, and sought to impugn the character of former teammates who attested to the fact that Armstrong was doping. He took money under false pretenses. He lied repeatedly, and without scruple to millions around the world.