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Does Lance Armstrong’s Doping Confession Change Your Opinion of Him?

The seven-time Tour de France winner admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

 

Lance Armstrong has admitted to doping during an interview with Oprah Winfrey taped Monday, hours after apologizing to staff at the Livestrong Foundation, which he started but has since been forced to resign from, CBSNews.com reported.  

After nearly 15 years of denials, threats and actions against anyone who told the truth about doping on the U.S. Postal cycling team, Armstrong confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs during a career that included winning seven Tour de France titles, which he has since been stripped of, the Wall Street Journal reported.  

Patch wants to know: Does Lance Armstrong's doping confession change your opinion of him or his charity? 

Livestrong Foundation issued a statement Wednesday morning in response to Armstrong’s interview with Winfrey, writing, “We expect Lance to be completely truthful and forthcoming in his interview and with all of us in the cancer community.”

About this column: This column invites readers to weigh in on various topics from local news and entertainment to hot topics nationally. Join our discussions! Related Topics: 2013 0119 Patch Chatter Week in Review, Lance Armstrong, Lance Armstrong Admits to Doping, Lance Armstrong Foundation, Livestrong Foundation, Oprah Winfrey, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, USADA, and performance-enhancing drugs

el debarge

12:23 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Seems like even more of a Jag so.....yes.
Thanks for asking.

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Chi-an Chang

3:30 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Suzan Lakhovsky wrote on Facebook, "Nope - still a lying jerk."

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Chi-an Chang

3:31 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Faleen Fedol wrote on Facebook, "Did it change my opinion of him? No, i realized he was a lying sleaze long ago."

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Chi-an Chang

3:32 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Beth Herz wrote on Facebok, "Did not change my opinion.... He a liar and a very arrogant man."

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Chi-an Chang

4:28 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Gini S. Ohlson writes on Facebook, "It actuallly make me think worse of him...he's drowing and desperate now and trying to be saved reputation and $$ wise and he's ruined others -- many who supposedly were his 'friends'. This is a case of the EGO taking over and thinking he was truly invincible. Very disapointing as at one point I really did admire him."

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Chi-an Chang

4:28 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Sharon Serences Newman writes on Facebook, "No, I always thought he was a loser since he cheated on his wife."

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Chi-an Chang

4:29 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Central Street, Evanston wrote on Facebook, "And think of how many years it will take for all those millions of yellow Livestrong plastic bracelets to decompose..."

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Chi-an Chang

4:30 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Susan Canole wrote on Facebook, "Personally, I could care less. People do make mistakes- like Tiger Woods, who held a press conference to issue his apology. I do, however, find it to be of ill taste that he gave his interview to Oprah, who is looking to make a comeback of her own, and has been promoting it for days. To me, that takes away from the sincerity of his 'confession.'"

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Chi-an Chang

5:08 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Elena Zaremski wrote on Facebook, "Arrogant, greedy, selfish, dishonest, a terrible role model for our youth who looked up to him and wore his rubber bracelet! He lied and cheated to get what he wanted. No he does not have my forgiveness for destroying the beliefs so many had of him."

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Peter Lucas

5:40 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

I’ve known Armstrong was a doper for many years. When the top riders Armstrong was beating were exposed as dopers, it was clear way back then he was better at doping than all the rest. He was also a bully. He used his legal team to intimidate whoever dared accuse him of doping and his publicist to smear his accusers as low lifes, he owes them all a huge apology, especially Greg Lemond. And what of his so-called admission to Oprah? She is no Mike Wallace, so let's just see exactly what Armstrong admits to and how far his admission goes. Who knows, it might prove to be an act intended to generate sympathy; he is a cold and calculating personality after all. Americans are a forgiving bunch when it comes to their sports heroes, but I doubt Armstrong will ever fully rehabilitate his image.

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McCloud

7:05 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Not really, but I never gave Lance much thought in the first place. Oprah on the other hand continues to reach new levels of my disgust. The female Jerry Springer somehow gains the respect and admiration of quite a large audience. It's probably good that her home has over 20,000 sq ft so she can squeeze her ego and belly into the foyer.

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Procrustes' Foil

4:59 am on Thursday, January 17, 2013

I had a low opinion of him in the first place. He is just one more self-absorbed, egomaniacal tyrant who has bullied his way to stardom. And Oprah? She's just another media hound. ( I wanted to use another word in place of "hound" but that word would not fly here.)

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Harry Gio

7:32 am on Thursday, January 17, 2013

He accepted $$$$$$$ from the federal government under false pretences... NOT good... If readers know anything about the feds, they don't play and will seek 100% of their $$$$$$$ PLUS accrued interest......and then there's a STRONG possibility that the feds will seek criminal charges and a mandatory prison sentence... Think I'm wrong? Read the FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES and then you will see if I'm wrong... I would think he has HUGE problems coming his way because of his admission.

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Harry Gio

7:37 am on Thursday, January 17, 2013

His problems are just beginning... I feel sorry for him, because he admitted it, not for taking the steroids... 99% of athletes take steroids, but this DUMMY admitted to it... Soft!!!!!!!

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marco sangria

7:51 am on Thursday, January 17, 2013

liar liar pants on fire! some hero. so sad

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Matthew Newman

8:54 am on Thursday, January 17, 2013

The bracelets are representitive of a global charity that has done amazing things for millions of people. I chose to look at that legacy. The bike riding was a vehicle for what cannot be taken away. Who knows, maybe Livestrong was his way of assauging the guilt he lived with throughout his career. Regardless ofwhat you think of the man, his positive impact on the broader cancer community in undeniable. To my recollection Berry Bonds, and Tiger didn't start and run global charities.

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Peter Lucas

12:34 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013

Yes, the Livestrong foundation has done great things, but as a person Armstrong used his story of not just beating cancer, but going on to become the best cyclist ever to inspire cancer patients and their families to fight through the adveristy of the disease, a disease that is relentless BTW. My spouse and I were two of those people. As the survivor, I feel cheated by Armstrong's lie.

Harry Gio

12:33 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013

The feds will eventually BBQ this fool . . .

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LaVerne

1:19 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013

Lets start a drug testing program for ALL sports and ALL athletes. I know there are programs now but I believe its random. Lets do them ALL. lets see whose left playing the game

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Jack Mehoff 2013

2:47 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013

Once A Scumbag Always A Scumbag. I pray his wheels fall off at a high speed and he slides across the pavement like road kill.

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LaVerne

2:53 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013

time to get rid of all the protected bike lanes. people will put there bikes away ;-)

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Steve

5:39 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013

I never had an opinion of the man in the first place so mine could not have changed. However I will say that doping is done by almost every rider in the sport. Doping is done by most aqthletes seeking to be on top. It is a very real problem and a risk to ones health and well being. It is a risk they choose to take. I personally would not but I am not a athletic competitor either. Lance did good with the titles he claimed. He crreated the Livestrong Foundation. That is something that would not be there had he not competed. Oh and by the way, doping or not, he still won all those titles against others who were guilty of doing the exact same thing. His ets were not without self sacrafice and discipline. So did he deserve to be given the titles, I say yes. he was competing on a level playing field. As far as his personal demeanor I cannot say, I do not know enough about his personal life.

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Carl Castrogiovanni

6:29 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013

Not sure why this is still pending after 9 hours, so I'll repost...

Matthew Newman,
So, the ends justifies the means? It's OK to cheat as long as you start a charity? It's OK for Al Gore to personally make $100M by selling out to an oil producer as long as he railed sufficiently about global warming?

Your point that maybe the good outweighed the bad is countered with the fact that he actively bullied and threatened others to keep quite. He has shown contrition only now that the whole scheme collapsed...

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Carl Castrogiovanni

9:49 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013

He admitted to starting the cheating BEFORE the cancer! Do the Lance apologists/excuse-makers comprehend what that means?

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Millie

9:54 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013

congress should step in and pass law DRUG TESTING FOR ALL PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES OR ATHLETES REPRESENTING USA. EVEN IF THEY SMOKE DOPE THEY SHOULD LOSE ALL THEIR GOLD

JustOneOfTheNeighbors

4:49 am on Friday, January 18, 2013

I don't have an opinion on Armstrong's actions, but I do have an opinion about copy-pasting here the comments made by Facebook users there. I would expect to see a link back to the FB page where the user originally posted the opinion, or a "cross posted with permission" acknowledgement, or some indication that the FB user consented to having his/her comment shared from there to here. What's up with that?

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Millie

7:29 am on Friday, January 18, 2013

that idea came from some television news programs. JustOneOfTheNeighbors not sure why PATCH thinks they need to do it. guess we can cut and paste from all over the place and really clutter this up

Millie

7:30 am on Friday, January 18, 2013

you really can't respond to those posts on here

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