commentaries

Cancer "myth" to glory or not, I'm certain Armstrong would not have chosen a definitely-not-mythical 4 in 10 chance of survival for the opportunity to enhance his image as a cancer survivor. Many athletes of Armstrong's era cheated, though no one did so successfully. Yet no other cheaters turned their success into a half a billion dollar charitable organization dedicated to assisting cancer patients. And for that, he earns a measure of absolution, at least from me.

Note to goldengoph3r I find you unreal,if a man can't feed his family does that make him a hero robbing a bank? Sadly this is how I'm afraid your generation reasons,the man is still defiant just like all the other jerks of his generation. He is a self centered,evil man and I say the hell with him! He's so phony he couldn't even come up with fake tears with Oprah!By the way both my parents died of Cancer.

Lance Armstrong did exactly what other athlete's of every sport will and have done; win at any cost and with the caveat that one may get away with it. It is the American way and as much part of our culture as apple pie. Whether it's sports or business, winning or being on top is done with disregard of moral and ethical principal provided the opportunity to not get caught is greater than the opposite. Money is god.

Kudos to Colleen! More women die of heart disease than all cancers combined, yet where is the "race for the cure" and marketing for that? What about men? As coolnout says, money is God.

Note to kinnick: There have been jerks since the beginning of time and there will be jerks until the end of time. Jerks are found in every generation. Babe Ruth? Ty Cobb? O.J. Simpson? Let's not pretend that despicable behavior is unique to any one demographic.

Surviving cancer is all about luck, plain and simple. Heroic Armstrong was not. Americans want to believe that with force of will and courage we can do anything. As someone who watched my strong, beautiful 23-year old sister fall to leukemia, it was borne in on me that cancer does not care how strong you are, and does not care which god you worship. Weak people survive it, strong people die of it. That is a fact, as hard as it is to acknowledge.

As the last line stated, Lance Armstrong is only human. Hes done a lot for cancer. He didnt choose to have cancer and while he did cheat, he did wonderful things to help others with cancer. Just leave it. If he didnt cheat and didnt become this great athlete, would he have still been able to do so much for cancer or would he have been just like the rest of us who fall ill and pray theres someone out there like him trying to find a cure?

Great title, that about sums the Lance Armstrong saga up. The guy has been stripped of his accolades, but you can't force him to be remorseful.

Gotta laugh at all the "experts" here. Unless you've had cancer, I'd be careful to talk about good luck, bad luck - you have no idea. It's certainly changed my perspective on how I feel about others - I'm much more tolerant to say the least. I've got my own demons to confront let alone focusing and trashing others good or bad name. LA has accomplished more in his lifetime for the good of poor souls such as myself than any number of others who did it the way you'd like them to. Live and let live - get off your high horse - and focus on the good.

Some good points and perspectives, although I do feel it's a bit overboard to say he blamed cancer for becoming a jerk. Lance is just a jerk, always has been a jerk, and like he himself attests, it will be a long process to stop being a jerk, if he ever does stop being a jerk which is unlikely at his age. Do you believe he was clean for his two comeback rides in the Tour? Pshaw! Did you notice how energetically he attacked those who claimed his blood and urine profiles for those years were indicative of using? It IS difficult to change your ways. Lance needs to find a private life, away from the press once he settles all his lawsuits. And we need to stop talking about him soon. It is as much our failure not to have seen the truth as it was for him not to have told it. It was there for us to see, just like CIA torture was for years before it came under attack. Decades, in fact, if you include our training of Latin American torture squads down in clays of Georgia. Nice humble ending by the author.