In every sport. I guarantee you more 50% of the players use some performance enhancing drug. And honestly it doesn't bother me. Steroids/Dope whatever you call it, is not bad if used correctly. A lot of movie stars have doctors control there drug usage, and are in the best shape, and health in their lives.

doesn't matter if it's 5% , 50% or 99%. as long as it is illegal, as long as some scumbags try to gain an unfair advantage over those who play by the rules it bothers me and in the spirit of sportsmanship and fairplay it should bother you too...

there are many people who claim that some of the peds are actually not too bad for your health if used correctly. now, i'm neither a professional athlete (i played football at a decent level and still play volleyball and train boxing but not professionally) nor an expert on peds but i would certainly listen to arguments and if there is scientific proof (long term studies etc.), i'd maybe allow myself to be convinced. let's just say i wouldn't rule it out categorically.

but again, that's not the point - as long as the rules say it's illegal you'll have to play by them. i don't know if you do any sports (my experience has shown that it's mostly the people who never competed in a sport who claim it's not a big deal) - but how would you feel if someone gets all the fame / money / success and you know exactly he cheated but there's nothing you can do about it?

There are plenty of things deemed "illegal" which don't really have that big of a negative impact, with a much larger upside. Steroid usage can be one of them if controlled.

deemed? it IS illegal. there are rules and they are unambiguous! it's not a gray area, it's not a matter of interpretation - it's just plain and simple illegal...

sure, there is medical use of steroids that makes sense (hormone replacement therapy / growth stimulation) but the adverse effects are too serious to make it legal just to enhance performance imo...

Can we just decide to not watch cycling because every cyclist dopes? Scratch the sport and move on. I don't know why people keep dwelling on this. The sport's been dead for years.

You act like Armstrong is a bad guy. He's donated over $470 million to charity.

The USADA has always been out to get Lance, I agree that at this point (considering he isn't even a professional cyclist anymore) trying to take away his accomplishments is only hurting the sport and the charity, not Lance. Besides, you couldn't throw a rock at the peloton without hitting someone who is doping currently.

This. I don't get why people crucify one guy when absolutely everybody is doing it. If you ask me, Armstrong is still the most successful cyclist. Everybody was doping and he beat them all. Repeatedly.

he IS a bad guy. he is a cheater and even now he still hasn't got the decency to admit it. he is a self-righteous and arrogant person who seems to consider himself untouchable...

yes, he collects money (it's not like he donates it all from his own purse) for charitable purposes which is a good thing, no question. but his popularity, wich allows him to do so has been achieved by cheating - don't you see anything wrong with that?
what you also did not mention are the six figure donations he made to the UCI - which is presumably one of the reasons they looked away in his doping case and still treat him favourable.

again, you're trying to make excuses for this guy (many cyclists cheat / steroids can be good / he donates money) but that doesn't change the fact that he's one of the biggest cheaters in sport history!



the problem with that is that there are some guys (maybe only a few and definitely not enough) who try to compete honestly and they have no chance at all. unfortunately you can't even tell who they are because they are not the ones in the focus of media and public. they are the ones who finish 10+ minutes later and train their asses off to make that only 8 minutes next time.
how can you not feel for them? how can you say a guy like armstrong is the most successful cyclist if he didn't even try to compete honestly? i really don't get it...
i consider doping unsportsmanlike and despicable. and most people i talked to feel the same way about it. must be one of those european / american difference things...

Rofl. I guarantee you everyone who is competing maybe 10% of them are legit. Other then that, they all dope.

even if it's only 5% or 3% - what i said is still true. how can you pick a cheater over them? i don't get it...