Lance
-
@nzzp I've read John Daniell's book and knew its author a bit at one point.
Doping in Rugby is not uncommon and has been rife in top French amateur and South African schoolboy Rugby. This oa a few years old but worth reading.
Doping in rugby: an exclusive Rugby World investigation
In the April 2014 edition of Rugby World magazine, we ran the following longread investigation into the state of doping in rugby....
That said, at the elite level, it is much rarer and doesn't make the difference as much as good technique and nutrition.
Eat clen, tren hard.
-
@mariner4life said in Lance:
That said, at the elite level, it is much rarer and doesn't make the difference as much as good technique and nutrition.
yeah, there is absolutely no place in elite rugby for being a fraction quicker, or a fraction more powerful, or to be able to sustain effort for a fraction longer.
derp
Lol, true. Isn't the point that a sport like rugby is more dynamic and multi-faceted than a sport like sprinting or cycling? So, whereas in sprinting and cycling, doping can significantly improve overall performance by improving the major facet of what makes a good performance, in rugby, or other ball and team sports, doping doesn't make you catch and pass better or improve your spatial awareness and decision-making.
I'm not saying it won't improve physical output for a rugby player - it will almost certainly will. But it won't turn James Marshall into Dan Carter.
-
@mariner4life said in Lance:
@mariner4life said in Lance:
That said, at the elite level, it is much rarer and doesn't make the difference as much as good technique and nutrition.
yeah, there is absolutely no place in elite rugby for being a fraction quicker, or a fraction more powerful, or to be able to sustain effort for a fraction longer.
derp
you're being deliberately obtuse. In Rugby, being slightly faster is useful, but you can have a great career (Conrad Smith) wihtout being a physical specimen. In athletics, though, strength, or speed is the win or loss, it's everything.
That's why the risk/reward for Rugby is different, and I don' think doping is as pervasive
Conrad Smith had to put on a fair amount of weight to make it though.
There is such a broad range of PEDs that do different things, and the difference at the top level between making and not is so light, that i have no doubt it's rife. And in my mind it would be naive to think it is.
Do i think it's like cycling where everyone is on it just to compete? No. But a couple of the comments here smack of "oh, rugby is different and above such things"
Based upon stories of which people have been caught, and where, together with my own anecdotel evidence, I think it's mainly an issue at the level just below pro or semi-pro rugby, where there are heaps of guys on the cusp of making it and where the testing regimes are less rigorous.
Once you've made that the pro grade, I just don't see there being the kind of incentive to dope, particularly when the clubs will be running their own nutrition and supplement programs, some of which might operate in the grey areas and through which you can get good gains without taking the unnecessary risk.
EDIT: I'm not saying that there aren't some big-time pros who are doping - i'm vervain there are - i just see this being more of a problem at the lower levels
-
Watched Lance. I find it and him riveting. It's also great gearing so many of the other riders being open and honest.
He was a prick no doubt, but he sure is charismatic. Lots of traits shared by MJ (e.g. inventing personal battles with people to get himself fired up), doping (hopefully) aside.
Can't wait for the final episode.
-
@antipodean
Anavar give up. -
@voodoo I tried to suss him out using my homemade psychological analysis and the best I could come up with are all those same characteristics of all goats - proper goats like lance, Jordan, gretsky, hadlee, even Ritchie - they've just got to be different than you want them to be otherwise, no goatness.
You can't be driven to the max and be a good fluffybunny. I reckon
But Lance also strikes me as one of those blokes you don't want in your life, no matter the self esteem boost. A man with no remorse capabilities
-
-
@Siam add Tiger, Schumacher plus a few others to that list too, these types are typically so focussed on thier own goals, if you are of the right mind, they will drag you up with them, but while they are on that train, they probably arent the most interesting or likeable of people, yet I think once they can stop being what they were, and start living a 'normal' life, they show more of thier personality
-
@taniwharugby said in Lance:
@Siam add Tiger, Schumacher plus a few others to that list too, these types are typically so focussed on thier own goals, if you are of the right mind, they will drag you up with them, but while tthey are on that train, they probably arent the most interesting or likeable of people, yet I think once they can stop being what they were, and start living a 'normal' life, they show more of thier personality
Nick Faldo was a good example of that, by all accounts a boring unpleasant person whilst on his golfing quest but once he’d fucked up his Ryder Cup captaincy and properly retired he became a more human person.
Still a dull bugger though.
-
So much capital built up to give people battling cancer hope.
And he threw it all away.
His book on defeating cancer was great. But it went straight into the bin when his cheating came out.
-
-
I'm really looking forward to tonight
-
-
@mariner4life said in Lance:
I'm really looking forward to tonight
What time is it on, cobber?
9 I think. Same as last week
-
It's interesting when a rugby player seems to have developed a Roger Ramjet chin over the off season ...
Isn't the NRL reputed to be rife with doping?
I think what is rife (based on quiet chats) is illicit drug use which acts as a performance enhancer because it can numb pain, heighten emotions, etc. The Joey Johns story showed this.
-
for those that watched it, what did we think?
The first 10 minutes i thought it had devolved in to a redemption puff piece. Thankfully, it was not.
I thought the most telling lines were from Floyd Landis, who would have every reason to hate Lance. But even he thinks it's shit how it all landed on him, just because he was the better athlete.
If it wasn't for the drug part, people would have zero fucks to give about the bullying. Look at the Jordan documentary for a watered down example. But it's become a part of the "this is worse" story.
I thought some of his answers were really open actually.
But everyone who was not a cyclist fucking hates Lance. All the affiliated people were just scathing. Funnily enough, the riders not so much.
-
also, i, for what ever reason, really dislike that David Walsh. Which is weird, but he comes across as such a smug, condescending fuckwit.
-
-
@mariner4life said in Lance:
also, i, for what ever reason, really dislike that David Walsh. Which is weird, but he comes across as such a smug, condescending fuckwit.
The same Walsh that wrote the piece about the All Black myth around 2004?
If one person did get fucked over by Lance, then it was probably Walsh.
I'll be honest and say that I love Lance. I don't expect others to agree with me and I'm cool with that. I see his cancer stuff an foundations as much greater than this cycling things. But I also have nothing but respect to those that are driven beyond belief to achieve what they want, shoving everybody in their path out of the way. They are a special breed of people and I wish I had 10% of it.
Instead of just being a slightly fat bloke on the internet talking about running 4 hours marathons.
