Lance Armstrong Investigation: Favorite Quotes from the Press

There is a ton being written about Lance's decision to not fight the allegations that he was a fraudster during his cycling career. I've decided to collect my favorite quotes here with links to the articles...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: USADA's Case to Move to Arbitration

Various news outlets from the Wall Street Journal to VeloNation are stating that a three-person independent review board has ruled unanimously to move forward with USADA's doping case against Lance Armstrong. In essence, the review board served as a quasi Grand Jury that determines if USADA has enough evidence to pursue sanctions against Lance and the others.

Previously, USADA stated that the arbitration hearing (assuming those involved don't accept the sanctions -- wink, wink) will take place before November of this year. Presumably, now that the case is moving forward, Lance and the others (including Johan Bruyneel and Michele Ferrari, Pedro Celaya, Luis Garcia del Moral and Jose Pepe Marti) will learn more about the evidence USADA has and maybe we will also learn more as well. So far we know that at least ten former team members will testify that they have firsthand knowledge that Lance doped or tried to get others to dope. They have also stated that they have blood results from 2009 and 2010 that show evidence of doping.

As might be expected, Lance and his attorneys are attacking USADA and the review board. Lance has discovered embarrassing personal information about one member of the review board as this quote from VeloNation suggests:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: USADA's Charges and Evidence

Photo from cbsnews.com

I found a copy of USADA's letter to Lance and friends online. From what I've read, some of USADA's evidence came to light from their participation in the grand jury investigation of fraud charges as the Grand Jury heard from the likes of Lance's closest associates including George Hincapie and others. The full letter is included below, along with some key points that I got from it:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: It's Not Over Yet...

Photo taken from WSJ.com (Gettty Images)

Just when you thought maybe the Lance Armstrong doping investigation was going to be over, USADA charged him yesterday with being involved in a massive doping conspiracy for over a decade. Now, I have to ask myself, if USADA doesn't have much of a case would they dare dig this up again and take on the amazing Mr. Armstrong again? I mean, doping charges against Lance have been about as effective as efforts to balance the US budget have been! Of course, no criminal charges in serious cases in the US have gone anywhere lately so Lance is joined by all sorts of high profile fraudsters in dodging criminal bullets. As to these charges, they aren't criminal but they could mean he loses his seven yellow jersey titles if they do stick. Here is a summary of the news, hot off the press:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: 60 Minutes Responds

Yesterday's news was that Lance Armstrong's legal team was asking for an apology from 60 Minutes. I mentioned that I wasn't going to hold my breath waiting for 60 Minutes to tell Lance they are sorry. News reports are now publishing the response from the program. Here is what is being reported that they said:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: What I Learned from 60 Minutes

I watched three 60 Minutes videos about the Lance Armstrong investigation, including a segment on 60 Minutes Overtime. In these videos, Tyler Hamilton states that the claims he made on 60 Minutes are what he told the Grand Jury that is investigating Lance Armstrong for his use of performance enhancing drugs while racing on the U.S. Postal Team. Here are a few claims made by Tyler and other takeaways from the videos:

What do Arnold, Floyd, Lance, Johan & George have in common?

That is, Arnold Schwarznegger (Governor of California and body builder), Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel, and George Hincapie. Check out their jaw and chin bones.

A reader sent me some pictures along with this excerpt from Wikidpedia about human growth hormone:

"Prolonged GH excess thickens the bones of the jaw, fingers and toes. Resulting heaviness of the jaw and increased size of digits is referred to as acromegaly. "

Do any of their jaw / chin bones look unusually thick? I'm not sure what you can conclude but they don't look thin to me. Maybe that isn't too surprising for a body builder or a retired cyclist who has put on a few pounds. However, Floyd, Lance and George are all pretty lean in these pictures.

See what you think...

Will Lance Armstrong be charged with fraud?

The NY Times reported yesterday that two "authorities" have revealed that U.S. government officials are considering investigating Lance Armstrong on fraud charges. One of the authorities said that they are particularly interested in "whether money from the United States Postal Service, the main sponsor of Armstrong’s team from 1996 to 2004, was used to buy performance-enhancing drugs." If the government could prove fraud, the sentence for committing fraud is generally longer than that of drug distribution.

The article also states: