Yeah, but those guys are doped on painkillers.

Part of the hockey dynamic is...its a team sport of course where individuals get more lost in the team dynamic. There will always be Reggie Jacksons of course. Even though Lance maybe on a team his individual performance has stood out like Tiger's which make them more of a target.

To Swingblade's excellent post about Hogan...yes Hogan was reviled because he would have little to do with other players but Hogan would intimidate through his play and steelie demeanor, not all the BS fist pumping and stalking around the green or cussing when he hit a bad shot like Tiger who basically did what he did to intimidate...not unlike what McEnroe did in tennis years back...or Connors. Regarding excellent points about Woods losing his mystique...which has happened to other stars trying to comeback...absolutely true. Not only is the guy not playing as well but others aren't afraid of him because he has been made a laughing stock for his over the top behavior. The thing that always bugged me about Woods is how everybody would fold on Sunday against the jacka$$. This didn't happen in the Nichlaus or Palmer era, other players stood up to them. Fortunately this now has changed and at the same time many great players from all over the world have emerged.

Bluevelo, thanks for sharing your story about testicular cancer...a tough read and a fear of many of us. Many including me have always wondered about the linkage because that form of cancer and doping. The thing that doesn't comport with drug use after Lance's bout with cancer is...if drugs did induce the cancer, then why on earth would he go back to the well and take performance enhancing drugs that could finish his life. As you say, his rare form of cancer wasn't probably drug induced or determined to be unrelated by what he has learned. This doesn't remove suspicion about his drug use of course to win his titles. What is remarkable if he did take dope in some capacity is why hasn't he ever tested positive being one if not thee most tested atheletes of our era? If he did dope which seems likely then his perhaps his talent of avoiding detection is even greater than his gift of riding a bicycle faster than others. Also excellent comments about drug use in Hollywood to stay young and about drug use in the bygone era of sports. What people will do to compete.

Thanks. I really didn't do anything but show up at the doctor and let them do their stuff, although I do try and keep in shape at 49... I run for fun (halfs, mostly) and do some cycling as I can't go out and run more than 4x a week without injuring myself.

Chemo just wacks the dog poo out of your body. When I was taking the "time off" between the first surgery to remove the tumor and the second for the lymph node biopsy they put me through all sorts of fun tests to establish a baseline for my body functions had the lymph nodes shown I had cancer spread at a microscopic level. Part of that was lung function (chemo damages the lungs, no surprise), eyes (it also can damage your hearing, sight, kidneys - you name it, chemo is essentially heavy metal poisoning - the tumor cells absorb more heavy metals so the theory is you try and kill the cancer before the chemo kills too many healthy cells and your immune system goes belly up and you die of something stupid, like pneumonia or an infection)...

And it wacks your blood chemisty. Lance was taking EPO to help his blood counts recover - its not an unusual therapy amongst cancer patients.

I think the link between heavy steroid use and cancer of various kinds scares me more than most of the drugs cyclists are taking to improve oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. Remember Lyle Alzado, who played for the Raiders and who ended up getting taken out by steroid-induced (that's what they think) brain cancer? There's an amazing number of players from the Steelers' 70s era of Superbowl titles who have died of various premature causes too. It seems like the 'roid use is a lot more dangerous than substances that promote endurance. Yet we probably have far greater acceptance of body builders and their drug use even though the dangers are far greater than taking various oxygen/endurance boosters. It makes sense, actually, steroids make you put on weight, which increases the load on all body systems without necessarily increasing your ability to have more endurance.

OTOH, as much sky is falling behavior we have towards drugs in sports, smoking cigs is killing a hell of a lot more people every day and compromising their quality of life and the quality of life around them due to 2nd and 3rd hand smoke. So I'm not sure our energies related to sports doping mean all that much sense when you look at what really matters in the world...