Is Lance Armstrong a scumbag? Can a news article have too many metaphors?

[Wingnut 7,000]

At this point, there can be little doubt. Like so many others, I believed Lance was a once in a generation athlete with seemingly superhuman endurance. His interview with Oprah was carefully crafted to be the first step in repairing his image. For now, Armstrong needs to be totally straightforward with authorities on how he pulled off this deception. He'll also need to avoid the temptation to excuse it by saying “Everybody was doing it.” Cycling's recent records may have been just as corrupted as baseball's by widespread performance enhancing drug use.

 

I do hope the Livestrong Foundation can carry on its mission. Regardless of Armstrong's transgressions on the track, he did wage a successful battle against cancer. My mother died of cancer when I was 17. I know all about the suffering it causes its victims and their loved ones. The support organizations like the Livestrong Foundation provides to cancer patients is immeasurable.

 

Lance Armstrong trampled by a stampede of metaphors!
 

OK, here is the part about metaphors referred to in the topic title. I know as a writer I should use more literary devices like metaphors, allusions, foreshadowing, etc. to engage my readers. But sometimes there is too much of a good thing. Read this clip from ESPN writer Bonnie D. Ford about the Lance Armstrong scandal.
 

 

Armstrong is a toppled despot, a statue pulled off his pedestal, but his legs are still moving reflexively in the rubble. By force of lifetime habit, he's still trying to shape his own narrative. 

There will be a colossal amount of time expended in the next 48 hours taking his emotional temperature, parsing his facial expressions and applying sincerity sensors to his tone of voice. And it will be time entirely wasted. The one absolute truth that has emerged about Armstrong over the past 15 years, much of which I spent observing him at close range, is that he is one of the world's most gifted actors. There was no manifesto like an Armstrong manifesto, no gimlet-eyed stare-down any more Oscar-worthy.

 

 

The whole article can be read here: http://espn.go.com/sports/endurance/story/_/id/8854048/lance-armstrong-interview-oprah-winfrey-doping-typical-spectacle
 

Woah, come on, aren't you going to let me come up for air? Well, she does, by about the half way mark. But by then, her effort to sink Armstrong has drowned her readers in a sea of metaphors.

Edited January 19, 2013 by Wingnut

[Cupcake Ice Cream 436]

yeah he is a scumbag. I am so sick of steroids and "performance enhancers"

 

So here is how I see it

 

We watched for several years as Lance rocked the cycling world. Bagging championships. Whats more is he was a story of inspiration...cancer survivor turned amazing...I loved how he turned from illness to champion...oh wait I forgot...he wasn't...sure he is probably strong even without the steroids...but I will never know now

[Scootalove 10,689]

Well, I wouldn't call Armstrong a scumbag. The thing is, most athletes I know took steroids or perform-enhancing drugs.

Lance went from a champion to well a sellout, now his career is down the pooper.

[Undyne 1,483]

I agree with LightningDust with this one. Considering that there's great athletes, there's downfalls.

 

And, has no one noticed that no matter what he said on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", he was required to say that he took roids? Under oath?

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

To be honest, most people, including me, knew he was doping. He made sure to make it obvious by his exploits that are incredibly hard to acheive by normal means. What he did was wrong. But most cyclists do dope.

Edited January 20, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[Phaeston-e12 173]

He's a despicable human not mainly because of his drug exploits, but because he ruined a lot of people's lives as well.

 

Some way or the other, he was going to pay for it anyway, hopefully this will set an example for other sports as well.

[PoniesPlease 365]

I do not condone what he did, but we are forgetting; HE DID RAISE OVER $400 MILLION FOR CHARITY.

 

Maybe he shouldn't ever compete again, but we have to think:

 

Which way does the Karma swing? Bad man, Great Charity.

[uuunph 288]

Think what you want.

Edited June 26, 2023 by uuunph