Lance Armstrong Throws A Hissy Fit

Austinist:

After last night's sold-out Band of Horses show at La Zona Rosa, former Austinist co-editor Matthew Odam happened to witness a precious exchange between the seven-time Tour de France champ and the door guy at the Backstage Bar. Armstrong, evidently operating under the notion that he was exempt from pesky TABC laws, attempted to leave the club with drink in hand. When Sean Higgins, the door man, stopped him, Armstrong quickly morphed from that affable fellow gazing peacefully out from the cover of this month's Texas Monthly to some deranged celebutante:

He returned to the door, full of sound and fury. Higgins, who has worked at the Backstage Bar for four-and-a-half years, made it quite clear that he had no interest in Armstrong's celebrity or defense of his actions. Armstrong, not willing to drop the issue, flailingly tried to retake whatever sense of pride he apparently felt was taken from him, by berating Higgins while his friends stood at his side. With a finger that came inches from Higgins' face, Armstrong, according to Higgins, let loose a series of threats that concluded with the time-worn threat of "You'll never work at this bar again."

Read the whole story: Austinist

Comments

[gun]

Are we so rich we can just throw a drink out because of some stupid rule?

Sometimes humanity trumps rules,

everybody pounding on Lance here for being a jerk -- how much do you think you grasp the real situation?

Maybe the doorman (bouncer?) was an officious jerk...maybe they were both jerks at a bad moment...so fucking what...

Americans, it's time to loosen up and give people the right to be human.

Who hasn't been a jerk?

signed,

I'm a jerk and I'm proud

[spunkster]

celebrity detox.

[RGKahn]

I don't understand the attitude of most of these comments. I can look back on my life and see so many things I have done in public and in private that I would give almost anything to take back. I say to myself, OH MY God what was I thinking or not thinking of. We all have bad days. We were drinking too much, we had one too many people telling us what we can't or what we can do. We make mistakes, we say foolish thing, we do foolish things. The list is endless. When you are "celebrity" it is even worse. Everything is noted, explored, examined, mulled over and beat to death. Life goes on, get used to it. Get a life.

[AmericaIsATerroist]

"HLMerkin (See profile | I'm a fan of HLMerkin)
Most folks are not enamored with cyclists. Most folks cannot ride a bike."

You can't possibly be so stupid as to think that's true. Sit the fuck down and put your helmet back on Corky.

[jesuswazasocialist]

The guy beat cancer he should be allowed to drink where the hell he wants.

[NewFrontier]

I guess mixing testosterone supplements and Budweiser is a really bad idea.
.

[mrcontinental]

The remaining lustre has faded and Lance is just a typical shithead like the rest. Get over him folks.

[jubo]

'You'll never work in (sic) this bar again'

Coming from someone who'll never be anyone again...

Reminds me of the Orson Wells quote:

I started at the top and worked my way down.

[Rockwell]

My cycling friends worship the ground that Lance rolls on. Personally I've always thought he was a dick.

He overcame cancer. Good for him. So did my 10 year old nephew.

He won a bunch of races by doping. Good for him. Anything to irritate the French.

But he's still an asshole.

[GQTaste]

If nobody else thinks this person didn't cheat to win all those races than I have some Amway they can buy.

[vipersdad]

There is a follow-up here - Lance's side of the story:
http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/mo/entries/2008/02/04/lance_armstrong_loses_his_cool.html

From the link:

Armstrong was also contrite and admitted he was in the wrong for the way in which he overreacted.

“Listen, I was totally out of line,” Armstrong said.

Although Armstrong says he was in the wrong, he felt that the door man in question could have handled the situation better, as well. “You know, give us a warning. He walked over and nearly tackled us as if he had warned us four or five times. He was so aggressive without any warning. Believe me, man, if somebody says, ‘You can not take these beers out of here,’ I’ll just throw them away or go back inside. I’ve got no problem with that. I wasn’t looking for any special rules or treatment.”

Armstrong confessed that despite feeling he wasn’t given any warning before being confronted, he should have responded differently. “I don’t need to do that (respond the way he did), though. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

[condieshoes]

I wonder if anyone has had the courage to question his use of performance drugs.....his year after year wins leave me very skeptical to say the least.

[grisgris]

Didn't Armstrong lose his TdF prize for illegal steroid use?

[booker52]

He will do this to the wrong person one time and they will knock his dick in the dirt for him.

[wm1066]

I used to really enjoy the tour, but after watching this guy for awhile....
He's the kinda 'Jock' I've hated all my life!