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I'm about as far from the athletic type as you can imagine--a sedentary softie with absolutely no interest in cycling or any sport for that matter, save for the occasional Olympic figure skating or track and field competition. What does interest me however is excellence. I've been known to watch "Real Sports" on HBO, and many of my favorite documentaries have been about sportsmen--the history of baseball, the glory days of boxing, etc. I would never watch an actual football game, yet one of my favorite shows is "Friday Night Lights".
It's not the sport itself, but the athlete I find compelling. To take a peek into the mind and heart of a champion and glean universal lessons about hard work, discipline, and the heights of the human spirit seems to me worthwhile. Like many, I have a special admiration for athletes, and Lance Armstrong was one of those I admired.
With only the faintest idea of what the Tour de France was, I knew Armstrong had won it seven times. He also battled testicular cancer, inspired millions with his LiveStrong campaign, and dated Sheryl Crow (one of my faves). All the while I watched him refute allegations of performance enhancing drug use with indignant vigor. He was a survivor, a champion's champion. His accusers were just jealous.
Then last night on "60 Minutes" Tyler Hamilton, Armstrong's former pal and team mate, was clear-eyed and credible as he told of a culture of doping, blood transfusions, and even a cover-up by Armstrong himself when he tested positive for a banned substance just before one of his Tour performances. If Hamilton is to be believed, Lance has been lying to me all these years.
Watching time and again as one athlete after another is forced to admit to "juicing" in the face of overwhelming evidence, I've remained ambivalent about the practice. Sure cheating is wrong, but if it's true that all the top-level athletes are doing so, then it's more about leveling the playing field than gaining an unfair advantage. Could it be that if everyone is juiced, the winner is still the rightful winner? It certainly isn't fair to work your ass off your whole life only to be beaten by someone who is "enhanced". This is a tough call, even for an honorable person, and I can't say what I would do if faced with such a choice. I do know I could not have lived so long with such a public lie. I would have confessed years ago out of sheer exhaustion and shame.
Lance, have some respect for your fans and the sport you claim to love. If you are indeed guilty as charged, it's truth time.
60 Minutes Part I
60 Minutes Part II
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Comments
Just a very sad sign of the times.
rated with hugs
To cycle to save gas is always a noble exercise.
For temporary relief rub some Bag Balm Goo.
Google Bag Balm. It's good for cows and groins.
`
To be safe?
Go see (not You).
A good therapist?
Go find Harley Hog?
That's a good bike.
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Play the game called`
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&
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no go the comment no
Now it is only important to win; how we win is secondary.
Honour has fled the field.....
;-(
.
So sad when we learn and teach how to cheat on a test.
rated with love
I too would like to believe otherwise, but the evidence is overwhelming. It all comes down to money and too much of it. It makes people do all kinds of things to get it, anything to get an advantage. It hurt baseball badly, but it is killing cycling and track and field.
Lezlie
As for Lance, the story broke my heart because I had foolishly believed in him. If there's one thing I can't stand it's to find out I've been played for a sucker.
One thing stands out, that the athletes and former teammates who have accused LA of doping, have all been convicted of doping and banned for various amounts of time from racing. I don't know if LA used EPO, but I'm not sure if I trust proven liars to tell the truth either, clear eyed or not. Tyler is writing a book, and he's just set himself up to get a good publisher by going on 60 minutes with his claims. Is he telling the truth now? How about now? When can you tell?
The fact remains the LA is the most tested athlete in the history of the sport, probably more than in any other sport, and there has never been anything incriminating in the test results. Has there? If so, can you point to a reliable source from within the testing agencies?
It all makes good copy though. What have the claimants done with their lives and careers? Anything comparable to what LA has done in raising money for cancer? If he's guilty, then there will be an indelible stain on all his efforts both on the bike and off, as it should be. Plenty of people are lying about this, but there is a subset of proven liars that are getting all the headlines. But lets go ahead and convict LA because of the lying liars, that makes sense.
Tyler's retired so he can come clean. Floyd Landis started the latest wave of doping revelations and never seems to end.
"Cyclist Floyd Landis gives an exclusive tour through what he and others say is a culture of systematic doping in the sport."
http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/02/news/complete-transcript-paul-kimmages-interview-of-floyd-landis_158328
http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/02/news/complete-transcript-paul-kimmages-interview-of-floyd-landis_158328
R
I'm afraid LA is a nude emperor. Terrifically written post.
Recall that Tyler was caught doping, perhaps he is no more than a boy yelling, "but they did it!"
Armstrong took countless urine tests while he was racing, something would have showed up at some point. Look how fast Floyd was caught.
Lance would have to be incredibly vapid to dope for seven Tours, they do last for nearly one month, you do realize.
I am content to believe that there are freaks of nature, Mark Spitz, Eric Heiden, and Usain Bolt to name a few, who excel beyond the average Joe or Jane's comprehension. The reactions of many, not just here on this site, tell me that most would rather relish the bad news.
What convinced me that LA might be guilty was not only Hamilton's word, but rather what he said about the culture of the sport, also the endurance required to ride for the better part of an entire month on a grueling course. It seemed to me that the top riders must have had something to lean on. Why would LA be the only clean guy at that level? Of course it's possible that he will be exonerated and if that turns out to be the case, no one will be happier than I.
Are you *really* surprised?
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What will compound the sadness of this story is that funds for cancer research may dry up. Indiana University has benefitted from Armstrong who was treated there.
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the doping....it has been pulcinella's secrets for years that lance was "lancing" himself plenty and with abandon....what a pity that now those who will suffer might be the people helped by his crusade,
the one thing that this fake has to be given credit for.....done maybe to espiate his, before now, secret guilt?