Posted on 01/18/2013 4:52:21 AM PST by LD Jackson
For today's post, I want to depart from the normal news and political chatter we normally discuss and focus on something that I believe is travesty, both in America and across the world. For decades, Lance Armstrong has been the epitome of toughness and grit in the world of sports. He managed to beat cancer, no small feat there, and then came back to win the Tour de France seven years running. He was heralded as a superstar and he became a millionaire because of his victories and the resulting endorsements. All of this took place amidst accusations of doping.
As everyone is sure to know by know, Lance Armstrong has admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he has been guilty of doping for about 20 years. Never mind that he has denied it throughout his career, he's admitting it now. It seems it is the worst-kept secret of the sports world, but the only people who seemed to care were the organizations that oversee the sport of cycling. The fans didn't seem to mind and maybe that's what kept Lance Armstrong going. Maybe he was doing it for the fans? Not a chance! He was really doing it for the money and fame and once he got a taste, he was addicted.
The most troubling part of this entire story is the attitude Lance Armstrong has about what he has done. Fox News has a portion of the interview on their website. I thought it was very telling in what it shared.
"At the time it did not feel wrong?" Winfrey asked."No," Armstrong replied. "Scary."
"Did you feel bad about it?" she pressed him.
"No," he said. "Even scarier."
"Did you feel in any way that you were cheating?"
"No," Armstrong paused. "Scariest."
"I went and looked up the definition of cheat," he added a moment later. "And the definition is to gain an advantage on a rival or foe. I didn't view it that way. I viewed it as a level playing field."
You will have to forgive me if I sound a bit skeptical about Lance Armstrong and his admission of guilt. I have no insider knowledge of the affair, but I get the sense he is sorry he was found out, not sorry he cheated. Just a thought, but why is he confessing to Oprah Winfrey, instead of to the organizations he has lied to for 20 years? I wonder if he doesn't still have a leg in this game and is trying to work it all to his advantage? Why the title of this post, A Lesson In the Futility of Sports Royalty? I can't tell you how many people I know who absolutely idolize the players of our most popular sports. When Adrian Peterson was playing for the Oklahoma Sooners, he was already being heralded as one of the greatest running backs to ever play the game of football. That heralding is even louder after his remarkable comeback after having his knee surgically repaired. I am not trying to take away from his ability or desire to win, but he is still just a man who is being paid millions of dollars to carry an oblong ball up and down a 100 yard field of grass or artificial turf. He is also the man who proclaimed NFL players should be likened to slaves.
Lance Armstrong is a perfect example of how futile it is to lift up a player of any sport. No matter what sport, or if they are a man or a woman, they are still human, just like you and I. Lance Armstrong is a man who cheated at the sport he was involved in. Nothing more and nothing less. Our society should recognize that and realize the mistake so many of us make by acting as if these players are royalty.
Hmmm, that sounds like some of the politicians we have in Washington. Maybe this should also be applied to them.
“the United States has become a place in which professional athletes and entertainers are mistaken for people of significance.” Robert A. Heinlein
For what it’s worth, my Kaspersky virus program just blocked me from your web site. You might want to run a scan on it to get rid of whatever has invaded it.
“I went and looked up the definition of cheat,” he added a moment later. “And the definition is to gain an advantage on a rival or foe. I didn’t view it that way. I viewed it as a level playing field.”
...and Lance IMHO would be correct. Blood doping was as common in professional bike racing as bicyclists. Doesn’t make it right, but the blame should fall somewhat on the agencies in control, (there is an oxymoron) of the sport.
I’m not wasting my time on what should be done. It is obvious that the sport depends on blood doping and it can be done without being found out, so either allow it, fix it, or go down with the ship.
Lance Armstrong still won against all other blood transfusion arteests so bully for him, and hopefully he can be a part of the solution.
I have no use for people who are obsessed with winning, regardless of how they win.
I'm not sure what to say about Lance Armstrong now - all I can say is that I'm of the minority that never bought it. Some of the things he said about his cancer recovery just... weren't right, let's say it that way.
I've never met Adrian Peterson and I really have no more stake in his reputation than you see in my screenname, but here's his rap sheet: Adrian said the wrong thing once, and got in a shoving match with a rentacop once, that no doubt ended up better for the rentacop than it could have.
To see him gratuitously compared to uh, this Armstrong character, who proclaimed that his recovery from cancer was his own doing and that G-d had nothing to do with it... trying to spatter Adrian with the same matter, if you know what I'm saying, that's all over Armstrong right now... that just ain't right...
And, to the list I would add politicians. Surely Armstrong has nothing on Zero's lies and Alinsky tactics applied to his critics. The fact is Armstrong would never have admitted the fraud without first being caught. The same is true with Zero. Will Armstrong's lies, bluster, and ultimate disgrace with respect to who he really was register with Zero and his minions? Personal character assassination to perpetrate a lie should be legally actionable by the victims.
Golf is another...Hit a ball with a stick. Get the little ball in the hole and win a million dollars??
In fact....all these sports are nothing more than "money grabbers". They may have started in good faith...but I don't believe it is now the case.
Might I advance the name of Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens for inclusion in this not-so-elite collection???
He should have added politicians.
However, there are two things that separate most people from those who get paid a lot to do that: (i) most people cannot do it at the same level of ability as those people can; and, (ii) the market is not willing to pay to watch most people do those activities. This means, to use ice hockey and basketball as an example, while most able bodied people, with some training, can learn to play ice hockey or dribble a basketball; they are highly unlikely to be able to play ice hockey like Wayne Gretzky could, or work a basketball in the way Michael Jordan did. That's the relative skill part. The second part is the market pricing part - most people are simply not willing to pay money to watch Joe Six-Pack attempt to dunk a basketball. Advertisers may be willing to pay a lot of money for Jeff Gordon's car to drive around in circles with their name on the hood, and people may be willing to pay a lot for season tickets to watch LeBron play with a ball ...and for that matter people are willing to put their Dollars into work to listen to Rush Limbaugh, but wouldn't pay to listen to a FReeper say the same exact things (and not only would they not pay, they wouldn't listen for free even).
Skill/ability plus market pricing. That's why most people are willing to pay some people to do something that most people can be able to do at a lesser level. Kind of similar to why doctors are paid more than janitors ...anyone can sweep trash, but not everyone can be a doctor, or is willing to put the sacrifice necessary to be one.
With that said, making athletes into heroes is absolute lunacy. They are just people who, either by hard work or genetic luck, are able to play a sport. Nothing more, nothing less. However that doesn't mean they do not deserve what they are paid, primarily for the simple reason that that's what the market has priced them at, and people are more than willing to pay them such amounts.
Cycle = circle.
Politicians do have one significance - they control a lot of weapons.
“Might I advance the name of Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens for inclusion in this not-so-elite collection??? “
Wasn’t he involved in a murder the year that the Ravens last won the superbowl?
He said that he didn’t consider himself a cheater because everyone else was cheating except for those who weren’t cheating.
Everyone doped, his crime was he was an American who kept on winning.
His 15 minutes are up, he needs to go away.
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