Well in some regards this ad is true....minus the EPO, blood transfusions and testosterone he neglected to say he was also on, he was on his bike 6 hours a a day. Even if it was the "culture" of cycling, drugs or no drugs there still was no cyclist who prepared like he did. This will be as far as I go in painting a positive picture of Lance Armstrong. As an athlete and coach there is nothing more I preach than competing honest and clean!
Now, before you go bashing me, in no way am I condoning what Lance did. In fact, I am very disappointed in finding out that like most other cyclist (professional ranks) he was doping. Did I wish all this was not true...Yes! At the same time, I was not naive enough, throughout his career, to not even have the slightest doubt in the back of my mind that he could be clean!
I watched the first night of the interview and would have watched the 2nd night but I was hosting a track & field meet that night. To me the interview was over in the first 3 minutes.
Oprah - Did you use EPO? Tesosterone? Blood Transfusions?
Lance - Yes
OK - interview done! The she asked what everybody supposedly needed to know, Why? Did Oprah need to ask that for us? Come on people, he was making millions from sponsors every year. Like he said when sponsors starting dropping him, "That was $75 million day." He was also the feel good story. He survived cancer, which we can't take that from him. In all reality, there is a very good chance the man should be dead!
Now people are also upset because he did not show enough emotion and remorse during the interview. They are also the same people who would have said, it was fake and he was acting if he showed that or cried. Let's just get down to the truth, everything he did his entire life was calculated, so for him to act any other way would have not gone over well. He was just himself. We learned during the interview what a lot of people already knew about Lance....he is a prick! He has always been one and had to act that way. There is no defending that about Lance.
I think what I am most annoyed with at this time is the amount of moral police, especially in the media, that have come out bashing Lance for admitting he doped all 7 of his tour victories. I have watched the media vilify Lance for doping but at the same time they want to give a free pass to Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGuire,etc. into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Why? It is the Steroid Era of baseball. Just put an asterisk on it! Sorry, media you can't have it two ways. You cannot select cheats that are worse than others! They are all cheats! If I recall, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are still denying they never tested positive.....Hmmm? Sound familiar?
Let's talk Ryan Braun (MVP/Drug Cheat). When he tested positive, he doesn't fight that he tested positive, he fights the collection process. Recently, Seattle Seahawk Richard Sherman wins his appeal of a positive test on the collection argument but yet his teammate tested positive also and took the suspension. Seems fishy to me??? Two teammates, same position test positive...sounds like a reason for NFL to test more of that team? Why not? Are we to believe training really changed that much over the past two decades that football players have got that much bigger and faster? Last I heard, the NFL Player Union is still fighting HGH testing? Isn't HGH an illegal drug without prescription?
Where is the uproar by the moral police on the NFL and MLB?
Yes, I am a coach in cross-country/track & field but I am also not foolish to believe that the sports I coach, at professional level, are clean. But if you followed twitter during the interview, I was appalled at the amount of tweets from people who acted like their sports were 100% clean. I saw one tweet that said, "Lance don"t bring running into this." Are you kidding me? How many positives are there every year at the World Championships/Olympics? Even now the stories of the Kenyon groups doping are coming out, but track & field is clean to them. Or now that I am back competing in triathlons, the amount of triathletes acting like it is pure. "Triathlons does not want Lance" was one tweet. Now before this blog gets too long and I bring up numerous examples, I ask all track & field athletes to watch the 30 for 30 show on ESPN about the 1986 Olympic 100 meter final and the cover up at the US Trials. For triathletes, I just need to bring up the story of a 54 year old age grouper who was just busted for doping....54 year old?? WTF!!!
For those people I just remind them of the saying - "Those who live in glass houses, should throw no stones!"
I found this article by Scott Tinley, a former Ironman World Champion, and thought it put a lot into perspective. Please read:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57564452/fifty-shades-of-lance-armstrong/
We need to be careful of the pedestal that we put our heroes upon! The moral police in this situation, fan or media, were just too naive to understand the culture of the sport or did not want to belive that Lance could fall into that. They were blinded by the feel good story of Lance beating cancer then beating doped riders. At times, I believed it all because of all the so called negative test, but in the back of mind I had doubts. As someone who followed the sport, it did at times seem to good to be true. Now because of their blind faith and idolizing, Lance is the worst human being ever.
Will I continue to watch the Tour? Of course! Even now with better testing and a biological passport, I will still wonder if the winner is clean.It seems as the doctors and athletes in all sports will always be one step ahead of drug testing.
Will I continue to support Livestrong? As a person who had cancer, yes! Livestrong has done a lot to raise awareness regarding cancer and cancer research. I wear my bracelet everyday and will continue to wear it. Do I have a problem with Lance competing again if they reduce his suspension? No! Everybody deserves a second chance as it seems most sports give their cheats that chance.
What am I on (other than my coffee and ice cream)?
I am on my bike 7-9 hours a week, running 2-3 hours a week and swimming 1.5-2 hours a week!
Compete clean!
Let my bashing begin........
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