X-rated Bob wrote:
Tokai SA wrote:
I need to clarify my feelings here. ?
I am a massive Lance Armstrong fan, also a massive Roger Federer, Nadal, Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps fan...basically a fan of all GREAT sportsman.
After watching the interview with Oprah I am an even bigger Lance fan because I've seen another side of him, or the NEW side of him that I respect.
I think when the Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Michael Jackson, Hansie Cronje "stories" come out, you either choose to "understand" or you don't, I choose to understand.
Understand what? That Cronje was on the take from bookies? That Armstrong not only doped but actively tried to destroy the reputations of anybody he thought might blow the whistle? These are not stories, this is what happened.
Tomorrow I'll go out and buy one or two "Livestrong" wristbands to show respect to the new Lance Armstrong.
Which is exactly what you're supposed to do. Make no mistake, Armstrong's confession on prime time TV and for a sum, is carefully stage managed. The idea is to minimise the damage to his image, and to present him as having come clean when, in fact, he lied for years and only decided to make some kind of concession to the truth - dobbing the whole sport in whilst he did so - when the evidence against him was overwhelming and he's facing law suits for millions of dollars.
What Armstrong really tried to do was play to his own rules instead of the rules of the sport. That means that what we saw was not entirely real - it was Lance, yes, plus a bit of help that was forbidden by the rules. How much damage this does depends on what the sport means to each of us and whether or not we drink the spiked kool-aid of the tearful confession.
Maybe the analogy here is with Milli Vanilli. You thought you were seeing a great performance, but you weren't. It was sham.
I do draw a line between cheating on the field and off the field. Tiger Woods cheated off the field. His tournament victories were honest, but he did deceive his sponsors and his family. That's the court he had to face and they have spoken, but there's no need to strip him of his victories or to put a question mark against his on-field record.
If you want a cyclist to look up to then there's Bradley Wiggins. That guy has almost single-handedly rescued the reputation of cycling with his behaviour in last year's tour. Not just winning, and winning clean, but the way he set moral markers and refused to cash in when competitors were disadvantaged by hooligans and persuaded other riders to do the same.
This is all moot if you don't think that sport is about some kind of ideal, that it's supposed to be an expression of our better side, that it's about skills and fair competition and good spirit. If you do believe that - and you don't have to - then the Armstrongs and the Cronjes and the Azharuddins and the Salman Butts are selling something that you hold dear and, as the saying goes, they know the price but not the value.
Understand that us humans do crazy things, and that we all have the potential to be crazy if put under certain circumstances.
I understand that Hansie was an addict, not a drug addict or an alcoholic. but a money addict.
I understand that Michael Jackson was driven into insanity by the circumstances of his childhood and the continuous pressures of fame over a long period of time.
I understand that Tiger Woods was brought up completely different to a regular upbringing, the things he missed out on his youth came back to haunt him years later...he became a sex addict.
Lance Armstrong is a perfect case of immaturity, if anything he was an immature idiot who needed to grow up.
He now admits that himself, so I understand, now I give him a chance to become a new person and start a new phase of his life.
It's all a movie, Bob, a never-ending mini series, us mere mortals are just 'extras', the famous sportsman and musicians, etc, play the leading roles for our entertainment.
Armstrong now deserves a chance to change in the next series, Michael Jackson deserved a chance for some peace and normality...that's the way I understand and look at it.
