Doped Up Heroes

Today, Lance Armstrong may or may not be shown admitting to doping in his incredible run of 7 straight Tour de France wins. If you believe the reports, he will end the run of his defense against such allegations and finally come clean about really happened. But I keep thinking one thing, why does it matter?

Let me explain, the 90s and beyond have been bad years for athletes and drugs. You had a time in baseball so bad that the era has been named the Steroid Era. You had the ephedrine rush in the late 90s early 2000s that effected the NFL. You continually have the illegal drugs plaguing all sports, but seemingly effecting the NBA the most (most likely fewer players per team than the NFL so it seems to have a bigger effect). Cycling is an incredibly corrupt sport in the realm of drug use. Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin brought it to the track. No sport has a clean drug record, even NASCAR has had two high profile busts.

But this is explicitly about cycling, so let's look at this. From 1998 until 2011, there were 14 Tour de Frances (the Super Bowl of cycling). That would leave 140 top ten spots over the course of those years. Of those 140 top ten spots, 42 have never been accused and at some point found to have used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) or other illegal substances. That being said, in that time frame 70% have been implicated (and time could add to that number with some of the more recent races). In Lance Armstrong's 7-year run, (70 total spots) there were 12 clean racers, (83% dirty). 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010 saw their winners banned for illegal substances. This sport is just rampant with illegal use of PEDs and doping. 

I say that to say this, Lance Armstrong has lied at some point in his career, I will give you that. But this man is still a hero in my eyes. He may not be the moral hero of the century, but this man beat cancer and rose to the top of the sport of cycling. The detractors will say that he only was able to because he was doping, and I would agree. In that time span, NO ONE would have rose to the top (healthy or not) without some level of doping. He competed against his peers that never had cancer and even if he was doping, had done the same thing that they had. 

Scandals aren't new to sports, the 1919 Chicago Black Sox are a prime example of an older scandal. We have created a culture in which win at all costs is the only acceptable approach. There is no end in sight to the doping craze. This problem is here to stay and there is nothing we can do about it. But Lance wasn't alone, he just was the best of the dopers at the time. If he were the only one doped, I would probably have a different view, but he competed against a field of doped athletes.

All of that brings me to my final point. Lance Armstrong is a hero because he beat cancer and inspired millions. I could care less if he is a 7 time winner of the Tour de France or an accountant for a local kite shop in Detroit. What matters is that he opened many doors for cancer research and patients while raising millions of dollars to fund it. He has given us an enemy to fight together and now people just want to hate him because they were tired of him being at the top of the world. I wear my yellow rubber band with pride to know that I want everyone with cancer to have the ability to rise above it like Lance did. 

Is it bad he cheated? - yes
Is it bad he lied? - yes

But in the end, haven't we all lied and probably cheated at some point? However, he didn't have fake cancer or a fake Tour story. He really did it and quite frankly, I don't think i could win it doped. 

So now I hope he comes clean. He will be banned from racing so another Tour run is out, but I hope he can be the face and the story that ultimately provides a way for cleaning up an awful sport. If he can do that, it will mean more that 100 Tour wins and he will reaffirm himself as a hero of cycling one more time.

Livestrong

BGann