I do not know Lance Armstrong. I am not a member of the professional cycling world, I have not worked on or with a cycling team, nor do I have any connection that provides me with inside information. If I were you, I would argue that I have not done enough due diligence on this subject to render a completely educated opinion. However, I am amiss and I am going to spout off anyway.
I took some time to brief myself on this week’s USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) accusations against Lance Armstrong. Here is my current evaluation… Professional cycling is a pathetic mess when it comes to managing their blood doping and performance enhancing drug policies. Not exactly breaking news, I just needed to say it.
The USADA has initiated action against Lance Armstrong which could result in stripping him of his seven Tour De France victories because he might have broken the law. They are doing this while ignoring the fact that he passed over 500 blood tests during his competitive cycling career, without disclosing the evidence they claim to have or by identifying the accusers involved.
They are instead going to ride into their own self absorbed glory on the coat tails of accusations made by “anonymous,” “unidentified” self proclaimed liars and cheaters such as Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton. To top it off, some of Lance’s Tour crowns will likely be handed over to runners up Jan Ulrich and Ivan Bosso who have previously been caught cheating and lying.
This is absurd.
If Lance Armstrong cheated during his pro cycling career then you would have to accept that he and his little band of conspirators figured out a way to pass all the blood tests. Lance is the most tested athlete in professional cycling ever. If you believe he doped, then you have to believe one of the following. 1. Lance is smarter than everyone else. 2. Lance is luckier than everyone else. 3. Lance has a magic wand that turns urine into water. I am going to go with the magic wand theory. It’s the most plausible.
Here is some professional cycling governing body logic for you. Let’s take away Tour wins from someone who might have cheated and then offer them to people who have been caught cheating.
How on earth does any governing body come up with a decision like that? What is this, the United States Congress? That is the last place I encountered such stupidity.
If the rebuttal is Jan Ulrich and Ivan Bosso were caught blood doping but they did not fail drug tests during the Tours
If you take Lance’s Tour victories away on the basis that he cheated then you are acknowledging the testing process is failed and there are ways to blood dope and still pass the tests. If you hand the relinquished victories to Ulrich and Basso, who have been caught cheating, then you are accepting they cheated but not on the years they are being handed the Tour De France victories for. What is the basis for that logic, the fact that they did not fail tests on those particular years? Well, neither did Lance and he won.
There is the other side of the argument. Maybe Lance did dope. I certainly do not know him personally. The closest I ever came to knowing Lance Armstrong is I almost got to shake his hand before an annoying reporter from the Des Moines Register nudged me out of the way and started interviewing Lance.
Maybe Lance failed a test and we don’t know about it. If that is the case, why don’t we know? There are apparently all sorts of people out there that want to bring him down so if there was a failed test I would think it would hit the “front pages” immediately.
I love the line from the USADA about blood samples collected from Lance in 2009 / 2010 “fully consistent with blood manipulation including EPO use and/or blood transfusions.” The USADA conferred with a politician to come up with that little nugget. What the heck does the quote even mean? Did he fail or pass the test? That is what I want to know.
I am puzzled as to why there would be such a wide spread conspiracy against Lance. What did he ever do to make so many enemies? He has come out on many occasions and sited resentment, bitterness, etc. as reasons for the persecution but has not really offered up much in the way as to why there would be a conspiracy against him at the level it seems to be. Resentment as the main motivation for the constant hounding about cheating is not adding up for me.
The man is a bit of a magnet for sure. He is a house hold name in many countries throughout the world. Maybe the conspiracy just goes with the territory. He does seem arrogant and cocky which can rub people the wrong way but show me a person that is as successful as Lance and I will show you someone who is arrogant and cocky. Being arrogant and cocky is the same thing as being self confident and talented but the observation is coming from a different vantage point.
My post obviously offers an edge to believing Lance Armstrong when he says he didn’t cheat. I try to stay open minded to the information that is out there but I am a Lance fan and it is difficult for me to participate on the other side of the argument because I do not want it to be true. Even if he admitted cheating, I would still admire the other successes in his life. He didn’t beat cancer by cheating.
One thing is absolutely for sure. Lance Armstrong has done much for many and he has done this by choice. I may not have had the opportunity to shake his hand that day but I do have personal experience in working with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, LIVESTRONG, and it is a truly amazing organization that is truly necessary in our crazy little world.
We are all free to chose what we believe on this subject, and in most cases, people do not even really care all that much. Professional cycling fans form a relatively small circle so there will not be very many people that spend their time trying to form an educated opinion. It is unfortunate, but true in many cases, that most people assume “where there is smoke there is fire” and not give it another thought.
Unfortunately, those people will also allow their negative and uninformed opinion to impact a decision about donating and supporting LIVESTRONG and that is a misfortune. LIVESTRONG and the people who run it are inspiring, motivated, selfless and necessary. There is much at stake for many.
One more thing… Lance, if you did cheat during your professional cycling career, own it. If you didn’t, fight them all like one mad s.o.b. to the very end.
