I, like many people, was shocked when I heard that cyclist Lance Armstrong gave up his fight against doping allegations, effectively forfeiting his seven Tour De France titles, his prize money, medals and perhaps his honor as the greatest cyclist ever to ride. Beyond his personal collateral damage, his Livestrong nonprofit stands to take a massive hit as its namesake, figurehead and primary spokesman goes the way of so many remarkable athletes before him.
Granted, Armstrong does not admit to using performance-enhancing drugs in giving up the fight against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), but as one commentator on National Public Radio noted, he and the franchises associated with him have far too much to lose for him simply to give up because he's weary of the struggle. Giving up the legal battle is, in the court of public opinion, at least, tantamount to a confession.
The news is still fresh on people's minds, but based on the news and Internet chatter I've seen, this is being met with a more somber response than, say, Barry Bonds or Mack Mcgwire. In the case of the latter two athletes (along with many others), it seems that the public has reveld in some degree of Schadenfreude as they witness someone being pulled from their high pedestal, back down to dwell among us common folk. Yes, we have a strange bloodlust for tearing down those we've chosen previously to build up as icons or role models, and Armstrong's grave-dancers surely will come out of the shadows in time, but is there something different about him? Do we have more of a reason to mourn his precipitous decline, as opposed to others who have preceded him?
For one, Armstrong represents a kind of national pride that other professional athletes sometimes lack. Yes, we admire baseball and football celebrities, but we tend to carry a sort-of love/hate relationship about them, not unlike we might hold for a sibling. Even more so if they happen to play for a team we've frequently rooted against. But Lance Armstrong has represented the United States on the world stage for many years, and has carried the flag of national excellence and pride in a way that few others have ever achieved (please, please, Michael Phelps, don't tell me you've been juicing all your Subway sandwiches this whole time). In watching him fall, we, too, lose a bit of our own pride in our superiority in the sphere of competitive sports, which is a bitter pill to swallow.
Armstrong also has the benefit of both empathy and admiration, beyond his sports audience. He garnered his fair share of both when he was diagnosed with, and then overcame, cancer, and he bolstered the latter by launching the now-ubiquitous Livestrong nonprofit, dedicated to cancer research and eventual cures. His reputation has suffered a bit in the tabloids as he's seen relationships wither and crumble, but it's hard to judge, given the intense attention and scrutiny he and his loved ones always are under. Not to excuse acts of infidelity, but it's easy to cluck our tongues from the comfort of our own relative anonymity while knowing very little about what it's like to live under such day-to-day pressure.
It may sound right about now like I'm defending Lance Armstrong, and I suppose that's a reasonable stone to cast my way. Â It's not like he needs me to defend him, but there is a part of me that, like many others, is reticent to let go of the elevated place I held him in my imagination. I wanted to believe what he had achieved was possible without doping. I wanted to believe that, if he could confront and conquer cancer, he could do nearly anything. I wanted to believe he (and therefore America by proxy) was different than others in his sport who have fallen victim to similar drug-related scandals.
And in so much as he still confesses innocence, despite the confounding evidence to the contrary, I want to believe him.
We are starkly warned in Scripture not to hold any idols above God. Burt there's a reason God saw fit to reach out to humanity through the life of Jesus. We long for something we can touch, see and identify with, yet that is somehow transcendent, bigger than life. This isn't to say that Lance Armstrong is some kind of messianic second coming, but we're always looking for that person who, in some shape or expression, can be The One.
And, as false idols are wont to do, it seems he's being dragged back down to earth with the rest of us.
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Jim Moret: Say It Ain't So, Lance
John Weber: Lance Cuts His Losses
Kolby Solinsky: Lance Armstrong, Champion Doper?
I think we're not seeing much hue and cry about Mr. Armstrong largely because a) The evidence is pretty unclear, at least to me, and seemingly a lot of people. (I confess I'm not that interested in this controversy, or whatnot, but you'd think if the most famous cyclist in the world was doping all that long even after the accusations came out, that they would have caught him at it,)
and b) The simple fact is that out of all those races, in only *one* is there an athlete who finished in the top five who's *not* under similar suspicion or charges of doping: so, really, I think it comes off more as about an organization with systemic problems trying to save face....hard for people to get terribly indignant about, I should think.
Then again, I don't seem to have this thing about 'tearing down idols.' It's funny, cause Christians are always calling Pagan people 'idolaters' according to whatever 'sin' they have in mind to insist is our beliefs and practices, but I find it kind of interesting that we don't seem anywhere near so prone to treat *people* the way the author here describes. Interesting?
If you have a need or desire to feel superior to anyone, whether as an individual or as a collective, then you have a long way to go to being spiritually mature. Pride of that kind is the low-potential type of pride that will keep you from reaching the spiritual sophistication I think you might be seeking.
"We're always looking for that person who, in some shape or expression, can be The One."
Why would the abiliity to ride a bike really really fast make you "the one"? Why wouldn't you look for someone who volunteeers at a homeless shelter, or even an animal shelter, for that matter. How about the black lady in Mississippi 10 years ago or so who spent her whole life working as a seamstress and saved up $50k (she didn't even have an air conditioner in her house) and then gave it all to a black college in her will to help young kids who didn't have the money to go to college so they could get farther ahead than she did. The world is full of heros -- and heroines -- just open your eyes. They're all around you. Winning a sport competition has nothing to do with it.
"Wake up fresh as a daisey"... youve got to be kidding. At this level in the game, these athletes put everything they have into these rides. Lance is all heart. Anyone who has helped raise over 500 million for a cause they believe in deserves a little more respect.
"Fallen idol" - youre crazy too. He hasnt fallen anywhere. Everyone who watched or participated in the Tour knows he won.... 7 times. Im not 100% sure but I dont believe the USADA has the authority to strip him of anything. And when you look at the Livestrong Foundation - donations are up 20% since he said he was done fighting it.
I dont know about Lance as a person but as a cyclist and a figurehead in the community to help with Cancer research... I think Lance is awesome.