Unless you have been under a rock this past weekend, you know about the passing of Neil Armstrong (see my blog for a brief post on that topic) and that Lance Armstrong has been banned from cycling for life and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after announcing he would no longer fight the USADA’s charges of doping. In the grand scheme of things, the accomplishments of Lance pale in comparison to those of Neil in my opinion. Still, there is something about the situation with Lance that is bothering me.
You see, we Americans value fairness. I have told my children time and time again that fairness ended in the Garden of Eden but that is blog for another time. In the case against Lance Armstrong though, the cyclist rightly points to his history of drug testing in his sport. Hundreds of drug tests performed and not once has Lance failed one of those tests. Not once! Here is where my problem begins. You see, the USADA claims to have many witnesses prepared to testify that Lance used performance enhancing drugs, blood transfusions, etc. to fuel his wildly successful cycling career. When the government says they have witnesses then the case must be iron-clad, right? (Insert snarky laugh here)
Well, here’s my problem. You see, if Lance had failed a single drug test this discussion would be very different indeed. Now suppose Lance had failed a test in a competitive event and produced a dozen witnesses who would testify that Lance at no time used any of the previously mentioned methods (or any other for that matter) during the race and they could fully document that Lance was in their presence the entire time. Guess what? It wouldn’t matter! Why? Because of the failed drug test that’s why. Do you see my problem yet? No? Let me explain.
USADA has rigged their system allowing them to have it both ways. Heads you fail a drug test and we’ve got you or tails we have people to testify against you and we get to ignore the test results. See the double standard? The bottom-line is this: they can’t have it both ways. Period. This is the lack of fairness that I am talking about here and it simply rubs me the wrong way.
I am not a big fan of cycling though like so many people around the world I have found Lance Armstrong’s story compelling over the years. Many in the media claim Lance’s refusal to continue to fight the charges constitutes an admission of guilt. Perhaps their statements have some merit. Perhaps not.
I don’t know if Lance Armstrong is guilty of doping but I know unfairness when I see it. If he is guilty of doping, Lance would do well to consider Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” All the good works of his foundation, his illustrious cycling career, and all the rest are for naught without Christ.
About Christopher:
Christopher is a recent graduate of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary of Liberty University where he earned the Master of Religious Education. He also holds MBA Finance and BS Management degrees. A former resident of Powder Springs, Christopher and his family now reside in Woodstock. Having enthusiastically embraced social media in 2007, he blogs regularly at www.chris-sanchez.com and is very active on both Facebook and Twitter.
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As I said, I don't know if Lance cheated or not (and neither do you). What I do know is he never failed a drug test and federal prosecutors declined to bring a criminal indictment after a two year investigation and spending who knows how much of the taxpayers money doing so. Where does it end?
As for the "Lance" Armstrong situation, I am a cycling enthusiast and an avid follower of professional cycling. So I have followed pretty closely this "persecution". Yes, that is my view, and I think an accurate portrayal of the USADAs mission. The Justice dept spent 2 years and plenty of money looking into Mr. Armstrong and came back with the position, that there was not substantial evidence to charge him with any wrongdoing. As you stated, he passed several hundred drug tests, and that really should be the end of it, given the rules of competitive cycling at the time.
International cycling’s governing bodies have stated that they will appeal the USADAs decision pending a review of evidence to be provided by the USADA. So I guess they are not on board?
I listened to an interview given by the CEO of USADA Travis Tygart, the day after Mr. Armstrong decided to end his fight. Mr Tygart stated that his intention was only to level the playing field for the clean athletes of the US and to let kids know they can compete without cheating. He further stated that all due process was available to Mr. Armstrong to answer the charges and that only an insinuation of guilt would be appropriate given his choice to not continue. I find great fault with the second half of that statement. As was so well stated in your post “Heads you fail a drug test and we’ve got you or tails we have people to testify against you and we get to ignore the test results”.
Did Lance Armstrong dope? I would say most likely yes, but there are times, and I wish Mr. Tygart shared my view, that the greater good should be served first. The Livestrong Foundation has raised more than half a billion dollars to aid in cancer research. I can only hope that effort is not hindered by the actions of the USADA. Doper or not, Mr. Armstrong used his notoriety and platform for a greater good, so was it at the cost of his “soul”, I would imagine only he can answer that.
Look forward to your next post. (and btw, yes, I am a daily reader of the MDJ)