I am a self confessed football fan, and worse yet an Arsenal fan, for those who do not share this affliction, fear not my blog will not turn into the ravings of yet another football madman, but a sporting story has caught my eye. Lance Armstrong's cheating and his as yet unseen attempts to address what he did, mark an unsurprising final chapter in the saga. Or not as the case may be.
Oprah Winfrey has gone on to say that she found the interview "surprising", and was "mesmerized and riveted by the kiss and tell. The whole thing reeks of attempting to redeem a villain. His voice is no longer needed. Lance Armstrong has along with the likes of Contador, nearly entire cast of the 2006 Tour De France, and many others debased his entire sport, yet that does not mean that every cyclist is rotten to the core nor the sport in general. 'Clean athletes' exist, and they are the athletes we should focus our praises on, and who should bath in the limelight, besides I think all our lives could be benefited by the absence of yet another confessional interview.
Oprah and Lance kiss and tell.
The fact that Mr Armstrong has declined to take a quiet exit from public life in shame and disgrace has paved the way for draconian solutions to the doping problem. Whilst one dick may have started this shameful episode in what has become a very popular sport, another Dick is determined to have the last word. Enter Dick, Dick Pound. The former President of the Anti-Doping Agency and a former Vice-President of the IOC, has waded into the row as men with macho names tend to. His suggestion - ban cycling from the Olympics. So basically cure the patient of the disease, by killing it, great idea. Dick has been extremely zealous in his war against doping and should be commended for his efforts to eradicate it from the Sport in general, but one cannot help but think that Dicks reaction does seem somewhat, forgive me, rash and premature.
Dick Pound commenting on Floyd Landis obscenely high testorone levels in the 2007 Tour De France.
The problems that Dick has spent a career battling and is trying to solve in the world of Sports will not be solved by an outright ban of the sport. Indeed very little in this world is solved by banning something, in fact as soon as something is banned its application tends to proliferate, nuclear weapons are supposedly only allowed to be maintained by the Security Council yet we all know that just isn't so, similar comparisons can be drawn with alcohol in prohibition USA, and of course drugs. Drugs are either an illegal or criminal substance the world over with some exceptions, yet they are used I dare say in every country, and probably in every sport. The War on Doping may be just as futile as the War on Drugs at large, why not open up a two-tier system. The first will be a competition for non-chemically enhanced athletes, the second for the dopers. Both promise to be entertaining and will ensure that all athletes have an even playing field. Perhaps it would even allow for a system where those who choose to dope can do so in the confines of a medically safe environment. Its just a thought and one I hope that you - the reader - can engage with. At least this way we won't have to go through a ridiculous process of punishing the honest to purge ourselves of the guilty. Not to mention the practical implications of trying to track down all the those pedaling, at least in cycling.
Now to end on a note that will give hope to many remember this - Each and everyone one of you has won the same amount of Tour De France titles as Lance Armstrong - congratulations assuming of course Bradley Wiggins isn't subscribing to the feed, and if he is will he be able to confirm or deny the rumour that he is collaborating on a musical piece with the Mod-father himself?
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