You may be surprised that I have an opinion. While I’m not a cycling fan, and don’t really care one way or the other about doping in cycling, I think this is a nice opportunity to remind folks of some things about sports and drug use.
Professional athletes (including Lance Armstrong) will do nearly anything to win. Other than a very small number who are just freaks of nature, one of the things that makes professional athletes different from you or I is that remarkable desire to win. That’s important to understand, because these folks aren’t wired the same way as the general population.
Professional athletes use performance enhancing drugs. Not all of them, but far more than you think, and certainly far more than fail drug tests. Drug testing in professional sports is more an intelligence test than anything else – you need to be an idiot to fail a drug test. Drug use and the information easily available in this here internet make it remarkably easy for the not very bright to beat a drug test, even those that are random and unannounced (something I question in many professional sports anyway).
So this isn’t really about Lance Armstrong using PEDs. I would be surprised if he didn’t. The guys finishing 20th were.
This is about tearing people down to make a sanctimonious point. A group of holier than thou who couldn’t perform at the level Armstrong did (regardless of PEDs) want to make an example.
The guy never failed a test. He was never disqualified from a race. And he’s done arguing about it. Maybe that’s because he’s sick of the bullshit. Maybe it’s because he knows they have solid evidence. Maybe it’s to protect someone else. But not fighting any longer isn’t an admission of guilt. Does it change his greatness? He’s the best road cycling racer, ever.
KNOW THIS: your sports idols use(d) PEDs. There are people in the MLB hall of fame who used them. NFL too. And while those people were winning for your home team or setting records, you cheered them on. NCAA athletes use them. Recreational athletes use them. Actors use them. Just like you use coffee in the morning to get going. It’s a fact, and it will not change.
Trying to hunt them all down is a stupid waste of time.
Windy Recycling Day 