Why Does Nobody Care About Lance Armstrong and PEDs?
This was written by yours truly over a year ago about our #3 Athlete of the Decade, Lance Armstrong. Only months ago, Armstrong was seen as the victim of a witch hunt to prove his use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Tour de France officials and French newspapers couldn't wait to pin Armstrong on any concrete evidence linking the 7-time winner of the Yellow Jersey to PEDs. From their perspective, the inability to connect the brash American to PED use in the most corrupt sport known to man had to be maddening. To most American followers of Armstrong, the witch hunt was only meant to discredit Armstrong's athletic achievements.
However, new developments might finally begin to set in motion Armstrong's fall from grace. A federal grand jury has been hearing the evidence, collected by steroid crusader Jeff Novitzky, for some time. Even more "evidence" has come from former Armstrong friend and disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis, who might be about as credible as Paulie Walnuts. Still, the case has been blown into the public sphere with a report coming out in Sports Illustrated detailing more alleged misdeeds by Armstrong and his gang of handlers... except that not many people seem to care. ESPN, aside from some Outside the Lines and SportsCenter segments, doesn't seem to be crusading against Armstrong the way they did against Bonds and the like. Ask the average sports fan on the street, do they even know Armstrong is in perhaps even more legal peril than Barry Bonds? Why is it that potentially the worst-case scenario of an athlete using PED's is largely going under the radar? Let's look at some possible reasons...
Fans and the Media Are Tired of Steroids
-There's only so many times one of our favorite athletes from the last 20 years can be found out as a fraud until we become numb to the news. Honestly ask yourself, is there anyone who would surprise you as a steroid user? David Eckstein? Phil Mickelson? Everyone who has been associated with any field of athletic endeavor in this generation has the unfortunate honor of playing in the Steroid Era. The first revelation of the Mitchell Report was actually news that everyone cared about. Look at revelations in recent years though. Brian Cushing tests positive, then comes up with the worst excuse ever, and fans and media just laugh it off. So what if Lance Armstrong is finally found out, even after years of denial? Wouldn't it be more surprising to all of us if he actually was completely exonerated?
It's Cycling, Everyone Else Does It
-Personally, this is the stupidest reason to downplay the continuing investigation into Armstrong, recently advanced by the moral authority that is Deadspin. If Armstrong is just one of many to dope his way to the Tour de France title, who cares? The real villains are the investigators who are crusading against Lance and his merry men. First of all, the Federal investigators who brought down BALCO have a little more credibility with me than French tabloids. Personally, I don't need to hear any justification for PED use from a website that pays for pictures of athlete's private parts. Just because everyone else does something doesn't make it right... or maybe they stopped teaching kids that in preschool as their heroes were sticking needles in their butts to grow their mighty muscles.
Most of All...Nobody Could Handle the Truth
-Now we've finally hit the crux of the matter and the inability of fans and media to invest any emotion or thought into a potential takedown of Lance Armstrong. Once again, an excerpt from my earlier piece...
Using his own battle against cancer to inspire others, Armstrong has raised millions to fight the disease and his will to raise awareness has proven priceless. This is Armstrong's lasting legacy, even if he never captures another yellow jersey. He is the rarest of all athletes, the one who will be remembered as a pivotal member of society first, and an inspiring athlete second.
Would the revelation that Armstrong did in fact cheat change this view of him in American culture? Yes and no. The crumbling of Armstrong's pyramid of lies and deceptions wouldn't change any of the money he raised for cancer research or take away any of the inspiration felt by wearing one of those famous Livestrong wristbands.
The Livestrong movement will always be bigger than one person. But, a large part of the reason why Armstrong was made to be such an inspirational figure would have been a lie. Once again, fans and media alike would have been fooled by the fabrication of the Great American Sports Hero. If it is found that Lance Armstrong used PEDs, it would cut much deeper than a surly baseball record-breaker (take your pick between Bonds, Clemens, or A-Rod) or a former Olympic hero (does anyone even remember the name Marion Jones?) being brought down to Earth. It would cut deeper than the last high-profile habitual liar to be exposed for the fraud that he is to the world of sports, Pete Rose.
But why would the truth about Lance be so potentially devastating? Because Lance Armstrong has spent years making a difference in the fight against cancer, which affects more lives in more important ways than all the sporting events in the world combined. Could a foundation that has raised millions of dollars to fight the dreaded disease actually be built on a web of deceit and drug abuse that dates back to years before? Would that be a crippling blow to any person who believed in the power of someone special to make a difference? Maybe we'll never know for sure if Lance Armstrong won all those Tour de France races without the unscrupulous aid of PEDs, although it seems the Federal government is determined to try to find the answer. But the question worth asking today for fans and media is, do we really want to know that answer? Could we handle the cold-hearted truth about one of our heroes, specifically this hero, one more time?
