In the world of professional sports, there will always be those stories that inspire and those stories that destroy a perception of who you thought someone was.
Well, as luck would have it, there have been a few of those in the news recently and while reading about them and listening to what people had to say, I started to think about what we as a society care about.
It was nearly impossible for someone to turn on the news or surf the Internet over the past few weeks and not hear about Lance Armstrong, Manti Te’o and Ray Lewis. We all know the stories. Armstrong doped and lied about it, Te’o’s girlfriend was faked and it appears he was duped, and Lewis is playing in the Super Bowl in what is his final season in the NFL.
These stories turned us against a legend, created empathy for a college star and inspired countless people to never give up.
I am going to say it right now: I am a huge fan of Armstrong. I always have been and I always will be. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do not support the fact that he sued countless people who did not deserve it. However, as a cyclist, no one compares to Armstrong, and I don’t think anyone will ever be able to.
This has probably been one of the biggest stories in the world of sports recently, and even Oprah got involved. But I don’t see what the big deal is.
So what if he took some banned substances?
Even though taking these banned substances is prohibited by cycling’s governing boards, the act itself is not actually a crime. Setting aside falsely suing numerous people and lying in court, Armstrong’s use of these drugs was by no means illegal, but the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) now wants to ban him for life from competition.
There are many cases of athletes committing, or allegedly committing, actual crimes but yet still compete. Take Lewis, for example. He was once involved in an incident where two men were stabbed to death. But he is an inspiration.
Kobe Bryant was involved in an incident where it remains unclear whether or not he sexually assaulted a girl. But he changed his number and won an NBA championship.
A female Saint Mary's student committed suicide days after accusing a Notre Dame football player of sexual assault, though no charges were ever filed. But Manti Te’o’s dead girlfriend never existed, so we all have to feel sorry for him.
Our society doesn’t care about what is right and what is wrong. We want inspirational athletes, we want championships and we want to take down whoever sits at the top. The world of sports today is breeding a society that forgives and forgets too easily, a society that dwells on the unimportant and fails to care about those who really have been victimized.
I would be lying if I said I do not believe Armstrong took banned substances. That has pretty much been established. However, he still maintains he never doped during the Tour de France and that he did not force his teammates to. For the time being, I can believe this. The top finishers are tested almost daily while the race is happening, and an operation to the degree the USADA accuses Armstrong of running would have taken the support of many other people.
So what that he doped? Cycling is known to be the dirtiest sport in the world in terms of performance-enhancing drugs. In order to stay competitive, athletes almost have to use them at some point.
The USADA has stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour de France wins. So then, who will the winner be? The runner-up? He was doping. Third place? Dirty. So now we are off the podium. Well, I suppose the fourth-place finisher could claim the victory. Nope? Oh, he tested positive. See where I’m going here?
Those seven years will now have no recorded winner. Seven years of the Tour de France basically nullified because Armstrong was stripped, and it is nearly impossible to find a clean rider to give the title to.
I just cannot understand why the American public crucified Armstrong for doing something that is common-place in cycling when other, more egregious incidents have taken place but no one seems to remember or care about them.
Bryant will always stand as a champion, Lewis will continue to inspire, and Te’o will always be the one who got fooled, but Armstrong is now the villain: Few will remember him as the greatest cyclist who ever lived.
That is what our society wanted, and that's what it got.
Editor's Note: The original version of this column stated the girl committing suicide was a Notre Dame student and implied a group players had been found guilty for sexual assault. The allegation was against a single member of the football team, who was not charged by police.
