NotebookOn Lance Armstrong, Cheating, and Righteousness
Odds are, even if you're not a sports fan, you've heard of Lance Armstrong. You've definitely at least seen one of his yellow "Livestrong" bracelets. He started the whole rubber band bracelet fad. He's used it and his whole Livestrong brand to raise $400 million for cancer research.
In 1999, he returned from brain, lung, and testicular cancer to win the world's hardest bike race, the Tour de France, seven straight years. It was an unprecedented streak that electrified America—and made France hate us even more—and launched Armstrong into the limelight. In the span of a mere decade, he went from unknown cyclist fighting cancer with a 40 percent chance of survival to the world's most famous kicker of cancer's ass.
Last week, he announced that he was officially retiring from competitive cycling, but his story is far from over, thanks to increasing—in number and in substance—accusations that he cheated. Investigators are looking into it. Sports Illustrated recently published loads of information implicating Armstrong. It's sad. I started writing this blog last week after his retirement announcement, and I tried to stand on the side of righteousness, on the side against cheating. I find small parts of my heart hating cases like Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez, stories of men who make millions and spurn the integrity of a sport all in the name of selfish gain.
If Armstrong cheated, then he did compromise a sport. But as much good as he's doing, good he could have never done without this platform ... if he cheated to get there, I'm having a hard time hating it.
Before 1999, almost nobody knew Lance Armstrong. Only cyclists and major nerds cared about cycling. People knew athletes could speak up for things, but nobody utilized that the way they do now. Armstrong didn't just recover from cancer and set records; he literally changed the world. He kicked cancer's butt, then he kicked the butts of the world's best cyclists over and over, then he used his newfound fame to do as much good as he could.
In a decade, he made a sport that was—no offense, but let's be honest—sorta lame into something kinda sexy. I got into biking partially because of him. More importantly, he's raised more than $400 million for cancer research through his foundation. He petitioned lobbyists and lawmakers in Texas to give $3 million for cancer research.
To quote ESPN writer LZ Granderson, who I just realized wrote this column about Armstrong a couple days ago,
"The Bible says you can't get into heaven by good works alone, but when I look at the philanthropic work of Lance Armstrong, I'm just not that interested in seeing him go through hell either. And essentially that is the reason I hope my teenager doesn't read this column. The truth is I don't want to know the truth. Not when it comes to Armstrong."
And besides, it's tough to hate the guy who gave us this great scene from that timeless underdog epic, Dodgeball.
Seriously, it wouldn't surprise me if he was guilty. Sometime, some day, something might arise that will irrefutably confirm what many suspect, and Armstrong's legacy will be tainted.
But if that day does eventually come, I'm not going to remember a cheater. I'll remember a guy who had a 40 percent chance of survival leaving a hospital and getting on a bike and climbing mountain after mountain. I'll remember a man who raised hundreds of millions of dollars to fight cancer with five-cent yellow rubber bracelets and yellow t-shirts.
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Let's imagine that Armstrong knew that one day he'd get caught. Maybe he just said screw it, I'm going to do this and I'm going to raise as much money and awareness as I can because effin' A, cancer blows. Screw my legacy; this is about others.
That's obviously pure speculation. I have no way of knowing if that's even remotely accurate. But I could see it. He'd be like Batman in The Dark Knight. He could become something hated for the sake of the people he's trying to help.
I doubt that's been his plan. But even if he gets busted, even if all seven of his world titles are discredited, even if he's found to be sports' biggest fraud ever, he's still helped millions of people.
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Since I definitely don't know everything, I'd like to know what you think. How do you feel about Armstrong, his Livestrong brand, and the accusations against him? Does the good he's done still matter if he got where he is by cheating?
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