I swore I wasn't going to comment on the Lance Armstrong doping situation but I just finished watched his three-hour interview with Oprah Winfrey and I have strong feelings I'd like to share.
Clearly, Armstrong is just beginning to process his psychological response to the collapse of his world and barely able to reflect on the events, his feelings, or his future. He was immune to Oprah's excellent probing style because (I'm guessing) he is basically a man of "action" rather than "reflection."
As he stated in the interview many times, he wants to "fix" the problem and it sure seems that "the problem" was "getting caught" not his own need to consciously cheat and lie.
But, rather than attack Lance Armstrong (he is exactly where he should be after a career of doping and lying and now coming "clean"), I just want to express my disappointment in Oprah for even running this interview for 3 hours.
She could have more profitably interviewed Armstrong for an hour and spent the rest of the time talking to other athletes that have had their careers lost over cheating and had time to process that experience. There are so many candidates for such a focus.
It's also important that we look at the wider picture with regard to doping in sports.
It isn't by accident that so many of our hero-athletes tend to have chemically-induced clay feet. Or that so many elected officials are caught in a web of lies.
Perhaps it is time to have Oprah address the larger question of why we as a society need to have stronger-than-human gladiators to entertain us and then are aghast that they engage in doping practices.
At least this is my feeling on a late January afternoon here in Central NJ, USA.
I'm curious what everyone else is thinking about this issue.
Judy Shepps Battle is a New Jersey resident, addictions specialist, consultant and freelance writer. Her weekly column "It Takes a Village" appeared in the South Brunswick Patch for a year. She can be reached by e-mail at writeaction@aol.com. Additional information on this and other topics can be found at her website at http://www.writeaction.com/.
Copyright 2013 Judy Shepps Battle
Part of the problem is that we need to decide what we, the sports-viewing public, want. We like extreme performance in sports, whether it's on the Tour de France, in baseball with hitters like Mark McGwire, or whatever. As we provide a market for these performances, there will be those who will do dangerous things to provide them. Before Lance Armstrong, did anybody in this country pay any attention to competitive cycling? And during the McGwire era, do you remember what was happening to baseball viewership? It certainly wasn't dropping! I also think we should ask the athletes - even the ones who aren't using EPO or whatever. Ask top athletes: if the use of these substances were allowed, would you use them, knowing they might reduce your lifespan? I'm sure a sizeable number of respondents would be something along the order of "Heck, yes!" (they might use stronger terminology). For these people, a short life, with a stellar sports career, would be preferable to a life in the undistinguished middle of the pack.
he same drugs but got kicked out of their sport and had to deal with their actions. We can learn more from them. Lance is a career-long cheat, a liar, and a coward. Why give him the time of day? I have no remorse for Lance, who was able to keep "winning" for so many years, doing wrong over and over again, and preventing those who trained hard naturally from getting ahead.
"On December 2, Basque athlete Iván Fernández Anaya was competing in a cross-country race. He was running second, some distance behind race leader Abel Mutai - bronze medalist in the London Olympics. Entering the finishing straight, he saw the Kenyan runner - the certain winner of the race - mistakenly pull up about 10 meters before the finish, thinking he had already crossed the line. Fernández Anaya quickly caught up with him, but instead of exploiting Mutai's mistake to speed past and claim an unlikely victory, he stayed behind and, using gestures, guided the Kenyan to the line and let him cross first. Anayasaid after the test: "But even if they had told me that winning would have earned me a place in the Spanish team for the European championships, I wouldn't have done it either. I also think that I have earned more of a name having done what I did than if I had won. And that is very important, because today, with the way things are in all circles, in soccer, in society, in politics, where it seems anything goes, a gesture of honesty goes down well."
From what I caught of the discussion, I definitely got the impression Armstrong was not truly sorry for the dishonest acts committed....simply sorry he got caught!! Also, he didn't appear the least bit contrite over the serious harm caused to former friends when he referred to them as liars...this when those same friends attempted to bring knowledge of his doping scheme to the public eye. Personally, my feeling is Armstrong should not only be stripped of his medals and awards, but should be made to repay every penny earned while living his lie!! Thanks again, Judy, for a timely, well constructed, and very interesting article.