Lance Armstrong: Sucking the Life out of Sportsmanship

With all the stories in the new this week about athletes "ruining" sports, it was hard to pick what to write about. But, since my favorite color is yellow, I'm going with Lance Armstrong, bad sport extraordinaire.

In case you haven't heard, the rumors are true. Lance Armstrong cheated at the sport he loved by taking performance-enhancing drugs, transfusing himself with better blood, and suing people he knew were telling the truth about him. But while he was doing all that, he was also taking his story of being a cancer survivor, philanthropist, and greatest cycler of all time and parlaying it into a zillion dollars and worldwide fame.

Is it any wonder our kids think the ends justify the means? Is it any wonder our young athletes think nothing of cheating on the field when the payoff is so awesome?

What's truly amazing to me is how Mr. Armstrong (or Mr. Livestrong to those of us who bought into the yellow wristband) has now owned up to his mistakes in a publicity grab that rivals anything else he's ever done. So yet again, if grown ups can cheat, lie, and bully to get attention...then publicly confess it to get even more attention, what's to stop our kids from thinking that's the right way to live?

I know what -- US.

Parents, coaches, and adults who teach our kids that cheating and lying and bullying aren't the right way to behave, even if the other team is taking shots at ankles and using equipment that's been subtly enhanced.

But people, we can't tell them how to behave one way if we're still idolizing super-athletes, dopers or not. I challenge you to find one celebrithete who hasn't fallen. Tiger Woods? Big-time fall. I'm dating myself here, but Pete Rose? Gone. I challenge you to give me one name of someone who has reached the pinnacle of their sporting career and not been accused of something. Yeah, I know -- being accused doesn't mean they did anything wrong. But have we yet to find someone who hasn't, eventually, 'fessed up?

We are part of the problem. We give our money and our attention to people who claim to have worked hard the old-fashioned way and yet, inevitably, let us down. Instead of doing that, let's show our kids that the true winners and stars in sports are the ones who help an opponent off the ground when he's knocked on his butt or told the other team "Good game" after their nail-biting volleyball match.

If you want the bullet points of Mr. Armstrong's interview on Oprah, see this article in the Chicago Tribune:
Chicago Tribune Article.

If you want other perspectives on the Lance Armstrong super-scam, here are more links:

Pete Rose's advice to Lance Armstrong
Why we need to stop enabling profession athletes
Confession wins little applause