In this recent Lance Armstrong
debacle, I’m kind of left wondering what his team is up to. Turns out they’re
busy throwing him under the bus. But why would they do such a thing? I say they’re
fed up with Lance and they've got their own asses to save.
USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart in his statement Regarding The U.S. Postal
Service Pro Cycling Team Doping Conspiracy claimed: “It took tremendous courage
for the riders on the USPS Team and others to come forward and speak truthfully…
But that is what these riders have done for the good of the sport, and for the
young riders who hope to one day reach their dreams without using dangerous
drugs or methods.” And then he goes on to list the 11 names, in alphabetical
order, of the teammates of Lance that fessed up. What I take issue in is the motive
that Mr. Tygart so certainly claims was behind these riders’ confessions. “For
the good of the sport,” he says- “for the young riders who hope to one- blah
blah blah, pathos appeals.” Has it occurred to anyone else that- has anyone ventured
to think that- perhaps these riders are driven by a bit of jealousy? Perhaps a
bit of blame defecting? Though as understandable as their actions of defense
are, it makes them no less of a self-driven animal than Lance is being made out
to be.
“For the good of the sport,” the
teammates admit to their wrongdoings. I see it as a well-timed ploy to induce
karma. It makes sense why they’d be jealous: Lance single-handedly won America
(and much else of the world) over doing a sport that honestly, the majority of
Americans don’t care for. (Well, for good reason: without Lance, we won’t win.
And, as the Guardian Express Newspaper aptly puts it, “Americans don’t care
unless we are in contention.”) He garnered so
much attention and was paid immensely for it. The amount Lance made a year
since 1996 (his great comeback) was about $12 million. That’s the same amount
as the entire USPS pro cycling team budget. Of course, the entire budget didn't go just to lance, but, as retired Olympic cyclist Mark Gorski illustrated “Lance
Armstrong commands a substantial salary and that [12 million dollar] budget
includes Lance.” Basically, Lance is a star- a star in a sport that hardly
produces stardom. He’s a star in a system of very un-shiny planets that are
anyways at a disadvantage for shiny-ness because of the dark space they live
in. You get the jist. He’s a star and, well, can you even name his teammates?
Did you even know he had 19 of them? So, great, I’m a teammate of Lance
Armstrong, I help him achieve his victories, I spent years and years training
and dedicating my life to this sport and what am I worth? Certainly not the
estimated $125 million that Lance is. That would probably piss me off- just a
little. Not only am I worth much less than my teammate, but I can’t say or do
anything about it because of his touching cancer story that elevated him to
national hero. He makes me feel worthless and I can’t say a thing because he’s
a public saint. I’d be especially aggravated if Lance really was doping. He really
was doping and I, the team member, can’t do shit because no one will believe me-
no nation wants to lose their hero. Maybe it’s not so shocking that his
teammates threw Lance under the bus just as it arrived. Well, the second time
it arrived. It came around back in 1999 when, supposedly, the UCI produced a
positive drug test on Lance. But Nike allegedly tried to cover it up and proved
successful as the story didn't stick. The bus kept driving and his teammates
were still left in his all-consuming shadow. Finally, now, the opportunity
comes to get back. Enough allegations were made and enough of the American people
believe them. Now, with much more support from the public, the petty human
penchant for jealousy is allowed to be called “the good of the sport.”
“For
the good of the sport.” Right. Maybe for the good of naiveté. For the purpose
of keeping people ignorant of- or at least busy enough to look past- their own
dirty files. They chose the exact right time to come up. They confessed their
own sins when the country is consumed by the defiling of their hero much more
so than of his scurvy crew. Lance was supposed to be a leader, a captain, and
now his poor, helpless teammates are confessing their wrongdoings as victims of
the times- of bad management. The American people, much more concerned with the
team’s star, are letting the rest of the team slide off into the corner to
quietly serve their little timeouts and slaps on the wrists. The team is adding
fingers in the many that are pointed at Lance, diverting the blame from
themselves.
I highly doubt that Lance's teammates' actions are for the good of anything but their own jealousy and blame shifting. I have a strong suspicion that what Lance’s teammates are doing is driven by self-interest. Kind of like what
lance was driven by when, and if, he was doping. Kind of like animals that do whatever
it takes to stay alive.
