Lance

Lance Armstrong has announced that he will not fight accusations that he cheated during the years in winning his Tour de France titles. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced it was erasing 14 years of race results, including his Tour de France victories. Armstrong released a statement expressing his frustration with the process, which he sees as unfair, one-sided, and in violation of the organization's own rules.

It's been interesting to see the reaction of the cancer community (or, at least, my chunk of it). It has been very much pro-Lance. For the most part, people seem to not care about how he got to where he got, only that he has been such an outstanding advocate for cancer patients. I've read stories about his personal interactions with cancer patients -- personal visits, cards and letters, phone calls. He's been such a role model for cancer patients. It's best summed up in this clip from the comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. The hero, Peter, has quit on his dodgeball team, and as he runs away, he meets Lance at an airport bar:


Lance is certainly someone who has something to teach us about quitting.

On the other hand, some other people in the cancer community are frustrated by what they see as Lance's quitting -- not fighting the charges. But mostly they are in his corner.

So, did he do it? Who knows? Not the USADA, it seems, since they are going on testimony and not on the samples that have been tested during his career. Kind of hard to be definitive when the physical evidence isn't there, though criminal trials are certainly won and lost on witness testimony alone.

Interesting perspective from one cancer survivor, who tried to post a comment on the USADA Facebook page (which he says was erased 4 times): Lance, like many survivors, had so much poison pumped through him during his treatment that there's no way he'd put more into his body, knowing that some of them could give him cancer again. Interesting....

(It looks like the USADA has stopped erasing comments on their Facebook page. About 300 of them in the last hour -- all negative.)

My only personal connection with Lance is through his book, It's Not About the Bike, which I read a couple of months after I was diagnosed, on the recommendation of my brother the long-distance bike rider. It was indeed an inspiration. I remember especially one scene in which a doctor tells him how extensive his cancer is, and how it will require an aggressive approach. The doctor tells him something like, "I'm going to kill you every day and put you back together every night." I think Lance ended up finding a different doctor, but I was struck by his reaction, which was to keep a level head even in the face of such a horrific-sounding approach to treatment. He made good decisions, and kept his eye on his goal -- much like he rode his bike.

I guess I like to think he continued to make good decisions, even as he strove to meet his goals.

Not sure where this is going to end up. Will other agencies strip him of titles? (Does the USADA even have the authority to strip him of titles?) Will the USADA's credibility take a hit? Will that an effect on other sports that it is involved with? Questions about Lance seem, to me, to be less uncertain: Will he continue to raise money and otherwise support cancer patients? Absolutely. Will he be able to be as effective? I think he will. Is his credibility lessened within the cancer community? Sure as heck seems not to be.

Despite Lance saying he's done talking about, and is moving on, I have a feeling that this isn't over. I'm not saying he's going to be vindicated, necessarily, but I'm guessing Lance isn't the only one who has his credibility called into question when all is said and done.