Week 7: Editorial

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=5405134

http://msn.foxsports.com/cycling/story/Armstrong-LeMond-claim-about-payoff-is-nonsense-23739943

In the media in general you are going to find drama and a lot of bickering. This is a story I thought was important because it exposes some of the corruption within U.S. competitive sports.

Lance Armstrong is a well-known sports icon who has inspired many with his record breaking winning streak in the Tour de France. The Tour de France is a famous bike race that requires an amazing amount of training and physical athleticism to complete. Lance competed as he was battling severe cancer. A person like this is hands down recognized as an inspiration to persevere.

Lance Armstrong has continually been accused of drug use and blood doping, which are illegal means of enhancing an athlete's performance. In the first link posted Lance is accused by a former teammate, Floyd Landis, of using drugs. In the second, he is accused of paying someone money to say that one of his competitors was using illegal drugs. The things with competitive sports is that there are all kinds of things going on behind the scenes. Anything that can make an athlete compete better and can be hidden well is used. I don't know if Lance Armstrong blood dopes or not but I do know that the men that race in the Tour de France are put on IV's when they sleep at night to get the nutrients and calories they need to race how they do. Blood doping by means of blood transfusion wouldn't be hard to accomplish during the race.

No one wants to see great men exposed or fall short. The American population place men like this in high places in their hearts, but when great men are placed under high expectations, and they don't meet those expectations; it can be very harmful to their careers or credibility. One slip and its off the deep end. This is not the first case though, in all professional athletics there are allegations and there are abusers. People who regulate things like this would like to ban all substance abuse but it is hard to test and account for some things. No one wants to believe athletes are cheating, but don't get your hopes up