The Elephant in the Room

The elephant in the room rides a bicycle.

Okay, so I admit to some naivety when it comes to sports.  I firmly believe in Innocent Until Proven Guilty.  Books based on here say or testimonials to athletes caught lying just don't could for real, beyond a reasonable doubt, proof.  So call me a child, left in my imaginary world, or call me any of the names being thrown about in the internet right about now.  Until I see the proof, I will continue to view Lance Armstrong as a great athlete who has done truly remarkable things with his life and his fame.  My family has seen two members suffer through cancer.  One survived, the other did not.  We still believe in the message of LiveStrong, and we always will.  End of discussion.

In regards to the sporting world in general, PEDs are something that athletes will continue to abuse.  So long as we demand they be better than we are, they will seek to be just that, even when their bodies can no longer answer the call.  No sport is immune.  The scandals of baseball are well documented, so, too, cycling.  Football has its fair share of finger pointing and suspensions.  Besides Bountygate, New Orleans was hit by the diuretic outbreak in the form of half the starting defensive line.  And then there was that here say article in Sports Illustrated about a dangerous doctor and his connection to the Washington Capitals.  No sport is safe.  No athlete is safe, but so long as we refuse to admit any sort of human weakness in our athletes, they will strive to cheat the system. It has become a way of life.  There might be those out there clamoring for everyone to "come clean", but that will no more happen than these sudden turnabouts are merely conscience driven.  I may be naive, but I am not stupid, and neither is the general population.

So, what then becomes the solution?  We need to accept weakness.  We need to learn to accept failure.  No one can be perfect day in and day out.  Get used to it.  So the mountains of the Tour de France made Alberto Contador bonk.  There will be another day for him without his beef.  So 82 games in a season is brutal.  There comes a point when the fourth line becomes invaluable to a hockey team.  And a loss is not the end of the world.  Learn to accept failure, take it with the success, and maybe, just maybe, we will start to see cleaner sports. 

BlytheLea L.E.