Sir Lance A lot

Although some of my blogs are topical, most of them are just random musings of mine. This one is more topical.  Often I think I have a good point in the blogs I write.  (full disclosure, I write this blog for the three people that I think might be reading it) But the recent news you hear about Lance Armstrong is just silly.  Why we put athletes on pedestals or why we hold politicians to such a high standard is beyond me.  Yeah, when I was a kid I was obsessed with Lenny Dykstra. He was a seriously flawed individual and definitely not a role model.  Maybe sometimes I emulated him, but I never thought he was a necessarily good role model.  He chewed tobacco, he ate "magic vitamins" which were really steroids, he drove fast cars drunk, and he probably slept around a lot and blew all of his money on much worse.  But I didn't like him for those things. I accepted him for his flaws. I just wanted to play baseball like him; steal bases, get hits in the clutch after fouling off a dozen pitches, make diving catches slamming into the outfield wall.  Those were the reasons why I loved him... and the fact that he just didn't care what anyone thought about him.  He even had a tougher time after baseball.
    So back to Lance Armstrong.  Sure, he probably did "cheat", and I am sure 100 percent of everyone else he ever rode against in the Tour de France cheated as well.  That doesnt make it right, but maybe it levels the playing field.  I am not being cynical, I really think 90 percent of all athletes anymore are taking some kind of performance enhancing something or other, whether it's Cortisone shots, Creatine shakes, or some other kind of drug we've never heard of.  It's the nature of sports. Always has been and always will be.  I think if there was a performance enhancing drug for accounting or a performance enhancing drug for some other bullshit desk job people would take them all the time.  If it was the difference of making 30,000 bucks a year and a 300,000 bucks a year we'd all consider doing it. Our performance enhancing drugs are recreational.
The funny parts of this though, that recently people think they can just erase the past. Like actual events.  If they say it didn't happen, it didn't happen.  Just like Joe Paterno didn't really win all those games he really won.  Lance Armstrong didn't really win those 7 Tour de Frances.... I didn't really draw those buildings that I drew the last few years.
And the worst part... he is banned from the sport.  Banned from bicycling... the sport of bicycling. can't ride a bike... in a race. Aw man.. But I bet he can still ride his "bike" really fast if he wants to. Not allowed to race his kids on his bike... If I were him I would train really hard, do as many performance enhancing drugs as I want to and ride my bike as fast as I wanted to. Downhill! With wind at my back! and a Titanium frame!.....with no clothes on! ...and a jet pack!
On a side note, I thought of Donnie Jeffcoat the other day... from Wild and Crazy kids.  Most random thought I ever thought.  I can't believe he was still in my memory bank somewhere.