- Last week Lance Armstrong finally admitted to doping during the entirety of his no-longer-impressive 7-straight Tour de France titles. In an interview with Oprah, Armstrong claimed that he did not feel like he was cheating because (in the words of an average 7 year old) everybody was doing it. Armstrong’s championships may have come with a level of fraud, but the almost half a billion dollars he raised to help fight cancer have to count for something.
- The Miami New Times reported a list on Sunday of a number of baseball players who may have gotten performances enhancing drugs at a number of “wellness clinics” in South Florida. The biggest name on that list is Alex Rodriguez. The Yankee slugger has retained representation to fight these claims. However, it is reported by ESPN that the Yankees are looking into options for voiding the remaining 5-years and approximately $114M left on Rodriguez’s deal, a decision that may also have to do with Rodriguez's recent injury (he'll be out for possibly all of 2013) and decline in performance.
- As the Baltimore Ravens get ready to play in the Super Bowl this weekend (full coverage coming Friday on Sportico) they are being dogged by a late breaking story that could throw into doubt the feel good end of season by their biggest star, linebacker Ray Lewis. Lewis tore his right triceps in October, and made a stunning recovery to play in this year’s playoffs; an injury that generally takes a year to recover from. It was reported by Sports Illustrated that Lewis used a regimen of medication, including at least one banned by the sport, in his recovery. Lewis, who has never failed any kind of drug test before, has denied the accusation.
Nash returns to Phoenix
- The greatest player in Phoenix Suns history and arguably a top 3 point guard in NBA history, Steve Nash, makes his return to the city where he became a legend tonight as the Lakers roll into Phoenix (10:30, ESPN) for the beginning game of a 7 game road trip, hoping to break an 8 game road losing streak.
- The Lakers have struggled mightily this season and currently sit in 10th place, a few games out of the playoffs. A lot of that has to do with the fact that Nash, the assumed facilitator for the offense missed a huge chunk of time with an injury early in the year. However, now he's back and his pass-first approach may have rubbed off on his teammates, including Kobe Bryant who has notched 14 assists in each of the past 2 games.
- New Suns coach Lindsey Hunter hopes that his young, inexperienced squad can hold back the Lakers, who despite struggling this season do possess 4 potential Hall of Famers on their roster (Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard being the two others).
Saying that Armstrong did some good with his raising money for cancer research is like saying Bernie Madoff is ok since he bought some girl scout cookies once. It's all tainted...
ReplyDeleteThat's not fair at all. Who did Armstrong hurt? Also, what single individual has done more for cancer than Lance?
ReplyDeleteHe hurt the integrity of the system. To say, "who did he hurt" is a slippery slope, because what's next? We only damaged a few lives or maimed a few people, but its ok since the "greater good" was served. Ethics 101
DeleteWhen I say who did he hurt, I mean it in comparison to Madoff who actively screwed thousands of people out of retirement funds, Armstrong was just the most well known of the cheaters in cycling.
DeleteThe ethics of Steroids are murky at best (an argument can be made that if you can have a Cortisone injection, why cant you use Deer Antler spray), we don't have enough information to pass a judgment on Armstrong or Barry Bonds or Roger Clemons. One thing we can indiscriminately agree is that the money raised for cancer research is good.
I am not trying to absolve Armstrong of his actions, but to compare it to Madoff buying Girl Scout Cookies overstates the crime and vastly understates the benefit he has done.