Before I begin to write about this topic, let me make a few necessary
avowals. Firstly, I have never been an ardent fan or follower of Lance
Armstrong or the cycling sport in general. But being a sports enthusiast (read
as junkie) I am aware of his grandeur, his achievements,
his phoenix act of rising from cancer, his LiveStrong charity that seems to be doing
great social service, his book that evidently has inspired many and of course
his shameful and disgraceful doping act … Secondly, this post is a quite loonnngggg and
might give the feeling of a rant as most debates do when there is only one person
talking (Nope, I don’t have any intentions to incite comparisons with Arnab’s
News Hour ;)) …
Okay, so now that Lance has confessed about resorting to
banned performance enhancing drugs and thereby abusing the sport, it puts all
speculation to rest. All the subsequent uproar in media, on social networking
sites is understandable. Everyone is venting out their anger and branding Lance with choicest of allegations and punishments. Maybe not been overly connected to this sport gives me a chance to ponder
over this objectively and I do not agree with all of this bashing. Obviously,
this is only my personal opinion and I wouldn’t force anyone to agree with this… (This is the third necessary and most important avowal ;) ) just
hope that it gives a different point of view to ponder about.
To begin with, I agree that Lance has cheated the sport, and
cheated it big time, cheated repeatedly and unabashedly without any remorse … This is
definitely a fraud, a fraud to the sport, a fraud to his national representation, fraud to his followers and biggest fraud to his honest competitors who
might have got one up on Lance had he not doped. He has deprived them of a fair
chance to glory! So, go ahead and brand him a cheat, brand him a fraud … initiate
all legal actions against him, strip him of his titles, strip him of his
endorsements … but what I don’t agree with is branding him as a bad human being, accusing him of not
meeting your expectations and betraying your trust, spreading ill comments
about his charity and so on …
Let me start with meeting expectations bit and I would like
to discuss it in general for all sports persons or celebrities. Invariably all
of them get weighed down by the expectations from their fans, the media, the so
called experts and every TDH. What we forget is that at the end they are human
and although they might have been lucky to be able to make their hobby as their
profession, all of them are into their field as much if not more, for earning
their bread as much for satiating their hobbies. For people who say that it’s
their fans who make them famous which helps them to make more money … I would
like to differ… it’s their consistent performance,
their hard work and their commitment that has brought them the
fortunes. The love from fans definitely works as fuel to motivate them … but all the endorsement
and sponsorship is only due to their accomplishments in their field. (There are still millions of fans of Rohit Sharma, but unless he proves
himself in the middle I don’t see him making the quick and easy bucks!)
When any sportsman gets into a sport and starts doing well,
people start liking them and the admiration gradually leads to hero worship. But
the problem here is that aren't our expectations as unilateral as the bonds
company makes you to sign when you join them as a fresher? Whenever a legend supposedly
fails (be it doping or leaving one club and moving to another club or their love
life or alcohol abuse etc) we hear people say that how could he break our
trust? As a fan I idolized him, how could he betray our love? Media harps about
him defying the code of conduct that comes with being a public celebrity … Brethren,
just tell me one thing, have you discussed your expectation with him and got
his agreement that he will fulfill them? Has he agreed to the hero worship at
this cost? Does he want to be idolized with such close scrutiny or he would
just rather continue his sport as a profession and also live his life on his
terms? Why do we all unnecessary get all sportsperson into this unilateral
contract? I don’t think any sports person comes to us and asks us to be their
fan. We should stop being so demanding as fans because at the end of the day
they are also humans like us and might have their vices, they are not doing
this for us, it’s their profession, so rather than raising them to unreal
heights and then making demons of them we all should keep our expectations
realistic!
Sorry for this detailed rant about expectations, but using
this I want to come to the more pertinent point of branding Lance as a bad
human. Brand him a cheat, but a bad human I am not sure … now firstly let’s be
frank and agree that we all do cheat at some levels and walks of our life … all
of those who are branding him as a bad human … I am sure many of them would
have cheated to forge some proofs to save their income tax … many of them would
have cheated in some way during their academic career to ensure good results
for them or help their friends (copying assignments, helping in practicals,
during exams etc) … now if cheating makes one a bad human …I don’t
think you will find many good humans around. When I raised this point during a water
cooler chat, one counter argument I got is the proportions of cheating in
context are different … also this is something everyone does. Okay, then again,
who has decided which cheating assumes a higher proportion and which one lower?
If there is some wrong that is done by a majority does that make it a lesser wrong??
I am not saying that even if you cheat you are a good human
being. What I am saying is that branding someone a bad human being should be a
sum of many facets of his personality and conduct. Not just the one which is
sensationalized. Per me (I repeat, this is my personal belief) collectively adding
up his misdoings and the positive impact he has had on the society through his
book and his charity … I will stop short
of branding him as a bad human! (I am not a journo, and sitting here in
India, my opinion about the positive impact of his charity is based on what I
have read on the internet. He has been able to raise millions through his
charity … and about the positive impact his book has had on cancer patients is a
widely known fact).
I am not trying to cover his doping by glorifying his
charity … I already said that he should be subjected to all the legal
proceedings; but a person can resort to cheating in the heat of competition and
he should be put to trial for that cheating bit only … I know with the lies he
has been vehemently producing to defend himself all this time, it’s difficult
to believe any of his other acts!!! Even his apology on the Oprah Winfrey show
was more like an apology of getting caught rather than actually feeling sorry
for doing it.
My point is only that we should first understand and
consider him as human as us, not judge him against our expectations but judge
him rationally vis-à-vis his actions against the rules of the sport, and not
belittle his contribution to society. We
will find many legends who don’t have any black spot in their career (I would
like to call it professional career) but wouldn't have given back to the
society or made any difference (outside the sport). It’s a grey area as to
which one is better … but why get into comparisons in the first place?? They
did what they felt was right and Lance did what he felt was right … (I know I know
you guys are already eager to comment that we all are doing what we think is
right J)
Anyway PEACE OUT peepz !! Take Care and keep kicking.
