pain is temporary. quitting lasts for ever

Lance Armstrong.  Lets hope he is right about quitting lasting forever.  I lost all respect for him after he was interviewed on Oprah about his battle with cancer and he went on about how wonderful his wife was and how she had stood by him through thick and thin, he could not have done it without her, he detailed what they went through to have their twin daughters (from his frozen sperm) and how close they were and how wonderful it was to be Lance Armstrong. The little twin girls were hardly walking when he decided to run off with Cheryl Crow.  He has since had 2 more wives and at last count 5 children.

Hopefully he will be stripped of his 7 yellow jerseys but the whole Tour de France is now a farce.  Will they hand the his "doped" jerseys to the guys who came second?  Unlikely, because they have also been accused of doping.  Why don't they just have 2 races - 1 for those cyclist who do not use drugs, who train hard and respect their bodies and the rules and the other race to see who can dope themselves up the most, make themselves the strongest and so that we can see which sponsor makes the best drugs?

Why am I emotional about this?  One reason only, I hate being taken.  We all stuff up along the way but we don't pretend to be a hero, like he has done.  We all love the human side of the story and I am still convinced that Tiger Woods, for all the wrongs he has done, will come out of all of this a better character than Lance Armstrong.

I will never forgive Hansie Cronje for what he did to my children's perception of what a "sportsman" should be.  Gareth, in particular was shattered with Hansie's revelations and the fact that he "was caught" by his hero.  Was the cricket he was watching on television "real"?  Was the excitement and tension that a 13 year old cricket fan was feeling while he watched a World Cup match and believed was all "real" and "true"?  Was it all staged.  Was it ever "real"?  Can I ever trust again?  It is all so wrong.

Back to Lance.  Should he hand back the jerseys? This to me is the elementary part.  To me it is about the bigger picture.  What about the money that people spent on his books and the people who bought his books as inspiration and motivation for their children?  Lance Armstrong the brave, Armstrong the survivor, Lance the role model.  Nevermind the money he now has in the bank because of the races he won which enabled him to write books and give talks around the world to promote the "Lance Armstrong, Live Strong brand".

This will be the most popular debate around dinner tables all over the world.  I love to argue with the best and my family roll their eyes when I get on a roll about something I feel strongly about.  Lance Armstrong / Hansie Cronje, same mould.  Guilty or not, the not knowing is almost worst - My Hero - Sportsman or Fraudster? Mess with the grown ups but don't disillusion your young fans who believe in you.

AND, more importantly, don't make me buy a badly written book for a Christmas present for my son's stocking because I saw you race, was amazed at your comeback after cancer and thought that you were a good role model for my boys. 

I was taken AND I don't like that feeling.

Live Strong ....  Carry On....

Hopefully all the remaining sperm has defrosted!!