I’m very disgusted. Yesterday, the L.A. County Coroner released the autopsy results on Rodney King. King, a lifetime drug addict, responsible for being the “match” that lit the fuse in Los Angeles back in 1991 during what are now called the “Rodney King Riots,” died of “Accidental drowning.” That, of course ignores the fact that he had alcohol, a mixture of drugs including PCP, marijuana, cocaine and others in his blood! Yet he died accidentally!
Then today, in what may go down as the biggest “Witch Hunt” in modern times, Lance Armstrong is found “Guilty” of doping (using performance-enhancing substances to “Cheat” and win 7 Tour-de-France titles) and stripped of all his titles and banned for life from the sport he loves.
While sorry for Mr. King, nobody should die the kind of death he died, and yet he lived like there was no tomorrow, I am OUTRAGED that a body of evidence was presented against Mr. Armstrong that basically boils down to a bunch of his buddies “Denouncing” him before the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency).
Here is a great excerpt I found online:
“As the media reports that seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong says he will no longer fight doping charges from the US Anti-Doping Agency, which will strip him of his titles and ban him from competitive cycling for life, Tracee Hamilton writes that the Lance Armstrong vs. USADA fight is a tough one in which to take a side, because to believe USADA means suspending belief in the science of drug testing. ‘If you take personalities out of the equation, you’re left with pee in a cup and blood in a syringe,’ writes Hamilton. ‘Armstrong never failed a drug test. He was tested in competition, out of competition. He was tested at the Olympics, at the Tour de France, at dozens if not hundreds of other events. And he never failed a test.’ Instead Travis Tygart, chief executive officer of the USADA, gathered a group of people who swear they saw Armstrong doping. ‘If the results can be discarded in favor of testimony, then let’s go right to the testimony phase and quit horsing around with blood and urine.’ There has been no trial, no due process, but in the minds of many, that testimony outweighs the results of hundreds of drug tests. ‘I don’t know if Armstrong did the things he’s accused of doing, and neither do you,’ concludes Hamilton adding that it can’t work both ways. ‘Either a drug test is the standard, or it isn’t.'”
Rodney King was high the night he was pulled over by Los Angeles City Police Officers back in 1991. You cannot watch those films of the beating he endured and NOT know that. I am a drug addict, and I can tell when someone is on PCP (elephant tranquilizer for goodness sake!). The guy was so stoned, he not only did not listen to the police officer’s instructions, he absorbed all their beating and kept standing – again and again! No way any ordinary man could endure that while NOT stoned out of his mind! I suspected all along that his blood samples would be tampered with in the hospital and that he would be found “Clean” (he was).
The fact that the media can try to “Endear” a fellow like Rodney King to us while participating in and even encouraging the Anti-Doping Agency to effectively make it so that Lance Armstrong never even rode a bike, it’s just unbelievable. I am just outraged at our culture, our values, our government, everyone who “Believed all along that Mr. Armstrong was guilty.” If you believe something strong enough, you’ll “Find” evidence. As the testimony above tells us, that evidence comes in the form of “Denouncement” – something that was once popular in France when folks were removed of their heads. Lance Armstrong has suffered a fate worse than that. He’s still a hero in my book. He fought hard, first as an athlete, then against Cancer, then again as an Athlete, then to build a Non-profit that helps folks fight Cancer. While he may not be a “Great” man, he’s done more for humanity than any of those pipsqueeks in the USADA.
Enough. I could just go on spouting trash, because I’m so upset. I’ll just pray the the Lord brings to light the real truth in all this someday. That folks realize Rodney King is no hero, he was a bumbling fool, but that Mr. Armstrong has fought long and hard and always maintained his innocence, and, NEVER FAILED A DRUG TEST!
Confessions of a Jesus Freak 
Everything is very open with a clear description of the challenges.
It was definitely informative. Your website is very useful.
Many thanks for sharing!
I was saddened to hear a few months later that Mr. Armstrong finally had to admit to using performance enhancing drugs. Yes, he did cheat. He ran a crooked game and finally got caught. It doesn’t really surprise me. These days, the world of Professional Sports is so muddled, and there is so much money involved, that it is likely very difficult not to cheat. The pressure is enormous I’m sure.
My son tried all the sports when he was young. My daughter tried Volleyball. There seems to be a lot of pressure placed on young people – even at those early ages! I think about the pressure I had when I was young, and all I did was swim and in High School I played Water Polo. My mother wasn’t the “Pressuring” kind of parent, she was just always there to drive us to swim practice, or swim meets or whatever. But when I was real little, my dad would come to swim practices, and watch us swim up and down the pool. I can still see him – in my mind’s eye – clear as a bell, drinking his coffee and watching me swim.
As I got older, I vowed I would not do that to my children. But the parents who do, I sometimes wonder if they’re trying to live vicariously through their children’s success. To some extent that must be the case, but there is little doubt that they are proud of their children all the same. The number of incidences in the past 20 years or so where parents get into vicious arguments with referees and other parents has also increased, which means that the parents are the ones bringing the pressure into youth sports. That kind of pressure is not needed, since I can tell them and many parents also (I’m sure) that you can always be proud of your children whether they are sports stars or not. I am very proud of mine, and they are both fine young people.
The pressure in sports is real though, we must acknowledge that. The statistics are not with most making anything out of their sporting career. Most in fact, should be considered to be in sports for the fun of it. A friend sometime back pointed out (he was coaching Little League at the time) that he would tell the parents that he was going to coach his way, which was to play all the kids in all positions, and give everyone equal opportunity to bat and pitch and all of that. He said, that given the odds the kids were facing about making it into Professional Sports or even High School Sports, he felt that the kids were all there to have fun and get a little moral development. I liked his perspective very much.
That, is the essence of sports to my mind. If you feel the pressure so much that you think you have to cheat to win, then why are you doing it anymore? Is it the money? The power? The prestige? Is it really about those things rather than the fun and enjoyment of racing or competing and being competitive at something?
As in all things, let me try to put a Christian perspective on this. When we make our lives about us, we are often doomed to failure. We will make it about our wants and desires, our “Vanity” as Solomon said. We are apt to try to use any means available to puff up our egos and to try to make ourselves somehow “Better” than others. In the eyes of God, we are all the same, however. What God desires is for us to elevate each other. My best example of that happening is a story from the Special Olympics.
My son, Stew, was in the Boy Scouts from about 2002-2005. During those years, the Scouts were encouraged to join the Special Olympics and become partners with the “Special” kids in a sport called “Broom Hockey.” They had weekly practices with their partner kids on teams, and they would get together and have some fun. Eventually, they did go to the Special Olympics and compete – as a team. I will never ever forget, nor would anyone else who was there that first year, this one “Special” kid scoring a goal in a game.
The whole audience and all the players erupted in screams and applause and cheering. It was just tremendous. And if you’d seen the look on this kid’s face, you would know, that’s why they have the Special Olympics. It was like he scored the winning goal in the final game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs – the place was that loud and he was so proud of what he did. We all were proud of that young man. In that moment, in that “Victory” he wasn’t a “Special” kid or anything like that either, he was just a kid, like all the other kids, only he did something that made us all better that day, and we all of us had helped make it happen.
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