Saturday, November 24, 2018

Lance Armstrong: When the Purity of the Sport Becomes the Bloodlust of the Controllers

There is no statute of limitations addressing when an athlete can be stripped of a title. So, Lance Armstrong must be guilty?  He passed hundreds of tests, and he prevailed against dozens of charges and accusations. But, that was then. Now, people have come forward. Testing has improved.

So, Lance could have been 99 years old, drooling in a rest home, and “the man” could come knocking on his bedpost, calling him to marshal his defense. Fair? Why not? Murder has no statute of limitations. Some may say that what's right is right–always. Doesn't matter when the cheating can be shown.

But blood doping is not murder. What can be detected, proved, or disproved must reside in its own season – for all concerned: 1) for those who came close, but weren't tested and maybe should have been, 2) for those who found their lives shattered because they got caught, or have become bitter, and want to take someone – anyone – down with them, 3) for those who have information that could prove their innocence, but the information is lost to time, 4) for those whose war chests are depleted from fighting the jealous, the envious, and the malicious, who bear false witness, 5) for those who should not have to look over their backs during all the days of their lives to fend off false or factual accusations, 6) for those who understand justice is not a one-way street and winter comes to all – not just to the players, but to the play makers when both should rest from their labors.

Justice is not a one-way street. For everything there is a season, a time to put up or shut up, a time to prosecute if you have the goods, and a time to close the books if you do not.

Loren M. Lambert © August 24, 2012

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