Dollars and Sports blog: Losing Lance Armstrong as a role model

Let me start with a question, a question that I’ve posed to countless friends and other sports fans, yet it seems to elude most when talking about a well-respected athlete accused of doping.
Tell me who, of all the modern athletes ever accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs, have we ever learned was clean?

The answer? Nobody.
Lance Armstrong is a hard-working and dedicated athlete, surely, but his ivory tower of fortune, fame and arrogance came tumbling down when he announced Thursday that he would no longer fight drug charges that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency had accused him of.
“There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ For me, that time is now,” Armstong said.

Armstong went on to say that he would “refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair,” and that he had “turn(ed) the page.” The USADA will strip Armstrong of his seven Tour De France titles, and impose a lifetime ban from the sport of cycling.

So what does all this mean for the fans out there? From Ryan Braun to Brian Cushing to Armstrong, it seems more and more of our elite athletes are gaining an edge through performance-enhancing drugs than ever.

Of course, some stories tend to make bigger headlines than others. Remember in 2006, when it was revealed that the 2004 Carolina Panthers, who lost the Super Bowl to the Patriots, had three players who were regularly getting steroid prescriptions refilled at a South Carolina pharmacy?
What about Tiger Woods, who was once golf’s most celebrated figure? While many remember the famed driveway incident involving him and his wife Elin, few tend to remember that same month his Canadian doctor, Dr. Antony Galea, was indicted on charges of illegally smuggling HGH into the U.S.

While Armstong’s generosity to cancer research should not be overlooked, it may be that the only reason he was able to make such a major impact with Livestrong was the fact that he was cheating, and covering it up. Not to mention the $10 million per year in endorsements from 11 different sponsors that he was receiving.

Can you label Armstong a humanitarian, and an unbelieveably generous person? Sure. But the sad fact is I don’t think he’s the role model any longer.
Unfortunately, it now seems that fewer and fewer of our athletes can play that part.

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