Strive for Mediocrity; no one will attack you that way

is that a 7? or a 5 and a 2? 

The outrage that has engulfed the nation lately can only be described one way; What the Hell ??? Allegations from the USADA, United States Anti-Doping Agency, want to strip Lance Armstrong not only of his 7 Tour de France titles, but also his awards, prizes, money, medals, records and his remaining testicle*. The USADA is cleverly a "non-government" organization, but somehow is "partly" funded by the ONDCP, Office of National Drug Control Policy, which raises the question, why is taxpayer money going towards policing sports athletes that are breaking the rules in the sport that they perform? Don't sports have their own authorities, with their own officials, their own rules funded by their own money?
What Lance Armstrong has done is nothing short of heroic. He has brought mass attention to what Americans never new existed as a competitive sport, single-handedly spurred bicycle sales all over the world, and well, he also inspired a couple of cancer patients giving them hope and a couple of bucks.

the suspense is killing me

We all know his story, but no one told it better that John Maxwell in his book "Today Matters". In his chapter about attitude, he exemplifies Lance as the best at having a positive atitude. When he won his first Tour de France (just so you know, it's a bike race of about 2000 miles over 3 weeks, and it's in France, not exactly a flat country), they asked his mother that an American winning that race was "against all odds", and his mother answered "Lance's life has been against all odds". Lance's mom was a 17-year-old single parent, he grew up in Texas (need I say more?) and wasn't coordinated enough to play football (in Texas!). He, however, excelled in Track, Swimming and Cycling. At 15 he was competing in triathlons against grown men, and winning ... money, about $20k in race prizes. When he found out how good he was at cycling, he focused only on that. He dominated in the US, but he came last in his first European race. He kept competing and at 25 he was rated the top cyclist in the world. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Testing showed he also had brain cancer, his survival chances were 40%. He underwent surgery, returned and the rest is history.

Lance's performance enhancing drugs
included a weird mix of protein and champagne

In his book Lance quoted "I would just like to say one thing. If you ever get a second chance in life for something, you've got to go all the way".
Now, the USADA wants to strip away this epic poem from American culture, almost as if it never happened. Whether you believe that he took illegal enhancing drugs or not, I really don't care. What he did was amazing, required dedication, hard work, discipline and attitude. Let's just say he did take enhancing drugs. What did he do with his winnings? How many people in real life, not the sport, have been inspired and/or benefitted monetarily or morally by him? Do you know Cancer patients, surviving or not, that looked at his story for inspiration?



Let's say that it's all true, and Lance was fabricated in a lab to win 7 Tours de France, can't the USADA give the man a break, that has accomplished much more with one testicle than any of us could do with three? I think this is an example when doing things right is not exactly doing the right thing, and I am referring to the USADA. Shame on you USADA!

Livestrong is among the Top 10 organizations in the world that fund research to cure cancer

*As I posted this blog, the US Doping Agency had stripped Lance of his Tour de France titles