A SMALL VICTORY FOR FAIR PLAY

  I was surprised last week, when the local Radio Shack clerk asked me to donate a dollar to Lance Armstrong’s charity, LIVESTRONG, at the end of my purchase.  Apparently the charity has not reached the same level of scorn as its founder.  Mr. Armstrong has lost all of his millions in endorsements and this week will ask for forgiveness before the public confession booth known as the Oprah Winfrey show.  For years he has maintained that there was no blood doping or ingestion of banned substances involved in his numerous cycling achievements. Now that the statute of limitations for perjury has run out, the truth will be told.

Winning at any cost and the ends justifying the means are well ensconced goals in our society.  Untrue commercials for political gain are the norm.  Accountants and tax lawyers spend their professional lives trying to beat the system for clients who can afford to pay.  Marketing experts spend their professional lives trying to sell us products we do not need that do not perform as advertized. Writers plagiarize or worse yet make up auto biographical stories to sell their material.  We all know of numerous other examples, spread throughout our daily lives.

Human nature aside, sports competition is supposed to be different.  Despite all the money at stake at the top of the pyramid, our sports heroes, no matter what their personal flaws, are to compete on an equal playing field with only their God given physical attributes.  The more cynical among us would say we need this norm to support the betting industry.  The more enlightened would argue it is important to maintain this sense of fair play to inspire our youth.

Somehow the Lance Armstrong mea culpa feels like a small victory for the importance of playing fair.  Not letting the steroid crowd enter Cooperstown feels like another.  Soccer Mothers across the land have been given some traction when explaining to their children that losing within the rules is more gratifying than winning with a lie.  Now if they could only get rid of that dreaded Sports Illustrated Swim Suit issue, which no doubt has provoked family conversations of a different kind, some of the innocence of playing and following sports could return.