Share the Responsibility

Lance Armstrong’s long overdue confession should encourage everyone to step back and take stock of our society and what we value. I don’t think there are many of us who are so naive to believe that he is the exception in his sport nor that his sport itself is the exception.

Athletes are under tremendous pressure to win and winning comes with mind-bogglingly massive financial rewards. Is it reasonable for anyone to not be tempted to cheat when the stakes are so high?

Now that Armstrong has finally started to tell the truth he is probably going to be on his own from this point on. Nike and his other endorsers had no problem turning a blind eye to what has been obvious for so long as long as there was money to be made from his success - ill gotten or not. While Armstrong is most likely going to pay dearly for his misdeeds, Nike has already recouped their investment in him. Now that the Armstrong well has run dry, Nike will move on to the next celebrity athlete who can make them a buck

As long as corporations continue to turn a blind eye to unethical and illegal situations as long as it serves their financial interests, athletes will always be pressured to cheat. If we continue to hold the athletes 100% responsible for maintaing the ethical standards of their sport without holding the corporations behind the money accountable for ensuring their athletes are not cheating, money will continue to trump ethics.

Shame on Lance Armstrong for not doing what is right, shame on Nike and their like for making it almost impossible for an honest athlete to be competitive, and shame on all of us for not accepting our culpability in supporting this practice.

“Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are.” - James W. Frick