Since Lance Armstrong seems to be the talk of any town this morning, I felt the need to comment on it because I am involved in the Fitness Field, and also because I see a parallel drawn between him and dirty cops.
A broad parallel, but...stay with me here.
For some people, the Lance Armstrong story is a non-event. They don't care about the guy or the bike, the sport, or the fact that he lied repeatedly about cheating.
What struck me as I read the commentary this morning is that he has almost no remorse. There was a public trust involved in his position, and in his journey. There are people all over America today who are disappointed and disgusted.
Here's a quick excerpt from the Oprah interview:
"At the time it did not feel wrong?" Winfrey asked.
"No," Armstrong replied. "Scary."
"Did you feel bad about it?" she pressed him.
"No," he said. "Even scarier."
"Did you feel in any way that you were cheating?"
"No," Armstrong paused. "Scariest."
It's the same thing when a good cop goes bad; the public's trust has been violated, and people are more horrified than if a regular citizen had committed various atrocities or crimes. People are shocked and feel violated. If some garden-variety psycho decided to cannibalize young women, we would be blown away by the news. But the fact that there was recently a cop who thought that would be a great idea: we shudder, we are outraged, and we discuss it every opportunity we get.
We all have expectations.
Deep down, most of us are rooting for the good guys. It's human nature to not want to see the bad guys win. When they do...we feel cheated. The balance of the world seems off-kilter. And today---for a lot of cycling fans---I'm sure it feels just like that.
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