Lance Armstrong….is there a doctor in the house?

The US Anti-Doping Agency has stripped Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de’ France titles.  They have banned Lance Armstrong for life from the sport of bicycle racing…..Forever….For always…Until the End of Time……Until the cows come home…..Until Houdini comes back from the dead…..and of course for Infinity!  The so-called offenses occurred between 1998 and 2005.  By our calculations a solid seven years ago…to catch up with the last offense.

To be clear, Lance was checked by the French and Tour de’ France racing officials each time he participated and each time he won and they found nothing.  By the sworn testimony of Lance’s Mom, Grand Dad, Uncle, Cousins, Nephews and some neighbors down the street…perhaps (Oh and don’t forget assorted members of his racing team and several of his competitors) and the guy at the 7-11 where Lance buys candy bars – they all had seen him take “performance enhancing drugs”.  Did the USADA list which drugs that Lance had taken?  Did the  USADA test Lance themselves during these years 1998 thru 2005?  Did the USADA take the testimony of Lance’s family doctor?

OK USADA – bring out your 243 page report (just guessing you understand)  on Lance Armstrong.  We want to see all the evidence you have and we want Sports Illustrated reporters to run a 12 part story which shows all the evidence to the American people….and the people of the world and the cosmos!  Have you folks ever heard of a “statute of limitations”?  Do you have such a regulation in your manual….of how to run an Anti-Doping regulatory operation.  Who made you guys king?  Did Lance and every competitor have to sign up with you guys before they could compete?  When did Lance sign up?  What year?

Meanwhile, used to be a Hall of Famer to be – Roger Clemens wants to come back to pitch in the big leagues.  He beat the rap about lying to Congress about his use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs.  Roger may want to be a Dodger!  He may want to be King!  We have no clue what Roger is thinking.  It does go to show that baseball players really have a tough time dealing with reality.  Barry Bonds luckily – seems to be laying low.  Pete Rose on the other hand believes in his heart that Managing a Baseball Team should not stop him from betting on games with organized crime figures.   Mr. Clemens good luck in AAA baseball.

NFL former Charger stand-out Junior Seau, who recently committed suicide was found to have NO drugs in his system.  Supposedly, all those concussions and hits he took through his career did not contribute to his sudden depression and suicide.  If you believe that, spend some more time looking at the abysmal record of retired NFL players that have committed suicide.

All professional sports are tough and competitive – no doubt.  Even Tiger Woods has been marginalized after his divorce and was looked at carefully regarding any supposed use of “performance enhancing drugs”.  Did Tiger take those drugs so he could hit longer drives?  Is even a supposedly clean sport like golf, one that can be looked at without trepidations?

The realities simply boil down to this – Let’s create a “Statute of Limitations” for all “performance enhancing drug” allegations.  It doesn’t matter how long – as long at it makes sense.  Seven years, five years, three years or one year?  If we look at track and field and the sad case of Marion Jones or a list of track and field stars caught taking these drugs – the onus should be on the governing bodies.  They need to test all professional athletes every year, twice a year perhaps.  They need to test all college athletes that compete in baseball, football, basketball, swimming and track and field.  Kids in high school need to be tested in their Junior and Senior years..prior to college entrance.

The case against Lance Armstrong may or may not be legit.  What is not legit….is waiting until he starts to collect Social Security before taking away all of his Trophies and Wins.  How many kids got into cycling…because of Lance Armstrong in the United States alone?  How many folks suffering from Cancer have been helped by the Lance Armstrong Foundation?  That in itself would not have mattered had Lance lost his awards back in 2006, 2007, or 2008!  Now?  It makes little sense!  Better late than never?  No, not in this case!  We want to know the names of every voting member of the USADA and the list and testimony of every witness against Lance Armstrong.  They deserve full credit for what they have done to sport of cycling in the United States!

Let’s pass the Lance Armstrong law which states if any governing agency cannot prove fully doping charges in three years – they must stop.  Let’s make this Lance Armstrong law create the testing requirements for all organized sports in the United States.  Thank you USADA – then you will have done something worthwhile……but until then; you are worthless atempting to stem enhancing performance drugs in any sport!