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Are we getting it yet?
Are you still enthralled with your favorite hero? Is it Clay Matthews or LeBron James? Is it Wayne Gretzky or Miguel Cabrera? You do realize they are humans and they are flawed don’t you?
Lance Armstrong is so flawed he deserves to be in his own hall of fame of worst possible human being in the entire 20th and 21st century. I mean, he stands back and admits to all the things he’s been accused of for years, without batting an eye, oblivious EMOTIONALLY to all the pain he has caused others. He’s a sociopath, and in another life would be a mass murderer. Instead he’s just a mass cheater, liar, and life wrecker.
Manti Ta’o? The kid from Notre Dame with the strange story about the girlfriend he had never met and may never have existed? Oh, I have no clue if Manti was in on the hoax or a victim of it. Having spend more hours than I wish to admit to on the old IRC back in the day, I know so many stories like this that I’m inclined to give the kid the benefit of the doubt. I knew people who feel deeply in love with personas that were not even close to truth. I knew men who fell in love with men who thought they were women. Truly it happens. Or it did. . . . back in the day at least.
Never happened to me. Back before the Contrarian, I met a lot of men via the Internet, and physically met close to a half dozen. They were all who they purported to be. I was lucky I guess. I met the Contrarian via the Internet, and in a display of utter dumbness, or incredibly acute intuition, gave up my apartment and hired a moving company before I had laid eyes on the man. But we are now into thirteen years of marriage, and a happy one at that. Don’t use me as measure however of the safety of this medium of communication. I am quite sure if you x-ray my skull, you will find the alien implant that suggests I’m just on loan from Planet Glix for an earthly experiment. I think my real occupation, when not being a test subject (think 2 years government service equivalency), is as an online psychic charlatan on the run from three known law suits, and three hybrid brides who were left at the altar.
See, that stuff floats through my head, and just must be when the old implant goes into a defib mode for a few seconds.
Anyway, either Manti or Lance serve once again to remind us that we should never place our adoration at the foot of most any human, for they are just always going to disappoint you in the end by being ALL TOO HUMAN. Or maybe less human in the case of Lance.
Which begs the question, where does one lay one’s adoration? Some find elegance in the medium of mathematics, and indeed I can appreciate the elegance of that. Or the universe itself which has a majesty that is enough for 3,000 lifetimes. One can find enough to adore in the soft breathing of a newborn, a new-born of any species actually. Awe is part of adoration after all, and life awes.
I find a single dandelion growing through the crack in an old sidewalk worthy of adoration. After all, talk about tenacity. Tenacity seems worthy of adoration.
So symmetry, the miracle of life, and tenacity are in the mix. How about longevity?
There is much to be admired in a face like this. A worn face, a face that has worked, loved, cried, laughed, and somehow continued on.
Eyes that hold a library full of stories.
Hands that have caressed a woman’s cheek and then tightened around a wrench and heaved loose a nut.
Shall we trip the light fantastic and delve into the realm of mystery? Shall we glimpse the ineffable, the transcendent? Are we not in the place of adoration?
Shall we imagine the temperatures and pressures that brought into being the pebble that you walk upon? That came from the rock, that came from the mountain, long broken and sunk back into the landscape? Adore it?
Did all this start in a giggle of a thought about Mitt Romney and his reference to liking “sport” instead of “sports?”
Can we adore the mind that can move across such distance of space and subject, and still remain stable enough to shop for groceries and watch 30Rock?
You tell me.
Existential Ennui 
Nice transition from brainless clouts to thoughtful wonders.
hehe, my brain just took off on its own !END
“Which begs the question, where does one lay one’s adoration?”
ohohoh……I”m available! But just to be clear…none of that Franense, Gold and Myrrh stuff….ope nope nope….Beer, Cheese, and pizza, if you please! Listen, I would comment more but my imaginary girlfriend and I are off biking in France.
ROFL you are SOO Damn Funny Jimmy. And for sure, you are adored.
Performance enhancing drugs…Shame on you Lance Armstrong….Now let me see, where did I leave my Viagra?
HAHAHHA
Good stuff. If you want an athlete to help convince you that there were some genuine, good ones out there, read up on Stan Musial. He just passed away on Saturday evening. One of the 5 best (my opinion) baseball greats of all time. Never got thrown out of a game in 22 years of major league baseball and was married to his wife for 71 years. Not a boozer or a womanizer, just a true gentleman. I wouldn’t suggest adoring athletes, but it’s nice to be able to respect one from time to time.
Are you a yogi? This is a very yogic perspective. Love it–I ask myself the same questions often. ~Namaste~
No I’m not but I surely believe that the Eastern way of looking at things is perhaps the best. I try to incorporate it into my life when I can. Namaste! !END
No, I’m not Yogi a lot but i kinda wanna try it out!These pics aren’t cool, and the old man there?’UH!’ i don’t even wanna mention how he’s looking! So someone please give him beauty tips,poor guy needs it!
whatever floats your boat dear. !END
Great post! I am following you now. My name is Carlos, if you ever want to know about Ocean Paddling, follow us back! Cheers
thanks! Unfortunately I don’t live close to the ocean. The nearest is the gulf of Mexico I guess. But it sue looks like a neat site! !END
Great article! I agree that the faces of the ordinary people are most incredible because they have the interesting stories and have led the truly phenomenal lives.
Cheers to you,
Courtney
Great website my website is called http://www.papersandpenaltys.wordpress.com Check me out and please follow me
i love the picture of the old man. Wonderful
I thought it was great too! !END
You can have adoration for someone who is flawed. Everyone is. Many people are still Lance fans because, despite having taken drugs he is still an amazing athlete. If everyone else was taking them then it is still an even playing field. Those people adore him for his athleticism, but choose to not put too much weight on the lying side of things. Isn’t that the way to get through life? Focus on the things that matter to you.
You make interesting points, but I guess I don’t think he’s much of an athlete at all since he decided to cheat. The fact that others did is really not relevant is it? I prefer to think of sport is doing one’s best with what one has, not by injecting drugs to become something else. People are most free to adore who they wish. But I think most will find that every human has feet of clay and we best adore that which is simple and real. !END
If any regular person started taking performance enhancing drugs, it does not mean we could just get up and do the Tour de France. It still takes years and years of full on training. So yes he is an athlete. Yes he cheated to win, but so did everyone else at his level. So, it was an even playing field.
I don’t agree in the use of performance enhancing drugs at all! And ideally professional sports should be clean, but lets be realistic. It’s just not.
Not that I put any athletes on pedestals (OK, none that I’ll admit to right now), but my reaction to these 2 stories was a little different than yours. I felt sorry for them. I wondered what it was that made them so desperate to do or fall for, respectively, what they did. Of course, that doesn’t absolve them of anything. I admit to feeling some pleasure at Lance’s downfall. Is that OK because he’s such a horrible person?
I never paid much attention to cycling frankly. It was watching Armstrong confess his doping after years of denying it and threatening/suing anyone who said he had. He had no remorse except for getting caught that I could see, and frankly doesn’t seem to think it was all that bad that he hurt people so much. I find him the typical sociopath (plenty of CEO’s also qualify psychologically speaking I’m told.) I see Manti most as victim. In today’s world lots of relationships start online and they can be wonderful. But there is no really good way to gauge authenticity unless perhaps you are older and a better judge of people. I feel mostly sorry for him. I knew people who got used like that, and they really suffered. Thanks for the comment. !END
This was good entertainment
glad you liked it. !END
I guess people will do anything to “get to the top” and receive that adoration! I don’t care if someone takes such drugs; I’m not too impressed with sports and athletes. But I do care when “heroes” lie – it can be devastating to kids who look up to them. If you’re going to put *yourself* on a pedestal, you damn well better deserve to be there.
Thanks for the post, and congrats on the FP!
Yes, I agree with you. This is what distresses me the most. Children do over glorify sports heroes. I do think they have an obligation to do their best to live decent lives when they accept the money and accolades of the public. Thanks for your encouragement! !END
Reblogged this on dump and commented:
i like it
Very nice article! We have to find the right balance between liking sports and realizing its stars are flawed, so they will fail. Not that we can’t expect good from them, but learn to accept they will fall short at times.
Indeed, I think that balance is what I seek. Thanks for your comment. !END
i agree we shouldn’t raise ATHLETES up on pedestals for athletic performance alone. However to say say we should never place adoration at any humans feet is kind of harsh in my opinion. If by your statement you mean to never bow to another human, I totally agree. But if what you mean is we shouldn’t admire and edify people just because of their human condition i must disagree. There have been a great many people in this world that have lived lives well worthy of adoration and admiration in spite of being human.
I feel that.
Well that is good. !END
Ha. I read this other opinion on Lance Armstrong, if you’re not already tired of the subject you might be interested:
http://illbeoutinaminute.com/2013/01/19/my-opinion-on-lance-armstrong-feel-free-to-hate-it/
Thanks, I’ll be sure to take a look! !END
Nice article, very well written!
I could not agree MORE with everything you said so well in the article!!!! We are raising our children to become obsessed more with their image than they are with the actual sport. It’s not about the prizes, or the image… it’s about the team that you belong to, and the sport that you are representing! Lance used to be my hero, and my father’s as well. Now my father claims he knew he was a fraud the entire time. I think that Lance didn’t hurt his image. He just hurt the hearts of the people that admired him so much when he was doing the right thing. Thanks for bringing up this topic, I think it’s so important in today’s culture especially. Congrats on FP! ~ nerdwithtaste.wordpress.com
And because the media need a target, a focal point, Lance becomes the sole person responsible for all that is evil in the world. Before him it was Tiger Woods, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, some Olympians, throw Michael Vick in there somewhere, Daryll Strawberry, and so on and so forth. The press tell us who to like and who to hate and we blindly follow. Lance cheated, big deal. He still did amazing things on his cycle, for his sport, and for Cancer research and other good causes. He hasn’t broken my heart or soured me from sport (s left off intentionally). He was entertaining to watch. They all were, and isn’t that why we watch sports to begin with, to be entertained? That’s why I watch. I’m not looking for a hero, or an idol, or a new person to have a poster of and pin up on my wall. I williningly hand over my money to watch these athletes compete and do amazing things. He did amazing things. Job done.
Congratulations! You’re an adult. Many aren’t. Especially children who do not yet have the skill to separate natural ability from brains. But I agree the media hypes all this. Sports to me are about natural ability and being amazed at how gifted some people are. I don’t see Lance in that category. I have no clue how talented he is actually. I disagree that he wasn’t so bad. He harmed a great many people directly by his attempts to destroy them for telling the truth. But your points are well taken to be sure. !END
I do tend to forget that he attacked people as much as they attacked him. Point taken on that… but, that does sort of feed back into my comment that I only watch these people for their entertainment value and don’t pay attention to their exploits outside of that – so in Lance’s case I’m not well versed on all of the various legal squables and other shennanigans he’s been mired in for the past 10 years.
I hear what you are saying, but I guess my only feeling is that, what entertainment is there in watching drug enhanced sports? I may be living in a delusion that all sports are rife with this, but it’s kind of like watching robots isn’t it? How emotionally involved can one get in a robot? I don’t know much about Lance, don’t follow cycling, but from what I heard, it has gone out of his way to sue and otherwise discredit people he knew were telling the truth. That is a personality failing that is truly scary. I do so much appreciate your comments and opinion. You make a good case that we all place too much emphasis on star status and so forth.
Robot sports? Hmm, yeah, I guess I could get behind that too. I enjoyed the movie “Real Steel” far more than I thought I would. I can see the future now – we no longer trust humans to compete fairly so we build robots to play our sports for us – the winning teams or individual robot in each competition will be the one with the best strategy and programming… yeah, I’d watch that too. Not arguing that Lance is a good person – he clearly isn’t.
Well some (maybe most) top athletes can be huge assholes, but that’s where the real sports come in. The social sports that go extremely well in combination with alcohol!
http://lordsofthedrinks.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/top-11-sports-to-play-when-drunk/
hahaa, you are so very right about that! !END
haha thanks! 😀
Reblogged this on IDAGADURE.
what?
thanks
What? you’re welcome. !END
Just for the Armstrong comment I like this post. I’d seen exactly the same and wondered if he didn’t suffer from Asperger’s (a sociopath’s symptoms probably overlap with those of an Aspie). He’s sorry? My ass. I watch Dutch politicians apologise for so-called errors they’ve made and I see the same thing. I don’t care for sports and loath politics but it’s rubbed in my face when I switch on the tele, accidentally tuning in on these programs that don’t interest me but getting hooked anyway. 🙂
I didn’t watch TV for exactly two years (2010-2012) but when I returned to the Netherlands after 28 years of absence I figured I’d better watch so that I would know who’s who in the zoo. Now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t just have remained an ignoramus. 😉
One can stay updated by reading good blogs, which this post is certainly part of!
Well as a political junkie, I’d sure miss what was going on. And I rather think it’s important to have some clue what the government is doing. But I do admire your willpower. !END
P.S. Fix that loathe for me, would you?
huh? !END
I like this article, but as an elite athlete I think non-athletes are overly critical of people such as Lance Armstrong – not because what he has done isn’t terrible, but because it is difficult to understand the mindset of elite athletes as an ‘outsider.’ I recently wrote my own post on the issue, would love you to have a read (and disagree!): http://brittavalentin.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/about-lance-and-living/
No doubt you are correct. Non-elite athletes probably do not understand the difficulties and the minds of those who use their bodies in this way. I’ll be happy to read your post. !END
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hahahaha…
nice, nice.
Good article, very thought provoking. And I love your cover photo.
Thanks. I hope we hear more from you! !END
Good article. Interesting captions and photos.
congratulations on featured in Freshly pressed.