rough draft paper two

Kristen Ott

Professor: Thomas

Composition 102: rough draft

20 February 2013

Hero or Liar?

7 Tour De France titles, an inspirational to people around the world, and it was all a lie? Lance Doping in sports has become a large issue that is hard to control. Armstrong has been looked up to as a hero in athletics by tons of people all over. He was accused countless times by people of doping and cheating in bicycling every year yet he convinced people none of it was true and he would never do that. Plenty of people stood by Armstrong’s side in disbelief of the accusations. How could someone get away with lying all those years without anyone uncovering the truth? Finally on January 14^th, 2013 Lance stood up and came clean to Oprah Windfrey and the millions on people watching.  Armstrong had lied and cheated for almost a decade and had finally admitted it. This stunned people everywhere; someone that had become one of the most celebrated cyclists in our history after surviving cancer was a fraud.

Following the interview with Oprah thousands of articles flooded the internet and news with something to say about this shocking realization. In “it’s all about the lies” by Rick Reilly, he shows a very personal side to this situation. Rick believes Lance Armstrong does not deserve to be forgiven so quickly after he made a fool of everyone that believed in him. Rick thinks Armstrong deserve everything he is getting. On the other hand the article by Jonathan Biles, “Lance Armstrong’s true accomplishments are off the bicycle” gives reason why he should be forgiven and remembered for all the positive things he did throughout his career instead of the lies. Because Rick Reilly focuses on sports and all the deceit throughout lances career the argument made in “It’s all about the lies” is much stronger compared to the argument made by Jonathan Biles in “Lance Armstrong’s true accomplishments are off the bicycle,” which relies on Lances other services instead of the large topic at hand. Both arguments touch on the topic of doping which has taken over the professional world of sports.

Rick Reilly is someone who stood by Lance’s side and promoted him throughout his entire career. When Rick heard the news he could not believe Armstrong lied to him all those times. “And the whole time he was lying. Right in my earpiece. Knowing that I'd hang up and go back out there and spread the fertilizer around some more,” said Reilly about a phone he had with lance. The author of this article, Rick Reilly, spent 14 years of his life on Armstrong’s side, defending him and putting his trust in him. This article focuses on the sports aspect of Lance’s life and the many people he lied to including Reilly.  After reading what Rick has to say you feel betrayed and mad. This evokes emotion and helps you to better understand what Reilly is going through finding out he stood up for someone all those years for nothing. The emotional side of this argument allows people to agree that Lance does not deserve to be forgiven right away, let alone at all. “And I guess I should let it go, but I keep thinking how hard he used me. Made me look like a sap. Made me carry his dirty water and I didn't even know it.” This quote by rick Reilly portrays the way the lies affect other people. Armstrong made everyone that believed in him or looked up to him like a fool.

Reilly’s argument is so strong because he gives examples of how lying in sports is such a corrupt thing. “But here's the thing. When he says he's sorry now, how do we know he's not still lying? How do we know it's not just another great performance by the all-time leader in them?” this quote itself incases the anger and distrust that Armstrong has now earned.  After getting stripped of his titles and the millions in endorsements he had that is still not enough of a punishment.  Everything he did throughout his athletic career was a lie, none of it was real. Lance depended on performance enhancing drugs to win all his titles. Lance isn’t a role model; he couldn’t do it all without using drugs to help him.

"Lance Armstrong's True Accomplishments are Off the Bicycle" by Jonathan Biles attempts to show another side of the issue. Biles tries to talk about Lance Armstrong’s charitable side instead of his deceitful side.  Throughout this article Biles says things like “Cycling is one of the most grueling sports in the world but also one of the most corrupt.” So does this make it okay for Armstrong to lie for years?  Jonathan Biles believes that Lance deserves a second chance and should be forgiven. Instead of looking at the athletic side he tries to shed light on the positives in lances career. “He also cheated, was stripped of every title and banned for life for using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. After all his transgressions, however, he should be forgiven because of the good his charitable contributions have accomplished.” This is true but does it really have anything to do with the issue of doping in sports? Biles tries to look past his cheating and lying and see the charitable side of his career. Just because lance helped with charities while he was lying he should be forgiven? Jonathan gives good points but fails to focus on the topic at hand. The issue with lance is his dishonest actions in all of his athletic accomplishments. No one is saying Lance Armstrong didn’t do some positive things in his life but that’s not what the issue is about. The large picture is doping in sports not charity.

Both the article by Rick Reilly and by Jonathan Biles mentions the corruption in sports. Reilly’s argument is stronger because he stays on the topic of sports and the lies Lance Armstrong pulled off for years whereas Biles tries to distract you from that with other services like charity that Lance did during his career. The article Biles wrote is not as effective because it attempts to avoid the bigger picture which is doping in sports. Weather lance donated to charities or not that does not take away the fact that all of his achievements were reached while on banned drugs. In the interview with Oprah Armstrong says he didn’t feel wrong or bad about doing it at the time he was just scared to get caught. Does this sound like a hero to you?

article summaries

My first article is "Lance Armstrong's True Accomplishments are Off the Bicycle." This article is not particularly for Lance but it attempts to show another side of the issue. This article talks about his other accomplishments in life such as his charitable side. Lance has done a lot of work for charities through out his life. Johnathan Biles argues that rather then being tortured for his wrong doings in athletics he should also be looked at for all the work he has put in for others. This part of his life was just as inspiring as his athletic side some would say. This article trys to shed light on the positives of his life rather break him down for his deciet in athletics.

My second article is "It's all about the lies." This article on the other hand is very against Lance. The author of this article, Rick Rielly, spent 14 years of his life on Armstrongs side, defending him. The article talks about the lies and all the wasted time spent believing in such a man. Rick is very hostile and took it personally because Lance looked him in the eyes and lied to him so it makes it much harder to forgive him. This article compared to the other looks more at the intgreity side, the athletic side, and all the hurt that was caused. "When he says he's sorry now, how do we know he's not still lying? How do we know it's not just another great performance by the all-time leader in them?" this quote is one of the main points of this article, rick believes Lance deserved no one to feel bad for him, he earned everything he is getting. This article is more along the lines of uncovering all of the fakeness behind everything Lance has done.

I believe both articles shows too strong points and will create a great paper. The topic of Lance Armstrong will have plenty of information for me to research and use throughout my paper.

self reflection

When I first began this assignment, I thought I would just compare ethos, pathos, and logos and as I did some thinking, writing and research my ideas changed and I thought I should talk about to content and the message of the video. When I started this assignment the sarah mclachlan video was the first to come to mind. I choose this piece because it appeals to the audience in every sense and is a very convincing commercial. The hardest part of this paper was writing about the ethos. I solved this problem by researching deeper into the topic to find more evidence for the credibility.  Professor Thomas was a huge help in writing my paper. I took all the advice she gave me from my rough draft. Her advice helped to me to refocus my essay and make my argument stronger. All in all I think this essay wasn’t too bad.