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 14th, 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?
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