Let's examine some of the most shocking "Rise and fall" that have glanced our planet:
Pete Rose's betting on baseball games and his subsequent ban from the sport
Why did it shock us?
Well, for starters... we have two situations here. First the gambling issue, with isn't quite "shocking" per se. In terms of realism, there are more people around who have bet, bet and will bet. The crime isn't that big of a deal -in my opinion-, because theoreticaly it didn't have a major impact in Pete Roses career. To say that his gambling enhanced his performance, would be a bold and questionable statement. However, in the world of baseball, gambling has always been a delicate issue to keep the sport clean. Ed Cicotte and Joe "Shoeless Jackson, two "would have been" hall of famers, were banned for life for throwing off the 1921 World Series. To this day, their numbers are equal and even better than those of many Hall of Famers, yet both of them are uneligible for Cooperstown. The case of Pete Rose is different in my opinion, because while it may have happened, it didn't look as he threw off world series; in fact he won two world series, one of them him being MVP. So all in all, is the punishment greater than the crime? I'll answer below.
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| Perhaps the greatest ball player not in the Hall of Fame |
Why we shouldn't be shocked about it?
This is Pete Rose we are talking about. The man with most hits in baseball history with 4,256.
Two time world series champion, MVP in what some regard the greatest World Series of All time
-the 1975 Cincinnatti Reds 4, Boston Red Sox 3-. To assume that his career was driven by betting
on games is a never ending give and take debate. It's one thing to think that it is possible that
he trew off games while he was the Reds' manager from 1986 to 1989, but it is another thing to
think the same of him as a player, especially in what is a well-known term in today's baseball:
"the steroid era", which brings me to my main point on this matter. According to the MLB Commissioner
-or whoever authority-, it is ok to ban a player for betting on games, but it is also ok to
allow baseball players who have been accused of using steroids be eligible to the Hall of Fame.
On a scale from 1 to 10, I give Pete Rose's betting incident a 6.
Mike Tyson's ear-bite incident
Why did it shock us?
The title says it all. In 1997 Evander Holyfield was boxing's heavyweight world champion. He had won the title years earlier after defeating James "Buster" Douglas, who had defeated Tyson. Tyson was somewhat in the middle of a comeback and got himself in the best shape seen since he was world champion, so it appeared as if he actually had a good chance of reclaiming his title. The highly publicized fight ended up becoming a highly publicized cannibalism freak show, when Tyson bit Holyfield's ear in the second round. I remember watching the fight live on TV and I thought to myself: "Did he just bit and spit Evander's ear? He's gonna get disqualified", and that was it. Seconds later, both the fight and Mike Tyson's comeback career ended.
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| The face of "Punch out" ended up "punched out!" |
Why we shouldn't be shocked by it?
Tyson had already gone through an obscure phase after losing his title in 1990. Years later he was accused of rape and beating on his girlfriend. While his behavior in the ring had been impeccable before, it was kind of puzzling what was going around his mind and what kind of resentment he had against Evander, who was everything Tyson wasn't.
On a scale from 1 to 10, I give Mike Tyson's ear-bite and spit incident a 6.
Tiger Woods' Unthankful Thanksgiving
Why did it shock us?
Thanksgiving night of 2010 in Orlando, Florida was looking like any other Thanksgiving night, until around 8pm, breaking news hit all TV Channels. In an unknown series of events that remain unexplained to this day,
Tiger Woods was rushed to Florida Hospital after he crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a tree, while driving out of his garage in the exclusive Isleworth community. What came next was an immediate exposure of endless infidelities and affairs of the golf legend. Woman after woman gave out exclusive interviews claiming never ending sexual encounters with Woods in many cities over the world. Weeks later, a devastated Tiger appeared on public asking for forgiveness from his wife and fans and tried -unsuccessfully- to save his marriage. He lost almost all of his sponsors and his career went into slump mode.
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| Tiger at his most bitter moment |
Why we shoudn't be shocked by it?
Infidelity is another of those delicate subjects. Realistically speaking, it happens and it happens more frequently than what most people believe. The question with Woods' case is: Should we be concerned and judge his infidelities, or should we focus on his marital problems? Both cases are personal matters and have little to zero impact in Tiger's career and achievements (at least until that point). The whole incident was magnified by the media and it became a circus, but other than that, Tiger deserves every and any piece of glory he has earned as one of the greatest golfers of all time.
On a scale from 1 to 10, I give Tiger Woods' Unthankful Thanksgiving incident a 2.
Diego Armando Maradona testing positive for cocaine in 1992.
Why did it shock us?
By 1990, Diego Armando Maradona was regarded as the greatest football player of the world. He had conquered almost every major competition in the sport and had huge hunger and the talent to keep on going for more. After four successful seasons with Napoli and fed up with the living conditions of Italy, Maradona signed one of the largest contracts in the sport with Spanish club Sevilla and was given the responsibility of leading a team that was supposed to become "the next big thing" in Spain's top league. A questionable start of the season led Maradona to have been regarded as a bad deal. It got worse when in 1992, Maradona tested positive during a routine urine exam. It would have been bad if he had tested positive for any steroid or amphetamine, but this was no ordinary event. Maradona had tested positive for cocaine. Aged 32 at that point most football pundits pointed to Maradona's last days in the sport; this became a reality when he received a two year ban from the sport. He came back in 1994, just in time to join the Argentinian squad in the 1994 World Cup, only to test positive again on another routine control, this time for another steroid drug.
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| Perhaps the only legend that fell down, hit hard, and is still a legend |
Why it shouldn't shock us?
In the 80s, Maradona had become a driving force in football and made a name for himself as a legend after notable, memorable performances, especially during the 1986 World Cup. There were plenty of rumours of Maradona having some sort of connection with cocaine usage and other drugs, but there was no concrete or solid evidence to back those claims up. Other than the rumours, I can't come up with any other reason why this incident wasn't a shock to the sports world. It was one of the saddest moments in football history and has always been a huge stigma on Maradona's career and whether if Maradona is indeed the greatest football player of all time, over Pele who on the contrary is a role model of a gentleman.
On a scale from 1 to 10, I give Maradona's testing positive for cocaine a 9.
O.J. Simpson's accusation and trial of murder of his wife and another man.
Why did it shock us?
Even E! Entertainment television has ranked OJ Simpson's car chase as one of the top five most shocking events of all time. When I turned the TV back on 1994, I was wondering something that likely anyone was wondering: "Why is OJ Simpson running away on a Ford Bronco chased by 8914 police cars?" Then I found out: his wife and her lover were found dead in Simpson's home, both bodies horribly stabbed multiple times. This was unthinkabke: OJ Simpson was considered for the role of the Terminator in James Cameron's The Terminator, but was turned down because producers thought he was "too nice". He had though, took part in highly successful trilogy of Naked Gun, playing Detective Norbert, a clumsy but extremely likeable character in the film. Heck! Just two weeks earlier, OJ had just been filmed on a public appearance playing golf with President Clinton. Are you telling me this guy stabbed his wife and her lover to death?
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| An image that was burned in everyone's retina: Inside that car, lay OJ Simpson, helpless and overwhelmed with... |
Why it shouldn't shock us?
Infidelity is a huge deal for some. Apparently it is too for OJ, , but it got a little off hand. Other than that, I can't think of any reason why this shouldn't be the biggest rise and fall of any sports legend.
On a scale from 1 to 10, I give OJ Simpsons's incident a 10.
And now finally, the man of the hour...
Lance Armstrong's usage of steroids.
Why does it shock us?
When one would look at Lance, one would think of many adjectives to describe him: Survivor, Fighter, Perseverant, and even Role Model. He survived cancer and rose to the highest levels of cyclism. He won the Tour de France, not once, not twice, not thrice, but an all time record SEVEN times -five of them straight-. He also became a spokesman and an image of life's victory over death. He started a business that spread this mentality all over the world and created a new culture, the livestrong culture.
Why we shouldn't be shocked about it?
Cyclism is a dirty sport. It's not a corrupt sport, it's a dirty sport, with a long history of steroid usage, doping, cheating, from the lowest to the highest degree of competition. It has been quite common to see race winners being stripped of their victories after testing positive on doping controls. Let's compare it against tennis, to put things in perspective: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, or old schoolers Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, never ever tested positive in their careers. In fact, tennis has one of the cleanest sheets in the history of steroids. When a tennis player tests positive, it is indeed surprising; when a cyclist test positive, it is just another day. So when I found out about Lance's accusation, instead of thinking "Oh no, this is unbelieveable, I can't believe that this is happening, why would he do it?... etc", I actually thought something like: "Awww, come on man... YOU TOO LANCE?"... with a huge emphasis on "YOU TOO?!"
On a scale from 1 to 10, I would rate this incident at a 7.
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| Yesterday: seven. Today: zero. |
What is next for Lance?
A lot has been discussed and argued about Lance's case and what punishment should he go through. With his sponsors already dropping him, what is next is for the cyclism authorities to ban Lance from the sport and stip all his titles from him. My reasoning is the following:
In 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, Canadian Ben Johnson stunned the world with a 9.79 new world record back then on the 100 m dash competition, a clock that could have been even lower had Johnson not turned his neck around to see how ahead he was from the other seven competitors and not lift his arm up in the air pointing to the sky in signal of victory. After testing positive for drug controls, he was stripped of his victory and of course his gold medal, that was given to the athlete who arrived second, Carl Lewis. The same punishment should be applied to Armstrong. Not doing so would be a weak and unforgivable behavior, as well as unfair with everything that stand for what's ethical and unethical in sports.
I am not a big cyclism fan, but to say I didn't know Lance Armstrong, his struggle with a threatning cancer, his achievemnts would be an understatement. He wasn't a particular role model for me, or someone I would look up to in the sense of admiration, but I respected him as an athelete and as a person, as well as his career. However for others, he was a role model, an idol, an example. Today he's on the same plate where Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Ben Jonhson, even recent Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, and many others are.
The article I read informing about Nike's decision also mentioned that the possibility of Lance resigning as Livestrong's CEO would be next. It's quite sad, because we are talking about a company that represented and stood for life and gave hope to all of those living a low point in their lives. However business is business and consumers should understand that even a role model organization, shouldn't have a CEO with a questionable career, because that is a stain that spreads all over you. The comments on the article were pointing at Lance's appearance at the New York marathon, which he completed around the three hour mark, now wondering whether if he also took enhance performance drugs in for that event.
Lance Armstrong was meant to go into history books as a cancer survivor, seven time Tour de France winner and the personification of victory after overcoming life's obstacles, Instead, he will go into history as a cancer survivor, who won seven Tour de France, but ended up having his achievements thrown into the drain, after becoming one more in the list of test positive competitors in cyclism.
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