Dear Mr Armstrong,
I have never addressed a letter to somebody who I know will never read it. Not even to Santa. But, this time I wanted to get personal.
You certainly decided to go out with a BANG. And you got your way yet again by going on air with Oprah to confess. You had lost your career, your respect, your following. The only thing you could do now was confess in a way that made YOU the 'talk of the town' once again (rather the talk of the 'world'). You do love the attention, don't you? First, the race, then THE cancer, then being the survivor, then the doping 'allegations' and now the 'confession'. Well played, Mr Armstrong.
You could write another biography "Livestrong to Liestrong". You lost not just the letter 'v' but an entire battle. Cancer survivor- that's what I respected you for the most. I, like many others, cried and rejoiced with you while reading your life story. Story! Thats what it was- the story that was not just about the bike.
You could have been remembered as a survivor. But, no. Greed has no end, you went on and on. I am no cycling fan, and the only people I know in this sport are the ones mentioned in your book. That is how far your book reached.
I 'un'followed you on twitter way back. (That is the way a lot of us from this generation retaliate. Doesn't mean much but yeah- that's how we do it). I followed you again in the hope that you might deny it all. That all the allegations were just that- 'allegations'. But then you were banned, more and more people were talking. I realized that there is a truth in everything that was being said. Yet, we wanted to believe.
Why? Why couldn't you accept it before? Why couldn't you have saved yourself some dignity?
Seeing your interview, it seemed you were laughing at the world. You had the audacity to laugh it out. The process. The doping mafia. By laughing it out, you are mocking the entire world. You are mocking the fellow non-doping competitors (that you yourself refer to as 'heroes'), you are mocking the system, you are mocking the fans, you are mocking the media!
"Iam not the most believable guy in the world right now..." Well, you got that right, Mr Armstrong.
You do make us look ridiculous now.
Your definition of scary, scarier and scariest-
Scary- 'It didn't feel wrong.'
Scarier- 'I didn't feel bad about it.'
Scariest- 'I didn't feel I was cheating.'
That's not being scary Mr Armstrong, that's just being plain arrogant, that's being a jerk, that's being psychologically unwell.
"I didn't know the magnitude of people following me". Seriously??? Your book was a best seller. You had fans lined up along cycling tours and outside your tents just for a glimpse of THE Lance Armstrong. Livestrong was a success because of the very magnitude of your fame that you so casually dismissed.
Striking you off from my list. My list of the people I admire. I had long ago stopped believing you, but... But, there's always a but... And
Unfaithfullyyours.
I have never addressed a letter to somebody who I know will never read it. Not even to Santa. But, this time I wanted to get personal.
You certainly decided to go out with a BANG. And you got your way yet again by going on air with Oprah to confess. You had lost your career, your respect, your following. The only thing you could do now was confess in a way that made YOU the 'talk of the town' once again (rather the talk of the 'world'). You do love the attention, don't you? First, the race, then THE cancer, then being the survivor, then the doping 'allegations' and now the 'confession'. Well played, Mr Armstrong.
You could write another biography "Livestrong to Liestrong". You lost not just the letter 'v' but an entire battle. Cancer survivor- that's what I respected you for the most. I, like many others, cried and rejoiced with you while reading your life story. Story! Thats what it was- the story that was not just about the bike.
You could have been remembered as a survivor. But, no. Greed has no end, you went on and on. I am no cycling fan, and the only people I know in this sport are the ones mentioned in your book. That is how far your book reached.
I 'un'followed you on twitter way back. (That is the way a lot of us from this generation retaliate. Doesn't mean much but yeah- that's how we do it). I followed you again in the hope that you might deny it all. That all the allegations were just that- 'allegations'. But then you were banned, more and more people were talking. I realized that there is a truth in everything that was being said. Yet, we wanted to believe.
Why? Why couldn't you accept it before? Why couldn't you have saved yourself some dignity?
Seeing your interview, it seemed you were laughing at the world. You had the audacity to laugh it out. The process. The doping mafia. By laughing it out, you are mocking the entire world. You are mocking the fellow non-doping competitors (that you yourself refer to as 'heroes'), you are mocking the system, you are mocking the fans, you are mocking the media!
"Iam not the most believable guy in the world right now..." Well, you got that right, Mr Armstrong.
You do make us look ridiculous now.
Your definition of scary, scarier and scariest-
Scary- 'It didn't feel wrong.'
Scarier- 'I didn't feel bad about it.'
Scariest- 'I didn't feel I was cheating.'
That's not being scary Mr Armstrong, that's just being plain arrogant, that's being a jerk, that's being psychologically unwell.
"I didn't know the magnitude of people following me". Seriously??? Your book was a best seller. You had fans lined up along cycling tours and outside your tents just for a glimpse of THE Lance Armstrong. Livestrong was a success because of the very magnitude of your fame that you so casually dismissed.
Striking you off from my list. My list of the people I admire. I had long ago stopped believing you, but... But, there's always a but... And
'No there is nothing heroic about admitting you fucked up. That's taking ownership. Heroic would be deciding not to fuck up. Or at least try.' (Read somewhere)
Unfaithfully
2 comments:
I even saw the interview. I have read the livestrong too and I am still a follower of armstrong. As a matter of fact this letter of yours clearly states the fact how disturbed you are to lose him as your ideal.
But then he is also a human being besides being people's ideal.
As you are talking of attention seeking. Negative attention seeking is no attention seeking at all. The pain one gets after rising to a heights(howsoever it be)and then falling down right in the face is too much. Noone must have ever imagined how it would have been for him to go through the cancer treatment, the life of despair he must have lived. This life comes but once. Only he knows the pain and he knows how the scars still pains.
When WADA at first place couldnt find then why the fiasco so later. USADA was never the charge of it. How could they allow him in the first place to clear all the anti doping test. Why now the whole mistake is put on his shoulders??
It takes a hell lot of courage to surrender all his medals in front of the town (or rather whole world)and then admit it in front of the whole world. Going by twitter stats even most of the Indians even followed the interview with oprah.
It was and certainly will never be so easy to show up stand up and accept it.
For me he is still a hero. He is a human being and above all he is a cancer survivor. He had already brought smiles to many lives and families through his charity. We can at least respect him for that!
You'll always be my hero even though you've lost your mind! ARMSTRONG!!
Well said both...
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