My Take: Stop the Presses, Lance Armstrong recently shot a 74

I was not at all surprised when I recently read in USA Today (January 17, 2014) that Lance Armstrong pushed his golf handicap down to a 9 and that he recently shot a 74 on some course, somewhere.

I will take him at his word, which may or may not be a good thing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a miniature golf course complete with windmills and a hole with a big clown who had a gaping mouth. The image forces me to loop back around to Lance Armstrong.

Lance is on (what public relations experts call) the rehabilitation trail. The “trail” is intended to clean up an image. When we heard that Lance shot a 74, we were supposed to nudge each other in the ribs and say:

“That Lance, he’s just a guy trying to make par. He’s just like the rest of us, by golly!”

The article also talked about Lance’s family; Lance wistfully saying that as long as his kids were happy and healthy then he was happy. I guess those kinds of comments are also supposed to invoke rib nudging. As a parent I can certainly appreciate that sentiment; I truly hope his kids are happy and healthy. But it doesn’t make me like Lance Armstrong as an ethical person.

In the final analysis, Lance isn’t like the rest of us, not by a long-shot; not even remotely.

Can’t say as I care

What Lance does on a golf course is irrelevant, especially from an ethical point of view. The article appeared in the paper because his PR agency “pitched it.” The newspaper printed it because it sells more newspapers. However, major and glaring issues remain.

Lance Armstrong is, in my opinion, a cheater in every sense of the word. Worse, he is a cheater without remorse. He cheated at competitive cycling, he cheated us into thinking he was legitimate enough to run a foundation for cancer patients, he threw every one of his teammates under the proverbial bus and now he is telling us that if and when he feels like clearing the air, he will do it on his terms. He even had the audacity to say that one day in the future, when blood doping is reviewed, he will be exonerated.

It doesn’t work that way.

If I commit legal and ethical mistakes, I really don’t need a public relations agency to re-tell my story in a more palatable manner. I don’t need to impress you with a golf score or to create another circus by going on Oprah. What I need to do is to come clean. For Lance, it hasn’t happened to this point and it may never happen.

Lance has been protected to this point by fans, family, sponsors and money. Enough money buys enough public relations and eventually he hopes to come out of this smelling like a rose. He will, instead, continue to smell like the stuff that a lot of people put on roses.

My background

Once, a long time ago, I was a convicted felon. I was hauled in front of a judge and I received a brief sentence. I apologized even before I was forced to wear an orange jumpsuit. I begged forgiveness; I told anyone and everyone who I had ever hurt of my extreme remorse. My intense shame gave way to a resolve to make a difference in this world.

We cannot change the past, but we can resolve to be better people in the future. In my case, I devoted my life to encouraging others to lead better and more ethical lives. I am grateful beyond words for this “new life,” for a life in which I can hold up my head and to be a good person.

What I did not do was to make pretend I did nothing wrong. What I did not do was to dodge tough questions by talking about my golf score.  Lance is still Lance. Nothing has changed him and most sadly, he has changed nothing.

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