Oscar Pistorius Murder Shows That Athletes Are Humans Just Like All Of Us

Dear Oscar Pistorius believers,

What I’m about to write is the truth about an inspirational Olympian who let us down. I was, like you, in tremendous shock when the news broke that Pistorius faced a murder charge in South Africa. I happened to believe in Pistorius, and was in defense of the “Blade Runner.”

Why are we taken by surprise? Why not realize that athletes are humans, like the rest of us all over the world? Pistorius, a double-amputee who inspired many by the masses, is shocking because of our perception that he’s a hero and a model of excellence to those with disabilities.

The last thing Pistorius wants, while he’s accused of premeditated murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, is for some bitter people to be against him and grasp a sense that he’s a senseless murderer.

He’s used to criticism that he heard all last summer for running with able-bodies as the blades, theoretically, were convenient to try to discourage him from fulfilling a lifelong dream — although he probably doesn’t care what people think about him. But he should be fazed by the murder case that’s giving him a bad name, even if he was built up then suddenly knocked down by the same Olympian cult.

I am shocked by the allegations. I’m stunned by a man who folks all over the world believed in. But why should we be startled? If anything, we should expect a pro athlete to have trouble with the law. We shouldn’t drop our jaws when our beloved pro athletes are involved in a scandal.

He’s like all the rest, after all: an amateur athlete who thinks he’s above the law and failed to realize those before him who were involved in transgressions, as there is a long history of athletes who have disappointed and shocked fans with their poor judgments.

For example, the sex scandal involving Tiger Woods wouldn’t go away for a long time, which caught us by surprise when he was simply, by all accounts, the most manicured, spotless golfer. However, he couldn’t keep his pants zipped and acknowledged that he cheated with as many as 120 women.

Remember Michael Vick‘s dogfighting scandal? That was even more horrific than Woods’ sins, and amazingly enough, we’ve forgiven the quarterback but obviously have not forgotten about the horrific crime. Remember when a 19-year-old hotel employee accused NBA superstar Kobe Bryant of rape? Those charges against him were eventually dismissed.

Alex Rodriguez nationally admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs while he played for the Texas Rangers; Andre Agassi, one of the greatest tennis stars, confessed to using crystal methamphetamine and recently, Lance Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey for cheating.

We act like athletes or celebrities can do nothing wrong while we, as fans and members of the media, express great joy for every amateur or pro athlete and then become blinded by the fact that they make mistakes. It’s OK to make mental mistakes, because in reality it happens and it is only common.

But in this case, I have the feeling, like many, that he killed her intentionally and with premeditation on Valentine’s Day. Then again, I could be wrong. I wasn’t there at the time he shot her, so I can only state carefully about the killing. Viewed just a summer ago as an inspiration, especially to those who are disabled bodies, he’s suddenly a killer in many eyes.

This shocking downfall is jarring — and strangely enough — is unreal, but in reality, he shot and killed his girlfriend, dropping his head in shame at court appearances while shedding tears in a despairing moment. He has always been a fast runner on those blades, a wild animal on the track, a firm believer, making it possible for those who are handicapped.

What we didn’t know, at least when it comes to this devastating news, is that he had personal issues and lived a double-life. But he said he thought an intruder was in the house and that he killed his girlfriend by mistake. That could just be, for all we know, convenient to Pistorius, a way he can try to get away with the slaying of another human.

Turns out Pistorius is in ruins, though. He will be going to prison, unlike most athletes here in the states. He won’t certainly be running in 2016 at the summer games in Brazil. The thing is, no one ever imagined that Pistorius would ever be charged with murdering someone, but surprisingly as we shouldn’t be nonplussed by the recent incident, I was. Now I’m not.

Before this murder case, he was popular and appreciated from his inspirational image, but now he’s not even recognized by those who once showed support for him, including the people of Nike and Oakley. With those two endorsement deals, he was set to earn $2 million this year.

With this happening, we know Pistorius is obsessed with guns and had been involved in previous domestic incidents, according to South African police. It just goes to show that he’s not perfect. He’s certainly a great athlete, but what an Olympian does on the stage doesn’t define their character.

There is, as I write this, a scandal in the making right now. Some athlete is out there using banned substances. Some athlete is out there having an extramarital affair. Some athlete is out there running a scam. Some athlete is out there breaking the rules, or seconds away from a crime.

So this is not the first time an athlete has let us down. Get used to it. Humans are humans.

Not Buying Into Lance Armstrong's Admission

He should have been real and genuine, not a liar or a fraud. If he ever wants to move on with his life, past the wrenched era of a doping scandal that exposed nothing but lies and fabricated stories to scar his name in its entirety, Lance Armstrong would have totally come clean on Oprah's couch. But as it stands, from watching his vague interview with Oprah Winfrey, he's not ready to speak publicly and candidly, still refusing to get into the specifics of his confession to doping. He was not contrite and apologetic when he finally confessed that he used PEDs during his reign as an American cyclist.

“This story was so perfect for so long,” Armstrong told Winfrey, discussing his recovery in the aftermath of his 1996 cancer diagnosis. “You overcome the disease, you win the Tour de France seven times, you have a happy marriage, you have children — it’s just a mythic, perfect story, and it wasn’t true.”

We wanted to believe he was the greatest cyclist ever to represent the United States in the Tour de France, a symbol of patriotism, the one man who was honest and never used banned substances to achieve his success. We wanted to believe he would never try to beat the system or mislead people during and after his cycling career, the one man America watched ride and cross the finish line a winner annually at Tour de France. It's a shame, then, that all of this was a lie, turning a once-respected career into infamy as Armstrong cheated to have a competitive edge over other cyclists. It was not a de facto admission, and for all we know, he could have appeared on camera and stared deep into Oprah's eyes for clawing back sponsors and winnings. Armstrong, considerably the greatest of all time in his sport, says he never failed a doping test.

So why come clean now?

The day was eventually coming when Armstrong would uncover the truth, trying whatever it takes to stop reduction of multi-million dollar financial liabilities, trying whatever it takes to earn more money and rekindle a relationship with sponsorships. It's all about money, not about protecting his name or mending an image. It's all about pocketing cash, not about whether he's tarnished forever. He couldn't care less whether he's perceived as the greatest cyclist ever. What he wants is money, and he's satisfied, judging by his actions during the interview.

The disgraced cyclist was caught in a web of lies and doesn't -- all of a sudden -- want to divulge every factual detail to finally end what is a draining saga and try his hardest to repair a damaged image. In a society filled with deceit and mendacity, he's lost our trust, our respect and our admiration. As we should not have any sympathy and should instead be skeptical, when he still owes hundreds of apologizes and more specifics to complete his side of the story that is very obscure and incomprehensible, Armstrong has destroyed a tattered legacy as America was lied to entirely.

He's forever tainted and will have to live with the fact that he deceived everyone and had been too scummy to disclose the truth, only making it worse for himself by not publicly delivering the truth much sooner. The speculations are over, he's finally come out of his hidden closet and succumbed to reality, but a televised confession hurt more than it helped. The story certainly isn't going to fade away any time soon after his refusal to give any clues and after denying any and all facts, which he may have blatantly lied when he stopped doping.

"That's the only thing in this whole report that upset me," Armstrong said during the interview. "The accusation and alleged proof that they said I doped [in 2009] is not true. The last time I crossed the line, that line was 2005."

After years of denials and lawsuits, the allegations were true all along and many in the sport assumed he was using performance-enhancing drugs throughout his exalted career, including during his unbelievable pursuit of seven straight Tour de France championships from 1999 to 2005. Visiting Oprah, however, was not good enough to restore credibility but he tried desperately so. The legend of Armstrong was built on unprecedented Tour de France victories, but none of that matters now when, in fact, nobody wants to acknowledge such an incredible feat. They've had it with the lies and deceptiveness. It is all more amazing that he revealed little to almost nothing and instead was more concerned with compromising his position in the lawsuit.

For 90 minutes, he talked with Winfrey and should not have considered it a mea culpa after coming off as a jerk. The entire time he sat with Oprah, he was defiant, arrogant and oblivious. It's never been about other people's feelings, but about Lance Armstrong -- though he said he'd start reaching out to those he publicly humiliated and wronged. The person especially hurt by all of this includes Frankie Andreu's wife, Betsy, who testified in 2006 that Armstrong used endurance boosting EPO while going through cancer treatment in 1996. The truth is, he came clean too late, willingly putting out there that he'd get in touch with former massage therapist Emma O'Reilly and reporter David Walsh.

"I guess we know why I was [a bitch] all these years, putting up with that," Betsy said on CNN on Thursday night after watching the interview. "How was I supposed to act? Sweet as apple pie? … That exchange right there, it has me furious."

Because O'Reilly later told the truth about Armstrong's drug use and testified, Armstrong reacted by calling her a whore and a drunk under his breath. He tried to insult people's intelligence, he tried to make everyone else indeed feel as if they were wrong and bullied anyone who thought he was doping. Turns out they were right about Armstrong. It's hard to buy into his admission when he sued so many people for telling the damn truth. It's amazing that he can't remember people he sued through out the years to cover up his lies and bury the truth -- ruining relationships with close friends, teammates, business partners and associates. At one point, he couldn't tell the folks watching, including Oprah, the number of people he sued. More recently, the USADA charged Armstrong with doping throughout his career, and then a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Armstrong against the USADA.

It took time to actually hear from Armstrong, who finally stepped into the public eye and failed to tell the truth, not realizing the seriousness of how he may have ruined people's lives, including his reputation and image eternally. There is, believe it or not, no cure and no hope of reviving his career at this point, especially when a lot of questions still need to be answered. If he were to say too much, then he would have likely come across as too inauthentic, too rehearsed, almost like a hypocrite appearing on national TV. And then again, he may have not broken silence completely and sincerely to impress the American people to forgive him, persuading those angry at him to pretend as if he's done nothing wrong.

He knows the difference between right from wrong and knew doping was absolutely egregious, but what he failed to realize was that one day he would have to pay the consequences. Relatively speaking, he's looking for redemption, trying to save his Livestrong Foundation and trying to win the hearts back that he betrayed and disgusted with his lies and dirtiness.

This, however, won't be enough.

If this seems disturbing, it's because it is.

This is a story of humiliation endured in pursuit of public redemption, a man slightly coming clean for future liabilities, sympathy, criminal exposure, disgruntled cancer supporters and survivors and mitigation of his anti-doping sanction -- all because he is, in theory, hopeful he can reclaim his lucrative sponsorship deals. As one of America's sports encounters a downfall ... as the queen of media prepared 112 questions for the interview in hopes to find out the truth behind Armstrong's allegations ... he claimed that doping was an outbreak among cyclists.

The bad thing is, he declined to cover specifics or any cyclists' drug use, and admittedly said he used erythropoietin (EPO), testosterone, cortisone and human growth hormone. It should come as no surprise that he played a part in blood doping and blood transfusions. It would be interesting, now that he openly took responsibility and fessed up, to see whether or not he eventually tell the whole thing. It seems as if there's more to this story and only he knows what actually happened.

“I don’t want to accuse anybody else. I don’t want to necessarily talk about anybody else,” Armstrong said. “I made the decisions, those are my mistakes, and I’m sitting here today to acknowledge that.”

The beginning of the interview was yes-or-no questions from Winfrey, and finally he acknowledged that he illegally used a number of banned substances. No, that wasn't a cure. That was a step closer to finding closure, maybe not redemption or forgiveness but an ending to a decade-long saga surrounding a cyclist who misrepresented his side of the story and bamboozled riders and the American people. As the interview proceeded, he was asked whether he could have won seven straight Tour de France titles without doping.

By hearing that question, Armstrong said, "Not in my view." He either had no confidence within his abilities or just wanted it so badly that he engaged in doping -- then again, he may have been referencing it to other cyclists who were allegedly using PEDs. Maybe it was a rampant growth of riders illegally abusing drugs for an advantage in competition. He isn't ashamed, and he isn't concerned with rehabilitating his life. He wants to make sure he earns something out of this. He wants money when nothing else matters, not even earning back people's trust. This created unnecessary hostility for what was supposed to be a start for redemption, and by following through on the interview, he took a step backwards and dug a deeper hole.

Armstrong told Winfrey it was “scary” that he didn’t feel he was wrong by doping, which he said started in the 1990s. Then, after he discussed that doping was "scary," he avowed that it was "even scarier" that he never felt bad about it. Back then, he didn't realize that the “scariest” part of his PED use was that cheating never bothered him -- too brazened and too arrogant -- and so he continued to use banned substances.

“I’m not sure this is an acceptable answer, but that’s like saying we have to have air in our tires or we have to have water in our bottles,” Armstrong said. “In my view, (doping) was part of the job. ... I didn’t invent the culture, but I didn’t try to stop the culture, and that’s my mistake. That’s what I have to be sorry for.”

Oh, really? It was part of the job?

It wasn't part of the job. Armstrong chose to dope. Nobody persuaded him to cheat. Nobody made him try anything. He brought it on himself, and now wants to blame other cyclists for inspiring him to use banned substances. But suddenly, the question about the US Postal Service came -- he was kind of put on the spot by Winfrey when he was forced to explain whether he pressured other riders, as a leader on the team, to use PEDs.

“I guess I could have (pressured teammates to use PEDs), but I never did,” Armstrong said. “There was a level of expectation. We expected guys to be fit, to be strong, to perform, but I certainly didn’t (make threats). ... Even if I don’t say it, but I do it, and I’m the leader of the team, you’re leading by example, and that’s a problem.”

If there's one person relieved by all of this, it's USADA chief Travis Tygart, who pursued the case against Armstrong. He was, and still remains, somewhat at ease and said it was just a start for Armstrong.

"His admission that he doped throughout his career is a small step in the right direction," Tygart said in a statement. "But if he is sincere in his desire to correct his past mistakes, he will testify under oath about the full extent of his doping activities.”

After watching this, some will forgive and forget, while some won't ever forgive and forget.

Lance Armstrong Can Become Fraud or Endearing Hero: False Alarm or True?

As difficult as it seems to locate bits and pieces of the truth, whether it's because the allegations are inaccurate, whether it's because the entire news hasn't surface or whether it's because the average individual doesn't know what to believe, we can assume that Lance Armstrong never swallowed or injected himself with steroids.

Here is the problem: If he really used performance-enhancers on his remarkable journey to win seven consecutive Tour de France races, clearly as the world's greatest cyclist at the end of every stage to perpetually celebrate in ecstasy and fulfill triumph each summer in the annual event, he could tarnish his image and potentially face unlawful troubles. Amazingly, he made it all look too easy as a phenomenal cyclist who couldn't lose, conquering the sport and fighting off a malicious disease with prostate cancer to simply become one of the likable and inspirational symbols, an American icon everyone cherished greatly.

Sadly, in an age that sleazes poison the integrity of sports with their sicken motives to inanely outsmart the rules and beat the system, the focus shifted towards his accusations, not even the historical achievements he produced in recent memory. As far as people are concerned, without any doubt in our minds, all they are asking is for Armstrong to address the never-ending ordeal by telling the truth and putting a crisis to rest.

If it's true that performance-enhancers helped his cause, then he needs to be spotless and honest for protecting his reputation and credibility as an inspirational figure, someone many admire for not only his miraculous wins, but also for his battle with cancer. Throughout the years, since he established the Lance Armstrong Foundation in 1997, he has raised a mere $325 million for the fight against cancer, becoming a modest hero for many ailing with cancer.

But it still doesn't justify that he's an innocent man of his wrongdoings, particularly if gruesome news constantly comes to light of his steroid usage in the past, flashing back to the days when he was unbeatable and enticing to watch when he pedaled and rode on a long, exhausting course in France. So now he remains silent, not providing specifics in the convoluted story. Sadly enough, it's unclear if he really doped ever in his momentous career, with the exception of hearsay and assumptions that has turned the unknown issue into an irregular and ambiguous mess.

All of the sudden, he's an embattled man, ridiculed after the latest accusations were released and treated as if he's the saddest fraud in the sports world, a pariah no one has stopped dwelling on when all of this might be nothing more than just a false alarm. In this world we live in, critics are fast to bring down an athletic personality, without reserving judgment. All of which scandals these days are foreshadowed. And now, with evidence that he probably lied, fooled us and deceived us, the latest issue of Sports Illustrated released that US federal investigators had amassed enough proof in the shameful plague.

In a sense, it's not surprising to believe that the seven-time Tour de France champion Armstrong is now the center of attention for a federal grand jury inquiry in Los Angeles. It comes as no surprise in a fraudulent era when the myriad of sports figures inject or swallow performance-enhancers to reduce pain or even to disrespect purity in sports and boost their performance levels that gives athletes an advantage in competition, but unbelievably kills competitiveness.

With many feeling betrayed and hoodwinked, after the latest news broke of Armstrong having access to a blood substitute in clinical trails, he leaves me with suspicion that he's not telling the truth and mistakenly is keeping secrets. It turns out we owe his counterpart, Floyd Landis, much credit for coming clean in his emotional confession. It's easy to forgive him faster when he admitted using testosterone patches, EPO and other banned substances for nearly a decade, unlike other fraudulent athletes who haven't had the audacity to confess.

Following his admission, he claimed there was doping within Armstrong's US Postal team in the 2002-04 season. It takes guts to bring down one of your counterparts, unless the individual is very compassionate like Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds, weight trainer, when he testified to a federal grand jury that organized a perjury investigation of Bonds and spent 15 days in federal prison for refusing to testify to a prior grand jury. Not since then has someone jeopardized much to protect the life of a personal friend.

To some degree, Landis informed the world that he wasn't alone in the doping scandal, and quickly pointed his finger towards Armstrong. If you had to compare Armstrong to Landis, only to invoke a needless debate that creates headlines, you'd honestly believe that Landis is loyal while Armstrong is portrayed as a liar and cheater. In contrast, he is ashamed of the humiliation and that he was caught, merely becoming worse with the recent reports. The ugliest accusation to smudge the image of a lovable hero in our country is hatching a report that states the investigators have information.

What's even worse, upon the difficulty of finding out the truth and proving if Armstrong is innocent or liable, is that none of this is healing anytime soon, not when he allegedly gained access to HemAssist in the late 1990s but it remains unknown if he actually used the drug. By animal studies, it has proven to enhance the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity, but limited risks as EPO.

For now, maybe forever hopefully, he denies ever taking HemAssist, according to his lawyer. But one of his former teammates riding with Armstrong, ex-USPS cyclist Landis alluded to the time Armstrong flew into St. Moritz and said that he had drugs in his bag after officials requested for everyone to open their bags to search for explosive items or concealed weapons, which Armstrong denies ever happening.

"If a court finds that Armstrong won his titles while taking performance-enhancing drugs, his entourage may come to be known as the domestiques of the saddest deception in sports history," written in the story.

Because of his generous heart and soul as a person, he has lifted spirits across the world and helped save lives. Still, the lamest excuse is that steroids served as a cure to strengthen his health status, a risky situation which could have really affected his health and added to the scare of possible death. In fact, he had the courage and determination to fight after cancer almost killed Armstrong, a Livestrong advocate with a heavy heart and has raised money and donated much for hopeless, ill patients battling for their lives each day.


His Livestrong bracelets mostly describes the type of individual he is, a loving and kindhearted man, even if he's proven guilty of his sins in cycling after we clearly believed that he was one of the cleanness athletes in America. But it's hard to believe anything these days. Once again, only this time deeper than before, reporters delved through documents to unveil the specifics of the investigation's evidence in a perplexing case. But in the upcoming weeks, known as a savior, he can suddenly be known as a liar, fraud or worse a criminal.

If so, he deserves to be stripped of all his achievements, simply for enhancing his competence by taking in drugs. In fairness, he shouldn't be permitted to keep his awards when the IOC vacated three of Marion Jones' gold and two bronze metals. Surely, he's not a bad man, but a nice guy we admire in this country, and come to think of it, we need other people as useful as Armstrong. He saves lives, but this doesn't mean he gets a free ride if he used drugs.

After all, he jumped out of his deathbed and raced. As he tries to live a perfect and healthy life, we are curious to know if he doped or not.

If so, what's next?

That's an excellent question.