Over the years many athletes have done things they aren't proud of, with steroids atop the list. The honest athletes admit what they did and why they did it, and the fans begrudge them for a short time and then get over it. Yankees' Andy Pettite and Alex Rodriguez are in this group. They both admitted to using steroids and gave the public there reasons for doing so. I think this is the right way to go. But of course not every athlete is willing to be so noble, some decide to take others down with them. The most famous case of this is that of Jose Canseco. After the public found out he used steroids he was basically shunned from the baseball community. This angered him because he allegedly knew others doing 'roids as well, and so he wrote 2 books on the subject, accusing many players. Canseco didn't have much credibility when his books came out though nor were steroids a huge issue in sports like they are today. When they did become a major issue, Canseco got a lot of publicity because of his books. I think what Canseco did was cowardly and wrong. Even out of school, the rule of 'don't rat other people out' still applies. Now Canseco is rarely heard of, gaining attention sometimes when he does odd jobs for cash, like when he did celebrity boxing. I feel that people should have the right to control their own destiny, and so if athletes refuse to admit steroid use then let them refuse, don't let a man with a damaged reputation seeking vengeance ruin their lives.
That first paragraph segues into the to recent news I have to talk about. Shunned American cyclist, Floyd Landis, admitted doping throughout his career after denying he ever had a positive test. He sang like a canary saying he used human growth hormone, blood transfusions, testosterone shots, and more. He said that he made the decision to use all these things on his own, without being coerced, and that he only blames himself. So far he sounds like the noble type of user who's just trying to rebuild his reputation, but I haven't told you the rest of what Mr. Landis did. He also submitted many accusations to the World Anti-Doping Agency about several other cyclists doing what he did, including cycling icon Lance Armstrong. Many of the people he accused were fellow American cyclists that were former teammates of his. He even went as far to say that the whole USA team did blood transfusions on the bus in between legs of the 2004 Tour de France. Landis then went on to say that he has no proof of anything he says and that he realizes it will be his word against theirs. So to recap, does Landis have a damaged reputation? Yep. Did he get shunned from his sport? Yup. Years after he was shunned did he come out and accuse others in his sport? Yes. Well Floyd Landis, looks to me like you pulled a Jose Canseco. You say wanted to clear your conscience and wanted to stop being part of the problem, but you could have done that without accusing others. Instead you decided to take everyone down with you, or at least try to. Since you have no legitimate proof to anything you say, I highly doubt your accusations will matter. All you are is a coward, just like Jose Canseco, afraid to fall alone.
Reference
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=5203604
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