Sport, drugs and entertainment

I've never been a good and steady sport fan; instead of “watching” sport, I vastly prefer “doing” it. This said, I have followed the unraveling of the Tour de France's credibility and the fall of Lance Armstrong, its seven-time winner.

What I've come to understand is that in order to have a chance to participate, all these “top athletes” must take performance-enhancing drugs. Not just in cycling, but also, I'm told, in tennis and in a wide range of other sports; not just in endurance contests, but virtually everywhere.

Every famous sport individual's “cleanliness” can and should be questioned, including even that of famous characters like Reinhold Messner, the renowned mountain climber. So, with Lance's demise, any athlete's credibility has now become questionable.

Does that mean that I will stop watching the Tour de France? Probably not; I love the way it's filmed and I see entertainment value in it. Same thing for skiing and for a marathon race, but I will see all of it as a form of entertainment; no, a circus act.

On the other end, I'll keep on doing the few sports that I call my own. I can feel the pain when I'm doing them and I can guarantee you that, except for the beer and wine I drank the night before, I remain totally “clean.”