I was reading about Lance Armstrong yesterday after he gave up his chairmanship of the Livestrong Foundation for which he raised millions of dollars over the years. Some on-line writers said the money was raised under false pretenses and NIKE seemed to agree as minutes later they dumped him from his endorsement deal saying" due to seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled NIKE for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated out contract with him. Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner. "

What do you think? Does the good that Armstrong has done with his foundation over the years mitigate his apparant cheating? And should it be cheating? Many have written that athletes should be able to use whatever means they want to try and be the best they can be. Some people have no problem with the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports...and the next question is where do you draw the line? Should LASICK surgery be illegal for baseball players (it certainly is performance enhancing) . All of the technological advances in equipment certainly puts today's athletes at an advantage over athletes of the past.

I've chewed on this question for years. We will never know how many athletes have used . And that's the problem. How do you seperate the user from the "clean athlete" . ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the Seoul Olympics 100m race is a prime example. Ben Johnson was disqualified...but he wasnt the only one using. The rumors have always been there about Carl Lewis and test results that were buried to protect the American golden boy who was named the Olympic athlete of the Century. The runners who were clean are obviously pissed that records and money and fame were denied them by the cheaters.

Does it matter to you if athletes use every method at their disposal to be the best at what they do? I'm not sure we will ever reach a consensus and so the suspicion will continue.

The Badger basketball team begins the season ranked 21st in the first poll. They were 26-10 a year ago and made it to NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

Happy Birthday to Forrest Gregg who turns 79 and Mike Ditka who is 73.

Songs of The Day  (from my I-pod)

Kryptonite-Three Doors Down (2000) This is just a great rock song...

Kung Fu Fighting-Carl Douglas (1974) You wonder if Mr. Douglas ever got embarassed going on stage and doing this or just counted his money nad was satisfied. One of the prime examples of the weirdness of the 70's