open your eyes
I haven’t updated in about two months. It’s not that nothing’s happened (a lot has), it’s that I’ve been busy working. Yeah, a job and all that jazz. Not my choice for a career, but it’ll do to bring in money.
Anyway. I was reading my weekly procycling email and came across an interesting article about Jesus Manzano. The article basically sums up what’s happened to Manzano since he confessed and what might happen.
The reason I decided to post about it was because of my mixed reaction. Previously, before David Millar and Tyler Hamilton, doping was something of an abstract. It was what cyclists I’d never heard of did. It was something that Lance Armstrong discussed in his book. It wasn’t something that affected my favorites, or even those I followed semi-religiously. But then everything changed.
My feelings on David haven’t changed, as for Tyler? I don’t know. I choose to wait and see what happens. But back to the point.
Manzano has a lot of valid points, but he misses the fact that while he is, in fact, a witness, he is also a confessed doper. A confession in a world that does not look kindly on people who confess, even though that’s often what we’re led to believe they should do. Would it make life easier of Tyler confessed? Sure. But who says he’s guilty? I digress, again.
Reading about all the bad that’s happened to Manzano filled me with an unexpected sadness. I don’t know if I want to accept that or continue to be offended that he doped. Which either emotion do anything? Do they solve things? No. But, yet, here I am, torn between sadness at this boy who is the same age as I and has lost control over his life and disgust as his actions.
Where do I stand? In the dark. Doping is wrong, yet it happens. Why? I don’t know, I don’t begin to understand. But perhaps we should listen to Manzano and others like him. Maybe they’ll be able to tell us what’s really going on.
If only we’d listen.
