Lance Armstrong’s undoing is universal. You don’t have to be
American or Filipino to know the ramifications. You don’t have to own a
Campagnolo to feel the sting. You don’t have to understand cycling to
fear the effects. He was a hero. He is now entirely something else.
Maybe I’m building up Armstrong’s collapse too much. Dito sa atin,
we’re more tolerant of fallen heroes, even fallen villains. Figures
rise, then fall, then by some miracle, rise again. Showbiz and political
careers in the Philippines are fueled by the fable of second, third and
fourth chances.
But let’s go back to Lance.
More than being an icon and humanitarian, he was a myth. Myths are
important in life. I draw strength from them. The romanticism of sports
is driven by key myths. Never say die. Hail Mary pass. I can’t imagine
living life with just absolute truths.
What
happens when a myth becomes a farce? From man to superhuman to branded
cheat to labeled liar and back to being as human as humans can be.
Distraught. Vulnerable.
Or is he?
Sports writing legend David Halberstam wrote:
“If there is such a thing as the beginning of the end of the innocence for a young man, then it comes at moments like that of seeing someone who had been a hero, indeed perhaps a role model, and knowing instantly that there is something dreadfully wrong with the way he has lived, that the price was too great.”
The cost of sustaining the monster was way too much.
The myth of Lance is dead.
His story, however, is not.
It was a brilliant move. He ditched the press conference. He didn’t go
on CNN. He went to Oprah. Where often movie stars open up and talk.
Look, I genuinely admire Oprah. But she’s not Christiane Amanpour. So to
be fair, I didn’t expect her to ask questions like Christiane Amanpour.
Thus, the first part of Armstrong’s pseudo-admissions weren’t hard
news, exactly. It became an entertainment spectacle. Polished, packaged
to appeal to certain emotions (of course, television news will always be
tempted do the same). Yeah, it felt that way. The ploy may have worked.
“Going on Oprah diffuses the blow,” Sev Sarmenta, Chairperson of the Ateneo Communication Department, says. “Oprah won’t ask the hard questions, will enjoy the scoop. Lance can paint himself as the victim of a rotten system.”
Armstrong is now a melodramatic figure. I see a movie in the future.
Aaron Sorkin should write it. The cycling hero and the yellow wristbands
are gone. But I believe I saw the emergence of a reinvented Lance.
Through the power of Oprah. Welcome to Hollywood. Full-time.
Armstrong has never been a quitter. Right? Laban pa rin. Like always,
he’s still trying to win the uphill race for whatever sympathy is
available. Against all logic. Against all doubts. Against all odds. -- GMA News
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