“Am I gaining ground, am I losing face, have I lost and found my saving grace?” – Everlast, “Saving Grace”
What the eff is wrong with people? About two weeks ago I did something that I had never done before in my 47 years. I stupidly left my wallet on the roof of my car while I was filling up with gas. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized my wallet was missing. Without hesitation, I got back in my car and back-tracked. At 9:30 p.m., in the dark, I found my wallet on the road. I had only been separated from my wallet for 20 minutes. Luckily, my identification and credit cards were still there. What was missing was the $500 in cash that was going into my checking account the next day. It was supposed to pay the most important bill that I get…my health insurance. In a related story, I woke this morning to find that someone hacked into my computer to use my friends to solicit for a bogus drug company. If I could find these people, I would kick them in the nuts. And I’m not talking figuratively, I would actually kick them in the nuts. If they’re women, I would kick their fathers in the nuts for raising such a scumbag. I told you that to tell you this.
In 1980, Rosie Ruiz won the Boston Marathon. It appeared that she didn’t read her entry packet that probably mentioned you’re supposed to run the 26.21875 miles. Miss Ruiz decided to take the bus. The biggest tragedy here is the real winner, Jacqueline Gareau, received her first-place award a day later in a closed room, never standing on a podium and getting her true recognition. In 1998, the Festina Affair and the doping allegations almost ended the Tour de France. Few remember that Marco Pantani won that year because the cheaters got more recognition. In 2006, Operación Puerto became the hottest topic in cycling. It was a complicated blood-doping scheme where tons of athletes blood were discovered in coolers, meant to be used for cheating at a later date. How would you like to be the guy in charge of keeping that straight? Then there are idiots like Roger Clemens, who not only cheated but exacerbated his problems by lying to Congress. What do all of these people have in common? They are all talented people who could have been great champions on their own without cheating. In my meager estimation, if they would have spent the same time training and working hard as they did in putting together a scheme, they could have still been successful.
