So Lance Armstrong has decided to throw in the towel.  The USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) has been after him for allegedly taking PEDs during his 7 straight Tour de France victories.

Lance didn’t want to fight them anymore through arbitration and will let the USADA take away his Tour de France titles, earnings and be banned for life.

Now I can understand not wanting to go through more insane court hearings and spend all that time and money to defend yourself. But you’re Lance freaking Armstrong.  That shouldn’t be a concern for you, but I don’t know the man’s finances.  He could be in financial ruin or pretty close to it.

If you’re truly innocent, why stop fighting?  Nothing has been proven and he hasn’t failed any of the drug tests he has taken while racing.  But I have to think that he has something to hide now that he has given up.

He seemed to be pretty hell bent on proving to everyone that doubted him that he was clean and those wins were legitimate. Now all of that is done.  The sport is done.  Not that I actually cared, but it was easy to root for the guy.

He’s no better than any other prominent athlete who has been ruined by testing positive for steroids.  There is a lesson to be learned from Lance and it’s a simple one.  Unfortunately you are now guilty until proven innocent in society.  However, he had his chance to do it in the court of law where you are innocent until proven guilty.  He decided it wasn’t worth it.  Why?

We’ll never know the answer.  Probably not until he writes another book.  His idol status is gone, to me at least.  Yeah he beat cancer.  I’m not taking any of that away from him.  Yet he didn’t want to protect his innocence.  What kind of message is that?

Life gave him many lemons.  He made lemonade most of the time, but this time he chose to let it fester and just quit.  So long Lance. You’re no different than any other alleged steroid user.

I’m pleased to inform you that I have a new home on the world wide web.  The newest 24/7 sports network promises to be both an informative and fan friendly source of news from the world of sports.  I will still be writing my usual opinionated posts here on my website and now on the Final Score’s website as well.

A brand new radio network will be starting later this summer.  I’m looking forward to debuting my new radio show for the Final Score Sports Network.  Stay tuned for updates.  In the meantime bookmark finalscoresportsnetwork.com and continue to check back here at westhesportsguy.com for my insight and analysis on all things sports.

I did not lose any family members, but I was still deeply affected by what happened ten years ago.  I like so many Americans were at a loss for words that day and for the rest of that week.  Shock turned to sadness.  Sadness turned to anger.  Anger turned to prayer. Emotions were at an all-time high.

But there was hope.  What was shown for a long time after that day has made me proud to be an American.  The country was truly ‘One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’  I know it’s hard for some to remember, but it did happen.  All our differences socially and politically were no longer an issue.  We were all Americans.

There were so many poignant moments after that day.  President George W. Bush saying in New York, “I can hear you.  The world hears you.  And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”  The late Jack Buck delivering a moving speech before the St. Louis Cardinals first game since that day. Hearing the story of United Flight 93 still breaks my heart to this day.

I want to take this opportunity to do something that I don’t do as much as I should.  I want to say thank you to the brave men and women of our police and fire departments all over the country.  You risk so much everyday to save the lives of our families and friends. I also want to thank our military who have served their country proudly by defending her since that dreadful day.

Tragedy brought us all together.  We needed a shoulder to cry on, a place to go pray, someone to talk to.  Whose to say that we are a divided country now and can never be united again?  Yes there are those that want to see this country fall.  It’s a fact.  As long as we believe in that American spirit that has been instilled in us since the day we were born, we shall prevail.

Believe in yourself.  Believe in your country.  And believe that the future will be brighter.  There is still good in this world and that there is no place for those who wish to do us harm.

In the 10 years since that day, we haven’t forgotten and we will never forget.

This post is dedicated to 2,977 citizens who lost their lives and to their families.  God Bless

I’m sure that you have heard of all or some of the allegations being made against the University of Miami’s football and basketball programs in the last week.  In case you haven’t, they range from illegal recruiting, sexual solicitation, cash payments to players, interaction with a sports agency and in one case an abortion. That’s not what I’m going to talk about here.  Instead I’m going to focus on the bigger picture.

If you want to read the Yahoo Sports story for yourself, I have the link here for you.  Truly the most damning story I have ever read in a long time.

One question has come to my mind since these allegations were brought to the national stage.  What is the NCAA’s purpose nowadays?  Yes, they are supposed to be an academic institution first and foremost, but what the heck is going on here?

There have been a lot of schools that have come under some heavy scrutiny in the last few years.  USC was hit hard almost two years ago for the Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo scandals that have brought down the football and basketball programs.  North Carolina is starting over after some players were involved with a sports agency while still active at UNC.

We all know what happened at Ohio State with the firing…I mean resignation of head coach Jim Tressel for lying to the university and NCAA officials over information he had about some of his players getting gifts.  And who can forget the fire storm about former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton and the possibility that he was paid to play for Auburn university.

You add those examples with the rest that I could relay to you and what does that tell you about the state of college athletics?

No longer can the NCAA hide behind the academic aspect when so many colleges, many of them high profile ones, are breaking so many rules.  So now the question is what can they do to fix this problem?

One solution is to pay the players a nominal fee to help keep them away from the temptation of outsiders. In the long run I don’t think it will prevent the kind of infractions that are going on as we speak, but it will help short term.  What excuse is there for a player who takes something from an outsider when he’s already getting something from the school?  Absolutely none.  That puts the responsibility squarely on the players shoulders.

It should help with those low income families that don’t have anywhere else to go.  I still believe that they should be going to a college to get an education first and foremost.  And it’s also not right that the players don’t get anything for jersey sales with their name is on them.  Someone is making a lot of money and it’s the universities and the NCAA.

Enough is enough.  NCAA president Mark Emmert needs to face facts.  If you want the madness to stop, you have to make a common sense decision.  Make it so the players aren’t tempted to get something from boosters, tattoo owners and scumbags looking to make money off them.  Every player for every university albeit from the tennis team to the football team gets the same fee from the university.

Fair is fair and that should quell the large scale infractions from happening again.  But the other thing that has to happen is the universities need to know that if there is even a hint of compliance in the university, they will get punished severely.

That’s what was alleged to have happened at the university of Miami.  There’s a picture of the university president Donna Shalala getting a $50,000 check from Nevin Shapiro, the man who made the allegations against the university.  It’s a bad image.  Ms. Shalala looks like a kid at Christmas with that check.  It wouldn’t surprise me if it was known in the highest administration on campus about some of the activities Shapiro was doing.

It’s something like this that makes the NCAA become reactive instead of proactive.  It’s time they switch it around and become more involved with the concerns of the public and even those at the universities.  I want to believe that the universities want to comply.  They’re just making it harder for me to believe them.