Lance Armstrong vs USADA - Essay Example

It is a known fact that in a contemporary context, doping is a reality that is affiliated to by many ace sportspersons, who have the financial wherewithal and who afford the rectifying technologies and medical leverage. Lance Armstrong is not somebody new to the arena of sports and consequently, it will be rational and logical to believe that he had been through ample blood and urine tests aimed at testing doping. There had never been a single instance that Armstrong failed a doping test.
Let's for a second assume that Lance Armstrong resorted to doping at some particular instance. However, when it comes to the sportsperson of Lance Armstrong’s calibre, it will be really naive to believe that all the success accomplished by him could be mitigated by aspersions of doping. The extent to which Lance Armstrong excelled in the sports of his choice, it takes much more than doping to excel to that level. It takes much hard work, mental and physical resilience and consistency to be at that level. So, a mere doping charge should no way deprive this legend of the glory that he deserves.
Reaction Piece #2
There is no denying the fact that institutions like Augusta National Golf Club tend to have a snob appeal associated with them. Tactics like resorting to exclusive male membership, admitting people of a specific socio-economic background in the membership roles, sticking to many old and formal rituals only add to the overall snob appeal of such institutions. The real strength of such institutions lies not in the facilities and opportunities they extend to their ranks, though it is true that such facilities may be state of art, posh and sophisticated. However, the real socio-economic worth of the institutions like Augusta National Golf Club lies in the aura and reputation they manage to create in the public perception. Common people associate such institutions with exclusivity, status and affluence. That is why; soliciting the membership of such institutions is deemed to be prestigious.
In the light of these facts, the extension of club membership by Augusta National Golf Club to the two women, one of which happens to be Condoleezza Rice is an event that has been overblown. The membership extended by the Augusta National Golf Club is nothing but an archaic, chauvinistic, and snobbish institution deciding to be more in alignment with the times in which it operates. Even extending this much-touted membership is an instance of affiliating to patriarchal notions of grandeur, going by the social status of Condoleezza Rice. A snobbish act by a snobbish institution does not deserve such attention and appraise.

Reaction Piece #3
When it comes to coaches and players, the thing that needs to be recognized is that it is about relationships. Not only coaches play an important role in the career of the players, but they also tend to have a relationship with them, a comfortable space, and a professional relationship with emotional appendages. Hence, there may be instances when a coach leaves a university, some of the players at least may end up feeling confused, insecure and facing a nagging lack of confidence. Thereby, all the stakeholders associated with university teams need to acknowledge and recognize the fact that when it comes to coaches, there is an emotional dimension to this issue.

Having said a lot about emotional issues, it will be also appropriate to discuss the harsh constraints imposed by commercial demand and supply forces in the life of a coach. In that context, coaches happen to be mere employees, who are open to job insecurity, an innate ambition to do best for themselves and their families. In the light of these market facts, one simply cannot blame coaches for leaving a university to embrace much better opportunities. Hence, the solution to this dilemma lies in a middle away approach towards the issue. The opportunities open to coaches should as well be extended to the players. In case a coach leaves or gets fired, the players should also have the option to change teams, so as to be able to play for a concern where they feel emotionally and financially more comfortable. With many schools trying hard to make themselves viable, doing everything possible to extend education to the students in constrained circumstances marred by a dearth of resources, allocation of large budgetary sums to sports facilities like football stadiums smacks of inaptness and a disturbing sense of wastage. With dwindling revenues for academics, the experts and concerned stakeholders around the nation are sounding alarms about the eventual consequences of spending large sums on facilities that though important, constitute a part of the academics and not the entire academics. People need to understand that sports are an important aspect of academics, yet it is also important that the other aspects of academics also have access to the resources required to sustain and support.

 The need of the hour is to bring in a sense of balance and to prioritize the things in the light of the resources at hand. Sports are an aspect of academics that is not solely dependent on mega stadiums for achieving its avowed purpose and objectives. On the other hand, the money saved or spared from these behemoth stadiums could be put to much better use by allocating it to the objectives that are equally if not more important than sports.