Skeletons In The Closet

I guess everybody has a skeleton in his closet. 

But what is the point of being a champion, a public figure, a famous person, if you can‘t present yourself in public because of your own "dark side of the moon"? If you are good enough and honest, you would never want to hide yourself from anyone, would you?

I am not talking here about the casual beer belly in the winter or your unavoidable hair loss or your secret chocolate stash under your pillow. No, it‘s far more serious than that.

I know there are enough alibis for prominent athletes to stay away from public, mainly because of privacy considerations, but once you read three lines of doping allegations about any one of them, he or she vanishes into thin air. Once the allegations end with a verdict and you see that particular person crying in front of many cameras protesting his innocence in vain.

Finally he serves his hiatus and rises like a phoenix after a few years as if nothing bad has ever happened. Then, all of a sudden, they get very social:

I sat that one out. Now I am free, legit and honest again. Let me dope again and fool you.

Are these guys really that shallow? Is it the money, the fame or both to allow such a humiliation against yourself? Or are they just incorrigible idiots?

I read about Tyler Hamilton recently. Remember him, the Coeur de Lion?

This guy doped, was caught and banned from cycling. Then he got another chance late in his career to race for the Rock Racing Team with an assembly of other old cycling crooks. Clean or not, he even won a few races with his shady fellows. Rehabbed? No way.

He deceived and got caught again. Tyler will never race again.

I guess he deserves to ride again for the US Postal Service now, as a mailman of course. He won‘t be alone delivering the mail, the entourage cannot be more illustrious: Frankie Andreu, Ivan Basso, Roberto Heras, Benoit Joachim, Floyd Landis, Pavel Padrnos among others.

What a legacy, albeit with a tiny flaw: The boss is missing, at least officially. 

But no worries, he‘s on his way.