eBay just took it down! - Ryan Lochte was going to sell his virginity on eBay.

The auction ended or was removed on Sunday morning. (Perhaps because the highest bids were from men?)

From News One: 

The auction which ended on [Sunday] morning had 15 bids. Men of wealth such as Jack Miller, Jack Right, a man from India, Rudra Chatterjee, are among those who vied for the [Olympian's], err…unspoiled wares. 

[Link]

Not enough female billionaires I guess.

Photo: Missy Franklin accepts a college job offer with the Denver Nuggets! - She looks good as a blonde!

"I am really excited that the Nuggets franchise offered me this golden opportunity to represent my very own Denver team."

My source asked if her age was going to be an issue and she told my source, Mark Savage, that she was suppose to be at least 18-years-of-age; (which she isn't), or 17-years-of-age with a parent or guardian present to sign a waiver on her behalf and only if she had a high school diploma or GED.

"It was between my favorite basketball team and Victoria Secret; so I chose my favorite team because they are so awesome and inspirational whereas Bar Rafaeli is a... never mind, let's not go there..."

What was she going to to say?  Go There, go there, Missy.

Remarkable Footage of Open Water Swimmers Going Off Course!

What Adam has proven is that by swimming in a straight line in an open water swim, which is not easy to do, you can eliminate 100s-of-meters worth of useless meandering off your swim. Adam young illustrates this using a motion tracking option in Adobe Premiere CS 6 to follow the path a few selected swimmers take to reach the shore. It would not be hyperbole to suggest that these swimmers swam nearly double or more the distance to finish their race.

What I am taking away from this video is a decision to calculate how I often I need to spot to swim in a straight line. I usually go 15-30-strokes before spotting. That may be too many.

A watch with a "pace clock" interface - Quite cute and would remind of the pace clocks at the pool.

Introducing the Void V03.

It was designed by David Ericsson, a Hong Kong designer, and it most likely has a quartz movement. The specifications don't say which is really lame and quite insulting in my opinion.

A quartz movement is basically a electronic movement powered by a battery that measures time via a vibrating quartz crystal. I have a penchant for automatics; (An automatic watch will self wind via the motion of your body), but I do appreciate quartz driven watches when exact timing or math functions are needed. As for this watch, I just adore the interface.

For what this watch is, it is rather expensive. Very expensive for a quartz watch which is priced near $300 USA or £185 in British currency. (Thank you USA Government for adopting a weak dollar policy. Let's hope the treasury realizes that no great nation devalued it's currency as a way of becoming a prosperous world power.)

The Void V03 has a 2-year warranty but it would cost so little to replace a quartz movement that sending it back to Great Britain to get fixed might not even be worth it.  Quartz movements are extraordinarily cheap to produce usually assembled by robots in China. A quality Swiss quartz movement can sell for as low as $9.00 so if your movement goes bad it won't cost much to replace.

Description:

This version of the VOID V03 timepiece by Hong Kong designer David Ericsson comes with a leather strap plus an alarm and date function. Ericsson focussed the design of the watch on the details of the face, which has five functions: hours, minutes, seconds, date and alarm. There are four hands. The two grey ones with luminescent strips are used as traditional hour and minute hands. A long red ticker counts the seconds and the final short red arrow hand indicates where the alarm is set. The alarm is adjusted by a button at the two o’clock position on the outer watch case. 

On the face itself there are two sets of numbers: one that counts the hours and one that counts the minutes. VOID V03 alarm comes in two colourways: black and white. 

[Link]

I may purchase this watch and put it in my rotation. The dial and the second hand remind me so much about the pool that I may succumb to it's high price and cheap movement. One could put a two toned NATO strap on it to make it look it fresh; (a Watch Snob tip), but I probably won't.

I like watches; I like them a lot and it is my opinion that yesterday's technology is today's art. Thus, the "industrial age" components contained within a vintage watch that can keep near perfect time in a digital age is beautiful distraction when I look down to see how long a meeting is running.

But what about the watch below the the photo of Void V03 above?

I was please to find out this weekend that the Watch Snob; (an anonymous writer of wealth and taste who the timepiece industry both fears and respects), along with the character known as "Don Draper" of TV drama Mad Men wear the same watch that I do. (A vintage Omega Seamaster De Ville Automatic.)

Omega is a brand that swimmers should appreciate. They have been there for us in the pool and at every Olympic games that I can remember. They offer one of the best swim results pages on the web and they maintain it pro bono.  Omega sponsors swimmers such as Michael Phelps, Ian Thorpe and Natalie Coughlin and if you can win multiple gold medals in the Olympics they would probably sponsor you too.

I plan to put another Omega in my rotation and it will be another vintage piece: the Omega Speedmaster Professional Automatic from 1969 or the same watch that Buzz Aldrin wore on the "freaking" moon, a timepiece that still bugs Rolex to this day for they wanted to be the original "moon watch" but Omega scored higher in the qualifications tests .

World Anti-Doping Agency issues rare health warning!

" The World Anti Doping Agency has issued a rare warning to all athletes not to use the substance GW501516, which it states is being sold on the black market and used by some athletes."

I check the status of this product at the GlaxoSmithKline website; (the inventors of the drug), and Glaxo indeed terminated this drug during its phase-one clinical trial in 2009. Turns out it is toxic to your muscles, pokes holes in them, and causes tumors especially in female rats:

[Link] - See number Summation numbers 895, 896, 1609

To get a drug approved by the FDA it has to undergo a series of clinical trials; (five total.) The purpose of theses trials is to ensure a product is safe enough to be administered to the public. This drug showed no promise whatsoever yet when you go to Wikipedia not one mention was made that this drug is dangerous till today.

BTW, this S*** is for sale on eBay too. What a world we live in!

From VeloNation: 

The World Anti Doping Agency has issued a rare warning to all athletes not to use the substance GW501516, which it states is being sold on the black market and used by some athletes. The agency has expressed strong words of caution about the substance, which was added to the banned list three years ago.

“The side effect of this chemical compound is so serious that WADA is taking the rare step of warning “cheats” to ensure that there is complete awareness of the possible health risks to athletes who succumb to the temptation of using GW501516 for performance enhancement,” it stated in a communication.

“GW501516 was a developmental drug that was withdrawn from research by the pharmaceutical company and terminated when serious toxicities were discovered in pre-clinical studies. Clinical approval has not, and will not be given for this substance.”

Read more: [Link]

My hope is that other bloggers more qualified than myself step up and outline how poisonous the S*** is.

Swimming, Sailing, Surfing: No better coaches or aquatics related athletes than the Australians!

Was looking at the stats of the last four Olympic games. Though Australia is undergoing a process of self-flagellation over their "poor" showing and the 2012 London Games, still the Australian still won more gold medals by population percentages than the United States, China or Russia.

Australia is a continent with a population of only 22-million people whereas the USA has a population of 300-million. (California's population is nearly double that of Australia.) We have an athlete base that is almost 14-times larger yet Australia beats us proportionally when compared to population numbers.. In other words for every potential gold medalist Australia has in any sport, the United States has 24-candidates yet Australia is producing a significant amount of winners for the little population that do have.

When it comes to sailing, surfing, or swimming Australia has produced the best. In fact modern surfboards today use technology from Australia.

At the London Games in 2012 Australia "bombed" but if the United "Bombed" we would have had scored over 100-gold medals versus our 46-gold. If Australia would have had an average Olympic gold medal count they would have scored about 20-gold medals versus their 7.

The Australians' blame it on their current cultural issues and looking back at the evidence I reluctantly have to agree. Australian swimmers were hazing hazing each other, acting act like college students rather than diplomats or athlete representation, and one sprinter was even parading around with too much bravado before the games opened stating how he could not wait to race Michael Phelps.

Now, they did do worse than they ever have in an Olympic games, BUT, per the amount of population they had to work with they placed 18th in gold medals per million population whereas the United States placed 28th out of 54.

From Simon.Forsyth.net: 

This page lists Olympic medal results standardised by population. The thinking is that the bigger your population is, the better chance that your country might actually have a genetically predisposed person that can win a medal. Reasonably simple to do and although this statistic is by no means a perfectly accurate reflection of a country's relative Olympic performance, medals/population is, in my opinion, a better indicator of success than simple sum-medals, and is easy for the lay person to comprehend. 

[Link]

The Chinese recognized this and they are choosing Australian coaches because they are the best.

USA Swimming should do the numbers and maybe they might realize that their coaching arm,(ASCA), may be grossly behind in producing great coaches whereas China is searching the best  down under in Australia.

Russian swimmer Ksenia Moskvina has been suspended for six years for a second doping violation.

The Russian anti-doping agency caught her. Russia has come a long way in catching drug cheats don't you think?

From ESPN:

Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA says the European short-course champion and record-holder in the 100-meter backstroke tested positive for a banned stimulant at the Russian nationals in November. She had previously been suspended for 12 months for failing to provide her whereabouts to drug-testers.

[Link]

Orange County Register: Daniel Ad'm Dusenbury was banned for life

I would like to hear a victim statement... She originally denied this happen. I originally wrote about  this nonsense a year ago: [Link] & [Link]

From Scott Reid at the Orange County Register:

"... Former Mission Viejo Nadadores coach Daniel Ad'm Dusenbury was banned for life on Thursday by the sport's national governing body after he acknowledged having an inappropriate relationship with a female teenage Nadadores swimmer, the Orange County Register has learned. Another prominent Orange County swim coach, Bill Jewell, has resigned his coaching position at Golden West Swim Club following allegations of his inappropriate conduct toward female teenage swimmers, the Register also has learned. ..." 

[Link]

Catholic church settles US lawsuits, selects new Pope, church reboots! - Take note USA Swimming.

The Catholic church reboots, puts USA molestation scandals behind it, installs a new executive director; (AKA Pope), moves forward anew.

It took a lot courage for Pope Benedict XVI to step down and he did so for the parishioners and the church itself. When the new Pope enters "office" I predict a slew of middle managers; (Bishops and Cardinals), will suddenly retire and you just may see a more compelling and transparent church as a result.

USA Swimming should take note and follow Benedict's XVI lead. I think it's time that Chuck Wielgus politely step down to settle his health matters and USA Swimming should appoint a new executive director to redesign the organization and bring it into the 21st century. The USA Swimming membership is predominately female, subsequently it's time for USA Swimming to appoint, for the first time in their history, a female Executive Director.

 I got into a "flame war" over at Swimming World with David Berkoff. In my humble opinion he should be one of the first "Bishops" to step down for when he heard rumors; which he believed to be true, that a swimmer named Lisa Dorman and Kelly Davies were being molested, he failed to report these crimes to the police or otherwise. See this post for details: [Link]

I am told by a representative of the Kelly Davies that Berkoff never apologized for failing to report what he had heard and believed. With this in mind, how can you take David Berkoff, a USA Swimming board of director, seriously when he tells the "flock" to report, report, report, when he failed to report two crimes he had knowledge of?

USA Swimming has an opportunity to reboot and once again be trusted.

Hula-hoop Cam At Venice Beach - GoPro meets the Hula-Hoop

At the 2-minute mark, or what DJs call the "drop," it becomes amazing - Summer is coming!  I am Tony Austin and I endorse Hula Fantasica's Message.

Swim culture needs a reboot! - Tortured swimmers at the University of Utah failed to report abuse incidents to the police.

[Edited to fix typos and to mention USA Swimming Board of Director David Berkoff who failed to report abuse incidents he had knowledge about.]

Swimmers, if a coach breaks the law by physically assaulting you in any way sexual or otherwise, gather a witness if you can and call the police. Don't go to school officials asking for help for they care more about lawsuits than your personal welfare. Don't ask a teammate for advice either for they may have "drank" the "snitches get stitches Kool-Aid" and subsequently advise against reporting. (I hold up Penn State and the University of Utah as examples.)

This article from USA Today is quite uncomfortable to read. This was culturally tolerated within the University of Utah and it has to stop. If the allegations as reported by USA Today below are true then who swam under this coach have to ask themselves what was the end result of their silence?

Look at it this way, if the police would have been called the first time an abuse incident occurred just imagined what could have been prevented?

From USA Today:

"... Winslow commonly came to practice drunk; had outbursts of anger, including once punching an assistant coach; used racial slurs; and once forced a team member to swim underwater with his hands tied to a PVC pipe that was strapped to his back until he blacked out, parent Matt Fiascone said. Fiascone's son, Austin, swam on the University of Utah team for three seasons while Winslow was coach.

"He's a monster," Matt Fiascone said of Winslow.

Winslow did not answer phone calls for comment from told the Associated Press, and his voicemail box was full. He has denied the Arizona allegations.

Utah athletics director Chris Hill said he's not aware of the any of the allegations at Utah being of a sexual nature.

Matt Fiascone said he called to tell Hill about Winslow's behavior in March 2012. He said he now knows other parents lodged complaints as far back as 2008. He criticizes Hill for not properly investigating. ..."

[Link]

...USA Today mentioned that racial slurs as well were stated as well!

Mocha Dick by Tristan Lowe - Artists created 52-foot-long albino whale.

From GBlog:

Sure, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is a famous tale, but have you heard of Mocha Dick? The male sperm whale that swam in the waters of Mocha, an island near southern Chile, was the real-life inspiration for the 1851 literary work. Described as being “white as wool,” the whale comes back his full glory in a sculptural piece crafted by Tristin Lowe. ..."

[Link]

GBlog mentions that the whale has a skin of wool-felt and vinyl coated fabric. Towards the mouth of the creature the attention Lowe pays to barnacle detail and placement is amazing.

Originally found at NotCot.org

Swimming Anime: 30-second preview gets remixed over and over on 'YouTube'

I have seen twelve of these each with a different song and they are mostly posted by teenage girls. The "meme" is trending.Publish Post

Yahoo Sports: "Students, parents claim University of Utah ignored coach's abusive behavior"

A good friend Todd sent this to us:  Greg Winslow is accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl but new details of athlete abuse have now surfaced at YahooSports:

From YahooSports:

In one incident, Karson Applin, an African-American, jokingly asked out of practice because it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. According to Applin and other witnesses, Winslow responded by taping a long piece of PVC pipe along the length of Applin's back, then bound the pipe to his outstretched arms and ordered him back into the pool for a series of "underwaters" – sprints below the water line.

[Link]

As a result Karson Applin passed out underwater and had to be rescued by teammates.

Swimming World is under a 'Denial of Service' by a hacker or hackers!

A Denial of Service(DoS) attack. A DoS attack is an attempt to make a website or network unavailable to its intended users.

A DoS attack consists of a person or persons creating an automated program that saturates the target website or web host with tens-of-thousands of requests, so much so, that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic. Other DoS attacks include using infected computers to do the dirty work.

This has been going on for some hours so the person or persons have either a bunch of money or a bunch of time. The attacker or attackers could be a competitor or an angry user who was targeted in an article. The FBI is looking into it.

This is a sleazy effort to take Swimming World offline.

Here is a statement:  "Swimming World's website SwimmingWorld.com has been under an extremely heavy denial of service attack since last evening. On top of working with our server host to get the problem solved, we are in contact with the FBI and are working on filing a complaint regarding this attack on our company, and on the swimming community at large. SwimmingWorld.TV has not been attacked, and all the videos that you love to watch are still available. Head over to SwimmingWorld.TV for all of this great content, including the Morning Swim Show."

Toddler rescues himself from drowning - a trained self rescue

Not much to say. This kid can barely walk yet has the composure after obviously being thrown into the water head first with his jammies on to right himself like a turtle and float like a lilly pad.

Awesome little dude! But I don't like how he was used as a prop and left in the water for over 5-minutes till he was pissed off to no end.

Olympian Missy Franklin Auctions off Private Swim Lesson for Charity

Just got this email from our friend, Henry:

Hi Tony –

Hope all is well! Reaching out because we think the SCAQ Blog's readers will be very excited about this once-in-a-lifetime chance to swim with Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin. The swim lesson supports a great charity in the process, and if it's a fit we'd love your help getting the word out. ... 

Missy and Olympic Coach Todd Schmitz are giving one lucky swimmer the chance to learn from legends by auctioning off a private lesson in Las Vegas on March 23.

Bidding is open now through March 15 at online charity auction site; [Link]

The online auction is in partnership with One Night for ONE DROP, a first-of-its-kind event happening on World Water Day on March 22nd. For one incredible evening, international leaders, neighbors, philanthropists, and global citizens will come together to make a dream a reality – a world where every human being has access to water and can live in dignity and health. Proceeds benefit ONE DROP USA, an organization that strives to provide universal access to clean water.

Charitybuzz raises funds for nonprofits around the globe through incredible online auctions, giving bidders exclusive opportunities to live their dreams and make a difference. Since launching, Charitybuzz has raised more than $75 million for charity.

Henry

Triathlete who died in the "Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon" died within the first minute!

For an athlete to die during minute-one of a triathlon almost seems incomprehensible unless the athlete somehow fell into unconsciousness from a blow or what is known as "cold shock response." (An autopsy is being preformed.) I linked to an article about this yesterday and I see that Wikipedia has an article on the subject as well. You can read it here: [Link]

From SF Gate:

"...Ross Ehlinger, 46, an attorney from Austin, died just one minute after jumping into the 51-degree water of San Francisco Bay at the start of the race. Race officials say he suffered a heart attack, but the medical examiner's office has not issued a finding on Ehlinger's cause of death. ..." 

There is a gallery of the race there as well.

[Link]

I am doing the same crossing in May but I suspect the water will be a degree-or-two warmer. Hence my strategy is to swim "doubles" or swim twice each day at Aquatic Park, three-days-in-a-row so as to acclimatize myself to San Francisco bay water. Screw tapering.

Escape from Alcatraz 2013 Swim Start with rescue boats converging on Swimmer!

I found a video clip that was put up yesterday of a rescue attempt at what I believe is the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon. It may have even been the attempted rescue of the triathlete who died. I am trying to get confirmation from the the poster at YouTube. If this is indeed the fatality then the shock of the cold water may have been responsible. Apparently the water was 50-degrees and this death could have been a result of what is know as Cold Shock Response.

I think FINA and all the national governing bodies should look at this. I think race directors too. From UoP News UK:

"... Scientists are warning that entering cold water suddenly, without taking time to acclimatise, may cause abnormal heart rhythms that can be fatal. In the study, published in the Journal of Physiology, they explain how rapid submersion in cold water, combined with holding ones breath, automatically activates two powerful responses in the body which may interact and cause conflict at the level of the heart. 

The scientists, from the University of Portsmouth and Kings College London, explain how the body’s Cold Shock Response, which speeds up the heart rate and causes hyperventilation, may conflict with the Diving Response, which does the opposite and which acts to conserve oxygen. 

Normally these responses are not activated at the same time, but sudden immersion into cold water can activate both, and cause what they term ‘Autonomic Conflict’; resulting in the heart going into abnormal rhythms and, on occasions, causing sudden death. ..."

 [Link]

For web developers that swim and read this blog: virtual lane graphics for swimming with css3

CSS is an acronym for Cascading Style Sheets which are nothing more than a text document or two created by web developers to explicitly detail how a users web browser should present the content. HTML is about structure, CSS is about presentation. That is the easiest way I can explain it; hope I did not lose you.

Here is a tutorial on how to do this effect for you own local meet using CSS3.

From XYK: 

Pretty cool stuff. These 'virtual graphics' for sports always intrigue me because there is practically zero time to edit it into the shot. Everything has to be done in real-time. Graphics like this also appear in many other high-profile sporting events like the Super Bowl and the World Series, where the ball is tracked three-dimensionally live.

Now, my school just happened to be hosting a swimming meet between several other schools. We were going to broadcast and record it anyway, so I thought I might as well try to recreate the graphics. In the end, what I came up with was pretty much visually the same as the one you see in the Olympics.

[Link]

A 45-year-old triathlete died Sunday morning during the swimming portion of the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon!

The man died right during the early part of the swim. Very sad, The family must be completely distraught and it is terrible to think that he died doing something that was suppose to be fun. Details here: [Link]

Alcatraz is not an easy race; I almost almost died during my first race there and that near death experience inspired  me join a Masters club called SCAQ so I could learn how to swim like a pro.

See details of that near fateful drowning here: [Link]

Every time I do a crossing I feel high anxiety - it is not an easy race. I have cataloged several open water race deaths that have occurred during Alcatraz crossings and so far nothing has been figured out to prevent them. Open water races in New York start in a few months and I will probably be reporting on at least 2-or-3 fatalities before Fall since New York swims seem to have the most open water fatalities.

Swimming is an extreme sport, more so than skateboarding or "bicycle flipping." Swimming is more dangerous than UFC/MMA fighting and it's more dangerous than NFL football. Open water swimming has to be taken very seriously and it hasn't been.  Triathletes really need to consider Masters swimming if they want to ensure a safe result. You can be a mediocre rider or runner but in one of the most dangerous environments on earth, you really need to master swimming.

I recommend that anyone doing this race or an Alcatraz Sharfest race for the first time or the 10th, spend some time at Aquatic Park in San Francisco acclimatizing.

When I do these races my strategy is to either swim in the morning before the race or arrive a couple of days earlier and do at least two, 1,000-meter, swims so that on race day I can predict how long it will take for my face and hands to stop hurting and what the stress will feel like on my body.

Next, when you jump off the boat the blast of cold makes your heart race. It makes you breath faster or hyperventilate and you feel immediate pain. Stay calm and know that your heartbeat and breathing will slow down, and the pain will leave once you are use to the water temp.

When I jump off the boat I swim VERY slowly to the starting line so as to not make my heart-rate elevate further. (read that sentence twice and memorize it if you are "noob.") Once the shock has past and the race starts, only swim fast if you are warmed up, your pulse feels okay, and you face and hands don't hurt that much.

So what makes me so qualified? Nothing really but I have doneseven Alcatraz crossings and in 2012 I beat almost 81% of all the competitors - I beat Almost 77% of the male racers in the wetsuit division; (I wear a wetsuit), and I beat 84% of those in my age group. Click the below screenshot from EnviroSports to enlarge.

Swimming World: KAITLYN JONES DOWNS MISSY FRANKLIN NATIONAL INDEPENDENT SCHOOL MARK - But then....

Missy Franklin has some competition in a short course yard pool. Better work on those turns, Missy. You still have not caught Dagny's record yet either.

From Swimming World: 

"... Jones, a Virginia signee, raced to a winning time of 1:56.31, clipping the 1:56.85 set by Franklin in Colorado. Franklin's time, in turn, downed fellow Olympian Kathleen Hersey's mark of 1:57.41 from 2008. Dagny Knutson's overall and public school record of ... [Click the link below for Dagny's time is completely astonishing] ... from 2009 still stands, clocked while representing Minot High in North Dakota. ..."

[Link]

Gwen Stefani harassed by a paparazzi at the "Target" by my house.

[UPDATE: these shots ended up in the Daily mail a British Tabloid. Look at the expression on her face. Complete shock. Yea, and she is even prettier. I thought she was 25.]

I see this fat ass "photographer," AKA paparazzi, at the Target by my house. He is dressed in black along with a matching black baseball cap hiding behind a stand of young girls two piece bathing suits. Just picture this jerk as an unshaven, obese ninja, with no honor code making a living as a professional stalker.

He has drawn attention to himself because he is knocking swim suits and hangers onto the floor and he does not pick them up. I am thinking he is some creepy nut and suddenly he leaps out nearly bumps me. He does not turn and apologize or say excuse me, he just starts clicking his camera like it is a "machine gun." I look up to see what he is shooting and there is Gwen Stefani. Next, her child gets startled and drops his toy. I yell at the guy and say, "I can't believe this." He turns and starts walking out real quick. The security guard there can't do anything about it because she is worried more about Gwen Stefani.

Gwen Stefani was a swimmer in high school, I have no idea how she could ever pass that sport onto her kids or any other activity for that matter without the fear of a stalker such as what I witnessed today doing something that potentially harms them.

Here is my suggestion to  Target or any other private business: If one of these paparazzi jerks publishes a photo within Target or any other branded or private business, said store should bill each publication that runs these photos $100,000 for trademark violations and/or by profiting with no permission do so on their private property.

Did I pull out my camera, no!  I pretended that she was just some mom with here kid buying the latest toy. These paparazzi jerks are stalkers. They make a living invading people's personal spaces, bumping people out of the way to so, cutting people off on freeways; (Jason Bieber incident three miles from my house), and no photographer should have a right to profit from a photo taken in a obtained that way.

(BTW, it is true what they say about swimmers: we do age so much better than anybody athelte.)

The Atlantic: ...Leave Lance Armstrong Alone!

Both the press and the government selectively create heroes and soon thereafter crucifies them. It's a narrative that has played out since 44 BC when Caesar crossed the Rubicon but met with a violent assassination at the hands of the Roman Senate.  From "hero to zero" to speak.

Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan are present time examples.

Perhaps philosopher Betrand Russell is right: "...Uncertainty, in the presence of vivid hopes and fears, is painful, but must be endured if we wish to live without the support of comforting fairy tales." Lance Armstrong was that comforting fairy tale. A fairy tale which said a cancer survivor can rise up, dust themselves off, and win the Tour de France. Gosh, what were we thinking? 

From The Atlantic:

".... This entire sordid saga is complicated on every level, and pretending it's simple serves no purpose. We made a young Texan into an impossible hero because we love heroes and he seemed just perfect. All too perfect, of course.

So now we need a villain, and a not-so-young Texan seems just perfect. Again, all too perfect.

Which brings us back to the Department of Justice suing Armstrong. When Chicago's children are slaughtering one another in gang-driven violence, and a licensed compounding pharmacy is turning out a contaminated vaccine that kills instead of cures, is this really the best use of our precious government resources? I'd rather the DOJ be focused on busting gangs and the FDA to do a better job on protecting the public than trying to clean up a tainted European sport or help Floyd Landis settle an old score.

So yes, Lance Armstrong lied, cheated, and doped. But like the old saying goes, do we really have to make a federal case out of it?  ..." 

[Link]