More Than Mistakes

WARNING: I am about to get on my soapbox. Let me apologise in advance if this post is a little preachy.

I am sick and tired of athletes getting caught in some discretion and then making a public apology describing it as "A MISTAKE".

Let me give you some examples. First, from the recent Biogenesis PED fiasco that infiltrated Major League Baseball.

• Ryan Braun: In the face of overwhelming evidence (after beating a PED charge 18 months ago on a technicality) made this statement: "As I have acknowledged in the past, I am not perfect," Braun said in a statement. "I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions. This situation has taken a toll on me and my entire family..."

Yes, Ryan Braun, these actions take a toll on your family. Didn't you think of that beforehand. Or did your greed and selfishness, I'm sorry, your "mistake", prevent you from seeing the outcomes. You made a conscious decision to break the rules knowing the possible consequences but believing they'd never happen to you. You ignored the stigma your parents, wives and kids now face due to their relationship with a "cheater".  So don't cry me a river about your family now. You should of thought of them long ago. It's because of you they have media camped outside the house and making phone calls seeking comments. This wouldn't have happened if you'd just majored in baseball instead of trying to minor in chemistry.

• Nelson Cruz: Offered a qualified confession talking about his illness while saying "my illness was no excuse". If it's no excuse don't talk about it! In a statement he released Monday, Cruz said he was "seriously ill with a gastrointestinal infection" for three months from November 2011-January 2012 and made an "error in judgment" to help him recover and get ready for spring training. "I should have handled the situation differently, and my illness was no excuse," Cruz said in the statement.
• Fernando Martinez: A minor league player who also had injury problems and sought an illegal short cut to recovery now with the Yankees’ Triple-A team, said he had made “a serious mistake” during last season.

It's not as though it's just baseballers that make "mistakes" though. The Denver Broncos (NFL) star defensive player Von Miller was yesterday suspended for 6 games after having difficulties handling a urine sample. (He was suspended a couple of years ago for marijuana use.) He apparently submitted spilled and diluted urine samples. Both are considered violations of NFL drug policy. Urine samples don't get diluted by accident. Then of course he made the obligatory statement acknowledging his "mistake". I made mistakes, and my suspension has hurt my team, Broncos fans and myself. I am especially sorry for the effect of my bad decisions on others.

So being a responsible researcher, I conducted a Google search for the definition of "mistake":

• Noun: An action or judgment that is misguided or wrong
• Verb: Be wrong about.

Here's the thing... mistakes have a lot in common with accidents. We mistakenly recognise someone when we truly think they're someone else. We mistakenly misspell a word but the assumption is that we were trying to spell it correctly. Turnovers are mistakes, they're not deliberate decisions to break the rules.

If we were to call it honestly these players would admit to "breaking the rules". They would admit to "cheating". They would admit to stealing roster places and league honors by their illegal use of PED's. And if they're Christians they would admit to sins: If nothing else they're selfish, and greedy.

In my mind, at least, using the word "mistake" is like pleading that I only told a "white lie". It's admitting that I did something wrong, while trying to also gain acceptance that it wasn't really wrong or serious.

If this was only an issue in sports I guess I'd accept it as an irritation that I have to live with. But when I see Christians describing sin and rebellion against God as "mistakes"... that really upsets me.

• The person who parents a child before marriage then moves in with their partner... "made a mistake". No. They didn't. They just ignored God's teaching on marriage, parenting and holiness.
• The person who gets caught speeding on the way to church (that was me many years ago), didn't make a mistake. He made a decision to go over the speed limit enough to catch the attention of the cops.
• The person who routinely abuses his wife and kids then turns up at church in a suit on Sunday isn't making mistakes Mon -Sat. He's violating the trust of his family and the responsibility God's given him. He's breaking God's demand that he lead his family with love.

Please don't think that I'm demanding all these people be stoned. I am 100% convinced that the Gospel of Jesus is one of grace and mercy (Acts 20:24, Jude 21) . I'm not casting rocks. But I do believe that we're a lot closer to repentance and renewal when we acknowledge the severity of our transgressions. Let's just call sin, "sin". It sounds ugly and abrasive because sin is ugly and abhorrent. Jesus didn't die for our mistakes, he died for our sins. We need to embrace that truth. (Romans 3:22-24)

Thank-you. This is me now stepping down from my soapbox.

Liar, Liar Pants on Fire

Headline: Lance Armstrong admits to Cheating

But it's not only that Lance used PED's, it's the extent he went to cover it up. The US Anti-Drug Agency made this statement in October 2012 accompanying 1,000 pages of evidence against Lance Armstrong.

In a statement, USADA chief executive Travis Tygart said, "The evidence shows beyond any doubt that the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen." USAToday.com  (Here's the link to the formal 200 page charge given to the UCI... if you care.)

It's not like Lance just denied his drug use once or twice. This article gives a short list of Armstrong's denials over a 10 year period. Look at this quote from June 2012 where he throws all his teammates and associates under the bus while claiming his innocence!

“I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one,” Armstrong said in a statement released by his publicist. “That USADA ignores this fundamental distinction and charges me instead of the admitted dopers says far more about USADA, its lack of fairness and this vendetta than it does about my guilt or innocence. Any fair consideration of these allegations has and will continue to vindicate me.” Washington Post

Not only did he make denials of PED use in interviews, he sued those who accused him of doping. In 2006 he settled with the British newspaper, the Sunday Times. The paper is now suing him for $1.5 million. That should be interesting. Earlier a book published in 2004 (L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong) received the same treatment. Armstrong sued everyone associated with it, including media outlets that published excerpts.

Other interviews I've heard on the radio describe Armstrong as a bully, who would run other riders out of the sport if they said anything about his doping.

Lies, on lies, on deceit, on bullying, on lies, on conspiracy, on scheming, on lies, on protestations of innocence, on lies, and maybe on bribes. AND NOW HE ADMITS HIS GUILT!

Armstrong has now lost his sponsors, his role at his own charity Livestrong, and his 7 Tour de France titles.

Complicating the whole issue is the good work that his Livestrong organization has accomplished in the field of cancer research. One report I read said that it has raised over $500 million since it was founded about 15 years ago. That's a lot of helping. While no one wants to see that research suffer, we can only blame Lance Armstrong for the foundations tarnished image, just as we must recognise that the $500 million would never have been raised without him.

When we survey the mess Armstrong's lies and cheating have caused I'm reminded of why God so often condemns lying. It's such a fundamental sin that it makes the famed 10 Commandments. "Thou shalt not bear a false witness." Later, it's included in a list of what are generally considered more serious sins as examples of who will not make it into heaven. (Revelation 21:8)

Lying  often seems like a minor moral flaw, but it is fundamentally opposed to God's nature. In John's gospel, Jesus describes himself as the Truth. While in John 8 he describes the devil as "the father of lies". Armstrong's world may come crumbling down, but that's not surprising when his lifestyle has been built upon a lie.

Strangely, in the same week a bizarre story has made headlines about Notre Dame's star player and Heisman trophy finalist, Manti Te'o. During the season his personal background story made headlines. Not only did his grandmother die mid-season, but his girlfriend who'd survived a car accident only to be diagnosed with leukemia, died a few days later.

Now it turns out that the girlfriend was never anything more than a figment of the internet's imagination. Whether Te'o was the victim of a cruel hoax, or part of an attempt to gain publicity to support his Heisman run, his life has been turned upside down when the deceit has been exposed. Apparently this fiction came to light in mid-December which raises the question of whether it affected his preparation for the national title game where he played poorly.

You can read all the details here. It's crazy. You wouldn't find it at all believable if it was a fiction story... but it's apparently true!

Te'o issued a statement Wednesday afternoon:

 "This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.

"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.

"It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life. "I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been.

"In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was.

"Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I'm looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft."

 Time will tell how truthful Manti Te'o has been. As confusing as this story is, Scripture reminds us that nothing is hidden from God. Here are some verses that Manti and Lance would do well to meditate on:

For God will bring every deed into judgment,    including every hidden thing,  whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:!4

He reveals deep and hidden things;    he knows what lies in darkness,    and light dwells with him. Daniel 2:22

My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. 1 Corinthians 4:4-5

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13

Can Barry Bonds be Honest?

Barry Bonds holds the record for the most home runs in a season, the most home runs in a career, and the most MVP awards in a career (7).  But the baseball community remains divided over the credibility of Bonds' accomplishments due to the assumption that he used performance enhancing drugs during the latter years of his career. (Good summary by SI here.)  So I was interested to read an article yesterday that there's every possibility that the Giants will find a role for Bonds within their organisation.

The slugger said he met recently with Giants president and CEO Larry Baer about working for the club in some capacity, and Bonds has a personal services contract the Giants have said could go into effect once his legal proceedings were in the past.
Giants general manager Brian Sabean told the San Francisco Chronicle that Bonds would be welcomed back.
"The invite's open-ended. It's not a matter of if but when," Sabean told the newspaper. "He's got a personal services contract."

This series of events reminds me of Mark McGwire. He was hired by St. Louis as their batting coach in 2010.  This was certainly a controversial hire given the widely held belief that he had used steroids during his playing years. Soon after he was hired he gave this lengthy confession and apology.  Here's an excerpt,

I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come. It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected. I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize. I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 off season and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again. I used them on occasion throughout the nineties, including during the 1998 season.

I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era.

It was a long time coming, but I respect him immensely for making this statement before taking his coaching position.   

No more rumors. 
No more innuendo.
No more suspicions.
No more maybe's.
Just honesty, openness, vulnerability and a chance at redemption.

Barry Bonds, please take note!