Over the Edge * March 13th 2013

Sports 13

CANADIANS PLAY BASEBALL, T00

GEOFF SARGENT
SPORTS EDITOR

The 2006 World Baseball Classic was
an event I remember with fondness.
As the first ever best-on-best national
event in modern baseball history, there
was a feeling of excitement as players
took the field wearing the uniforms of
their countries, instead of the uniforms
of cities they made their home in.

The memory of the event was absolutely
influenced by the massive upset
Canada laid on the United States — the
Canadians, with very few established
MLB players, amassed a shocking 8-0
lead over the all-star laden Americans
by the sixth inning. In the next half-
inning, the Americans rallied back
with six runs of their own, but Canada
desperately clung to the lead for the final
three stanzas, eventually winning 8-6
in nail-biting fashion. It’s impossible
to understate how fun this game was to

watch — from the announcers in disbelief
to the fans in Phoenix booing their
country’s disappointing performance,
it was incredibly fulfilling, if only in
a cynical way, and it remains on my
list of memorable sporting events seen
through television. Sadly, Canada went
on to be annihilated by Mexico the
following day, and ended up missing
the final eight based on tiebreakers, but
for a fleeting moment, even in a sport
with such variance as baseball, Canada
seemed on top of the world.

Despite the emergence of many more
Canadians into the MLB aas stars, the
country fell short in the next World
Baseball Classic. The 2009 event saw
a mirrored result from 2009; Canada’s
late-innings comeback against the
Americans ended with our country
stranding the would-be tying run in the
9th to lose 6-5. Canada subsequently
lost to Italy to be bounced from the

double-elimination tournament.

The 2013 World Baseball Classic has
been underway for a week, and for the
third time in as many tournaments, the
Canada/USA game lived up to hype, as
the Canucks played the Americans on
Sunday, unfortunately to a devastating
loss for the second consecutive
tournament.

As in 2006, the Canadians jumped out
to a lead after six innings, but this time,
the Americans roared back and were
able to emerge victorious, eliminating
Canada from the playoff round.

I have never been an ardent follower of
baseball; the massive amount of games
and slow pace of the sport doesn’t fit
my personality or current commitments.
But as with many other sports I normally
avoid, when the uniforms say ‘Canada’,
I sit down and watch.

GEOFF SARGENT
SPORTS EDITOR
Eight weeks have passed since
disgraced former cyclist Lance
Armstrong came clean about

doping in each of his record seven
consecutive Tour de France wins
throughout the previous two decades.
With the sport of cycling having long
been linked with pharmaceutical
abuse, this was a fact that shocked
very few people that follow the
sport, and indeed, many had been
clamouring for Armstrong’s head
on a pike for quite some time. They
finally got their reward.

Armstrong, of course, made a
gigantic circus out of the situation
by issuing no comment for days
after the evidence piled up, finally
granting only Oprah Winfrey an
interview. In addition, the results
of the interview were known well
before it aired, and viewers were
only tuning in to see how, and why,
not if. This follows along a line
many people have used to vilify
Armstrong for years — he’s arrogant,
self-centred, money-hungry; the list
goes on.

Questions remain about Lance
Armstrong, and specifically about
his legacy. Since 1999, he has been
the American cycling hero; the best
cyclist in the world for the better

part of a decade, staying clean while
everyone else around him abused
steroids. He conquered mountains, he
conquered cancer, and he conquered
rivals who would stop at nothing and
stoop so low as to cheat, in hopes
of claiming his throne. He explicitly
and tirelessly denied for years all
allegations of steroids, insisting
upon his innocence in the tainted
sport. He founded Livestrong and
raised millions for cancer research.
He was a hero.

Is he still a hero?

Cycling can’t be discussed without
an inevitable link to cheating. The
‘history’ is rich and storied — in 1904,
every single rider who won even a

66

single stage of the Tour de France
were all eventually disqualified for
cheating, most of whom for hitching
rides on vehicles. Armstrong wasn’t
the last to have his titles stripped —
it’s happened twice since, and will
likely continue. These facts, of
course, don’t excuse the act, they
only put it in perspective.

The saving grace many see to
Armstrong’s legacy is his work
with Livestrong. Since 1997, the
foundation he founded has received
over $500 million in donations.
Armstrong, despite his second
comeback that lasted from 2009-
2011, has been quite similar to Bill
Gates in the last five or more years,
in that his public persona is entirely
devoted to his family and his charity,
rather than the world he found his

LANCE AND THE LIVESTRONG EMPIRE

fame in.
Even Livestrong is not without
skepticism and scrutiny. A

comparison to the Michael J. Fox
Foundation sees two organizations
with similar revenues, budgets, and
listed goals, but the bottom line
has Parkinson’s research grants
exceeding $30 million per year
from the MJFF, while Livestrong
is no longer even funding research,
instead promoting “awareness”.
Livestrong stays in the news by
achieving mutually-beneficial,
almost parasitic sponsorships with
pro sports franchises -— Kansas
City’s MLS team donated stadium
naming rights to the cause in return

[Armstrong] founded Livestrong and raised
millions for cancer research ... Is he still a hero?

for increased publicity, and Hockey
Canada is suiting up the national
women’s team in_ patriotism-be-
damned black and yellow uniforms
branded with the Livestrong logo for
the upcoming world championships,
on sale for only $139.99 at local
retailers.

Lance Armstrong is certainly an
enigmatic, powerful person who
has managed to touch the lives
of many, be it through his own
personal story of fighting through
cancer, his cycling career, or his
work with charity. In the past few
years, the lies have been exposed,
the cheating has been revealed, and
the questions have been asked about
his foundation. Is it enough to strip
heroism away?

Calld

oe

awest

standings

Men’s Basketball

Pacific Division

18-4
16-6
12-10
10-12
8-14
6-16
5-17
5-17

UBC

Victoria

Trinity Western
Fraser Valley
Thompson Rivers
UNBC

Mount Royal
UBC-Okanagan

Prairie Division

16-6
14-8
14-8
14-8
13-9
12-10
7-15
6-16

Saskatchewan
Alberta
Manitoba
Winnipeg
Calgary
Lethbridge
Regina
Brandon

Women's Basketball
Pacific Division

18-4
17-5
16-6
15-7
8-14
7-15
6-16
5-17

Fraser Valley
UBC

Victoria
Thompson Rivers
UNBC

Trinity Western
UBC-0

Mount Royal

Prairie Division

19-3
19-3
14-8
13-9
10-12
7-15
2-20
0-22

Calgary
Regina
Alberta
Saskatchewan
Lethbridge
Winnipeg
Manitoba
Brandon