Sunday Sermon: Cheats never prosper!

Is he or isn't he?

There's been a lot of talk in the news recently about cheats, and it seems eventually cheating will catch up with you. No I'm not talking about Lance Armstrong, although that in and of itself is an interesting cautionary tale. Here we have a man who was undoubtedly an extremely talented and gifted athlete, who if you believe the huge body of evidence against him is actually guilty of quite possibly the most elaborate doping scheme the world of sport has ever seen. Obviously Lance Armstrong denies these allegations, and I'm torn about whether to believe them. I mean the brain looks at what has been said and by whom and nods in sad agreement. But my heart, the part of me that admired Lance Armstrong as the supreme athlete I thought he was, just can't bear to think that he might have won all his titles and performed all these super human feats while under the influence of performance enhancing drugs. It honestly, and genuinely upset me an awful lot.

Why? Because I take the spirit of competition very, very seriously. You see to me if somebody kicks my ass at any sport or game I want to know that my ass is being kicked fairly. I might not like it that somebody is getting the better of me, but if it is in fair competition I'll extent my hand at the end of the game and be a gentlemen about it, and say well played. Sport was always the same for me, although the levels of sport I've played at have never got to the levels where doping would have been present (I hope) there were always cheats. People willing to bend those rules just a little bit to gain an edge. Here's the thing, I think the urge to cheat, to gain the upper hand is so ingrained in the human psyche that it is almost inevitable. Here's why. Even me, who I think is a paragon of fair play at times, I inform opponents when they've forgotten to do something, even when it's to my own detriment, so yes, even I sometimes get urges to 'nudge' that miniature slightly when no one is looking because then it'll be in charge range. We've all had these thoughts I'm sure, even if they are infrequent.
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