nhoya wrote:
To your point on my own selfish reasons for attending: I hope you are using that statement as more a blanket statement than a direct indictment on me. I attend pretty much any award ceremony I have ever raced. Regardless of whether or not I get an award. I usually stick around the post race party/festival/whatever until they're packing up. It's fun. It's part of the event. If I have a teammate or buddy that got an award, great, I'll clap louder.
The gentleman in front of me was probably mid to late 50's and pretty butthurt about the whole no-show. I just kind of laughed it off, thinking, "yikes, this guy was probably down to his last Honey Stinger Waffle wrapper for Lance to sign". But then I saw quite a few honestly dejected people leaving. Again, I don't feel like he owes me anything, and I think what Crissie does is far above the norm, so that is apples to oranges, but I do feel like he could put in a little more work to endear himself to the public.
He is being allowed to play by his own rules in this sport, when this sport doesn't owe him anything. He brings a ton of star-power to events, and that puts more butts on the course, sells more race slots, and gets more interest in the sport. However, when people start tiring of his disappearing acts, will they continue to come out and support him? I don't need him to present me with a medal, but I would like to see him honor the sport and its participants a bit better. Everyone is competing on the same course in the same conditions and it is a collective celebration at the end. When the overall winner cuts out, it says to the other participants, who may have just accomplished something monumental in their lives, this event is not important to me. If you have to get on a commercial airliner at 5:00pm, and the awards aren't until 4pm, I understand. But he has a little more control over the situation than the average joe.
Again, and for the nth time, I don't feel like I am owed a single thing by Lance Armstrong. It was a thrill that I never thought I would have just to see what I could do on a bike on the same course on the same day as him. That's all I was in it for. I don't personally care if he was there or not, but I am just echoing the sentiment of quite a few people around me at awards.
I think the problem here is that you are comparing Lance Armstrong with Chrissie Wellington or Craig Alexander.
I too was dissappointed for ME when he did not show at the St. Croix Awards.
But Lance is in the category of Bono, or Wayne Gretzky, or Zuckerberg or Michael Jordan. He's not just an athlete, he is a celebrity and can't spend an entire day doing photo sessions and shaking hands with guys like us.
At the St. Croix practice swim, I locked my bike and guess who is standing next to me. Lance Armstrong. My instinct was to go and shake his hand but I thought,
"That's what everyone on the planet wants to do with this guy. Everyone wants a piece of him, yet none of us give 2 shits about him". Instead, I stepped away, and gave him some space. Maybe he wanted to take in coming back to St. Croix 24 years later and not be bothered by 200 fans". After the swim, he had pictures and signed autographs with over 30 fans. Then a couple of press interviews, then whisked away. People were whining and complaining. I said, "Did you guys ever think that he just wants some personal space and not want to make small talk with a bunch of people he does not know nor care about".
If you are Craig Alexander, or Chrissie, or Jordan Rapp, then you must do these duties. Your income is based on pleasing the age group triathlon fan.
Lance Armstrong has no time for this. The payback is fairly minimal. He already does enough. Lance can't go out to a restaurant and have dinner with his partner and kids without being bothered. Chrissie and Craig or Jordan can go anywhere they want and even hanging out in triathlon, a few years after they stop winning, none of us will care about them.....don't believe it....go hang out with Tinley, or Molina, or Luc Van Lierde or Thomas Hellriegel at Kona. You can have 60 minutes of their time and they'll give it to you because none of the press nor fans care about them anymore (sadly).
On the other hand if you are Eddy Merckx or Bernard Hinault of Lance, the press, and fans always care about you and you have zero personal space for the rest of your life.
Do I want Lance to show up at awards....Damn Right (but it is my selfish need) ! Do I blame him for not showing up ? Not for a second.