Well, that's not technically true. I do know what to think, but for some reason my gut wants to fight it.
Another sports hero has fallen off the pedestal. I tend to agree with Nike when they say that there is "seemingly insurmountable evidence" that Lance Armstrong was doping during his seven year reign at the top of the sport. It's really sad.
Is it still amazing that he came all the way back from near death to cancer, there's no doubt about that. But he was a doper like seemingly everyone else in the sport of cycling. So I guess that makes him just like everybody else. He's not special anymore. I don't WANT to believe that he's not special, but what do you do with all the members of his team that have come forward about all the doping stuff? You could mentally dismiss one guy who claimed it when he himself had been busted for doping (Floyd Landis) but I can't dismiss 11 former teammates saying the same things. And these aren't no names who are trying to make some quick money. They are guys still racing who put a lot on the line to testify. Tyler Hamilton, Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie, etc. It makes sense now that Floyd Landis was so devastated by his doping conviction. He was probably pissed, wondering how Armstrong got away with it for so long and then he got caught.
In the end I know that Armstrong will always be able to say that he never tested positive on a drug test. Does that mean he was just a really good cheater?
I know he's done amazing things in the realm of cancer awareness and research. I really hope all this stuff doesn't damage that part of his legacy. His is still an amazing cancer recovery story.
I guess I'm just a little bummed. One of my absolute favorite, and maybe THE favorite moment in sports was "the look" that Armstrong gave Ullrich on the L'Alpe-d'Huez in 2001. It has given me chills every time I watched it in the last 10 years. It's diminished a bit now.
What do you guys think? Are you writing him off completely?
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