Salt Lake Tribune.
Cheaters follow the usual pattern:
The only thing separating Armstrong from Bonds, Big Mac, Jones or any of the other notorious drug cheats is better press._____
Armstrong has plenty of friends in the media, and they reliably rush to his defense whenever he gets caught in the harsh light of public scrutiny (which is cool, because everyone's entitled to their opinions). Faced with the same sort of damning evidence that certainly convicted all the other members of the Liar's Club, Armstrong's defenders say it's not fair because he's such a nice guy and fights the good fight against cancer as the head of his philanthropic Livestrong organization, which raises millions of dollars for the cancer research movement.
But nice guys and philanthropists and otherwise wholesome cancer survivors can have their own troubling warts, and all the good Armstrong has done there should not exonerate him from his competitive sins. In fact, in many ways, it makes it all the worse, because his tarnished image is going to affect his credibility with Livestrong. It's going to make him an awkward spokesman for an incredibly worthy cause. Too many stories from too many people. Too many witnesses, too much suspicion, too much doubt about everything Armstrong has accomplished on all those record-breaking rides through the French mountainside.
He's a walking disgrace:
It's also a shame because his cheating, though long suspected, took so long to be confirmed. It's a huge embarrassment to a sport that has had many such scandals. And it raises doubts about cycling's ability to stamp out prohibited methods of enhancing performance.
But most of all, it nullifies everything Armstrong ever did on a bicycle, while tainting much of what he has done off of one. You know those yellow rubber bracelets that say "Livestrong"? You can now get a parody version. It says: "Cheat to Win."
I intend to get The Onion's parody of the Livestrong bracelet.
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What will they do with Austin's Lance Armstrong Bikeway?
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Lance now belongs with that illustrious pantheon of sports cheaters.
A few of them even got away with it.
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