Lance Doped

I'm 99.5% certain Lance Armstrong used performance enhancing drugs throughout his cycling career, throughout those Tour de France titles. Since he retired, my mind has been changed. Initially, I bought into the idea that it was just the bitter, jealous French press stirring up rumors against the hated Texan. But over the last few years, as the sport has ramped up its fight against the cancer of performance enhancing drug use, the evidence has piled up against Lance. The Champ's reputation took a devastating blow this week in one massive, public eyewitness confession (Tyler Hamilton, airing on 60 Minutes tonight) and, according to rumors, the biggest defection Lance's side has ever had to deal with (George Hincapie to federal investigators).

Hamilton was Lance's teammate on the old US Postal Service team. He was busted for doping in 2004 and essentially tossed out of major professional cycling. His conscience and a federal subpoena have led him to testify to investigators and now to the press on his first-hand knowledge of Lance's cheating. He adds his admission to that of fellow pariah Floyd Landis.

Hincapie's testimony against Lance, if he gave it, would be worth more than Landis's and Hamilton's combined in the minds of both professional cyclers and cycling spectators. George might be the Jim Thome of cycling. The media love him. What's more, he is well-respected within the peloton, and that means a lot.

Cycling is a tight-knit sport. To give an (impossible) analogy, imagine if every NBA player competed against every other NBA player every day they played a game. Better, imagine if every pro golfer played every hole of every tournament simultaneously, walking from shot to shot as a 120-man pack. That's the reality of the pro cycling experience.

Hincapie is, as far as I've seen, a favorite among his fellow pros. We will see what their reaction is whenever his testimony is confirmed, but even if he faces a ban from the sport (at his age, any such punishment would be career-ending) it is hard to see him becoming a persona-non-grata to the extent Landis reached. It is easier to believe (and hope) his slide may be the beginnings of an avalanche of doping confessions and accusations for the sport.

But lets return to Lance Armstrong. What do I make of the greatest Tour champion of all time? As I've said before, we either know or strongly suspect that a solid majority of his competitors in the Tour fields were doping, particularly those around him at the top of the overall standings. I don't think he cheated better than, say, Jan Ullrich (second to Lance in the Tour four times). So even though the memories of Lance's triumphs and spectacular mountainside attacks are diminished and poisoned, they remain remarkable in my mind.

Chorus: Few athletes are the pure, innocent, idealized heroes we want them to be.

There were probably some great pro cyclists out there who, even at the height of doping , raced clean. I had hoped that Hincapie was one of them, but it looks like that hope was misplaced. I'm also convinced that there is less doping in the Tour now than there was for the 25 years or so before Floyd Landis had his title stripped in 2006. Even if the policing can never be fool proof, personal reputation does matter to most people. That's why these confessions - in cycling or any other sport - are a good thing. Unlike in the 1990s when Lance began his string of dominance, the voice of the fan in the athletes' ears is booming. (I can follow Andy Schleck on twitter!)

Another good thing - the truckloads of cash Lance has raised for cancer research. And that's REALLY what makes this story so uncomfortable. I used the cancer metaphor in the opening paragraph to describe cycling's PED problem. Did you catch it? Did you think of Lance's heroic struggle with death? Did you recall all those times the media explained his ability to suffer in the Alps and Pyrenees by referring to his impossible triumph over cancer? Did you hope, for the sake of Livestrong, that the .5% chance I give that Lance is telling the truth...is the truth?

Lance cheated. Lance lied. Lance inspired millions. Lance raised millions. From Lance, to Manny, to Tiger...it is possible for a person to do both good and bad in this life. I think, too, it is possible for us to both celebrate the good and condemn the bad. And rather than fall into the old trap of holding athletes to a higher standard, I think we should hold ourselves to a higher standard even as we find pleasure, disappointment, and inspiration from watching other humans play games.