Lance Armstrong...dude

Hero or Zero?

Total shocker out of the sports world today, Lance Armstrong, the inspiration for millions of people worldwide, has been banned for life from cycling and stripped of all 7 of his Tour De France titles. That's a real shot to the nut here I gotta say, guy thought he was bullet proof, should have hired Clemens' lawyer. In all fairness, he did stop the appeal himself. Still you have to fight for your livelihood, now he's just an ex-cyclist like Floyd Landis (another doper, probably injected each other, much safer that way). 

What is Lance's legacy now? He was world renowned for being a 7 time Tour De France winner, now the records will say he won zero. By the way, are there any other major biking tourneys? Is there a Tour  De Rome or something or is France the capital of the cycling world? I feel like there is a major underbelly of cycling where they race on the back streets of Rio De Janeiro and try to avoid the hookers and meth before the finish line in order to win. Who knows.  

Anyways back to Lance, real life changer here. No longer the greatest cyclist ever, just some hack who juiced up. Obviously he's a symbol of strength through Livestrong, but how does that still continue when he was a cheater? It can't, can it? I mean, I always liked Lance. He was cocky AF before he got diagnosed, and then afterwards was a beacon of hope for millions of people and that is amazing. It's just sad to see it end like this. What kind of world do we live in where Clemens gets acquitted when he's still slinging 93 mph at 45 and Lance gets the can because he gave up on his own court case. Lance has said all the right things here: from ESPN.com,

"I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. The toll this has taken on my family and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today -- finished with this nonsense."

I just don't know if this is enough to save face in front of the American public. I honestly hope it is because who else can survive cancer and then cameo in Dodgeball without missing a beat? I hope the powers at be for cycling, (who signed up for that job? Kids at Career Day definitely didn't show up going, "Oh, can I be the lead investigator on doping in world cycling, that sounds rewarding,") decide that they have insufficient evidence and overturn this ruling on Lancey-lance. If not, then boom goes the dynamite. This guy's incredible rep is damaged, and so is the cycling world (if there are people who follow it). 

P.S. Despite this ruling, Lance Armstrong has to be a top 10 athlete of all time, right? Most grueling race  on the planet besides the Iditarod, but no one keeps track of killing wolves in Alaska. He won 7 Tour De France's never been done before, won't be done since, Joe Dimaggio of Cycling, just hope he gets the recognition he deserves.