While it is tragic to track and field fans when the likes of Marion Jones, Regina Jacobs and Carl Lewis all end up on the drug cheat radar. These were people that we either admired as fans of the sport or aspired to be like when we made it to the next level. But this is where it ended with these athletes.
America needed and still needs Lance Armstrong. I am a huge Lance Armstrong fan and want to believe he didnt do it, but I can acknowledge snow in the middle of a blizzeard. But as a normally reasonable person I ask myself why do I want so bad for him to be clean.
Lance transcends the sport of cycling and even sport all together. It is an amazing story of a moderatley succesful triathlete, single day rider who through the ravages of cancer had his body transformed and became the most dominant athlete in ANY sport AFTER nearly being another statistic.
He was able to do this with Texas grit and toughness and doing it the American way by simply putting in work to rise above. The ideal American story, with an added bonus of sticking it to the French at their own game. The story is an adult fairy tale that made us all get on the bike or hit the roads and trails knowing that all we needed was his testicular (one) fortitude.
If(when) he turns out to be a drug cheat it will dash something we valued and held so close. We as a country can't handle Lance being a cdrug cheat.