Too damned funny, and a nice illustration of the muddled mindset of the average sports fan, or at least the average track and field fan.
The general consensus on this board is that pretty much every true standout is doped. Someone has a breakout season at 28? Juiced. Someone busts a PR while looking more ripped than ever? It's not the improved diet and training, it's the juice. And all throughout, people blare confidently that USATF, abetted by USADA, is covering up dirty urines to protect its stars.
Now, when a luminary like none other is caught and facing severe sanctions -- someone almost everyone seems to think was doping all along -- USADA is accused of malice, or perpetrating a witch hunt. And not just by people who think Armstrong was clean, but by people who agree that he was dirty. "Everyone else in cycling is juiced," they complain, expecting USADA to turn a blind eye on the basis of that old standby -- "everyone's doing it!"
So, do people want a clean sport or not? Or are some people simply untouchable on the basis of their accomplishments, or because they overcame a serious illness, or because they do charitable work, or because dammit, they're American?
This kind of schizoid, double-bladed approach isn't limited to sports fandom -- we see it when celebrities and politicians fall on their faces -- but it's perhaps no more stark anywhere than it is in the arena of human physical competition.
People have a need to demonize someone that trumps their willingness to celebrate reality.