What If Lance Cheated?

The US Anti-Doping Agency announced today that it will bring up charges against Lance Armstrong.  Now it isn't just France and their biases.  It has hit home.  What if Lance Armstrong actually cheated?  What if he doped his blood to gain an unfair advantage, and used that to win the Tour de France?  What if his entire image is a mirage?!

I don't care.

Seriously, I don't.

I mean it.

Why should I care that a cyclist, as in one who participates in the single-most drug-fueled sport in the world, went along with everyone else and doped?  There is a reason why no average sports fan can name another Tour de France champion besides Lance Armstrong- No one cares about cycling!  I will bet my beard that a majority of American sports fans don't even remember the name Floyd Landis.  Who, you ask?  You know, Floyd Landis!  The other American cyclist that won the Tour de France, but then got caught cheating and stripped of his title?  No?  Don't remember that?  Funny how that works.

No, I really don't care if Lance Armstrong doped.  This isn't baseball, where there are sacred records and generations of amazing American men that played the game without performance-enhancing drugs that are broken by dopers like Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire.  This is a sport where every single member of a generation doped in some way, and if Lance did, than the two Americans are no exception.  If they didn't, they couldn't compete with the rest of the world.

Will this destroy the LiveStrong movement?  Probably.  Or, perhaps, it could be refocused on those who are still battling and overcoming cancer instead of Lance Armstrong.  Instead of elevating a man who divorced a wife and abandoned a family that stuck with him through an amazingly difficult time battling testicular cancer so that he could enjoy fame and fortune, then leaving his then-girlfriend Sheryl Crow right after learning that she had cancer, then hooking up with some Olson Twin jailbait... Well, you get the idea.

So no, I do not care that Lance doped.  I will not miss him if his name is besmirched, and if he disappears in eternal shame.  In fact, I might relish it.  He served a purpose at a time.  He may have even inspired people.  But he became bigger than the cause to which he claimed to be dedicated.  Maybe this will show that blood doping is some great way to get cancer survivors back to full strength, so some good can come out of his selfishness.  If not, we should forget Lance and concentrate on finding an end to this disease.  Perhaps now people can go back to caring about curing cancer, and not just wearing yellow wristbands.

Donate to cancer research because you want to and because it is the right thing to do, not because some guy won a bike race.