Lance Armstrong will be stripped of all his titles, but not his fans

Lance Armstrong shows seven fingers (meaning seven victories) before the 21st stage of the 92nd Tour de France cycling race in Corbeil-Essonnes, France, July 24, 2005. / AFP/Getty Images

(The Nation) If Joe Paterno represents the greatest fall from grace in the history of sports, then many are saying that Lance Armstrong might now have won the silver. On Thursday, Armstrong was stripped of all seven of his Tour de France cycling crowns and will be banned for life from any connection to the sport he made famous. Why? Because he withdrew his appeal against the US Anti Doping Agency's contention that he time and again rode steroids and performance enhancing drugs to victory. Armstrong quit the fight against the USADA but issued a statement without contrition, accusing them of an "unconstitutional witch hunt."

As Armstrong said in a statement,

"There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, 'Enough is enough.' For me, that time is now," Armstrong said. "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. Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances...I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities."

With the swiftness of a pro cyclist going 75 miles per hour down a steep hill, the USADA acted immediately, treating Armstrong's surrender as a legal admission of guilt. Travis Tygart, the USADA's chief executive spoke as if a jury of Armstrong's peers had voted to convict, saying, "It is a sad day for all of us who love sport and athletes. It's a heartbreaking example of win at all costs overtaking the fair and safe option. There's no success in cheating to win."

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Tygart maintained that Armstrong didn't give up the fight from exhaustion but because he knew that the USADA had 10 former teammates ready to testify that he was doping. Armstrong it should be noted, made clear that no matter what any witnesses had to say, "There is zero physical evidence to support [their] outlandish and heinous claims," Armstrong said. "The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of [drug tests] I have passed with flying colors."

I don't know about Armstrong's guilt or innocence, but anyone who writes off Armstrong after the USADA ruling and thinks that he's about to enter some sort of Paterno-Pete Rose-Barry Bond pantheon of infamy, doesn't quite understand his appeal or why he connects so strongly with his army of fans. Of the seventy top ten finishers in Armstrong's seven Tour De France victories, forty-one have tested positive for PEDS, Armstrong is a hell of a lot more than just number 42.

The Texas native came to public consciousness not just for beating the Pyrenees but for beating stage four cancer. In our increasingly toxic world, I don't think a family exists that hasn't been touched by cancer in some way. Lance Armstrong, and his ubiquitous Livestrong bracelets, are 21st century totems of survival and the USADA isn't going to change that. Nothing ever could.

No adult male saw Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa in 1998 and thought, "Someday I'm going to hit 70 home runs." No adult female saw Marion Jones and thought, "Someday I'll win gold at the Olympics." But legions of adults have watched Lance Armstrong and thought, "Someday, I'm going to beat this damn cancer." That's a deeper connection than fandom or even the virtual-world of fantasy sports could ever provide. If Lance Armstrong has been able to further the connection because he's white, photogenic, and politically connected, (and did I mention white?) then to his credit, he's leveraged those advantages to raise over $500 million for cancer research and access to treatment in poor and minority communities across the United States.

Armstrong, a religious agnostic, was once asked how his belief in God helped him beat cancer, He answered, according to the great sportswriter Robert Lipsyte, "Everyone should believe in something, and I believe in surgery, chemotherapy, and my doctors." That response in the end is why he won't go into hiding. He won't live in self-imposed exile. He won't slink to the margins of US society and he won't lose his fans. Call him a doper. Call him a cheater. Call him the dirtiest player in a sport that's as dirty as they come. He'll call himself the guy who keeps fighting to make sure people have the surgery, chemo, and doctors they need. For people like those in my own family who have through trials of unimaginable courage, earned the right to wear that LiveStrong rubber bracelet, that will always matter more.

Named one of UTNE Reader's "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World," Dave Zirin is the sports editor for The Nation magazine. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

I salute Lance with "7 fingers" and I salute the USADA with 'one finger' [guess which one?]

[j_flood]

For all the drug tests good old Lance took the labs were UNABLE to detect the doping agent EPO. Now they can. I've always wondered why good old Lance didn't sue all the media for slander. Wouldn't he have a case? His lack of action convinces me he's guilty as sin.

[johngaltwho]

This seems to fly in the face of the most fundamental American principle of justice. Innocent until proven guilty. Lance Armstrong defended himself for years and now that he decided to withdraw his defense - the governing body rules that he is guilty. If the evidence was compelling enough, his guilt should have been declared on that basis years ago. This smells too much like a vindictive decision.

[vozderazon]

Amen!!!

[Filmguy870]

I'm sure the seat hurt his ass. C'mon people, have some compassion. YOU try riding one of those things!!!!

[kraven morehead]

If 41 out of the 70 Top finishing riders who raced against Armstrong when he was winning the Tours tested dirty at some point then why don't all of those guys get together and create their own race and tell the ADA and all other groups that they will not be testing their riders and see how those races go. I mean if nearly 60% of the riders in the sport currently are dirty then what is the point of an ADA in the first place. I am beginning to think that the athletes of all types are going to need to gang up and stop their sport from becoming a place where the real sport is to attack the best. How many of the 10 accusers have failed drug tests? How many had received immunity for testifying? When did they see this happening? Was lance tested on the dates in question? Did he pass drug tests on those dates? These ware the types of tough questions that would come out in a fair trial but would never be uttered in an ADA Witch hunt.

[kraven morehead]

Of the seventy top ten finishers in Armstrong's seven Tour De France victories, forty-one have tested positive for PEDS.

This is the group of people who are being used by the USADA to try to rip on Armstrong. If this was a court of law and if they had the rights and ability to counter question these witnesses before a group of impartial jurors I am sure that the finding would be Not guilty. But that it not what the USADA represents. If there is any cheating going on here it is in the way this miscarriage of justice is going. This reminds me of why our governments court systems are set up to avoid being Kangaroo courts and yet we have an agency that has a government OK on it that is now heavily invested in destroying a mans name and career through methods in which even a kangaroo court would be embarassed.

[lemur123456]

I think the USADA needs to be boycotted and picketted and then harrassed until they stop this nonsensical harrassment that they are doing.

[sully28443]

There is no earthly reason to follow a sport which cannot get it right. If they don't like the winner just say using rumor and innuendo to disqualify a winner many years later and after all the drug testing has been done and done again.

[wattermelann]

There needs to be specific guidelines for those athletes who need to take medication to maintain healthy physical levels. The USADA needs to get off their political witch hunt and get real AND honest. The current opinion driving their policy is founded on imbecilism.....

[dixx10]

One small step from honesty to cheating;
One giant dip in popularity and fame.

[kraven morehead]

One small step from accusation to persecution
One giant leap from tested clean champion to Falsely accused cheat

[matt6052]

The many drug tests he passed does weaken the USADA's claim. Who would watch CSI if they kept coming up with no evidence?

Yet the USADA cites Armstrong's remarkable success and some eyewitness testimony, and then insists that Lance has somehow must have tricked their testing procedures. That's not how innocent until proven guilty works.

The numerous successful drug tests are hard evidence that his team mates misinterpreted Armstrong's conduct as doping.