Why Do We Constantly Look For That Asterisk

     Someone is accusing Lance Armstrong of doping. Stop me if you have heard that one before. Tyler Hamilton, a teammate and Olympic Gold Medalist, is then next in a long line of people accusing Lance Armstrong of cheating. Lance has said in the past that he has taken over 500 tests, no positives. How can he be a cheater? Let's discuss.

     First of all, let's look at Tyler Hamilton. He didn't want to testify against Lance but was subpoenaed. I guess he felt like opening up because now he's on 60 Minutes. Tyler won a Gold Medal in the 2004 Olympics, which he later returned due to a second positive test.

     What would Tyler Hamilton gain from accusing Lance Armstrong? Well, every other cyclist I've ever heard of has been busted for drugs. It's like when you're a kid and everyone gets in trouble but one kid. He was in on it too, he needs to get in trouble. But if that IS the case, why wait until now? Why didn't everyone come out at once? Why didn't any test that caught everyone else catch Lance? If you watch the ( interviewhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/22/lance-armstrong-doping-60-minutes_n_865331.html ), Tyler is constantly looking around and just seems, off. If you've played LA Noire, (in stores now!) those are signs that maybe someone isn't telling the truth.

     Why lie? Is this Tyler Hamilton writing a book? According to Lance Armstrong's attorney (you can trust attorneys) he is in need of money and looking for a book deal. If that's the case, Tyler fits in the long line of people looking to tarnish someone to make some money.

     Lance is in a bad spot. More and more people are accusing him. It seems like everyone around him is a doper, and it IS a little fishy (flounder, perhaps) that he is the only one that didn't dope. If it turns out he did do drugs, his aggressive stance against all these allegations will make him look extremely bad and really worse than all these other guys.

     One last thing. Tyler Hamilton had an interesting quote, "Lance was just like everyone else." That's not true. On drugs or not, he won 7 Tour de France's. And if everyone (including Lance) was doing drugs, he still beat all them. He's a cancer survivor and an inspiration to millions of people (ever heard of "LiveStrong"?). Why are we as a society so eager to tear everyone down?

     I wasn't really planning on writing this. I didn't know what to write today, but thanks to my cousin Mike's request, I wrote this today. I would like to believe that Lance was clean. 500 tests that say he's clean are great, but one positive test and it's over. Will people wearing yellow bands burn them? Will Dick's Sporting Goods tear down their Lance Armstrong displays? This story isn't as much about cheating as it is why do we constantly look for that asterisk. Believe what you want. And if you are burning bridges for cash, I hope it's worth it.