Armstrong PED Accusation Meaningless

Lance Armstrong's former cycling teammate, Tyler Hamilton, made accusations on CBS's 60 Minutes that he witnessed Armstrong inject EPO during the 1999 season and during training for the 2000 and 2001 Tour de France.

If the allegations were instead that Mark O'Meara witnessed Tiger Woods inject himself or Mike Mussina charging Derek Jeter with doping, this would be major news. A world-class athlete, free from major speculation of using PEDs, during a time when major testing was not in place. Instead, the accusation comes in a sport that is historically dirty, against the second most accused athlete in professional athletics, trailing only Barry Bonds in juicing allegations, during a time in his career when he was tested regularly.

While I'm not prone to trust Armstrong, I have a difficult time with someone being accused ten years after the event by a teammate who recently retired and lost his main source of income, all while there are negative tests to support Armstrong during that time frame. The one shred of credibility Hamilton has comes with his own admission of years of doping after adamant denial during his competitive years.

In sports there is a saying I've always felt rang true - "If you're not cheating, you're not trying." To me that always meant trying to find an edge and stretching rules (i.e. LeBron's crab walk, NFL corners holding receivers jersey's during press coverage, pitchers putting substances in their gloves or on their hats to doctor a pitch, etc.) and steroids go well beyond that adage. When every major cycling champion has won under suspicion of PED use, we should not be at all surprised if Armstrong is some day found dirty, but until we have a test, this allegation will remain simply that.