Sports have written rules and unwritten rules. Cycling during the LA era was a cheater's game and the people in charge of it were unwilling to even attempt to c

Sports have written rules and unwritten rules. Cycling during the LA era was a cheater's game and the people in charge of it were unwilling to even attempt to clean it up. It's unlikely that any rider in the top 30 of the TdF was clean and the authorities knew it and were complicit. They were getting ratings like never before. Armstrong was bringing the massive US market to the sport and Europeans were watching in record numbers because his success made them angry. There was a game within the game that was all but sanctioned by the unwillingness to address the doping problem. That was the game, one played by the unwritten rules of the sport, that Armstrong played better than anyone else. > what good has he made to the world of sports if now he is a well known cheater Beyond the fact that he didn't have to give back any of the money, inspired a ton of cancer patients and cancer donors and had a damned funny cameo in Dodgeball? He brought exposure to an amazing sport to the US. I count myself among the millions of people that would likely never have gotten into cycling without Armstrong. And, cheater or not, my ride up the Tourmalet was a highlight of my trip to France and something I'll remember the rest of my life. If you don't dope, cycling is an amazing exercise that's makes you a healthier person. How many other millions were inspired to get on a bike by Armstrong? Sure, if you take the myopic view that the world of sports is limited to professionals, Armstrong may have destroyed most of what he created. But when you take a wider view, his cheating created a lot of amazing effects that survived the scandal.