LIVESTRONG: The lure of performance-enhancing drugs is the
tragedy behind the Armstrong story  Patriot-News Editorial Board
By Patriot-News Editorial Board on August 29, 2012 at 1:00 AM
Lance Armstrong dopingLance Armstrong  Say it isn’t so.  Bicycle
racing legend Lance Armstrong maintained his innocence for years
in the face of claims he illegally used performance-enhancing
drugs to win seven consecutive Tours de France.  He marshaled
on, a lone rider, grinding against what he said were lies. But
the peloton of riders and others who say Armstrong doped has
grown, and it is hard to ignore their accusations.  Last
Thursday, Armstrong declined to enter the U.S. Anti-Doping
Agency’s arbitration process.  He said he is tired of
challenging the claims, and it is time for him and his
Livestrong Foundation to be “finished with this nonsense.”
Armstrong is not a quitter: not in his triumphs in the world’s
most-grueling bicycle race and not in his public 1999 battle
with testicular cancer.  His perseverance, determin