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Lance Armstrong is having a really bad couple of weeks. The United States Anti- Doping Agency (USADA)published a damming report accusing him of cheating, stripped him of his seven Tour de France victories and banned him from cycling for life. He has lost major sponsors such as Nike and Anheuser-Busch and is now viewed by some as one of the biggest cheaters in sports history.

He has even had to step down as chairman from his charity, Livestrong.

No matter what happens in the future Armstrong is still considered a hero in many circles. The work he has done for cancer survivors has given him a certain amount of immunity and many people still believe he is innocent. To them his charity work outweighs any allegations of cheating and is more important than his Tour de France victories.

Armstrong is not the first high-profile athlete who has gone through a scandal. Kobe Bryant, Mike Vick and Ray Lewis have all had to deal with scandal and all of them had come back and even thrived in their respective sports.

There is one main difference though. None of those players were accused of cheating. Their problems happened off the field. Sports fans can forgive players for making mistakes in their personal lives but they may never forgive a cheater. Just ask Pete Rose. Or Barry Bonds. Or Ben Johnson.

We can forgive infidelity, domestic disputes and even certain criminal activity but we cannot forgive players who screw with the integrity of the game.

Pete Rose bet on baseball and will never make it into the Hall of Fame. Ben Johnson took steroids and was stripped of his Olympic gold medal and was banned from track.

It is well known that cycling is a dirty sport. Probably the dirtiest sport of all time. But that does not make Armstrong’s alleged cheating okay. Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it okay for him to do it.

Lance Armstrong gets the benefit of the doubt from a lot of people because of the work he has done with Livestrong. He has helped raise over $500 million for cancer survivors worldwide. And that is another difference between Armstrong and other athletes. He has dedicated so much of his professional life to charity. He has been the face of Livestrong and an icon for cancer survivors around the world.

It remains to be seen if his charity work will be more important than the cheating allegations when it comes to Armstrong’s legacy. In his defense, Lance has never tested positive for any banned substances despite what former teammates have told the USADA.

There may come a time when Lance Armstrong actually comes out and admits that he cheated.  By that time it probably won’t matter much. Most people have already made up their minds about him. To some he is the biggest fraud in all of sports. To others he is still a hero and in inspiration.

One thing is for certain. There will never be another athlete like Lance Armstrong.

Israel Soliz

Israel is a sports blogger, contributor to GlobalGrind.com and owner of SportsBrosWorld.com