October 22, 2012: Lance Armstrong Is Busted

October 22, 2012: Lance Armstrong is busted. The biggest hero his sport had ever known was exposed as a cheater.

Born in 1971 in the suburbs of Dallas, he competed in triathlons: Long-distance swimming, long-distance bike riding, and then a marathon run of 26.2 miles. Never mind "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result": Even trying that, one time, fits my definition of "insanity."

In 1992, he began his career as a professional cyclist, with the Motorola team, competing in the Tour de France in 1993, 1994 and 1995. In 1996, he was diagnosed with a potentially fatal testicular cancer. After recovering, Armstrong founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation to assist other cancer survivors.

Returning to cycling in 1998, Armstrong was a member of the US Postal/Discovery team between 1998 and 2005, when he won his record 7 Tour de France titles. In 2002, Sports Illustrated named him Sportsman of the Year. He had dominated the event like few athletes had ever dominated a sporting event before. It was... something like how Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and then Barry Bonds broke home run records over the same stretch. It was a bit suspicious, and as early as 1999, the accusation of steroid use, or "doping" as it's known in international sports, started flying. But he insisted he was clean.

He retired from racing at the end of the 2005 Tour de France, but returned to competitive cycling with the Astana team in January 2009, finishing 3rd in the 2009 Tour de France. He retired for a 2nd time in 2011.

In 2012, it was revealed that Lance Armstrong truly was a champion -- when it came to cheating. A United States Anti-Doping Agency investigation concluded that he had used performance-enhancing drugs over the course of his career, and named him as the ringleader of "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."

He received a lifetime ban from all sports that follow the World Anti-Doping Code. The International Cycling Union (UCI) upheld the USADA's decision, stripped him of all his wins, and decided that these wins would not be allocated to other riders. In January 2013, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong publicly admitted his involvement in doping. Shortly thereafter, the Lance Armstrong Foundation changed its name to the Livestrong Foundation.

In a 2013 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Nice" Peter Shukoff played Armstrong, while "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist played Babe Ruth.

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October 22, 2012 was a Monday. Although the National League Championship Series went to Game 7, the last one is no contest. Brandon Belt lives up to his name, and belts a home run off Kyle Lohse. Matt Cain pitches a 7-hit shutout, and the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-0 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. It is the 22nd Pennant for the Giants -- the 5th, if you only count those won in San Francisco. The American League Championship Series had already been decided: The Detroit Tigers swept the New York Yankees in 4 straight.

The NBA season started 8 days later. The NHL players were locked out by the team owners, and the season did not start until January 19, 2013. On ESPN Monday Night Football, the Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions, 13-7 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.