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.

September 8, 1986: "The Oprah Winfrey Show" Premieres

It was the mid-1980s. It might have been the only time

that Oprah was guaranteed to have the best hair in the room.

September 8, 1986: The Oprah Winfrey Show premieres in syndication, mostly (but not entirely) on ABC affiliates. It runs for 25 years, and remains the highest-rated daytime talk show in history.

Winfrey, then 32 years old, had been a newscaster in Nashville and Baltimore -- the latter also including Maria Shriver, giving her later interview access to the Kennedy family -- before coming to Chicago, and had been hired to host A.M. Chicago on the city's ABC affiliate, WLS-Channel 7. Two years later, following her Academy Award nomination for her role in The Color Purple, it became The Oprah Winfrey Show, and was nationally syndicated.

The show made her an icon, the kind of person known only by her first name. And the show and its spinoff ventures made her the 1st black billionaire in America, the richest black person of the 20th Century.

Unfortunately, it also introduced America to a pair of regular guests who have been revealed as selfish charlatans: Psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw and heart surgeon turned Trumpist U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The show was taped at Harpo Studios in Chicago, named for her production company, the name being "Oprah" spelled backwards. In 2016, the building was demolished, and the new corporate headquarters for McDonald's opened on the site.

In a 2014 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, comedian Nikki Jenkins, a.k.a. November Christine, played Oprah, against comedian Lauren Flans, who played Ellen DeGeneres.

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September 8, 1986 was a Monday, Labor Day. That night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys opened their season by beating the New York Giants, 31-28 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

And these 7 Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-1 at Yankee Stadium. Dennis Rasmussen went the distance for the win. Ron Kittle hit a home run. Joel Skinner went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Don Mattingly went 0-for-3, but drew a walk and had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Wade Boggs went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs. Eddie Murray went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Cal Ripken went 2-for-4 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 2-1 at Royals Stadium (later Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Reggie Jackson went 0-for-4.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Ed Correa (6 innings) and Jeff Russell combined on a 4-hit shutout.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 10-0 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Orel Hershiser pitched an 8-hit shutout. Tony Gwynn did not play in this game.