Floyd Landis: "I Saw Lance Armstrong Using Drugs"

Floyd Landis, former friend of cyclist Lance Armstrong, has once again accused him of cheating.

Landis, in an interview on ABC's "Nightline", once again said that Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. Landis said Armstrong—his former teammate and friend—transfused his own blood, a banned practice that gives athletes an advantage by increasing their red blood cell count and, therefore, their endurance.

Look, this is nothing new, for athletes have been cheating in all sports since the beginning of time.

Yet the implication that Armstrong was somehow impervious to this cheating is what is so interesting.

For some, it shatters an illusion. For the rest of us, it makes us yawn. If Armstrong hadn't won those races someone else who also cheated would have. Cycling is a sport that is as filthy as the ground they race on, and cheating is the only way to be a champion.

Just as Barry Bonds used steroids to defeat Hank Aaron's home run record, Armstrong resorted to artificial means to make his mark.

Until now, however, any mention of impropriety by Armstrong has been met with severe rebuke. I ought to know, as I have been the target of much of his fans' disdain.

But look, this isn't an attempt at a steaming bowl of "I told you so" as it is a reminder that no pro athlete, no matter his pedigree, is deserving of your adulation.

Even athletes that you would never in a million years suspect of cheating are not above suspicion. That's just the way it is and the athletes have no one to blame but themselves.

Floyd Landis may be a jealous guy who wants to drag Armstrong down with him. Or he may be telling the truth. And if he is, does that make Armstrong a fraud?

"Well, it depends on what your definition of fraud is," Landis said. "I mean it — look — if he didn't win the Tour, someone else that was doped would have won the Tour. In every single one of those Tours."

So he was the best of the cheaters...and that has to count for something, does it not?