Lance Armstrong's Continued Fall From Grace

Few athletes have experienced such a downfall as Lance Armstrong. The accusation of doping has come on strong and his character is taking some heavy blows. Over the past week he has been banned for life by the International Cycling Union, lost major endorsements including Nike, forced to step down from his position as chairman for the Livestrong Foundation and today he was stripped of his record setting 7 Tour de France wins plus the IOC is considering revoking his Bronze medal from the 2000 Summer Olympics. He is in free fall. It does not help that he remains silent while his people claim it is all a conspiracy and witch hunt. You wonder if he were to admit his mistakes and apologize if it would help or has the damage already been done to the point of no return?

 

Cycling is a sport that gets very little attention in the collecting world and gets even less love from the card companies. Since the early 1990s a few Armstrong cards have been released, the most common are the 1992 Impel US Olympic Hopefuls and a couple of different Sports Illustrated for Kids releases. Topps has included him in two releases, the 2005 Topps Chronicles and then again last year in the 2011 Topps American Pie release. Most of his cards can be had for under $10 but there are a couple of sellers still trying to get top dollar out of cards from oddball sets.

 

I do not think we will see much fallout with his cardboard prices mainly because he has a limited presence with collectors. I think what will get the worst of this is the Livestrong Foundation unfortunately as donations begin to dry up, which is a serious shame considering what the foundation has done for cancer research.