Scandal has tarnished Armstrong, but many still have his back

Even after investigators unveiled a scathing report portraying him as an unrepentant drug cheat, Lance Armstrong continues to confound his public with rivaling images: a rapacious, win-at-all-costs athlete or a hero who came back from cancer.

We've all heard his story before: An up-and-coming cyclist gets stricken with testicular cancer at age 25. He's given less than a 50 percent chance of surviving. He fights it off and comes back stronger. He wins the Tour de France seven times. He then uses his fame and success to raise millions to promote cancer awareness.

Even if it all really is the impossible fairy tale it sounds like -- one built on a brittle mountain of drugs, deception and arm-twisting -- it's the narrative the world has happily listened to for nearly 15 years.

More than 1,000 pages of detailed evidence from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency are now in the open, supporting its decision to ban Armstrong for life from cycling and order his titles stripped for using performance-enhancing drugs.

But Armstrong keeps rolling along.

You can see it in social media. Sure, negative comments dot the landscape -- people have put an "X" through the "v" on their Livestrong wristbands to make it read "Lie strong."

But many who post on a Facebook page titled "Lance Armstrong Supporters," tell Armstrong they've got his back.

You can see it from the sponsors like Nike that are sticking with Armstrong. You can see it in the donations to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which have spiked since August, when Armstrong announced he wouldn't fight the doping charges.

And Armstrong resolutely goes about business.

A large portion of the more than 25 million people fighting cancer worldwide look for inspiration to gain the strength to keep going. Armstrong showed them it could be done, while raising more than $500 million to help their cause.

Critics give Armstrong credit for raising the money but say he did a disservice to cancer patients by giving them false hope.

One take-away could be that it really does take more than will, moxie and hard work, which is all Armstrong said he needed to beat cancer and return better than ever.

"The problem believers are facing now is that the thing that made him remarkable, the thing that made them love him, is that he always won," said Daniel Coyle, author of "Lance Armstrong's War" and "The Secret Race," which he wrote with Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate and witness against Armstrong.

"Now, we're getting an accurate X-ray of how that happened and people have a choice. They can look at these facts and decide it was too good to be true. Or close their eyes and keep believing."