For The Love Of Port

If you care, he confesses on Oprah Winfrey's show that he did dope all along. No spoiler alert needed here.

Where did you hear he confesses? I've only heard he will be interviewed on her show, that is all so far.

Given the pending litigation against him in more than one country that seems improbable. But one never knows. Maybe he finally wants to shed his ego and lies and finally come clean.....Would be interesting if he does.

Yeah he hasn't admitted anything yet, but that's the rumor.

And like Andy said, there are too many legal consequences for him to make a full confession. I expect him to be vague and admit some minor stuff, but nothing earth shattering. When you get right down to it, I can't figure out why he's even bothering. The impacts to his reputation and to the efforts of the LiveStrong Foundation have already happened and aren't going to be changed by a confession. He's 41 years old and his ban can only be reduced to 8 years, so it's not like it will allow him to compete in the future. It seems to me there's no point, so why bother?

Oh, it's going to get interesting real soon.....

Lance Armstrong has made a tearful apology to staff of the charity he founded in 1997, Livestrong......The 41-year-old Armstrong said that he had let staff of the charity down because of his consistent denials regarding his performance-enhancing drug use, and in doing so had put Livestrong at risk. It is also reported that Armstrong said that he would attempt to restore the charity's reputation.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/armstro ... f-im-sorry

Wonder how much he will reveal. I would guess to stuff pre-cancer that way it keeps him somewhat clear of some pending legal issues.

Armstrong's legal team and other close advisers will be on hand during what is said to be a "limited" confession.

I think he's trusting in the American public to be forgiving for those who admit wrongdoing.
Ray Lewis of the Ravens is almost sainted now, and this is after a murder investigation.
If you look at McGuire, Clemens, and Bonds in baseball; McGuire admitted, he is the most forgiven. Bonds and Clemens not so much.

Eric Ifune wrote:Ray Lewis of the Ravens is almost sainted now, and this is after a murder investigation.

A murder investigation in which he fully cooperated with authorities after initially trying to cover up what happened and for which he was ultimately acquitted. (Anyone shocked that a 25-yr old would do something stupid like that to try to protect his buddies? No? Me neither.) Also to my understanding, he tried to intervene to prevent the conflict but was unsuccessful. Also even though Lewis cooperated with the prosecution, the two men he gave testimony against were not convicted.

Was he in the wrong place at the wrong time? Most definitely.
Was he not keeping the best company for an NFL superstar at 25 years of age? Absolutely.
Did it change his life? Yes, and for the better.

Everyone screws up. Not everyone learns from it. Ray Lewis is almost sainted now because of who he became after he screwed up.

The rest of these guys used PEDs. That's not in the same league as murder at all, but for public perception it might actually be worse. Ray screwed up once, learned from it, and became a better man. The rest of these guys deliberately cheated for years, lied about it for years, and only came clean once the jig was up and even then under protest. (I'm making the assumption that that's what Lance is about to do.) They'll never be redeemed like Ray because their cheating can't be written off as a one-time mistake by a 25-yr old unable to deal with his fame.

Andy Velebil wrote:Wonder how much he will reveal. I would guess to stuff pre-cancer that way it keeps him somewhat clear of some pending legal issues.

Yeah, that's the part that still has me curious. Given all the potential legal consequences, I just don't understand what he's trying to accomplish.

I just don't see how anything he says can possibly have a positive impact. But I see all kinds of potential for negative impacts.

I disagree - things must be pretty bad for Lance right now - he might be hoping that a confession gives him a Clintonesque popularity rebound, he might be wanting to throw a few other people under the bus (possibly because he's angry, possibly because he wants to engineer a triathlon comeback), and/or he might simply be weary of the denials now that no one believes him and can't imagine living the next 40 years pushing the "i never tested positive" line.

Supposedly, he's even put in a phone call to David Walsh.... (his nemesis in the English-speaking press who previously came in for the hairdryer treatment from Lance)

This was an interesting article from WSJ which gives some credence to the possibility of further (imminent) federal involvement.

Confession or not, even as forgiving as America is to the people who fail their moral responsibilities, imo, Lance is toast. Look at the recent Baseball Hall of Fame voting for analgous proof.

From all reports so far Lance did admit to some type of doping in the interview yesterday (air's on TV Thursday). On the way to the interview he stopped by the Livestrong Foundation and said he was sorry (though not admitting to doping there). Will be interesting to see what he cops-out to on Thursday.

My gut instinct tells me he's doing it on Oprah's show as he loves to be in the spotlight. Until the other day, and after the initial USADA report came out, the media attention around him had really subsided. Couple that with being banned for life from any sanctioned sport (cycling, triathlons, etc) have appeared to take a toll. There are rumors he's contacted and/or meet with USADA already. Possible he wants to negotiate a reduced ban?? Wants the attention?? Who knows. But doing a limited confession on a TV show isn't exactly the best of ways to go about looking for sympathy IMO.

Andy Velebil wrote:But doing a limited confession on a TV show isn't exactly the best of ways to go about looking for sympathy IMO.

What's the general perception of Marion Jones now? Did Oprah work for her?

My gut feeling is that Lance / his lawyers have assessed the various suits that are potentially outstanding against him and worked out that they can settle the lot without totally wiping out his fortune (or else - given the status of the official doping sanctions that now exists against him - come to the conclusion that a confession will not materially prejudice his likely success in winning / losing / settling any of them anyway).

To be fair, i would have some sympathy if a frank confession (and apologies to various individuals whose livelihoods/reputation he set out to destroy) was coupled with an argument that (i) he entered a world where doping was already rife and reasonably institutionalised, and (ii) that if he had not embraced it, we'd currently be looking at Ullrich or A.N. Other with multiple (disallowed) titles to his name and he wouldn't have had a cycling career. No doubt in my mind that he took things to the next level, but it's not as if Indurain's era of dominance was founded on "pain y agua" or, in my view, that Armstrong should bear quite the level of overall responsibility for cycling's doping woes as has been portrayed.

Rob C. wrote:No doubt in my mind that he took things to the next level, but it's not as if Indurain's era of dominance was founded on "pain y agua" or, in my view, that Armstrong should bear quite the level of overall responsibility for cycling's doping woes as has been portrayed.

Agree. IMO he's become the poster boy target for two reasons; His success and because he's treated so many people within cycling and outside cycling so poorly over the years. I'm sure there is no shortage of people looking for a little payback.

Agreed. Armstrong appears to have just taken the next logical step. That's a big part of why I don't really care - just like I don't really care about MacGuire, Sosa, Bonds, etc. That era should be remembered for what it was, not purged from memory because it was a little more tainted than the era before. (Which applies to both sports.)

Lance won 7 in a row. Period. Penn State won 22(?) games while Sandusky was there. Reggie Bush won the Heisman.

You can't edit history.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Eric Ifune wrote:Ray Lewis of the Ravens is almost sainted now, and this is after a murder investigation.

If you look at those sainted by the Catholic church through history, many lived very un-saintly lives until some sort of transformation. It is the positive change and contrast that makes some of these people look so good. But for Lance, I think it is a bit too late.

Glenn wrote:You can't edit history.

Sure you can. It is done all the time. The world is filled with revisionists. At the same time, I think the USPS and others that want to sue Lance should have at least a bit of a hard time given that this is all in the past. USPS sponsored Lance and a team at a time for the publicity. They got that publicity then that they paid for. The fact that Lance has been tarnished since doesn't really change the value of what they paid for back then. In fact, one could argue that had Lance not doped and won, USPS would have been worse off. Of course they were deceived ...

He'll have some endorsements back within a year or two.

I hope all of this does not deter his efforts in cancer awareness. As long as there is racing of any sorts, there will be cheaters; does not matter if it's F1, NASCAR, or pro cycling...

Personally, I think the whole peloton are cheaters, just some have not been caught. Does that make them any less of an athlete or marginalizes their performance? No.

I have some thoughts on this whole Armstrong scenario, but since they are metaphysical in nature and most likely not appropriate for this forum, I plan to keep them to myself, unless asked to do otherwise.