Grab the popcorn, round up the kids and consider tonight “Must See TV,” as tonight is the night embattled cyclist Lance Armstrong will appear in the highly anticipated interview with Oprah Winfrey to admit that he did in fact engage in performance enhancing drugs during his illustrious career.
For years, Armstrong has vehemently denied that he ever partook in any form of doping, which has long been presumed to be behind his enormous success as a cycling champion. But after new evidence was brought to light in 2012, detailing his involvement in a sophisticated drug program that included steroids, blood boosters and a variety of other performance-enhancing drugs, Armstrong was stripped of all his titles and banned from cycling for life by the U.S. Anti-Doping agency. He was also forced to resign from his Livestrong Cancer Foundation out of embarrassment. But prior to Monday’s taping with Winfrey, Armstrong gave an emotional apology to his staffers at Livestrong, then told reporters “I’m calm, I’m at ease and ready to speak candidly.”
In tonight’s interview, Armstrong is said to finally admit to doping throughout his career, without going into great detail regarding specific cases and events. After losing tens of millions in lucrative endorsement deals, Armstrong’s decision to finally come clean is likely an effort to repair his image and retain some sense of relevancy. But Armstrong must walk an incredible tight rope tonight in his choice of words, since the London-based Sunday Times is suing Armstrong to recoup $500,000 it paid him to settle a libel lawsuit. SCA Promotions of Dallas says it will also sue Armstrong to recover more than $7.5 million an arbitration panel awarded him as a bonus for winning the Tour de France.
Needless to say, Armstrong will almost certainly face a plethora of civil suits following tonight’s admission, however he could luckily avoid perjury charges since the statute of limitations in Texas has already expired.
The story of Armstrong (another sports icon's FALL from grace) is about as old and pathetic as it gets.
Consider the numbers of pro-athletes driven to WIN (and gain attention) by ANY means necessary. Athletes who were highly suspected of using PED's (FOR YEARS). Many of them achieve success as a result of their cheating while fawning sports fans cheer them on and sports-MEDIA (complicit in in every way) hypes the ILLUSION. Those same athletes are often put on a pedestal equal to that of a god……until (for whatever reason) the whole charade comes crashing down.
Lance may have taken his scam to a whole other level (becoming a kind of PE *drug dealer*). But his name will simply be added to a long list of athletic FRAUDS that include names like McGwire, Bonds, Sosa, Lyle Alzado, A. Rod., Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, Flo Jo, , etc. etc.