Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has become a caricature, apparently backpedaling his way through doping allegations.
There are few things more demeaning than sitting across from Oprah Winfrey with cameras rolling, while she asks you one vapid, asinine question after another about subjects the yap show peddler knows very little about. And if that is not degrading enough, the corporate-controlled sellout queen then gets to pimp your name and her interview to a bunch of wannabe Stepford wives, so she can cash in on your self inflicted fall from grace.
Lance Armstrong, who was once a cycling hero and role model to many, has now become a full-blown caricature. If anything, the Armstrong doping story is rather old news. Over a decade ago, there were rampant rumors about French authorities finding trash bags of syringes and other drug paraphernalia belonging to Armstrong. But of course, nobody believed this information, nor did they take it seriously.
There were the usual claims the French were jealous because Armstrong was winning one Tour de France after another in their own home country. After all, this was Lance Armstrong; he was bigger than life and could do no wrong. And now, ironically, Armstrong is sitting there having his battered character chipped away by someone who also appears to be bigger than life…on television, anyway.
At this point, one has to wonder if Armstrong’s reported testicular cancer was a result of his alleged doping. In fact, who knows what to believe from the person who will probably go down in history as the most famous backpedaler of all time. For Armstrong to continuously perpetuate this alleged fraud as long as he has, one has to question every single thing he has ever said and done while in the public eye.
No one expects Oprah’s softball questions to even begin to scratch the surface of the alleged deception Armstrong has foisted upon the public. Besides, Armstrong is probably saving the real juicy stuff for a tell all autobiography – once all of the applicable statute of limitations expire, of course.
By all accounts, Lance Armstrong has lived his best life and, apparently, lied his way right through it. It will take a little more than a few words with the high priestess of talk shows to earn him any sort of redemption from those he allegedly wronged and deceived.
Regardless of how much money Armstrong has earned (and will earn) by going for confession to places like the church of Oprah, it will not even begin to buy back his dignity, which he has dumped into the gutter. The wheels are starting to come off and the disgraced cyclist appears to be in for the ride of his life – a life in which Armstrong has succeeded in living his best lie.
Twitter @HarrisDole
