So after watching Oprah Winfrey try to get a straight answer from Lance Armstrong I am left wondering how I feel about this whole thing. I mean, is it enough of an apology? I’m not convinced.
Yet, as various media outlets have already pointed out, we’ve seen this type of thing before with athlete heroes. I think I speak for most people when I write that what is the most onerous part of all of this is the audacious and blatant denial that Armstrong so repeatedly and pompously shrouded himself in.
What I am left with is confusion and doubt. Not about the purity of cycling as a sport. But about every celebrity, professional athlete, public figure, even reality star who has hogged the limelight and been caught doing what he or she is not supposed to be doing and then comes out and vehemently denies it.
A la Lance.
I’m left wondering if that in and of itself is an admission of guilt in the world of public figures. It certainly seems so. What is the Shakespearean phrase? They “doth protest too much, me thinks.”
Loading ...
I ride quite a lot and race in several local events, and as such, I’m quite familiar with the world of competitive cycling.
That being said, and his LiveStrong efforts aside, I bought into his claims of innocence, maintaining that his unparalleled training and meticulous approach to the sport was responsible for his achievements.
Now I know he lied and lied often, and in the process, ruined many reputations of those telling the truth.
To me, Lance Armstrong is nothing.