I caught the last hour of it last night, so my brother is now recording both on DVR.
He even attributed the bullying to his cancer:
Lance Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey during his televised interview on OWN that in the course of defending himself from charges that he'd used banned substances in his cycling, he became a "bully." And surprisingly, he attributed it to his battle with testicular cancer that changed his attitude.
"I was always a fighter," Armstrong said in the first of the two-part interview that aired Thursday night. "Before my diagnosis, I was a competitor, but not a fierce competitor. Then I said I will do anything I need to do to survive. Then I brought that ruthless, win-at-all-costs attitude into cycling."
We won't hear the last of Lance; legal problems undoubtedly loom large in his future:
Peter Keane, a law professor at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, is convinced the criminal case will be reopened.
Because of a fraud, "he became very famous, very rich," Keane said. "The idea of him getting a pass on it is going to be looked at with a degree of there's a double standard here. It's something (the government) takes very seriously and they want to discourage people from doing it."
If prosecutors try reopening the case, they do face a hurdle, possibly one that hampered the initial investigation. Any charges may have fallen outside the statute of limitations, but some legal observers said there may be some wiggle room.
"On the criminal side, there are certainly timing issues, but I've never met a prosecutor who didn't try to find a creative way around a statute of limitations," said Marc Mukasey, also a former federal prosecutor and New York-based defense attorney.
Most legal experts agree, however, that Armstrong's confession will expose him to various lawsuits. He is worth an estimated $100 million.
The real Lance Armstrong came through, and not in a good way:
Across 90 minutes with Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong did more than admit he cheated to win his seven Tour de France titles. He revealed a measure of the man that he is and this much is certain: If you never met this jerk, well, count your blessings.
Defiant, distant, difficult.
Arrogant, unaware, flippant.
Oh, Lance had a plan to try to look open and honest, and that was what was so obvious: It was a plan. It sounded rehearsed. But when he went off script, well, that's when he went off the rails.
And even when he told "all," he still didn't tell the whole truth:
"That's the only thing in this whole report that upset me," Armstrong said during the interview. "The accusation and alleged proof that they said I doped [in 2009] is not true. The last time I crossed the line, that line was 2005."
"You did not do a blood transfusion in 2009?" Winfrey asked.
"No, 2009 and 2010 absolutely not," Armstrong said.
Investigators familiar with the case disagree. They said today that Armstrong's blood values at the 2009 race showed clear blood manipulation consistent with two transfusions. Armstrong's red blood cell count suddenly went up at these points, even though the number of baby red blood cells did not.
No comments:
Post a Comment