Now that the news has leaked that Lance Armstrong will own up to doping during Thursday’s Oprah weep-a-thon, it’s like all the TV spots airing before the Super Bowl. Why bother watching the actual screening? Well, as Oprah was quoted this morning, saying he did “not come clean,” it might make you want see what Armstrong did own up to during the 90-minute gabfest.
Everyone knows he doped, the proof is conclusive, so no excitement there. The question now is how owning up is going to get him off the hook when the feds join in the whistleblower lawsuit filed by ex teammate, Floyd Landis, which alleges that Armstrong defrauded the US government (and us taxpayers) of more than $30 million by denying the use of drugs by the US Postal Service team he ran for years, while the terms of the sponsorship strictly prohibited illegal doping. Apart from all the other lawsuits he faces from companies and individuals, the end of being able to pay many of his personal expenses through Livestrong, his large team of legal eagles, managers and assistants must be siphoning off the dollars at a rapid rate. Pretty soon, his estimated fortune of $125 million will be substantially reduced.
So, is that what this belated mea culpa is all about? The rehabilitated Lance hits the motivational speaker circuit, there’s a book, there’s a film, there’s black wristbands. We might even see The Biggest Doper daily on the Oprah Network. The sponsor? Has to be Nike. No other company has as many disgraced sports personalities on its ex-roster. Who says there are no second chances?