Can We Trust Lance Armstrong Again?

“Lance Armstrong is an idiot.” I keep hearing this statement over and over and admittedly I tend to agree, not just because he lied, but because he is admitting it now so late in the game. We’ve all heard of the spouse that finally admits that s/he had an affair thirteen years ago and want to know why now? Why did they come clean after all this time? How much inner turmoil have they been going through for the past thirteen years, if any? Do we even care about their inner turmoil after all this time? Do we care about Lance Armstrong’s inner turmoil?

He said the reason he finally admitted to lying was that he saw his oldest son defending him and couldn’t live with that knowledge. As a parent, I can see how hard that must have been. To know that a lie you have been living with and you have been dealing with on your own was now no longer your own lie, but your children unwittingly became part of your lie. That must not have been easy to deal with over time. In his interview with Oprah last week, Armstrong spoke about coming clean to his son, “I said, `Listen, there’s been a lot of questions about your dad. My career. Whether I doped or did not dope. I’ve always denied that and I’ve always been ruthless and defiant about that. You guys have seen that. That’s probably why you trusted me on it.’ Which makes it even sicker… “And uh, I told Luke, I said, `Don’t defend me anymore. Don’t.’ “He said okay. He just said, `Look, I love you. You’re my dad. This won’t change that.” At this point in the interview I had to stop and wonder what kind of issues will this cause for his son in the future? Will he ever really be able to trust his father?

Trust is really the big issue here.

Lance Armstrong admitted what he did. Yay for him. He lost millions of dollars in sponsorships and endorsement deals, had to walk away from his Livestrong foundation, and has a lifetime ban from competition with his unveiling of the truth. The foundation is, of course, one of the things that came out of all of this that does actually do good. Those yellow bracelets that people wore (I saw someone with one on two weeks ago – I wonder if they’ve taken it off since then) did help bring awareness and money to fighting cancer and we can never take away that good work – a legacy of sorts.

Armstrong does think he has been treated a little unfairly with his lifetime ban, though. It’s his staunch denouncement of the claims that he was doping from officials and former teammates that really rub most people the wrong way now that we know he was lying. There is no trust left available to give him. Who would trust him now? Why would we trust him? He said his confession was too late and you know what? It is.

I believe that he wants to compete again. He’s said he has. He’s been doing triathlons – getting back to his roots so to speak. This confession just feels like another part of his overall plan to get back in competition or rather getting back into competition to get paid cash monies. He’s lived a real cushy life and that $75 million dollars he walked away from with this confession/scandal must have not only been hard for his wallet, but hard for his ego.

He will go back to competition. He will make money again that way. That’s just way things go here in America. I mean look at Tiger Woods, the circumstances are a little different I admit, but the disgraced athlete can only be disgraced for so long these days. Sorry Pete Rose you should have gambled in the 21st Century. The point is does anyone really trust Tiger Woods? Will he ever have the same stature he once did? No. I don’t think so and neither will Lance Armstrong. Do we care about a comeback story? No. I don’t think so, because there’s no trust left for us to give him and that’s one of the hardest things to get back.

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