Mr. Lance Armstrong

Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls from all across the world, and thank you to tuning into another fun and informative blog on Life of a Student Athlete, written by the one and only, Austin Hopcia. In today's blog I'm thinking we are going to take a little break from the sports world and the current scores and statistics and I think we are going to concentrate on some of the stories lately that are a little more serious.  More specifically, the huge story lines of the Lance Armstrong confession, and we will get some of the information on the interview he did with Oprah Winfrey.  And if we have a little time we will focus on the dreaded Manti Te'o story that so many people are obsessing over.  I will give my opinion on both topics and say what they should do and what the rest of society should do.  First to Mr. Armstrong.  He confessed to taking illegal substances while cycling post his cancer days and he has just recently apologized for it.  He has been banned by the USDA for life and basically right now all he;'s trying to do is recreate his image and reduce his life ban sentence down to something a little more reasonable even though he said he has no plans of cycling again.  Here is Oprah and Lance's interview:

Why admit it now?
I don't know that I have a great answer. I will start my answer by saying that this is too late. It's too late for probably most people, and that's my fault. I viewed this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times, and as you said, it wasn't as if I just said no and I moved off it.

Could the Tour de France be won without doping?
Not in that generation, and I'm not here to talk about others in that generation. It's been well-documented. I didn't invent the culture, but I didn't try to stop the culture, and that's my mistake, and that's what I have to be sorry for, and that's what something and the sport is now paying the price because of that. 

The drugs
My cocktail, so to speak, was EPO -- but not a lot -- transfusions and testosterone. Which, in a weird way, I almost justified because of my history, obviously, with having testicular cancer and losing, I thought, surely, I'm running low.

How could you do it?
I think this just ruthless desire to win. Win at all costs, truly. Serves me well on the bike, served me well during the disease, but the level that it went to, for whatever reason, is a flaw. Then that defiance, that attitude, that arrogance, you cannot deny it.

The future
I'll spend the rest of my life trying to earn back trust and apologize to people for the rest of my life.

Here are some more key quotes from his interview:

• "I viewed this situation as one big lie that I repeated a lot of times."
• "I know the truth. The truth isn't what was out there. The truth isn't what I said, and now it's gone -- this story was so perfect for so long."
• "It definitely was professional, and it was definitely smart, if you can call it that, but it was very conservative, very risk-averse, very aware of what mattered."
• "My cocktail, so to speak, was only EPO, but not a lot, transfusions and testosterone."
• "I thought, surely I'm running low [on testosterone] but there's no true justification."
• "It was win at all costs. When I was diagnosed [with cancer] I would do anything to survive. I took that attitude -- win at all costs -- to cycling. That's bad. I was taking drugs before that but I wasn't a bully."
• "My ruthless desire to win at all costs served me well on the bike but the level it went to, for whatever reason, is a flaw. That desire, that attitude, that arrogance."
• "There was more happiness in the process, in the build, in the preparation. The winning was almost phoned in."
• "Yes, I was a bully. I was a bully in the sense that I tried to control the narrative and if I didn't like what someone said I turned on them."
• "Everybody that gets caught is bummed out they got caught."
• "To be honest, Oprah, we sued so many people, I'm sure we did"
• "I'm not comfortable talking about other people. I don't want to accuse anybody."
• "I went in and just looked up the definition of cheat and the definition of cheat is to gain an advantage on a rival or foe that they don't have. I didn't view it that way. "
• "This is not a good time but it isn't the worst part of my life. You can't compare this to an advanced diagnosis. That sets the bar. It is close but I'm an optimist and I like to look forward. This has caused me to look back and I don't like that."
• "I didn’t fail a test. Retroactively, I failed those."
• "The Foundation is like my sixth child and to make that decision and to step aside was big. It was the best thing for the organization but it hurt like hell. That was the lowest."
• "I've lost all future income. You could look at the day and a half when people left. You asked me the cost. I don't like thinking about it but it was a $75 million day. All gone and probably never coming back."
• "This is not a good time but it isn't the worst part of my life. You can't compare this to an advanced diagnosis. That sets the bar. It is close but I'm an optimist and I like to look forward. This has caused me to look back and I don't like that."
• "If you're asking me if I want to compete again, the answer is hell yes, I'm a competitor."
• "The biggest hope and intention was the well being of my children. The older kids need to not be living with this issue in my life. "
• "I deserve to be punished. Not sure I deserve a death penalty."
• I told Luke 'don't defend me anymore, don't'."
• "I'm deeply sorry for what I did. I can say that thousands of times. It may never be enough to come back."
• "And then the ultimate crime is the betrayal of these people who support me and believed in me and they got lied to."

Lance has had a lot of problems with his performance enhancing drugs, as you saw all he wants to do is gain some respect back that he lost, it won't be easy but he's going to try.  A lot of people don't think he is being sincere in his apologies, but I for one do.  And to be honest I will keep wearing all my livestrong gear, no matter what anyone says.