# Is Lance Armstrong about to admit he cheated? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 5, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159 "2013-01-05T15:09:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/1 "2013-01-05T15:09:12Z")
[Armstrong considering admitting he cheated?](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/sports/cycling/lance-armstrong-said-to-weigh-admission-of-doping.html?hp&_r=0) I wonder why he would bother admitting it now. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/2 "2013-01-05T16:00:42Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > [Armstrong considering admitting he cheated?](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/sports/cycling/lance-armstrong-said-to-weigh-admission-of-doping.html?hp&_r=0) > > I wonder why he would bother admitting it now. Oh, the paradox of athletic competition > [@](#): > > He would do this, the people said, because he wants to persuade antidoping officials to restore his eligibility so he can resume his athletic career. > [@](#): > > According to the World Anti-Doping Code, an athlete might be eligible for a reduced punishment if he fully confesses and details how he doped, who helped him dope and how he got away with doping. But a reduced lifetime ban might decrease only to eight years or four, at best, antidoping experts said. So, if he were to confess, he _might_ be able to return to formal athletic competition in 4 years at best… It is sad enough a situation, it would be best for him to shut up, run/bike/swim on his own time, and leave the limelight and accolades for someone else… oh, the paradox of athletic competition! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/3 "2013-01-05T18:57:10Z")
Isn’t he retired anyway, though? He’s not returning to competition no matter what, I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/4 "2013-01-05T19:46:27Z")
Yea, I don’t think the story makes much sense. At best, he could return in four years, at the age of 45, and given that he’s only confessing now after essentially having been caught, I suspect he’d end up with a longer suspension then just the four years. Are there many successful bicyclists in their late 40’s? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/5 "2013-01-05T21:05:45Z")
The 11 people on Earth who still don’t believe he cheated must be devastated. This is one of the greatest cases of too little, too late that I’ve ever seen. Not only did Armstrong run an extensive cheating operation for years, lie about it on more or less a daily basis, and threaten, bribe, and intimidate everyone in the way, he sued everybody who went public with the truth (and sometimes he won), and he made the athletic authorities go to enormous lengths to finally prove what he did and made extensive use of the public’s sympathies along the way, using his cancer charity as a shield. With that process already done and the truth as obvious as it can be, _now_ he’s thinking about admitting the truth - and only because he thinks there is something in it for him. Excellent. They shouldn’t reduce his punishment. They should tell him to go to hell. He had a lot of chances to come clean and cooperate and he not only refused, he did it in the most spiteful and litigious manner imaginable and now he’s considered confessing in the most self-interested way possible. I don’t know what information he can provide, but it doesn’t deserve much consideration. His cancer work is ultimately so much more important than his Tour de France titles, but both are built around the fraudulent image of Lance Armstrong as hero athlete. If he really wants to come clean for the benefit of Livestrong, he should do it without expecting something in return. > [@Simplicio](#): > > Are there many successful bicyclists in their late 40’s? He wants to run marathons and triathlons and such. He’s retired from cycling and I don’t think he’d be very welcome if he came back. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/6 "2013-01-05T21:34:37Z")
**Is Lance Armstrong about to admit he cheated?** Oh, yes, that’ll fix everything. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/7 "2013-01-05T23:27:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Are there many successful bicyclists in their late 40’s? Not many, but mountain bike champs Ned Overend(57) and David Wiens(48) come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/8 "2013-01-05T23:56:26Z")
My understanding is that Armstrong cannot possibly admit he cheated due to all the legal actions brought against him (and by him). Is a man who has spent his life avoiding consequences going to risk heavy losses in civil suits as well as criminal charges, especially when there’s so little upside? I can’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/9 "2013-01-06T00:29:45Z")
I work in a cafe located in the city/county library. Down by the loading dock there is a donation bin for used books. They’re taken inside and sorted. Some are kept for the library bookstore, some for the annual booksale, and then there’s big garbage bins for the stuff that’s not saleable. One morning I saw, on top of the garbage bin, the following book: > **[How Lance Does It: Put the Success Formula of a Champion into Everything You Do:...](https://www.amazon.com/How-Lance-Does-Champion-Everything/dp/0071477403)** > > How Lance Does It: Put the Success Formula of a Champion into Everything You Do \[Kearns, Brad\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. How Lance Does It: Put the Success Formula of a Champion into Everything You Do Not surprising that whoever had it didn’t want to bother giving it shelf space anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/10 "2013-01-06T01:41:25Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > My understanding is that Armstrong cannot possibly admit he cheated due to all the legal actions brought against him (and by him). Is a man who has spent his life avoiding consequences going to risk heavy losses in civil suits as well as criminal charges, especially when there’s so little upside? I can’t see it. That ship may have already sailed. I believe the principle losers in past lawsuits are already launching suits against him. SCA Promotions is suing for the $5 mill or whatever it had to pay out (it “insured” the bonuses for winning the Tour in Armstrong’s contract), and the Sunday Times is suing over the money they paid out to settle a libel suit Armstrong launched after the Times published the David Walsh book _LA Confidential_. It occurs to me that there’s a couple interesting potential wrinkles here. One is that Lance might be thinking that USADA might be willing to cut him a bit of a deal if Lance testifies in Johann Bruyneel’s upcoming arbitration. Obviously Lance could totally nail Bruyneel’s hide to the wall, and possibly even people higher up the food chain. The other aspect is that Lance denied doping in sworn testimony in the first legal go-round with SCA, and might be subject to perjury charges. Not sure of statute of limitations on that, though. Not sure that a confession now puts him in any worse shape for that anyways, since there’s already enough evidence out there to convince a jury he was lying. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/11 "2013-01-06T02:41:25Z")
I did not think it was possible for an athlete to manage a denial-to-admission process worse than Pete Rose did, but we have a new champion. Congratulations, Armstrong. You get to keep a win for something. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/12 "2013-01-06T03:20:04Z")
I hope he does, it will make my LIVESTRONG wristband that little bit more valuable. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/13 "2013-01-08T20:14:07Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I hope he does, it will make my LIVESTRONG wristband that little bit more valuable. You mean, the one you never took off, and definitely didn’t glue back on? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/14 "2013-01-09T02:11:37Z")
His interview with Oprah will air next Thursday (Jan. 17). I expect a very thorough, hard-hitting interview in which she will force him to come clean. In unrelated stuff, his biological father, whom he supposedly had never met, died last year. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/15 "2013-01-09T02:34:45Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > His interview with Oprah will air next Thursday (Jan. 17). I expect a very thorough, hard-hitting interview in which she will force him to come clean. Well, I rather think he has a plan to admit it. I rather doubt Oprah will have to force him to say/admit anything. Is she a tough interview? I thought she was pretty easy going. I’ve only ever seen that Michael Jackson one from a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/16 "2013-01-09T02:46:42Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Well, I rather think he has a plan to admit it. I rather doubt Oprah will have to force him to say/admit anything. > > Is she a tough interview? I thought she was pretty easy going. I’ve only ever seen that Michael Jackson one from a long time ago. Eh. . . sorry about that. Sarcasm often translates rather poorly in text. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/17 "2013-01-09T03:38:01Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Eh. . . sorry about that. Sarcasm often translates rather poorly in text. Ah, that makes more sense. Yeah, so I assume he’ll apologize or something? It’s going to be awkward. I hope it goes up on youtube quickly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/18 "2013-01-09T03:45:16Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The 11 people on Earth who still don’t believe he cheated must be devastated. You vastly underestimate his fan base. In the thread on this board, we had a dozen people arguing that the evidence was doctored, that it was all witness testimony, that people just want to see a hero fall, it’s all just a big witch hunt, the USADA is an organization with no authority or credibility, and that even if he did dope it wouldn’t matter because everybody else was. But he definitely wasn’t even if they all were. I expect the new wave of denialism to be that he’s only admitting it so he can compete again, and that he didn’t actually do anything wrong, he’s just playing their game so he can get back out and show what a survivor he is. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/19 "2013-01-09T03:54:28Z")
Wait…Oprah has a show still? I thought she left that! DID SHE LIE TOO!!! ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/20 "2013-01-09T04:34:53Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > That ship may have already sailed. Regardless of the strength of the case against him, any suit has risks. As matters presently stand the plaintiffs in those suits would probably settle for something less than their full claim in return for a guaranteed result. Once LA confesses, his bargaining position goes to shit (or, even more to shit than it already is). From reading the whole of that article, I really wonder if LA could conceivably afford to confess, given the legal consequences. However, it may be that LA has done the calculations and decided the cost/benefit weighs in favour of confession. At the moment his brand is not only trashed but useless. Before he had a Shining Hero Brand which was worth a lot, but that has been trashed. However, trashed brands can be turned around and even built upon. By confessing he can try for the Dark Hero brand. He can play the line that he did it because everyone else was doing it and like the true “Just Do It” American that he is, he did what it took to win better than those European pansies. Fuck Yeah! Or he could go for the Wronged Fallen Hero Brand, in which he says that European coaches and cycling culture etc forced him to do what he did, which he never wanted to do, boohoohoo, he’s so ashamed. Either way he can put out a book about how he did it all which would be a bestseller and he can work the talkshow circuit. At the moment his brand is useless because its stuck in its present trashed state. No one believes his old narrative, and unless he confesses, he can’t start a new narrative. So I guess he could truly be intending to confess. But alternatively he may merely have made some offhand comments to some friends about how he has questioned whether he should confess and concluded he should not, and this has been leaked as “LA thinking about confessing!”. Or if you want to be even more conspiracy theory about it, you might think that a strategic “LA thinking about confessing” leak to the press will have the effect of sending the ratings for LA’s interview with Oprah through the roof. > [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > In the thread on this board… My emphasis. The thread? 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159.md?page=2)