Lance Armstrong Would Have Been Better Off Keeping Quiet

It was either done to satisfy his never-dying desire to compete or to clear his conscience.

Those were the two reasons I could think of as to why Lance Armstrong would finally come clean about being dirty. He didn’t have an answer when asked by Oprah, “Why now?”

“That’s the best question, that’s the most logical question,” he said. “I don’t know that I have a great answer. I will start my answer by saying this is too late. It’s too late for probably most people and that’s my fault.”

Why now? Why at all?

After watching that 150-minute conversation last week, it was pretty clear that the latter reason was not a possibility. Armstrong was only remorseful when talking about the damage he had done to his family with all of his vehement lies. Other than that, it appeared that Armstrong’s long history of wrongs didn’t bother him all that much, and he stubbornly justified some of them. He wasn’t there to clean the slate, because he still lied and denied while saying he would do nothing but tell the truth. There is no conscience to be cleaned when you are a sociopath.

Last Monday, Oprah said she thought Armstrong was contrite. When? More often, Lance looked like the cool kid in the back of the detention room, knowing that he had been caught and pretty much not giving much of a damn, sometimes flashing a grin at what he had been able to “accomplish.” Simply, he was a jerk.

After viewing his very convincing 2005 performance under deposition, Armstrong said to Oprah, “I look at that and I go, ‘Look at this arrogant prick.’ I say that today.”

Everyone said that Thursday and Friday night.

Armstrong most likely talked because he doesn’t know what to do with his life if he’s not competing, but he still may never be able to take part in a sanctioned event again. If only he had just kept to himself. Armstrong would continue to be bombarded by lawsuits and forever criticized by many, but he also would have had his staunch supporters who refused to believe the facts. He had plenty of devoted followers who treated all of his rejections like the Word. Whatever evidence was brought up against him, Armstrong could have always used his own denials as the trump card. No matter what, he never admitted to anything.

Lance could have stood firm with his lies. At the age of 41, he could have chosen to creep quietly into retirement, let all of the stuff from USADA and WADA go in one ear and out the other. He could have accepted their rulings and continued to face the lawsuits while never wavering from what he had convinced himself. He had already done it for so long.

When has admitting PED use done any star athlete a lot of good? See, people will forget about your usage if you’re not worth remembering. Case in point, I had completely forgotten that MLB players such as Ryan Franklin and Edinson Volquez got caught testing positive for steroids. But, Mark McGwire has seen his Hall of Fame voting percentages drop since admitting his drug use to Bob Costas in 2010. Similar admissions will always be held against Alex Rodriguez. Armstrong had spent most of the past 15 years lying and attacking those who threatened his kingdom. If it didn’t bother him that much — and it obviously didn’t — why stop now? He had his fans and he had his foundation and he had his version of the truth. But he apparently was just too driven to compete.

“I like winning,” Armstrong said Thursday. I still like to win.”

Obviously. And in that need to win something, anything, Armstrong allowed himself to lose everything.