According to the New York Times, Lance Armstrong is considering publically admitting doping throughout his career. Apparently, Lance wants to compete again, though you have to also wonder how Lance is sleeping at night, too.
America has an established history of forgiving those who apologize for doping or drug use. Andy Pettitte comes immediately to mind; he faced almost zero backlash upon confessing his sins. The main difference, however, is that Pettitte didn't issue stern denials before hand.
Stern denials is possibly the greatest understatement possible in this instance. Lance has denied doping in press conferences, interviews, letters, and defiant pictures. He has angrily attacked his accusers. He has sued, and won, libel cases against newspapers for reporting he cheated (The Sunday Times is now countersuing him for $1.5 million to recover the $500,000 in damages he originally won). The only similar athlete in this instance is Roger Clemens, who has shown little signs of remorse either.
Of more tangible substance than forgiveness, Lance may also be on the hook for millions of dollars he was awarded in bonuses for winning the Tour de France, should he proceed with his confession. The U.S. Department of Justice may now join Floyd Landis on a whistleblower lawsuit, a case that could also be worth millions.
The saddest thing about this entire ordeal is how completely unnecessary his doping was. No, Lance may have never won seven, or any, Tour de France's after recovering from cancer, but he probably would have competed. That alone would have elevated him to a surreal status, and maintained all the hard work and money he raised for cancer research.
Or, maybe, during the height of doping, in which we believed — or chose to believe — 70 home runs were possible, it would have merely been a blip on the radar.
