Interested to know if any of you are Pro-Cycling fans??
I've followed procycling for over 30 years and what Armstrong did is the greatest sporting scandal there's ever been, not primarily for the doping bad enough as that is but for the way he conducted himself over the years. He cheated, bullied, vilified and criminalised numerous individuals who were part of his entourage for many years. He ensured that numerous individuals were removed from cycling because they had challenged his authority in the peloton. He almost certainly ensured that past riders in his teams were caught and banned for doping offences after they left his team. He was responsible for fraudulent use of US Government money, drug trafficing, bribes, extorsion and fraudulent use of charity donations.
He did all this while hiding behind a brand and his Livestrong charity. Whatever he did was fine because as the "Cancer Jesus" he could do no wrong he was the new messiah but as we've seen it was all a big lie and what we've seen is the tip of a huge iceberg.
This "confession" was to the masses of people who still believe in him, to the cult of St Lance and he chose Oprah because it would be a soft ball interview and he could give away a softball confession.
The why is simple; Money and the vast proprotion of his $120 million fortune he is about to lose. He has to answer to a Whistleblower case or the US Postal money (
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/armstrongs-confession-could-lead-to-dollar-100-million-whistleblower-lawsuit) his offer to pay back $5million has already been rejected, $12million to SCA Promotions an insurance company that backed him to win the tours and paid out big (
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/21102475), The Sunday Times for around $1.2 Million (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/18/sunday-times-lance-armstrong-confession-helps-case). The soft soap confession ion Oprah is a way to start breaking these things down, he can start to bargain with these groups and the many other individuals who are about to launch cases against him.
During the interview he showed contition and remorse only twice, when he talked of the loss of $75 million in earnings potential as his sponsor walked away and when he tried to conjure up some tears talking about his son, Luke's reaction to it all.
On the sporting side many of us who have watched the sport knew he was doping before the cancer and had that confirmed on the 1999 Tour De France when he climed mountains like a goat.
Everything he's ever done has been a lie and from the feted superstar he just another irrelevant liar. That's what hurts him most the fact he's no longer the star, I hope he rots.