Linky Michael Arace commentary: Armstrong interview isn’t worth watching
Thursday January 17, 2013 5:54 AM
Tonight, Oprah Winfrey begins a two-part television interview with Lance Armstrong. The interview was taped on Monday and will air on Oprah’s network OWN. If you want to find it, you’ll find it. I will not watch.
Reportedly, Armstrong is to provide some version of a mea culpa. That is the hook. He is going to finally admit something that anyone with a brain has known for more than a decade: He is a cheater and a liar of epic proportions.
Since he won the first of his seven Tour de France titles in 1999, Armstrong has denied everything. He has projected himself as the most-tested athlete in sports and trumpeted the fact that he never tested positive. Often, he has heaped shame upon anyone who would dare even ask whether he is clean. Here’s one example among thousands:
Asked in 2005 whether he would lose sponsors if he were caught cheating, Armstrong said, “All of them — and the faith of all the cancer survivors around the world. So everything I do off the bike could go away, too. And don’t think for a second I don’t understand that. It’s not about money for me. It’s also about the faith that people have put in me over the years. So all of that would be erased. So I don’t need it to say in a contract, ‘You’re fired if you test positive.’ That’s not as important as losing the support of hundreds of millions of people.”
Armstrong has helped millions through his charitable foundation. He also has used the dreaded disease to shield himself and promote his brand. Forbes magazine estimates his net worth at $125 million, and the way I see it, the vast bulk of those gains was ill-gotten.
As unseemly as that might be, it is not why I will not watch tonight.
Granted, it promises to be fascinating theater. This might be the greatest fall of a professional athlete in my lifetime, and maybe ever. Given all the people Armstrong has taken into his trust, largely under false pretenses, the tragedy of admitting his guilt and being relegated to some sort of Hades has a mythic proportion to it. Even with that, legions of followers will remain inspired by the man and will not quit on him — a twist in the tale that adds more to the intrigue and depth of it.
How does he sell this? How does he make us believe there is redemption for him? Is he just trying to save his brand? Is he real? Is Oprah up to this task? Why is Oprah doing this?
Whatever happens, it’s going to be great television, but I will not watch. I will not watch because there is one thing he cannot do with this interview: He cannot make up for the lives he has ruined.
I do not speak here of the fans he has taken for a ride. I speak here of the people who tried to tell the truth about Armstrong, and his doping, and were chased and beaten down by Armstrong, his business partners and their teams of lawyers.
Emma O’Reilly, Armstrong’s former masseuse, was called a prostitute and taken to court for trying to tell the truth. Former teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife, Betsy, testified that Armstrong was doping and were blacklisted in the cycling community. Armstrong promised to make their lives a “living hell.”
Bike mechanic Mike Anderson fell out of favor with Armstrong and had to uproot his family and move to New Zealand to find a living. Greg LeMond, the first American to win the Tour de France, had the courage to question whether Armstrong was doing the right thing — and wound up in a fight to stave off financial ruin. Journalists David Walsh and Alan English were among the first whistleblowers, and their newspaper was summarily sued.
There are more. They are why I will not watch. There is nothing to say to appease these people, not on national television — and if that is the case, why tune in? What else is there?
Michael Arace is a sports reporter for The Dispatch.
Oprah is now going to soften the blow by painting him to be this loving family man who just wants to provide for his family and is some great humanitarian by forging the Livestrong deal.
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