We continue to shake our heads at Lance Armstrong’s puzzling handling of the federal investigation into whether he doped. By saying things like he loses no sleep at night and is confident the investigation will turn up nothing, he needlessly kicks sand in the face of investigators. Why not just keep a stiff upper lip and do the standard “no comment.” It’s not like he needs to provide investigators with added incentive to bring him down.
The Sports Illustrated investigation may not have turned up particularly new information, but it did pull together a powerful narrative based on repeated authoritative events and accusations over the years. And remember: Any journalistic investigation prints only a portion of what it actually knows. For legal and other reasons, a certain percentage remains in the bank, awaiting further official action. Depending on what happens hence, we expect more from SI on the Armstrong case.
Our wish remains that Lance would simply fess up, use the “everybody did it” defense and move on: “Our hope is that Lance will make a clean breast of it and move on, so that his foundation and his worthy work all over the globe for fighting cancer and bringing fans and attention to cycling can continue without a morbid cloud hanging over it.”
In the meantime, a move that could eventually impact Lance’s case, assuming it goes to trial: A San Francisco judge will allow testimony of other players linked to steroids use in the perjury trial of baseball slugger Barry Bonds. A similar ruling in the Lance case would open up a real hornets nest for the Texas legend.
Meanwhile, Lance’s former mechanic minces few words on Armstrong’s culpability in an an interview with a New Zealand newspaper. Mike Anderson believes Lance could become a permanent “symbol for decades of corruption” in the sport.
Not that surprising when his personality style is put into play. Hardcore narcissism has a way of overriding common sense.
Lance isn’t the first to use drugs. Bicycle racing has been dirty since the beginning.
“Breaking the Chain: Drugs and Cycling: The True Story” by Willy Voet covers the era before Lance.
Bringing down someone as big as Lance would make a big statement to the doping athletes more than any thing tried so far. His closest friends have left him over his career so he can keep his fasad. It’s time.