My Analysis of the Lance Armstrong-Oprah Winfrey Interview

Photo taken from WSJ.com

I was traveling last night and was unable to watch the interview last night but I read some articles on what happened in Lance Armstrong's interview by Oprah Winfrey including one that gives all his responses on the Wall Street Journal. It's interesting reading for sure. Here are some thoughts:

Lance, Livestrong and the UCI

Numerous reports are flooding the internet that the UCI has sustained USADA's decision to strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles making Greg LeMond the only American to ever win the Tour de France. Of course, this comes as no surprise to those who were aware of the plethora of evidence showing Lance to be the biggest sporting fraud in history; the Bernie Madoff of sport.

Last week we read of Livestrong donors asking for their money back. My wife says that given today's news we should be reading soon about Lance wanting his donations to the UCI back too...

Heroes in the Lance Armstrong Investigation

Emma O'Reilly

There are a few heroes that paid a substantial price in the fight for truth in the Lance Armstrong investigation. For example, Emma O'Reilly, Lance's former soigneur, was one of the first to tell others that she knew Lance was doping. Emma spoke up nearly a decade ago and told her story. She paid a price for her honesty as Lance sued her for libel and persecuted her ruthlessly. In her words:  Lance tried to make her life hell. Emma paid a big price for telling her story. Yes, she was paid by a book author to tell it but without her story, it's possible many other stories would not have come out.

Lance Armstrong Investigation: A confession and more

Here's the latest press worth reading on the Lance Armstrong investigation. First, Lance finally came as clean as he's going to come in this editorial published by the ONN. Additionally, the LA Times tells it like it is in this editorial titled "Lance Armstrong Can't Get Cheating Out of His System." This isn't too surprising though given that it's been in his system for a long, long time...

This is almost as good as the Lance Armstrong press gets this week. These two publications get special kudos for not buying into the shoot the messenger mantra of criticizing and demonizing USADA. Also, they earned my praise for not going along with the weak-minded babble that people like Rick Reilly and Phil Liggett have been spewing this past week. Here's why I say this.

The guy cheated. He broke the rules and is being disciplined by the organization that he contracted with when he purchased his license to be a bike racer. He signed his license and in doing so, he agreed to follow the rules and be subject to the processes of WADA and, by delegation, USADA. Sure, he has done some good things in his life but that doesn't change the fact that he is the biggest sports fraud in history. 

In addition, to glorify him while ignoring his mistakes is to condone the cruel things he did to the people who tried to stop him from committing his fraud including Greg LeMond, Frankie and Betsy Andreu, Emma O'Reilly and Mike Andersen, among others...

Let's not forget them and the injustices they have experienced because Lance was, and still is, too weak to admit that he cheated...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Favorite Quotes from the Press

There is a ton being written about Lance's decision to not fight the allegations that he was a fraudster during his cycling career. I've decided to collect my favorite quotes here with links to the articles...

It’s Only Lying About Drugs (A Guest Post)

Lance Armstrong (from the internet)

Note: The following is a guest post by R. Duke Dougherty, Jr. Fraudbytes publishes high quality guest posts on fraud-related topics.

If I doze off while reading a cycling article, I run the risk of dreaming about Lance Armstrong. The dream goes like this: I’m watching TV while Armstrong addresses a press conference. Armstrong gives his questioner “the look” and angrily wags a finger as he says, “I did not admit to drug abuse around that woman...Ms. Andreu.” Then my head bobs up a little, but I don’t wake up. Instead, I see Armstrong angrily wagging his finger again as he says, “I did not give used syringes to that masseuse...Ms. O’Reilly.”

Will Lance Armstrong be charged with fraud?

The NY Times reported yesterday that two "authorities" have revealed that U.S. government officials are considering investigating Lance Armstrong on fraud charges. One of the authorities said that they are particularly interested in "whether money from the United States Postal Service, the main sponsor of Armstrong’s team from 1996 to 2004, was used to buy performance-enhancing drugs." If the government could prove fraud, the sentence for committing fraud is generally longer than that of drug distribution.

The article also states: