Lance Armstrong's Apology Does Nothing - Joe Chacon's Blog

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Joe Chacon's Blog

Lance Armstrong's Apology Does Nothing Stuck

Posted on January 18, 2013 at 02:26 PM.

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As I tuned in to Oprah�s OWN network (which took a few laps around the guide) to witness Lance Armstrong confess to everything he�s denied over the last decade, I wasn�t sure exactly what I was going to gain from this.

I�m not really into cycling, and the cyclist (they refer to themsevles as "bikers") that I see in my city are typically blowing through stop signs and pissing off people who are trying to operate an actual vehicle. I do however have a vested interest in the overall integrity of sport.

With all the time and money you and I spend participating in, coaching, watching, and discussing sports, I feel it�s something that should be done in a fair way.

The only problem is that �fair� is becoming a difficult concept for athletes to understand.

Armstrong propped himself up in a chair across from Oprah with an admission of guilt, but without feeling guilty.

The banned cyclist said he was doping, that he did do blood transfusions and that there was no way he could have won the Tour de France otherwise. However, in follow up questions he also said he didn�t think he was cheating.

I�ll remember three words from the first part of his interview (the second part will be televised tonight). Those three words were �scary, scarier, scariest� which he used to describe his emotions of not feeling anything was wrong with him pumping his body full of anything that would help him perform better.

Armstrong�s apology doesn�t mean anything to me, and I don�t think it means anything to most people. What does aggravate me is how disgustingly self-centered this guy has turned out to be.

Yes, there is Livestrong, and I�m sure the organization has helped a tremendous amount of people in their cancer battles. In fact, I�m sure of it.

It just eats at me how somebody can break rules, deny it, and lash out and sue just about everyone who said he was a fraud. What about the time he left his cancer-ridden wife? Everything about this guy just reeks of what is wrong with our society.

Negative people in our society will do whatever it takes to �win�, even if it means screwing others by breaking rules. People say, �but everyone else is doing it." That�s not a good reason to nullify the reputation of somebody being a cheat.

Is Armstrong really sorry? Who knows, and maybe he�s right, the apology has come too late for a lot of people. There was just something missing from his demeanor. He didn�t dive into people he hurt in the process and offer public apologies for specific individuals. Then again, maybe Oprah has that saved up for us tonight.

What I do know is that Armstrong screwed over a lot of people. He misrepresented himself to friends, family, those battling cancer, his sponsors, and the media members who backed him through all the accusations.

Look, we all make mistakes, we�ve all found ourselves caught in a lie, but most of us realize right and wrong before things spiral out of control and hurt a lot of people.

Armstrong was too wrapped up in his ego and celebratory status to realize he needed to pull the plug on the act.

OS Voice: What does Lance Armstrong's apology mean to you?

Joe Chacon is a staff writer for Operation Sports and a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

Comments

# 1 WaddupCouzin @ Jan 18

It never does. an apology is something that is so subjective, until when people come out and apologize the majority of people don't believe it anyway. So, apologize to the people you hurt, but as far as "the public" accepting you, they won't, so do it for yourself and not for them.

# 2 HAILAS @ Jan 18

The thing is, he doesn't feel completely guilty because so many people were also doping. So he's like, I shouldn't have done it, but in a sport where all you guys are doing it, I was just better at it than you were and I did it while battling cancer. Not defending him at all, but that felt like the approach to me.

# 3 Bulls321974 @ Jan 19

As you sow, so you shall reap...

# 4 wallofhate @ Jan 19

This apology was for the purpose of selling a soon to be book and to she remorse due to the fact that he has a lot of court precedings for federal charges and various other things due to doping

# 5 Bull_Dozer @ Jan 21

I don't consider him to be a cheater. And I don't think he owes anyone an apology.