Not so long ago, I dubbed the Lance Armstrong affair the "gift that just keeps on giving" and I was not wrong, except for the fact that today's update is about him giving some of his (stolen) "gifts" back. In what is truly a sleazy example of the slimy underbelly of not the sport of cycling itself but of the sport's heretofore biggest star, Armstrong was recently sued by the Sunday Times of London.
I had predicted this countersuit by The Times in a past blog as it seemed like such a no-brainer. The second that the scandal broke and Armstrong de facto admitted to having cheated in all seven of his Tour de France wins by using performance-enhancing drugs/techniques, then he also exposed a side of himself that made the actual cheating and lying seem cuddly cosy by comparison.
Why did The Times sue him recently? Well, in case you may have forgotten, Armstrong sued them over an article published in 2004 that essentially claimed there was evidence that he was a doper and a cheat. Given that back then, anyone who did know anything about it was too intimidated by Armstrong's since-exposed pressure tactics and threats to anyone who knew anything that could hurt him, there was little hard evidence to back up the article's allegations.
So what did ol' Lance do? Well, he sued, naturally! This is where I think I have the most problem with this entire sick, sad, sorry story - it is one thing to be a ruthlessly ambitious competitor who would do anything for victory (quite typical in professional sports, actually) but quite another to stand up all holier-than-thou and go after an institution like The Times, demanding financial reward for "the lies" they wrote about you, when you, and in principle only you, know it is the total truth.
This is beyond even hubris, and is perhaps more telling about the man than his repeated decisions to cheat in order to win. There is something fundamentally sick in someone when they will sue for vast sums of money over allegations they know to be true, but they are so far buried in their own lies that they actually believe themselves to be righteous. Millions of fans around the world believed in the myth of Lance Armstrong, thus so did he, and he sued over it to their great joy and support, further elevating himself in the public eye. Ironically, further burying himself in the process.
I wonder how he slept at night, and wasn't lying awake worrying if this colleague or that competitor would spill the beans on him, but then again, there are drugs that can help you sleep too, and those are legal. But the noose was tightening and the pressure was mounting, so "Team Armstrong" happily invoked strongarm (now that is a handy play on words!) tactics to keep the sheep in line and threaten anyone who threatened to talk. It all comes down to money, always. Greed is a most insidious illness, and when there are bucket loads of money at stake, it seems many humans let all their values fall by the wayside.
It was one thing for Armstrong himself to be a cheat, a liar and a bully, but another that his army of willing foot soldiers (I suppose many of whom had also bought into his lies) executed threats on his behalf, and he sat back and smiled about it. This included the wife of one his ex-teammate accusers being told over the phone "I hope someone breaks a baseball bat over your head", and indeed Lance himself, speaking to Oprah Winfrey (someone else he lied on-air to) about Betsy Andreu, said something like "I may have called her a crazy bitch, but at least I didn't call her fat" . With a smirk. Uh-huh.
The Lance Armstrong that cheated to win was one big lie, but the man who sued The Times, or threatened teammates, or their wives, or snickered while implying a teammate's wife was fat, who willingly deceived millions of rubber wristband-wearing fans/celebs and who repeatedly misled everyone who would listen - well, this is less of a lie and is probably much closer to the truth of who he really is - and it's very far from warm and cuddly.
I often wonder how long he thought he was going to get away with it, or was he expecting it only to come out when he was in later life and he would be safely hidden in the hills of some exclusive countryside compound, with his many millions forming an impenetrable moat through which the outside world could never pass? Or maybe he lived every day with the fear of the myth crumbling at his own front door, but given who he is, well, he had big enough ones to be able to handle that no problem at all.
As it turns out, The Times sued him for the 300,000 pounds he fraudulently sued them for iand won back in 2006, and today The Times announced that Armstrong had dug into his wallet and settled with them, for an "undisclosed amount" - naturally. No shock at all that Lance probably wants the number kept quiet as the amount alone is probably tantamount to another massive admission of his guilt. He likes control, also, so probably insisted on the non-disclosure aspect.
The Times was asking for 1,000,000 pounds in monies owing, interest and costs, and I bet you they got most of it - in cash. It's a sad fact that Lance can probably still afford it. Given the other suits against him, he's going to be buying his way out of trouble for so long that it's probably a way of life for the beleaguered ex-superstar by now, but also has (allegedly) been for a long time.
Much as he hopes that an undisclosed lump sum payment to The Times will allow yet another mess to go away quietly, the bigger mess he made of his own career and life will now never go away; and I daresay that even if he is left with several millions to line the walls of his castle with - they are gonna be some rather lonely millions and I bet he would exchange them all for even one legitimate yellow jersey to hang on the wall instead. - Kevin Mc
This is beyond even hubris, and is perhaps more telling about the man than his repeated decisions to cheat in order to win. There is something fundamentally sick in someone when they will sue for vast sums of money over allegations they know to be true, but they are so far buried in their own lies that they actually believe themselves to be righteous. Millions of fans around the world believed in the myth of Lance Armstrong, thus so did he, and he sued over it to their great joy and support, further elevating himself in the public eye. Ironically, further burying himself in the process.
I wonder how he slept at night, and wasn't lying awake worrying if this colleague or that competitor would spill the beans on him, but then again, there are drugs that can help you sleep too, and those are legal. But the noose was tightening and the pressure was mounting, so "Team Armstrong" happily invoked strongarm (now that is a handy play on words!) tactics to keep the sheep in line and threaten anyone who threatened to talk. It all comes down to money, always. Greed is a most insidious illness, and when there are bucket loads of money at stake, it seems many humans let all their values fall by the wayside.
It was one thing for Armstrong himself to be a cheat, a liar and a bully, but another that his army of willing foot soldiers (I suppose many of whom had also bought into his lies) executed threats on his behalf, and he sat back and smiled about it. This included the wife of one his ex-teammate accusers being told over the phone "I hope someone breaks a baseball bat over your head", and indeed Lance himself, speaking to Oprah Winfrey (someone else he lied on-air to) about Betsy Andreu, said something like "I may have called her a crazy bitch, but at least I didn't call her fat" . With a smirk. Uh-huh.
The Lance Armstrong that cheated to win was one big lie, but the man who sued The Times, or threatened teammates, or their wives, or snickered while implying a teammate's wife was fat, who willingly deceived millions of rubber wristband-wearing fans/celebs and who repeatedly misled everyone who would listen - well, this is less of a lie and is probably much closer to the truth of who he really is - and it's very far from warm and cuddly.
I often wonder how long he thought he was going to get away with it, or was he expecting it only to come out when he was in later life and he would be safely hidden in the hills of some exclusive countryside compound, with his many millions forming an impenetrable moat through which the outside world could never pass? Or maybe he lived every day with the fear of the myth crumbling at his own front door, but given who he is, well, he had big enough ones to be able to handle that no problem at all.
As it turns out, The Times sued him for the 300,000 pounds he fraudulently sued them for iand won back in 2006, and today The Times announced that Armstrong had dug into his wallet and settled with them, for an "undisclosed amount" - naturally. No shock at all that Lance probably wants the number kept quiet as the amount alone is probably tantamount to another massive admission of his guilt. He likes control, also, so probably insisted on the non-disclosure aspect.
The Times was asking for 1,000,000 pounds in monies owing, interest and costs, and I bet you they got most of it - in cash. It's a sad fact that Lance can probably still afford it. Given the other suits against him, he's going to be buying his way out of trouble for so long that it's probably a way of life for the beleaguered ex-superstar by now, but also has (allegedly) been for a long time.
Much as he hopes that an undisclosed lump sum payment to The Times will allow yet another mess to go away quietly, the bigger mess he made of his own career and life will now never go away; and I daresay that even if he is left with several millions to line the walls of his castle with - they are gonna be some rather lonely millions and I bet he would exchange them all for even one legitimate yellow jersey to hang on the wall instead. - Kevin Mc
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