Armstrong deserves nothing

I don't care about Lance Armstrong anymore and I will not watch the stage-managed Oprah show. He won't show genuine remorse. To see him put on an act and get emotional will have me reaching for a bucket.

This carefully structured television interview is all in the name of selfish redemption. He is totally cornered and has no further options and wants gullible people to sympathise. My guess is that he is sorry that he got caught, not sorry for what he has done. He is a fraud of gigantic magnitude and will go down in history as a Hall of Fame liar.

I read all of his books and even bought one a couple of times to give to a friend or two in need. I watched almost every minute of his entire Tour de France agony. I studied his cadence, berated his competitors and was astounded by his power in the Alps. I admired his courage and marvelled at his athletic endurance and not for once did I surmise it was not about the bike. I scorned those who doubted his credibility and cursed those who labelled him a cheat.

For over a decade all of us Tour de France enthusiasts were caught up in the magnitude of the event, the energy that was expended to complete the course and the super-human effort required to wear red polka dots, green or yellow. We cheered on our heroes and shook our heads in wonderment as Lance Armstrong and his drugged-up team surged day after day and did the impossible.

We now know how and why he was doing the impossible. He just prepared better than the rest in a despicable manner to achieve the unthinkable. He cheated meticulously and intimidated on a wide scale to ultimately bank millions. That was his dastardly modus operandi.

We should now all wash our hands of this fraudster who starred in a lifetime pantomime in the name of greed and ego. We also should use this as a serious wake-up call that nefarious people are never too far away and invade our lives without our immediate recognition, only for us unsuspecting individuals to pay later. Sadly, the world has changed.

Beneath all of this disgracefulness that Armstrong has inflicted we should also remember one thing. He has helped millions of cancer sufferers believe they can overcome that dreaded disease, and many did. He has now, through staggering proportions of deceit, also devastated many who are currently inflicted who did not want to consider believing what we now know is true.

If Armstrong is looking for sympathy he has the wrong planet. No one should afford him that now.

He needs to talk to more than Oprah. He needs to expose all in a legal investigation under a glaring spotlight so that this cancer of the sport of cycling can be vividly exposed. He needs to be severely punished if he fails to do so. That happens to bad guys.

I won't watch Armstrong's so-called confession. Why should we believe him now?