Is Lance An Addict? He Spins Like One
It’s hard to know when a person is being sincere. But from the reports and the reactions, it appears Lance Armstrong is still spinning.
He didn’t seem contrite, as mentioned in this New York Times piece. Many feel duped, as Rick Reilly mentioned to ESPN in this video. Reilly said Armstrong was cold and calculating, comparing him to a hit man who ruined people’s lives and seemed uncaring about it.
Reilly said that Armstrong was as far from contrite as a person could be; the emotions he expressed didn’t match the seriousness of what he was talking about.
And in his interview with Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong said:
“I can’t lie to you. I’d love the opportunity to be able to compete, but that isn’t the reason that I’m doing this. Frankly, this may not be the most popular answer, but I think I deserve it.”
What, exactly, Armstrong thinks he deserves is puzzling. But just the use of the word “deserve” in this context strikes at the very heart of contrition, humility and responsibility. The way he has attempted to control the narrative by describing his activities and doing it on Oprah’s show is yet another reason it appears that rather than really coming clean, he is spinning.
He looks like a man trying to be just vulnerable enough to seem genuine, without really laying it out and taking the lumps he actually deserves. Is Lance addicted to his own celebrity and image? Perhaps.
i know what it’s like to spin. In my addiction i used to spin with the best of them. i was an expert spinner and controller of my image and my faux vulnerability.
i would admit to “struggles” with porn and lust and masturbation. i would say things that seemed so genuine and honest, while i hid the truth about how bad it was. And i talked a good game. People believed me. In my church i talked about these issues and counseled men and i held myself up as the man who understood the struggle but didn’t fall prey to the horrors of porn use.
Lies. All of it.
Intentional Warriors 
One Response to “Is Lance An Addict? He Spins Like One”
Based on the last paragraph, how do we know you are still not “hiding” anything, right?