Interesting that this should come out this week, when baseball let zero people into the Hall of Fame, not only but substantially to punish the most famous members of what is now naively called "the doping era." If one more sportswriter intones something smarmy about character when they're talking about a Hall of Fame that includes Ty Cobb, I'm going to puke on their shoes. And then there was the moment for which I loved the former Twins outfielder Torii Hunter, when he blurted out, "What about greenies? Nobody talks about that, and everybody's using them...." (Greenies are baseball slang for amphetamines, and he's right, many players are using them and nobody seems to want to shut it down. The "doping era" only covers some illegal performance-enhancing drugs.)

But Lance Armstrong appears to be a total shit, and you're right about why. I don't care about his blood doping. I care about what a colossal jackass he was to a great many people about it. I care about the situation he put George Hincapie in. Etc.

On a progressive scale of appalling behavior, first he cheated, then he vehemently lied about cheating, and then he held himself up as a role model for not cheating. I wouldn't go as far as to call him one of the worst liars in human history, but even aside from the vendettas in your link, a lot of people in his various charities, foundations, etc. were set up to look like fools. I really hope this undoubtedly tearful confession on Oprah does not change people's minds about what a colossal, self-centered jerk he is.

According to the few people I've spoken to personally who have any direct visibility to high-level athletic competition -- doping isn't an option; it's the only way to be competitive. So lying about it is a professional requirement of the field. I suspect he got forced into being an anti-doping symbol while fighting off early accusations.

Even if you are correct that you have to dope to be competitive and lie about it, I don't think anyone can force you to become a symbol for anti-doping or get paid for motivational speeches in which you self-righteously point to yourself as a clean competitor.

I think, by then, it would have looked strange, and raised questions -- which he couldn't afford. He didn't "have to" -- but he had to to remain in the game, and if he hadn't wanted to remain in the game he could have quit and stopped doping years ago.

Sorry, not buying it. Doing a limited number of motivational speeches, public appearances, and extended charity work, or none at all, is not a suspicious activity.

I don't much care what the players in top leagues (or even bicycling) do. They're getting the rewards, that's as good as it gets in their sport, they can do what they want so far as I'm concerned.

But I care if you have to do things that have serious health risks to find out if you'll ever be playing at that level. I don't think people should use up their bodies quite that casually. And I don't see how to allow enhancements freely in the top leagues without having it be very common lower down.

Of course, to keep matters really fair, all cyclists should ride the same model of bike, all swimmers should wear identical suits, all runners be issued with standard shoes...