I've talked about this on the radio show. I'm not a cycling fan and only paid attention to the sport because of Armstrong and his various conquests, personal and professional.
The fact he and his handlers chose Winfrey for his subtle confession says a lot about Armstrong. It's a well-conceived media process and I'm sure it's been calculated ad-nauseum. Pick a thoughtful host, hostess who will not pit-bull you; not that Oprah is a softy but she isn't Barbara Walters nor even Diane Sawyer. A sympathetic big star who will play ball, the Lance way, yes.
My point is that assuming Armstrong wants to get this off his chest, he could have gone, say, Steve Croft on 60 Minutes. That move, in and of itself, would have said a lot. Instead, he, (and several of his advisers, I'm sure) took the safe approach. And this won't be his last interview. After a few snippets of the Oprah piece gets aired, I'm betting he does another quasi-softy--probably Piers Morgan, perhaps a local Austin TV station and then let time do its thing. And hope, inevitably, his fans and even his foes, forgives him.
This is big business. And a very well-orchestrated media play written and directed by Lance Armstrong himself. Whether it works is another story. Time will tell.
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