Part II of the Lance Armstrong interview just ended. Again, it's something everyone must see to form their own opinion about Armstrong. He was more emotional when talking about the effect it had on his children. His son defended him to his classmates over and over. He finally had a sit-down conversation with him and his other kids during the holidays, and told him to stop defending him. Just to tell the other kids that "dad is sorry". After facetiming with his mom, he could visibly see that his mother was a "wreck" over this. He never really understood how his actions affected other people until he had to tell his mom and kids that he had been lying all these years.
Armstrong stated that he didn't "deserve" the death penalty, but did deserve to be punished. He felt that when he came back in 2009-2010 that the sport of Cycling was "clean" and that he was competing on an even playing field. He had promised his ex-wife that if he did comeback, that he would do it without PEDs. There is evidence to the contrary.
Although, Armstrong was a bit more emotional tonight, he didn't shed tears. Some people who know him well said that it was the most emotion they have seen out of him, others who do not know him, wonder if he wasn't emotional enough. It's hard to say. I believe, that when talking about his kids and mother, that his emotion was genuine. It was probably the most genuine moment of the entire interview.
I don't think Winfrey's performance was as good as the first installment of this two night event. There were questions she should have followed up on that she didn't. When he said that he didn't think that the PEDs caused his cancer, she needed to follow up on it. When he denied ever offering USADA money and he denied doing it, she should have pressed him harder on it. USADA CEO Travis Tygart, in his interview with 60 Minutes Sports, was adamant about that it was offered. She should have pressed him more on Tygart and their relatationship. I believe Tygart in that Armstrong indeed did. He denied offering money to USADA to "paying him off", as Winfrey characterized it. He didn't deny not just offering the money to USADA in general. Winfrey never pressured him on that point. Big whiff, in my opinion.
Armstrong said he is in therapy, on and off, for awhile. He admitted that he should be in it regularly. I don't think the second part of this interview did him any good. Jeffrey Toobin, of CNN, says that he will spend a lot of time in court and should not have done this interview. In my opinion, he shouldn't have done the interview at this time either. Reason being, he didn't seem forthright in all of his answers. He, admittedly, has a long ways to go in this "process" of honesty. He clearly didn't come fully clean in everything, especially in not addressing the hospital room confession in which Betsy Andreu, and her husband, were present, when he admitted taking PEDs.
My final take on the interview...I get that people can be unemotional at times. I am unemotional at times when you should be. I get it. But, his body language...the rubbing of the hands, the crossing of the legs, the constantly looking down and not making eye contact in certain situations when you need to...I get that...He never leaned forward, he didn't make eye contact at times when he should have to convey important points...I am not a body language expert by any means, but I know how I act when I am trying to be contrite. Everyone is different, but there are certain "tells" that everyone has that convey truth and contrition. He didn't show that at times during this interview. He may have to do more interviews along the way that brings out more details in this scandal. Only time will tell if he does more interviews. There is a lot to digest from this interview. Again, I implore everyone to watch and judge Armstrong for yourself. As soon as I can find the complete interview, I will post it. I believe there is a lot more to this story to come...
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