Lance Armstrong Confesses To Doping In Oprah Interview — Transcript

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1. 0:00The Associated Press is reporting that
2. 0:01Lance Armstrong admitted to Oprah
3. 0:03Winfrey today that he used
4. 0:04performance-enhancing drugs to win the
5. 0:06tour to France. This is according to a
6. 0:08source who spoke to the AP on the
7. 0:10condition of anonymity. Here to talk
8. 0:12about it is Huff Post sports columnist
9. 0:13Jordan Schultz in New York and Chris
10. 0:15Greenberg, Huff Post Sports editor in
11. 0:17New York City. Welcome to both of you
12. 0:19guys. How's it going? Thank you. Good.
13. 0:21Good. How you doing? Good. Good. So, uh,
14. 0:23Jordan, let me start with you. You know,
15. 0:24what do we know right now? Obviously
16. 0:26Oprah's going to save a lot of this to
17. 0:27her big interview that's going to air on
18. 0:28the own network on Thursday, but what
19. 0:30information has leaked out today? Well,
20. 0:33I think the biggest thing, number one
21. 0:35thing is is that we learned is that, you
22. 0:37know, he's admitted that he did take
23. 0:38performance-enhancing drugs. And this
24. 0:40has been something that I think cycling
25. 0:42fans, uh, Jacob, and also just sporting
26. 0:44fans in general have been waiting to
27. 0:46hear from him. Um, the biggest question
28. 0:48I have now, and I was just chatting with
29. 0:50Chris about it, is why now? Um, you
30. 0:52know, why now? and and and is it
31. 0:54partially because uh you know pjuring
32. 0:57yourself is not an issue anymore that
33. 0:59the time has lapsed. I thought Dan
34. 1:01Wetzel of Yahoo wrote a pretty nice
35. 1:03column about it and it's to me that's
36. 1:05that's the biggest question I want to
37. 1:06know. You know it's so long after the
38. 1:08fact it's just confusing to me. Right,
39. 1:10Chris? A lot of people say that he's
40. 1:12doing it now because the statute of
41. 1:13limitations at least in part might have
42. 1:15lapsed. Um you know what do you think
43. 1:17about that argument?
44. 1:19I think that's definitely you know a
45. 1:21piece of the puzzle here. You know,
46. 1:23obviously the the USA ADA ban and
47. 1:26stripping him of the titles not too long
48. 1:28ago, I think was the catalyst for all of
49. 1:29this and, you know, there's a huge
50. 1:32public relations battle that, you know,
51. 1:34he's hoping this will be a turning point
52. 1:36in. And he's got lots of people to make,
53. 1:38you know, to make up with, make good
54. 1:39with. um you know, he not only did he
55. 1:42take taxpayer money for the sponsorship
56. 1:44of the US Postal Service team, but he
57. 1:46also sued many many people uh you know,
58. 1:49claiming slander or uh you know, that
59. 1:51they were lying about about what he was
60. 1:53doing. Um let's talk about some of those
61. 1:55some of those um places and things.
62. 1:56Jordan, he he you know, some reports
63. 1:58that I've read today indicate that he
64. 1:59might try to pay some of that money
65. 2:00back.
66. 2:02Yeah, I I don't have to say that to
67. 2:04believe it, Jacob, because uh Lance has
68. 2:07never been a guy that um I think we know
69. 2:11now that he he doesn't always keep to
70. 2:12his word. Um I I think that'd be a nice
71. 2:15PR move by him. I think the biggest
72. 2:17thing for me that the most telling is
73. 2:20that you've seen so many of his
74. 2:22teammates testify against him. Um and
75. 2:25then some of the threats that he did
76. 2:26make as well. To me, that's more
77. 2:28important, the threats that he made. Uh
78. 2:30you you have teammates telling you know
79. 2:33the press that he told them you know
80. 2:35he's going to make their lives a living
81. 2:37hell. Uh and that's a direct quote. I
82. 2:39mean stuff like that is very puzzling to
83. 2:41me and um once again I have to I just
84. 2:44I'm still trying to comprehend why. I
85. 2:46think when we see the interview we'll
86. 2:48learn more but there's a lot of things
87. 2:50in court and there's also a lot of money
88. 2:51tied up here. I mean, you know, he dro
89. 2:53he was dropped by all the significant
90. 2:55sponsors, livestrong de associated with
91. 2:57him, which as we know has been a big
92. 2:59part of his career outside of cycling.
93. 3:01Um, and then I also want to know uh did
94. 3:04did these peeds uh you know in some
95. 3:07level cause statistic testicular cancer?
96. 3:10Did it come after? I mean I just too too
97. 3:13many questions and and that you know
98. 3:15that's an interesting point which is
99. 3:17what are the specifics that we're going
100. 3:18to hear in his conversations with Oprah?
101. 3:20report that I read today said that he
102. 3:22stopped by his foundation livestrong. We
103. 3:24can see the website that's up on my
104. 3:25computer screen right now, but he didn't
105. 3:27really get into specifics according to
106. 3:28the reports and he didn't necessarily
107. 3:30apologize for using PEDs for
108. 3:32performance-enhancing drugs. Um, you
109. 3:34know, Chris, what do you think uh about
110. 3:37whether or not, you know, these are good
111. 3:38questions that that Jordan raises. How
112. 3:40many of them are we actually going to
113. 3:41find out about only the ones that are
114. 3:43convenient to Lance Armstrong here?
115. 3:46Well, I believe there was a previous
116. 3:47report that called his discussion with
117. 3:50Oprah, you know, a limited confession.
118. 3:53That report, I believe, was before the
119. 3:55sit down interview. So, it remains to be
120. 3:57seen how much Oprah coaxes out of him
121. 3:59when they when they spoke. But I think,
122. 4:02you know, the the why of the doping is
123. 4:05not nearly as interesting to me as the
124. 4:07how. I mean, here is according to the
125. 4:09USDA a guy who led a organized
126. 4:13regimented doping team and you know, yet
127. 4:17he didn't get caught even though there
128. 4:18was this cloud all these years. I think
129. 4:21you know it would be fascinating to tear
130. 4:23back the cover on how that happened and
131. 4:25how he was able to get away with it for
132. 4:27so long. You know, I think the the why
133. 4:29now as far as the
134. 4:31admission, you know, there are a lot of
135. 4:33angles for that. some legal, some public
136. 4:36relations, but I think the the how of
137. 4:38this, you know, if we could ever find
138. 4:40out, which I don't I don't think he's
139. 4:41going to share that this week, uh that
140. 4:44would be fascinating. Well, let's uh go
141. 4:47ahead, Jordan, and then I'm going to
142. 4:48wrap it up. No, I I agree with Chris.
143. 4:50That's another great point. Also, you
144. 4:52know, what I wrote in my column a while
145. 4:53back, maybe a month or a couple months
146. 4:55ago, Jacob, was that, you know, a lot of
147. 4:57his career now and what he built was
148. 5:00based on a complete fabrication. And
149. 5:02then you have guys like Greg Lamont who
150. 5:04won three tour to Francis who's you know
151. 5:06basically been forgotten uh because of
152. 5:08what Lance did winning seven. So uh you
153. 5:11know that to me you know all these other
154. 5:12guys that have done that at least as we
155. 5:14know have done things the right way and
156. 5:16you know they get they get forgotten.
157. 5:18Yeah there and there are certainly lives
158. 5:19of people you know around Lance
159. 5:21Armstrong whose lives have been ruined.
160. 5:22Uh and we've seen too many of those
161. 5:24stories. So we'll see what happens here.
162. 5:25I want to run through some quick tweets
163. 5:26before I let you guys go. Uh Oprah said
164. 5:28she just wrapped with Lance Armstrong
165. 5:30more than two and a half hours. He came
166. 5:32ready. Pretty good tease. Um, dead spin.
167. 5:34Lance Armstrong admits to doping, but
168. 5:36screw that. Did Oprah make him cry?
169. 5:37Well, I guess we'll have to wait to
170. 5:38Thursday to find that one out. Robert
171. 5:40Littlefield says, "Just can't find it in
172. 5:42me to care about Lance Armstrong and
173. 5:44doping." Uh, something echoed by New NYC
174. 5:46Southpaw breaking Lance
175. 5:49Armstrong. Uh, Neil Brennan, I'll only
176. 5:51forgive or I'll forgive Lance Armstrong
177. 5:53for doping, but only if he rides the
178. 5:55entire tour to France on a unicycle in
179. 5:58full clown makeup. Doubt that's going to
180. 6:00happen. But, uh, Jordan and Chris, I
181. 6:01appreciate you guys taking the time. No
182. 6:04problem. Thanks. All right, guys.
183. 6:05Obviously, there'll be a lot more on
184. 6:06this, uh, in the days to come. So, stick
185. 6:08with Huff Bus Live for the latest on
186. 6:10this and a whole lot more.
187. 6:16[Music]