Why is Armstrong confessing?

Without a doubt, Lance abused the position he attained in every way - including people. And while I agree that LA was a control freak and certainly kicked a lot of people to the curb on the way to the top...I find it fascinating that both Tyler and Floyd were riding for other teams (not with Lance) when they tested positive and were sanctioned. Not defending LA here, just goes to show how badly these poor little cyclist felt for themselves. Says a lot for the culture of cycling right now - the blame game is in full swing.

dadiggle you misread the reports about Phelps. It said he had double joints :-)

reports are Department of Justice has recommended joining the case after rejecting the $5m offered. And because its a federal fraud case, the amounts are tripled, so the $30m the USPS gave Tailwind equates to $100m. They will settle for less obviously, but he still faces ruin.

Can we really trust the Americans after all what has happened the last 10 years especially in the development of undetected drugs? We know the drugs will always be a step ahead of the testing methods as they need to reverse engineer it first. I can remember the Olympics going after the Chinese swimmers and cherry picking results to back up some of the nonsense their spurt. I know Michael Phelps got double jointed wrists which gives him that advantage. Now my question is what about Castor Semanya who's body was producing testosterone naturaly and is forced by the World Governingbody to take drugs to basically slow her down. She is not doping she just have a advantage which she was born with like Phelps.

Dadiggle Exactly! Armstrong will be paid a motza to do the interview with Oprah, and that will fund the inevitable court battles he will face in the years to come. The man is a cheat but by no means an idiot. He backed off from defending himself when the case against him became insurmountable. He then looked for a forum to tell his story and get a hefty appearance fee - hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Oprah has agreed to fund his defence when the Feds come calling, first of all on Perjury charges and then on a whole litany of doping and supply charges. I can just hear the conversations now: "This will go better on you, Mr Armstrong if you reveal the architects behind this sophisticated and highly illegal operation..."

Cause Oprah is throwing enough money at him?

I think he wanted soft as possible. Rumor has it he originally wanted Elmo but his fee was too high...

Not sure, I think he figures he can get a lot of America on his side, then the government may be less keen to join in. Either way, ugh, he's a sneaky one isn't he...

I think Oprah Winfrey was the wrong choice for Lance Armstrong for his interview. It would've been much better if the interview was done by ie Barbara Walters, or if you're looking for someone to actually get a confession out of Armstrong, well-known British TV interviewer Sir David Frost. After all, if Frost could make former US President Richard Nixon confess about his invovlement in the Watergate scandal in 1978, 4 years after Nixon resigned from office, then Frost would've been the ideal interviewer to get Lance Armstrong to confess about his drug use.

One of the main reasons (if not the only reason) for this 'admission' is the so-called 'whistleblower suit' that is being brought against Lance by Floyd Landis (hence the media reports that LA is trying to make things up with Floyd again). That suit claims that LA defrauded US tax payers when he was on the US Postal team, as he used the $ to cheat and also is alleged to have sold of team equipment to fund the doping program. That sponsorship was worth $10 million a year. Times that by 5 and that would put quite a dent in Lance's wallet, which is worth a reputed $100 million. The danger for LA though is the fact that the US government is thinking of joining the suit against him. If that happens, the chance of the suit being successful is much higher. If LA admits a few details of doping, he loses a million here, maybe 5 there, but nothing like as much as he could lose if Landis's kicks his ass in court. This about turn is all about limiting the amount he has to pay. Yet again he is showing himself to be adept at working the numbers, and the masses. Nice piece by the way, Andy, cheers!

According to a report on ABC Radio this A.M. Dick Pound (gee what an unfortunate name) from the IOC has said that if Armstrong's "confession" and "whistle blowing" extend to showing that the UCI systematically covered up doping then the IOC will have no choice but to dump cycling from the Olympic program. I guess if Armstrong is doing this to protect himself, the cycling in general may be caught in the cross-fire and become "collateral damage" in the war against doping.

He looks like such a D*uche bag looking back at all those times he got so irate about people asking him if he doped http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Zad68VOxr8g

By all accounts, Armstrong has confessed to barely anything. It's like fingers around the sinkhole stuff - on the periphery, no plunging deep.

Harry on point 5 - I'd agree, until this year from the reports I've heard.

Whats the bet we'll get "I'm more a victim than a villian" ... fairly sickening.

1) Damage Limitation. 2) Attempt to protect his fortune and rebuild it at a later date. 3) Advised to do this by his "expert counsel" who see the best way to keep their personal gravy train going is to keep Lance in the public eye, and keep up the delusion in Lance's little world. 4) Egomania - being the centre of attention, no matter how odious is better than being ignored. 5) Knows that an Oprah interview is as soft as a Tahs training camp.

From the media reports today. It appears to be a case yes I did take PEDs, but so did every other Tom Dick and Harry and the UCI covered it all up! It's all crafted to make him not appear like a totalitarian.