Lance Armstrong, the Greatest Cheat in the History of Sport, Prepares to Admit His Sins – Spectator Blogs

The news, reported by the New York Times, that Lance Armstrong is preparing to confess his sins reminds me of this passage from the Book of Daniel:

Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

Remember, however, that golden-sunned afternoon in Paris in the summer of 2005. On the Champs-Elysees Lance Armstrong, the undisputed titan of his era, stands atop a podium to deliver a message to the masses thronged before him:

“I’ll say to the people who don’t believe, the cynics and the sceptics, I’m sorry for you. I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles.”

Miracles! Flanked by his vanquished rivals Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, Armstrong continues:

“This is one hell of a race.