Lance Armstrong’s Ugly Detour From Redemption

Sports of The Times

By JULIET MACUR

Lance Armstrong once told me that it would take maybe six months to a year for him to rebuild his reputation after he admitted lying to the world about his drug use.

He said his plan was to keep a low profile and quietly earn back public trust, partly by apologizing to the people he had stepped on or, in some cases, tried to destroy.

Armstrong, who in 2012 was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, seemed proud of his blueprint to restore his image. He said it would show that he was a good person who had been forced to dope because everyone else was doing it.

The plan might have worked — if he had bothered to follow it.

In going up against Hamman, who is 76, white-haired and stocky, Armstrong underestimated his competition. Hamman is, after all, perhaps one of the greatest bridge players ever. How did a champion like that celebrate winning $10 million from Armstrong?

“I didn’t do anything, really,” he said. “I just planned my next move.”

Hamman is someone who has carefully followed a blueprint of his own, without wavering from it, and has found success and happiness because of it.

Armstrong should follow suit.

Email: juliet@nytimes.com

The New York Times