Lance Armstrong Removes All Doubt by Refusing to Pay Back $12 Million in Bonuses

Lance Armstrong must have taken pages from LeBron James‘ playbook. The man simply does not know what to say, what not to say and when to do either of those things. How some professional athletes can simply be so stupid never ceases to amaze me or probably anyone else for that matter. After using Oprah Winfrey as a way to “confess” to doping during his incredible run of Tour de France victories, Armstrong now says he won’t pay back the $12 million in bonuses he received for those accomplishments, which he cheated to “earn.”

When you’re a professional athlete and you do something like fake your way through seven straight Tour de France victories in the dominant fashion that Armstrong did, you have to do something to rebuild your image. Now I’m not saying he should cough up the $12 million on national television because he probably doesn’t have it. However, simply saying he refuses to pay it back definitely isn’t doing Armstrong any favors.

The fact that one man–a cancer survivor–can go from the hero he was to the zero he is now is mind-boggling, but not nearly as much as this latest stunt. But he’s not out of the woods; Tailwind Sports owns Armstrong’s cycling team and the company is filing a lawsuit against Armstrong to get the money back. Naturally, Armstrong cites ignorance as his reasoning, saying he’s never heard of an athlete paying back his earnings for doping. You better hope history is on your side there, Chief.

Jeric Griffin is the Director of Content for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JericGriffin, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google