Attention Deficit Disorder

When Dez Bryant took off his helmet and argued with the referee during the Cowboys' 27-23 win over the Minnesota Vikings, Yours Truly simply couldn't believe his eyes.

Because taking off your helmet on the field of play would automatically result in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty (or the so-called "Emmitt Smith" rule), and it did take the Cowboys out of the field goal range.

It reminds Yours Truly of fellow Cowboys Tyron Smith's holding penalty with just a minute left to play against the Detroit Lions, which stopped the clock and gave the timeout-less Lions the chance to mount an improbable 31-30 victory.

These incidents make Yours Truly wonder whether Cowboys' coach Jason Garrett preaches attention to detail in his practices.

These two penalties simply should have never happened, with the holding penalty on Smith particularly inexcusable. It happened on a third-down running play with just a minute to go. The Cowboys were trying to milk the clock and for some reason, Smith decided to hold a Detroit Lion on a play that ended up short of the first-down anyway. Instead of bleeding the clock down to 20 seconds or so, the clock stopped and the Lions, who were out of timeouts, were gifted a valuable extra 30 seconds and snatched victory from the Cowboys' firm grasp.

Did Garrett tell his players that if you want to milk the clock, no one should never ever commit any penalty? Or taking off your helmet will result in an unsportsmanlike penalty?

Yours Truly remembers an article about the meticulous Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots a while ago, on his situational practice sessions. He would bark to a player, "Offense, fumble on the sideline," and then the player will know that he should try to knock the ball out of bounds, thus maintaining possession for the offense. If Belichick yells, "Defense, fumble on the sideline," then that player will try to recover the ball while staying in bounds, that would result in a change of possession.

Not surprisingly, the Patriots rarely commit amateurish mistakes like the Cowboys do and have several Super Bowl rings to show for it.

Attention to details is a trait that will make sure that one will always do the right thing at the right time. Without that, the only thing that can be assured of is that one will hardly have any success whatsoever.

An Obvious Question

After a long day's work, Yours Truly finally had the chance to sit down and watch some football the other day.

The New York Giants were leading Minnesota Vikings 23-7 with just minutes to go. Yours Truly's 7-year-old son, who is believed to be a football fan too (for being forced to watch A LOT OF football since he was a baby), was sitting on the left.

When the camera showed Adrian Peterson standing glumly on the sideline, Yours Truly said to his son, "This is the only good player the Vikings have on the offense."

And within seconds, the 7-year-old asked, "If he is so good, then why is he not playing?"

Any answer, Mr Leslie Frazier?

Only in Formula One

They all say that Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsports. The drivers, the history, the designs, the technology. None of them can ever be rivaled by other forms of motorsports.

And then there are the personalities.

Think about this: In what other sports can you find a major team owner who is wheelchair-bound (see Williams, Frank), a three-time champion who has a badly disfigured face due to a fiery crash (see Lauda, Niki), and a striking blond female driver wearing an eye patch due to the loss of an eye in a crash (see de Villota, Maria)?

Sadly the striking blond is not with us anymore as de Villota passed away last week at the age of 33, reportedly a legacy of her terrible crash last year.

RIP Maria.

What a Hoyer

Yours Truly just can't help feeling bad for Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer.

A career backup, this Ohio native took over from the ineffective Brandon Weeden and led the Browns to two victories in a row, despite having traded away their best offensive weapon in running back Trent Richardson. Then came his third start in front of his home fans and national TV audience against the Buffalo Bills.

Scrambling for a first down early in the first quarter, he slid too late and was hit from the side by the Bills linebacker Kiko Alonso, and their momentum buckled his right knee in an awkward way. The result is a torn ACL and he is out for the rest of the season.

Yours Truly was truly impressed when Hoyer made the New England Patriots team as an undrafted free agent and as the only backup to Tom Brady in 2009. Although seeing him stuck behind Brady for years, Yours Truly believed that he would be the next Matt Cassel, ready to lead another team when opportunities come. But things did not go his way and his stints with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals were far from impressive.

His breakthrough finally came this year but sadly, this fairytale story ended way too soon.

Hopefully there will be a fairytale comeback story too, just like Adrian Peterson.

Levi is Not What You Need

Two trades. Two very different approaches.

Earlier today, two offensive tackles were traded in the NFL. The Baltimore Ravens obtained Eugene Monroe from the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Pittsburgh Steelers traded for Levi Brown from the Arizona Cardinals.

The Ravens have been inconsistent while the Steelers, frankly, have been abysmal. Both have glaring needs at the offensive line and the trades did not come as a surprise.

Monroe and Brown are both former high first-round draft picks, but their career are now at the opposite end of trajectory. While Monroe has been stuck in the purgatory named Jacksonville, he still managed to help produce a sustained running attack led by Maurice Jones-Drew. Many regard him as one of the emerging top tackles in the NFL. On the other hand, Brown, three years older than Monroe, has been called a bust and the Cardinals never have a great offense during his tenure there.

Now they are off to a new team, which may perhaps breathe new life into their career. While Yours Truly thinks that Monroe will become the second former-Jaguar (after linebacker Daryl Smith) to be a solid contributor for the Ravens this year, Brown will not fare much better than incumbent starter Mike Adams for the Steelers.

If trading for Brown is what the Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Todd Haley believe a move that can salvage their season (and perhaps their jobs), they could not be more wrong.

Meaty Issues

Snooker player Stephen Lee, probably just a tad more chubby than Yours Truly, has been suspended for 12 years due to match-fixing charges.

Now 38, Lee will be eligible to return to snooker in October 2024, on the day he will turn 50 to be exact.

On the plus side, 50 is not old in snooker. When the legendary Ray Reardon beat Jimmy White to win the Professional Players Tournament in 1982, he was 50.

Nevertheless, it is still extremely sad for Yours Truly, as there is one less chubby guy to root for in the world of sports, for the next 12 years no less.

Luckily, Shaun Murphy is still lurking out there, licking his chops for more.

Way Off the Mark

Mark Webber is a popular Formula One driver because of his outspokenness and candidness. Whenever he speaks, people like Yours Truly listen as he always hits the bull's eyes.

However, when he complained about being penalised for taking a taxi ride from Fernando Alonso after the conclusion of the Singapore Grand Prix, Yours Truly thinks there is one thing he should do.

Shut up.

As has been made clear time and again by the stewards and so many others, he was not penalised for the taxi ride per se. Rather, he was punished for creating an extremely dangerous situation.

First, Nico Rosberg almost ran over him. Then Lewis Hamilton had to take evasive action to avoid Alonso's car.

And comparisons have also been made with Tom Pryce's horrific accident at the South African Grand Prix in 1977.

Webber is one of the smartest drivers in Formula One. But this time, he has out-smarted himself, and almost cost himself dearly. 

Six-Month Offense

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has been under a lot of criticism lately.

It has nothing to do with his play. Instead, he was panned by many for missing the birth of his second child and opting to play against the Cleveland Browns last Sunday instead.

While sticking with your teammates is something one should be proud of, leaving your wife behind at childbirth can be dangerous, as no one knows if and when complications may set in.

For this, Yours Truly really believes that Flacco has no one to blame but himself.

Look, the NFL season starts in September and ends in February. That means NFL players have a six-month window when they can be at their wives' side during childbirth. But somehow, Flacco is two weeks late.

Like what Dan Patrick says, Flacco may be a good clock manager, but definitely not a good calendar manager.

Many Happy Returns?

Juan Pablo Montoya has signed with Team Penske and will return to IndyCar next year.

He won the CART title in 1999 with seven victories, and took three more wins the following year. Racing in Formula One between 2001 and 2006, he scored seven victories for Williams and McLaren. Since 2007, he has been racing in NASCAR and has two victories, one each in 2007 and 2010.

And next year he will return to the venue where he first entered the limelight.

Montoya's return to IndyCar after a stint in Formula One reminds Yours Truly of another driver who has taken a similar path before.

Alex Zanardi.

In fact, Montoya and Zanardi were "traded" for one another in 1999. That year, Williams traded Montoya, their test driver, to the Ganassi team in CART for Zanardi, then two-time defending champion of CART, for financial reasons.

Unfortunately, Zanardi did not have much success with Williams that year, and his return to IndyCar in 2001 ended in tragic circumstances.

Yours Truly is a huge fan for both drivers, especially for Zanardi, who has shown remarkable courage and determination since the horrific accident, and has even won a gold medal in para-cycling at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.

At the age of 38, many think that Montoya is way past in prime. Yours Truly certainly hopes that he will fare much better than Zanardi did.

In more ways than one.

A League of Their Own

With seven laps to go at NASCAR's Federated Auto Parts 400, Brian Pattie, crew chief for Clint Bowyer of Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR), said to Bowyer over the radio:

"39 (Ryan Newman) is going to win the race. Is your arm starting to hurt? I bet it's hot in there. Itch it." (From ESPN.com)

Shortly afterwards, Bowyer spun.

Subsequently, Newman, who was poised to win the race, had a slow pit stop which cost him victory as well as a spot in the Chase.

When race resumed after Bowyer's spin with just three laps to go, MWR's general manager Ty Norris said to his driver Brian Vickers:

"We need that one point. We're probably going to pit here on green," Norris says.

"Are you talking to me? I don't understand, pit right now?" asked Vickers.

"You've got to pit this time. We need that one point," Norris replied.

"10-4. Do I got a tire going down?" Vickers asked.

Vickers then pitted as the field went green. When he asked after if his crew found anything with the tire, Norris replied, "I'll see you after the race, Brian, I owe you a kiss." (From ESPN.com)

The result? Joey Logano of Penske Racing was able to move ahead of Vickers, gain positions and score enough points to qualify for the Chase on points alone, and free up a wildcard spot for Martin Truex Jr., the third MWR driver, for the Chase. The victim this time is Jeff Gordon, who would have qualified for the Chase but for Bowyer's spin, and now have lost out to Logano by a single point.

Two questionable moves by MWR, two beneficiaries in Logano and Truex, and two victims in Newman and Gordon.

Subsequently, NASCAR imposed fines and point penalties to all MWR drivers, resulting in Newman taking Treux's place in the Chase. But they did not do anything to bring Gordon back into the Chase.

At first it looked like Logano is an innocent and worthy beneficiary. But new evidence (radio conversation, again) has surfaced which showed that the small Front Row Motorsports team, like Penske Racing being Ford customers, had ordered its driver David Gilliland to slow down considerably and let Logano through to gain those vital points.

Looks like the Chase field is far from set yet.

For Yours Truly, the whole thing is not about team orders per se. It is more about the way in which they were carried out. MWR carried out the team orders in probably the clumsiest way ever. It all sounded so stupid and obvious. Why didn't they devise some sort of codes?

One classic example came to mind. At the 2010 German Grand Prix, Felipe Massa was informed by his Ferrari engineer over the radio:

"Fernando (Alonso) is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand that message?"

Massa then eased off and let Alonso through to victory. While Ferrari was fined by the stewards, the results stood.

Then at the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix, the last race of the season, Red Bull told Sebastian Vettel, who has already secured the World Championship, over the radio, that he had a gearbox problem and had to slow down.

Eventually, his teammate Mark Webber went past to secure his belated first win of the season, and many believe that Red Bull pulled it off remarkably well.

They always say that Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsports.

Now Yours Truly cannot agree more, in more ways than one.

A False Dawn?

Since the opening of Jerry's World, the Dallas Cowboys have never beaten the New York Giants at home.

And even with six turnovers, they could only barely win 36-31 last Sunday.

On a positive note, the Cowboys forced only 16 turnovers in the entire 2012 season. In the first quarter against the Giants alone, they had three, including an interception by DeMarcus Ware on the very first play from scrimmage.

But even with those six turnovers, the Cowboys once again failed to take advantage. Not only did they give up four touchdown passes to Eli Manning and a huge chunk of yardage, they also failed to sustain their drives when they desperately needed to milk the clock.

With less than two minutes to go, a fortuitous deflection gifted Brandon Carr a 49-yard interception return for a touchdown, and gave the Cowboys a 36-24 lead. But still they managed to give up another touchdown with less than 20 seconds to go which set up yet another nail-biting finish.

When the ball bounced crazily during the ensuing onside kick, Yours Truly really thought that the Giants would recover the ball. Thankfully, Sean Lee was alert enough to be the first player to pounce on the loose ball to finally seal the deal.

An ugly win is still a win, and the six turnovers forced are definitely worth cheering for. But even with the arrival of Monte Kiffin, the old trait of giving up big plays after big plays is still very much in evidence. And even with Bill Callahan now calling the plays, they still cannot maintain a consistent rushing attack.

Is it over-reaction after just one game? Maybe, but Yours Truly still very much agrees with what someone once tweeted recently.

That is, being a Cowboys fan is an "existential horror".

Godsend for Arsène

Arsène Wenger is one very lucky man.

For years, he has been known as a spend-thrift. He has never been a believer of spending big for big name players. He is so confident of his Midas touch that he always thinks he can turn virtually unknown players (see Touré, Kolo and Koscielny, Laurent) into stars.

But if Gareth Bale hasn't finally completed his protracted move to Real Madrid, and if Mesut Özil hasn't lost his place in Real to Bale in this World Cup year, Yours Truly really wonders who Wenger could have signed in placate his angry fans in this transfer window.

Yours truly really believes that Ozil is a world-class talent who perfectly fits the bill as an Arsenal player. But for Wenger, Ozil is more than a perfect player for him.

He is also a Godsend that falls squarely onto his lap.

What Were They Thinking?

Explain to me, please:

If Dez Bryant, in 2009, was suspended for a year for lying about his lunch appointment with Deion Sanders;

If A.J. Green, in 2010, was suspended for 4 games for selling his bowl game jersey for US$1,000;

And if Terrelle Pryor, in 2011, had to withdraw from Ohio State for allegedly making thousands of dollars signing memorabilia for a booster;

Then why Johnny Manziel, this year, will only be suspended for half a game for allegedly receiving payment for signing thousands of autographs?

The NCAA has really lost its mind, and credibility, if any left.

Feeling No Love

You have to feel for Malcolm Lee, who played for the Minnesota Timeberwolves last season.

Before the NBA draft on Thursday, he was still a member of the T'wolves.

But in a matter of minutes, he was traded away by two teams, the T'wolves and the Golden State Warriors respectively, and is now a member of the Phoenix Suns.

Now being traded away is nothing unusual for NBA players. But for that second trade between the Warriors and the Suns, it was nothing BUT unusual.

"The Warriors send the No. 29 pick and guard Malcolm Lee to the Suns in exchange for the No. 30 pick", as reported by ESPN.

Usually we see teams throwing players in a deal trying to move up in the draft. In this trade, however, the Warriors threw Lee in the deal in order to MOVE DOWN the draft, which clearly shows how high, or low, he was rated by the Warriors as a player.

Warriors: "Suns, I like your Lada. Can I have it?"

Suns: "Sure. I love your Koenigsegg too. You'll give me your Koenigsegg AND Malcolm Lee, and I'll give you my Lada. Okay?

Warriors: "Sounds good. Let's do it." 

...

If Lee is able to secure a spot on the Suns' roster, mark the date of the games between the Suns and the Warriors, rivals in the Pacific Division next season.

Devil’s Pact

I don't remember who said it. But he said it really well.

The New England Patriots must have made a pact with the Devil. In return, they will enjoy the service of one of the best tight end combo ever in the NFL, in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, for a period of three years at most.

And sure enough, Gronk and Hernandez, both drafted by the Patriots in 2010, have revolutionised tight end play and caused nightmares to the opposing defenses.

Fast forward to 2013:

Gronk is now recovering from his latest surgery on his back, after enduring dozens of operations on his troublesome left arm. His return date is uncertain.

But his plight pales in comparison with what Hernandez is going through now. Hernandez has been released by the Patriots following his arrest in relation to the murder of an associate. His football playing days, many would say, are now over at the ripe old age of 23.

Last season, they had two of the best tight ends in the NFL. Now they have none.

But at least they now have Tim Tebow ...

Dallas Howler?

I would love to bash Dallas Cowboys' owner/GM/czar/jack-of-all-trade Jerry Jones for what he has done in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft.

In case you are not following, at the start of the day the Cowboys had the 18th pick. Then they decided to trade down, which they did with the San Francisco 49ers. At the end of the day, the moved all the way down to 31st, while picking up ONLY an additional third-round pick, at no. 74.

In contrast, when the St. Louis Rams traded down from 22nd to 30th, they also picked up a third- and sixth-round pick.

And that pick no. 74 simply paled in comparison with what the New England Patriots managed to get from the Minnesota Vikings when they traded out of the first round: A second-, a third-, a fourth- and a seventh-round pick.

And when it was finally the Cowboys' turn to pick, they picked OC Travis Frederick who, although generally regarded as the best OC available, was also projected as a third-round pick.

Perhaps Jerry thought he was using that pick no. 74 when he selected Frederick.

When the selection was announced, I hated it. I was telling myself that Jerry was being Jerry again, and he has no idea how to run a draft.

But a couple of hours later, I have calmed down and started to think that he actions may actually make sense.

It takes two to tango. It takes two to get married. And it takes two to get a trade done. Of course the Cowboys would love to get as much value as possible when they traded down, but every trade is different.

I would love to think that when it was their time to pick at 18, that 49ers' trade proposal was the best they had and when they looked at their draft board, all the players they loved were probably gone. So they didn't stand pat and decided to trade down.

As for Frederick, he may turn out be a very good player. Who knows? The Cowboys had a terrible offensive line the last couple of years, and perhaps Frederick is the missing piece they have been looking for. If he's really good, then who cares about what the so-called draft experts say?

Wishful thinking? I hope not.

Super Duped Predictions

Superbowl XLVII is coming, so yours truly simply can't resist the urge to make some silly and bold predictions.

- MVP will be QB Alex Smith of the San Francisco 49ers, in a losing effort (more on that later).

In case you are not following the NFL closely, here is what happened to Smith, in Peter King's words on Monday Morning Quarterback:

"(Smith was) NFL's top-rated passer [104.3] through 10 weeks. Completed 18 of 19 passes in his last full game, at Arizona (Cardinals). Took a week off due to a concussion suffered the next game against St. Louis (Rams). Lost his job in that one week off to (Colin) Kaepernick, who never had started an NFL game. Kaepernick quarterbacked the Niners to the Super Bowl ..."

Smith was the first overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft and was widely regarded as a bust early in his career. In came head coach Jim Harbaugh in 2011 who has turned him into a highly-efficient (if not spectacular) quarterback. This season he has been in fine form, until admitting that he had suffered a concussion in the game against the Rams. And the rest is history.

In football, everyone says that you won't lose your job because of injury. But that is exactly what has happened to Smith. So wouldn't it be ironic (or right) to see Kaepernick having to leave the game (due to injury or ineffectiveness), and then for Smith to come on and play out of his mind, by throwing a couple of touchdown bombs late in the game?

- The Baltimore Ravens will beat the 49ers, rather easily.

Kaepernick has been playing brilliantly in place of Smith. But he is still a rookie, and his play has been a bit inconsistent. Like Smith, Ravens' QB Joe Flacco is a solid player not known for his big plays until the last couple of games. The Ravens started 9-2 this year, only to stumble to a 1-4 finish. Then Flacco found his groove and with him at the helm, the Ravens have become the hot team of late, by beating Peyton Manning and Tom Brady away from home in the playoffs. The last two Superbowls have been won by the hottest team at that point (Green Bay Packers and New York Giants respectively). Look for the streak to continue this year.

- Ray Lewis' Last Hurrah

Having announced his retirement earlier this year, Lewis brilliant career should have ended at Denver in the Divisional playoff game. But somehow the Broncos let Jacoby Jones sneak by the secondary and Flacco found him for a 70-yard score with 31 seconds left to tie the game.

Are the Ravens destined to win? Yours truly thinks so. But don't expect a great game from Lewis, who has shown signs of age and is still hampered by his arm injury. He will have a solid performance as usual, rack up a dozen tackles, and be instrumental in keeping the 49ers at bay (no pun intended).

The Curious Te'o of Manti

It's been a fascinating week in US sports.

We have the NFL playoffs. We have the Lance Armstrong confession with Oprah Winfrey. And hey, hockey is also back, finally.

If that's not good enough, all of a sudden, we have this curious girlfriend hoax story involving Manti Te'o, the star linebacker of the resurgent Notre Dame.

No wonder they say that if you want to do something terribly evil, you'd better do it this week and you will fly under the radar thanks to these stories.

The details of the story are convoluted and complicated. In short, Te'o claimed that he had been duped into having a year-long online relationship with a woman named Lennay Kekua, who allegedly had a serious car crash, was diagnosed with leukemia, and died on the same day as Te'o's grandmother. Turned out that the two have never met as Kekua never existed. While Te'o claimed that he is a victim of the hoax, many suggested that he has played along with the hoax and, consequently, used his girlfriend's death as an inspiration for his team that went all the way to the national title game.

All in all, it raises serious doubt about Te'o's decision-making ability and, more importantly, sexuality.

Top linebacker prospects like Te'o are expected to be smart and able to make decisions on the field quickly. If Te'o has trouble figuring out he's been duped by the hoax, what does that tell you about his intelligence? He is eligible for the upcoming NFL Draft and he will definitely be grilled by all the teams during the Combine.

Even if the teams are satisfied that his intelligence and judgment are not a concern, many people will still have questions about his rumoured sexuality. One of the major fallouts of the story is that many are wondering that girlfriend hoax is a façade to cover his sexuality, as homophobia is still ongoing in professional sports, especially in the NFL.

Over the years, only a handful of fringe NFL players have come out after their retirement. Many claim that there are in fact a lot active homosexuals players in the league, but they all refuse to come out as they are way too clear of the backlashes.

Our society has changed a lot with people more open-mined about homosexuality. But come to think of it, the NFL is practically run by 32 "families" and some of them are noted for their conservative values. Prominent players have also hurled anti-gay slurs (Larry Johnson) and spoken out about not welcoming homosexual players on their teams (Jeremy Shockey and Garrison Hearst). Even if the rumours are incorrect, the suspicions and accusations surrounding him will be enough to scare some of the teams away. So don't be surprised to see Te'o, who has long been highly touted as a top-ten pick, to drop down the draft board, which will cost him millions of dollars.

To break that vicious cycle, they need a top player to come out during his career. Many people now wonder if that would be Te'o. Notre Dame said that had Deadspin not broken the news about the hoax, they would have addressed it two days later in what, some suspect, would have been the coming-out party of Te'o's.

Apparently they still have to wait.

Lesser of Two Evils

When it comes to top sportsmen who are jerks, two names come off the top of the head of many.

Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds.

In the court of public opinion, Armstrong is a jerk because of how he persecutes those who expose the ugly truth, that he became a top cyclist thanks to all kinds of doping imaginable. Bonds is a jerk because of his hostility towards everyone, from fans, teammates to reporters, and because of his steadfast denial against doping charges on him despite, many argue, solid evidence.

To me, Armstrong is a real jerk as first, he admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he didn't think what he did was wrong and, second, he wanted all of us to believe that he is actually a good guy by setting up the Livestrong Foundation, one that has raised millions of dollars in the fight against cancer. Armstrong himself admits that he is "part jerk part humanitarian". To me, the good things he has done will never be able to make up for the atrocious acts he has done to many.

Armstrong is a hypocrite. A real jerk.

Bonds is a mystery to everyone as he never let the fans know him. Fans marvel as his baseball prowess, but also scoff at his standoffish nature. On Facebook, he may have a lot of followers, but I doubt that he has a lot of friends.

Like Armstrong, Bonds has been embroiled in doping controversies for years. But unlike Armstrong, whose many former associates have come out against him, Greg Anderson, the long-time trainer of Bonds who allegedly was the source of performance-enhancing drugs, has chosen jail time instead of testifying against him in court.

To me, Bonds is just socially inept. So he shuns almost all interview requests, and has a frosty relationship with his teammates throughout the years. He is aloof by choice.

Armstrong's bullying nature has resulted in many of his former confidants saying, "Enough is enough", but Bonds' softer side to his inner-circle of friends may have saved him from being punished in the court of law.

Lance Arm-Stronged

I have never been a Lance Armstrong fan.

His first impression to me was not good at all. I first heard of him at the 1995 Tour de France, when he was beaten on the line by Ukrainian Sergei Outschakov in a two-man breakaway in Stage 13. I vividly remember how Armstrong, obviously frustrated and disappointed, responded to questions by reporters in a not-so-friendly manner, and how he mockingly dissed Outschakov ("I didn't know he was THAT fast") in front of the TV cameras.

That day, he came across as a jerk to me.

And as a result, I always see him as a jerk.

Cycling is a cruel sport. Tours with multiple stages are simply humanly impossible. That is why so many cyclists have resorted to various performance-enhancing drugs not only to boost their chances of winning, but also improve the likelihood of just finishing a Tour.

And after years of denial, Armstrong has finally admitted that he is one of them.

For years, his m.o. was, he was the only one telling the truth, and everyone else lies. What makes him more disgusting to me that any other drug cheats is how he strong-armed (pun intended) those who have come out to accuse him of doping. He threatened Frankie Andreu, his best friend and teammate, and his wife, Betsy. He sued Emma O'Reilly, his masseuse and The Sunday Times for libel. He acted as the ringleader in boycotting fellow cyclist Christophe Bassons, a "clean" rider who has spoken out against doping. He also called his former teammates Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton "liars".

For sure, Armstrong is a cancer survivor, and his Livestrong Foundation and cycling feats have been inspirational to many who have been stricken with the dreaded disease. But does it mean we should show him more sympathy by turning a blind eye when it comes to his drug use?

While I appreciate him coming clean belatedly, what is troubling to me is, there is no difference whatsoever in his facial expressions when he was blatantly lying years ago, compared with now when he is supposedly telling the truth.

Someone once said that to know someone, it would be better to pay attention to how he tells you a story instead of what he tells you. Judging from Part I of the interview with Oprah Winfrey, I can't really tell whether he is in fact telling the truth now.

Which means that he is still a jerk to me.