USA Today reported Saturday what many of us already believed: Lance Armstrong will admit to Oprah Winfrey this week that he is guilty of doping during his cycling career. It's been obvious for some time that Armstorng has been lying all these years, but most of the listeners who've called my show on this topic defended Armstrong, fiercely. And I find that defense fascinating. It reminds me of the Brett Favre fans who called the show and swore that wasn't his voice on those now infamous voice mails.

People are faithful to the heroes, to a fault. Armstrong has been obviously guilty for years. Brett Favre was obviously the more unreasonable party in the Packers departure and obviously wasn't the Huck Finn type fans thought he was. And they will cling to their belief that their heroes are good and pure. 

As this piece points out this confession is not without risk, but he picked Oprah for a reason. As Wall Street Journal sportswriter wrote last week, people don't go on Oprah to confess, they go looking for forgiveness and that's what Armstrong is doing.