Lance Armstrong: Can the lies and bullying be forgiven? - OPINION

Worshiped, then demonized, few people polarize opinion quite like Lance Armstrong, perhaps even more so as he seeks rehabilitation in the court of the public view."It would be an incredible story of redemption and second chances if he puts himself in a position to deserve that," says Travis Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), whose report led to Armstrong losing all his sponsors and cost him millions of dollars."He hasn't done it ... yet but, when it comes to second chances, I'm always hopeful," Tygart told CNN.No longer 'untouchable'It could be a long road to redemption given Armstrong's bubbling resentment towards those who brought him down.In Juliet Macur's 2014 book "The Cycle of Lies," Armstrong says: "I hated those motherf***ers -- the Betsys, the LeMonds, Walsh, I still hate him ... I still hate them."The disgraced Texan was referring to his former teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife Betsy, three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond and Irish journalist David Walsh, all key architects in his downfall.More than two years on from his report, Tygart comes across as a modern-day Elliot Ness.Though Ness and his "Untouchables" used guns, Tygart deployed testimonies from many of those closest to Armstrong to bring down the previously untouchable cycling superstar.The American lawyer repeatedly held out an olive branch to Armstrong with offers to confess his sins and serve the same six-month suspension dished out to his former teammates.Armstrong never came to see him, but Tygart still hopes the day will come."It takes time," Tygart says. "Floyd Landis (himself a former Tour winner later exposed as a drugs cheat) denied it and attempted to take us down for doing our job."It was a couple of years after he served his sanction that he decided to come in and be truthful. Hopefully Lance Armstrong can and will move on."Everyone comes around to the rules and when you're living your life as a fraud and stealing from people and not living an open and transparent life, that's not the way to do it."To err is human, that's a big factor in our world. Absolutely, we can forgive and we should offer the opportunity for second chances."It's what we're about but that second chance has to be earned, it has to be more than just cheap lip service, a real attempt to make amends."Tygart's position is admirable given that during his quest, there was immense pressure on him to halt his investigation, attempts to bankrupt USADA and bring down the organization, even personal threats to the lawyer."I don't like hate mail and death threats but shame on us if you don't have the courage to set that aside and move on," he says. "The evidence was so overwhelming beyond any doubt that we had to just move on regardless."'He needs to stop being an asshole'Armstrong's former teammate Scott Mercier is another to demonstrate a generous willingness to forgive.In 1997, at the age of 28 and in the prime of his career, the U.S. Postal rider was handed a detailed drugs regimen by the team's doctor (who has since been banned from the sport from eight years despite his denials) and told to stick to it.Mercier's decision not to dope was the day his cycling career ended.At a similar crossroads to Armstrong -- who would join the team the following year -- and so many others, Mercier opted to not cheat, and walked away instead.It makes it all the more surreal that Mercier, who lives about a two-hour drive from Armstrong in Colorado, regularly drives to a halfway point between the pair's respective homes, where they unpack their bikes and go for a ride."I have to recognize that Lance is 80% gray, 10% white and 10% black," says Mercier."I think there are three camps in the U.S.: those that absolutely hate him and will never forgive him, those that overlook everything that he did and those that are a bit indifferent."I think he'll be forgiven but he needs to keep doing what he's doing. He's showing some humility, he needs to stop being an asshole and be nice. He has regrets. He's spoken about the bullying and I know he regrets that."Mercier admits there have been times when he's grown concerned for his friend, with the magnitude and rapidity of his fall from grace."I don't think he'll ever get back to the perch that he was on. He was deified for 10 years and now he's demonized but he's just a human being. I think part of the problem is that he can't get over the USADA decision against him."'Lying bully'Not everyone is prepared to forgive, let alone believe that Armstrong deserves another chance.His best friend when he first broke onto the European circuit in the early 1990s was fellow American Frankie Andreu.The pair were tight -- Frankie and Lance -- an American double act, living together and trying to break into the notoriously inhospitable ranks of continental racing.Andreu and his wife Betsy were in the hospital room in October 1996 when a then cancer-riddled Armstrong admitted to doctors the cocktail of drugs he had ingested as a professional cyclist.(CNN)Bakudaily.Az