I am glad to hear a story like that; it restores my faith that Lance Armstrong can still act like a regular guy. However, I think the bottom line is that no one can really know a pro athlete. We just get these little snips of their life through the media, which it's tough to discern anything from. Heck, look at Jim Gray, (reporter) who though he "knew" Kobe Bryant, because they had talked and had dinner on numerous occasions. He leapt to his defense and said "He would never do anything like that!" - and then was left with egg on his face when Kobe admitted to having non-consentual sex with a hotel clerk (whether it became non-consentual before, during, or after will never be known.)

The bottom line is that Lance unfortunately comes across in an unflattering light in some of the bits in this documentary. As you've pointed out, he can be a cool guy under different circumstnaces. It may be that competition brings out a side of him that I don't particularly care for.

As for the relative greatness of athletes with pleasant public personas, that's up for endless debate. But it may be irrelevant, since we can't really "know" them either, as I just pointed out.