Ryan Lochte Ryan Lochte of the United States attends a press conference in the Main Press Centre on Day 7 of the Rio Olympics on August 12, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Who doesn’t love a good comeback story? Obviously, we do at The Comeback, but companies looking to sponsor athletes do as well.

It appears that is what one company is quite literally banking on, as Pine Bros. throat lozenge company has apparently signed disgraced American swimmer Ryan Lochte to an endorsement deal.

He needed it in the worst way after being let go by all of his main sponsors, including Speedo and Ralph Lauren, following his made up story of being robbed at gunpoint following a night out in Rio.

Instead, camera footage from a gas station and from the entrance of three other swimmers and Lochte showed so such robbery ever taking place. Lochte and his fellow swimmers were actually seen being rude and destructive at the gas station and after causing some damage were not allowed to the station without forking over cash for the security guards.

Pine Bros. apparently wants to be the first one to help Lochte put the embarrassing and brazen actions behind him and heal his public image…either that, or take advantage of the adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

“We all make mistakes, but they’re rarely given front-page scrutiny,” Pine Bros. CEO Rider McDowell said to TMZ. “He’s a great guy who has done incredible work with charities. I’m confident that Pine Bros. fans will support our decision to give Ryan a second chance.”

It will be interesting to see how the company chooses to handle Lochte’s horrific lying over a robbery that never occurred. Making fun of a serious situation could backfire, and it just may be too soon to overcome the story.

Time will tell on that, and we’re guessing it will be awhile before we see Lochte’s mug on our TV screens or in the magazines we read.

[TMZ]

About Andrew Coppens

Andy is a contributor to The Comeback as well as Publisher of Big Ten site talking10. He also is a member of the FWAA and has been covering college sports since 2011. Andy is an avid soccer fan and runs the Celtic FC site The Celtic Bhoys. If he's not writing about sports, you can find him enjoying them in front of the TV with a good beer!