Lance Armstrong

[Don Wassall]

Lance Armstrong is AP's Athlete of the Year in '04 for the third year in a row:

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports/article/0,1299,DRMN _2_3429123,00.html

By Associated Press
December 28, 2004

AUSTIN, Texas - Even by his lofty standards, Lance Armstrong's return to the mountaintop in 2004 was pretty special.

Already recognized as one of the truly inspiring athletes of his generation, Armstrong took his cycling legacy a step further when he won a record-breaking sixth consecutive Tour de France in July.

And for his accomplishment, he was honored Monday as The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the third consecutive year.

Armstrong joined Michael Jordan (1991-93) as the only athletes selected by sportswriters and broadcasters three consecutive times since the honor was first awarded in 1931.

"For me it was a special year," Armstrong said. "It's always nice to win the Tour, but this year was special simply because I broke the record and made history."

Armstrong received 51 first-place votes and 312 total points. Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning was second with 17 first-place votes and 156 points.

The voting reflected Armstrong's return to dominating form in an event where he separated himself so far from the pack there was little question of the outcome.

In 2003, Armstrong struggled to win his fifth Tour de France, capturing cycling's premier event and one of the world's most grueling sporting events by a mere 61 seconds.

Yet the 33-year-old Texan stormed back in 2004 with arguably his best U.S. Postal Service team and his best individual performance on the bike. He won five individual stages and a sixth with a team time trial.

"I certainly feel like I recovered my true strengths," Armstrong said. "I haven't felt as in control of a tour as this year."

 

[IceSpeed]

Here is a good role model for kids.

 

[okra63]

Lance Armstrong is a good role model for kids and adults. People need to learn from his work ethic and the world would be a lot better place.

 

[Don Wassall]

Armstrong is about to try and win the Tour de France for the seventh straight time. Winning it six times in a row was an extraordinary achievement. There are few individual or team accomplishments better in sports history.


Lance has said that this is his last Tour, and it may well be. But why do I get the feeling, just as with other great white athletes like Brett Favre and Roger Clemens, that the media has been a little too eager to bid adieu to him, almost encouraging his retirement with constant questions about it for a long time. If anything they should be encouraging such greats to play as long as possible, not always asking them, "Are you finally ready to retire?"


The below article is not negativein any way, but is imbued with the notion that Armstrong will shortly be gone for good with no questions asked.


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05182/531373.stm

 

[Bart]

Yes Don, I've heard a few talk show hostsspeakof his retirement and some have even said he should not be considered a great athlete because of the doping involved in racing and all he does is peddle a bike!


Someone told me he read Lance's auto biography and discovered one of the reasons for his great success. Apparently his body doesn't produce the lactic acid that causes so much pain in our muscles when over exerted. If that is true, he then has the ablity to keep riding while others can't continue from pain. Has anyone read or heard of this?

 

[White Shogun]

The heart can be trained to increase the amount of blood, and thus, more oxygen, per beat.

But the lungs capacity to intake oxygen can only be increased through training a tiny bit.

Armstrong's lungs, through genetics, are able to intake more oxygen than a normal man. A lot more, I think the figure I read somewhere was 80% more capacity than the average person.

With more abundant oxygen, he will have less build up of lactic acid.

So in a sense he is genetically suited to marathon-type events, like the Tour. This is of course not to deny his work ethic, training regimen, or his heart, either. There are plenty of people who are genetically gifted and do nothing with it. Without his dedication, Armstrong would no doubt have serious difficulty completing, much less winning, a Tour, let alone six of them in a row.

 

[IceSpeed2]

One can also train to use Oxygen more efficiently and get more work out
of ATP. Armstrong is coming off of a strong tour and is still in
good shape. However, Ulrich and Basso are probably much improved
so it will be hard. Other challengers are motivated to work
harder when Armstrong wins so often.


Edited by: IceSpeed2

 

[IceSpeed2]

Armstrong is neck and neck with Zabriskie. He
is in the thick of it, but it will be Lance's most competitive tour
yet. Tom Boonen has won twice in a row now.

 

[SteveB]

Armstrong is in the yellow jersey today and has a commanding lead over the top competitors. There is no place for the contenders to make up time on him until the first mountain stage, where Lance will bury them. I expect Basso and Vino to possibly hang with Lance in the mountains but they are roughly a minute and a half behind. I know that it is early in the race, but this race is now Lance's to lose.

 

[Don Wassall]

Knowing that speed is an important part of cycling, I turned on a one-hour show on the Tour de France on CBS this afternoon fully expecting to see Lance Armstrong surrounded by a sea of black faces.

Alas, there wasn't a one! Yet another sport in which those "superior athletes" are vastly inferior to whites at the elite level.

 

[White Shogun]

Don, you know its because of discrimination there aren't more blacks on the Tour de France. The cost of equipment, like a good bike, helmet, shoes, and so on are going to keep the poor urban blacks kids off the seat and on the basketball court. Otherwise they'd be dominating the Tour, what with their superior athleticism, will to win, and determination to train, train, and train.

Just look at the William's sisters, for example.

 

[Don Wassall]

Don, you know its because of discrimination there aren't more blacks on the Tour de France. The cost of equipment, like a good bike, helmet, shoes, and so on are going to keep the poor urban blacks kids off the seat and on the basketball court. Otherwise they'd be dominating the Tour, what with their superior athleticism, will to win, and determination to train, train, and train.

Just look at the William's sisters, for example.

Let us never forget thepriceless wisdomof Ken Rosenthal

of The Sporting News, excusing the ever dwindling number of American blacks in Major League Baseball thusly: Blacks prefer basketball because it "requires only blacktop, a hoop and a ball," whereas baseball "requires a field, bats, balls and gloves."

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Like a black group singing once said; Money, money, money,money! I guess they just ain't got it?

 

[Bart]

Come on man, the ghetto blacks are screwed! How many state of the art racing bikes do they ever get a chance to steal?

 

[robcat]

When baseball requires a "field, bats, balls and gloves", a far too complicated set ofvariables for blacks toovercome according toRosenthal thebaseball writer for the Sporting News, how canblacks be expected to learn the intricaciesinvolved inriding a racing bike?


I'd like to hear Rosenthals excuse for why there are no good black swimmers. "Locating a swimming pool is often difficult work, and few young blacks can afford to buy a $5 swimsuit at Walmarts. Otherwise, with minimal trainingtheyd be dominating the Summer Olympics."

 

[White_Savage]

bats, ball, and gloves too complicated...Rosenthal says this and I'm the racist?

Of course, your friendly neighborhood Jew can NEVER be a racist, despite how many expressions of hatred for all non-Jews his holy book seethes with...

 

[SteveB]

With only 4 stages left and the mountains behind him, Lance is in complete control of the race. His rivals have thrown everything at him and he responded to every challenge. As I predicted, Basso stayed with Lance in the mountains but couldn't beat him. He even said today that he tried everything, but Lance is too strong to beat. After this race, its farewell to one of the greatest athletes of all time.

 

[SteveB]

Armstrong won the individual time trial today in commanding fashion. He now has a 4'40" lead over Basso in second place. Tomorrow is the victory parade into Paris and the end of the Armstrong era. He has completed an athletic feat which will probably not be equalled in our lifetime. Way to go Lance!

 

[Colonel_Reb]

This guy has 1 in a billion genes, according to ABC news. They ran a story on him and what makes him such a great athlete the other night. I don't think you'll ever see a black guy win 7 Tour De France in 1,000 lifetimes. Hoorah for Lance, even though I can't stand his girlfriend.

 

[SteveB]

I was just watching Armstrong on Larry King try to defend himself from the accusations of the French. The poor guy is going to be persecuted by the French for the rest of his life just for being the best. He has never tested positive for anything and he has been tested almost daily during the Tour and 6 or 8 times a year in the offseason. The French had to go back to 6 year old samples and retest them to try to get him. What is interesting is the French say that 6 of the samples were positive, but where are the results of the other 11 samples that were also taken from the 1999 TDF? Of course there are no remaining samples to be tested to verify the results. The whole thing stinks to me.

 

[Don Wassall]

Lance Armstrong starts his comeback tomorrow at an Australian race. His seven straight Tour de France wins are one of the greatest sports feats ever. This man is a titan on the world athletic stage like Michael Phelps, and a great role model and inspiration. Best of luck to him.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aYHP 3_PdaH_I&refer=asia

 

[Don Wassall]

ESPN is currently running this picture of Lance Armstrong on its homepage. Rather curious, wouldn't you agree?

 

[DixieDestroyer]

Don, that photo makes Lance look like Skull&Bonesman (during initiation) or a druid.

 

[j41181]

Whoa! Even though the picture looks cool, don't you think he's being portrayed as a villain? Still nice shot!

 

[j41181]

I think it's absolutely incredulous if there will be a call for diversity in the Tour de France.

The greatest ever of the Tour de France is a White American, as they say, an American in Paris. Lance Armstrong, the Tour de FORCE!!!!