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Lance for President!!

Thread ID: 19275 | Posts: 10 | Started: 2005-07-25

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BlueBonnet [OP]

2005-07-25 17:45 | User Profile

[url="http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1086184,00.html"]http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1086184,00.html[/url] Lance Armstrong's Last Ride

 The cyclist wins his seventh Tour de France, and thinks about the future

By [url="javascript:void(0)"]SEAN GREGORY[/url]
[url="http://www.time.com/time/searchresults?query=SEAN%20GREGORY"] [/url] Posted Sunday, Jul. 24, 2005 Many iconic athletes, who spend their entire lives as victors, often have to experience losing before they’re convinced to call it a career. Willie Mays stumbling in his forties with the Mets, Muhammad Ali falling to Leon Spinks and doing roach motel commercials in the late-seventies, Joe Namath tossing interceptions for the Rams. They should have retired years before.

Then there are the ones who leave us wanting more. Michael Jordan did it twice, in 1993 after three straight championships with the Bulls, and again in 1998, after a second troika of titles (we can just forget that stint with the Wizards, right)? Ted Williams, eye sharper than a razor at age 41, hit a homer in his last at bat. Barry Sanders might have rushed for 25,000 yards by now.

Lance Armstrong is of that second type, and as he cruised to his seventh straight Tour de France title in Paris on Sunday, his lead was so safe, his status as a cycling—and cultural—icon so secure that Tour officials called the race early as the pack approached Paris in the rain. Still, they let the bikers take their eight laps around Champs-Elysées, so fans could see Armstrong one last time. By the time Armstrong crossed the finish line, the sun had turned the day yellow, to match the jersey Armstrong wore like a kid’s favorite pair of pajamas. “He’s a once in a lifetime athlete,” says Jonathan Vaughters, an ex-teammate of Armstrong who now coaches junior riders in the U.S. “I don’t know if I will live to see, or my son will live to see, anyone like him again.”

Some cycling observers wondered if the cancer survivor had enough left for his last Tour, a three-week, 2,232.7-mile trek though the northern and southern tiers of France. Now, we wonder if he could have won 10. Armstrong wore the yellow jersey for 16 (out of 21) stages, more than any of his previous six wins. After trailing fellow American Dave Zabriskie by two seconds through the first three flat stages in early July, Armstrong took the yellow jersey after the fourth stage, a team time trial in which Zabriskie crashed, ending his Tour. Armstrong gave the jersey up for a day, to Germany’s Jen Voight, after the ninth stage, saving his strength for the Alpine climbs. Armstrong came out of the Alps with a lead, but a 12th-stage crash cost him Manuel Beltran, a teammate, or “domestique,” who was slated to protect Armstrong on the Pyrenees climbs.

It didn’t matter. Armstrong pushed his lead from 38 seconds to 2 min., 46 sec. during the brutal Pyrenees ascents. His rivals had a final long-shot chance to catch him, Saturday’s 34.5-mile time trial in Saint-Etieene, the penultimate stage of the Tour. Armstrong won the stage, his first on this year’s Tour. From the podium, tears filled his steel-blue eyes—he knew it was over.

Sunday’s finale was just a coronation. Before the start, he signed autographs in Corbeil-Essonnes. The French, who had loudly suspected Armstrong of doping, now adopt him as their champ. He flashed seven fingers—one for each win—and sipped champagne while riding with teammates into Paris. The three biggest reasons for Armstrong’s retirement, his son and two daughters, joined their father on the podium. “Vive le Tour!” he shouted, waving.

Armstrong, 33, insisted he was finished, though he’s not quite ready for shuffleboard. “I’m an athlete,” he said after Saturday’s time trial. “I’m not going to sit around and be a fat slob.” But he’ll take his time deciding what’s next. “I don’t know the next time [when] I’ll ride a bike will be,” he said after clinching the title. “I’ve got to refocus my life and try to find a new balance. I need goals, but they won’t be sporting goals. I can’t imagine a life of vacation, but I can imagine one with more vacations. But I still want to try to make a difference in the world.” An interviewer asked what victory tasted like. “A cold beer in about twenty minutes,” Armstrong answered.

After that? Armstrong has hinted at a future in politics. He’s inspired millions of Americans to wear yellow Livestrong bracelets, so he has a base. “Lance showed everybody that willpower matters,” says Giorgio Andretta, a Charlotte, N.C. bicycle importer who traveled to the Champs-Elysées to catch Armstrong’s last win. And his home state of Texas will elect a governor next year. “Never say never,” Armstrong told TIME about his political ambitions. “I’m a fighter, and I do have certain beliefs. I don’t think I’m truly cut out for it, but if people want it in ten years, who knows?” Ten Tour de Frances, or Senator Armstrong in ten years? If we have to settle for elections, his greatest wins may still be down the road. — reported by James Graff/Paris

xmetalhead

2005-07-25 17:52 | User Profile

Doesn't Lance go out with that god-awful singer Cheryl Crow?

MadScienceType

2005-07-25 18:26 | User Profile

Yep. Dumped his wife and two kids for her. Maybe his ex was the shrillest of harpies, we'll never know, but she did stand by him during his cancer, as well as going through two in vitro pregnancies for him, so I'd say she gets the benefit of the doubt.

None of the fawning coverage I've seen even mentions his kids, much less the ex-wife but they sure do manage to find column inches for "his girlfriend, rocker (sic) Sheryl Crow."

il ragno

2005-07-25 18:35 | User Profile

A lot of wives who stick by you when things are bleakest and you need them like you need oxygen become, amazingly enough, clinging vines who are holding you back and never really understood you when the fame and fortune arrive. It's the oddest thing.

By the same strange token, it's equally amazing how down-to-earth and soulmate-like actresses, models and other celebrity homewreckers turn out to be around that same time. Life's sure full of little ironies like that.

Snouter

2005-07-25 19:13 | User Profile

I have yet to see any video footage of Lance, one of the greatest athletes in history, on any of the news shows. I wonder why that is. I am sure his race has nothing to do with it. :whstl:

il ragno

2005-07-25 19:44 | User Profile

He's a best-selling author who's done many high-profile tv appearances re his book tours.

He doesn't get the ESPN face-time Tiger Woods does as an individual athlete because cycling is not nearly as big as golf is in the States, but his fame has been increasing with each TdF. Are NASCAR drivers 'better' than Formula 1 drivers? Well then why are they so much better known, and on tv much more often?

I've noticed on this board that - even though individualism is disparaged as the false messiah of our time - team sports are always despised and dismissed....in favor of the 'individual' athlete. (Except when it's Tiger Woods, of course.)

Quantrill

2005-07-25 20:08 | User Profile

[QUOTE=il ragno] I've noticed on this board that - even though individualism is disparaged as the false messiah of our time - team sports are always despised and dismissed....in favor of the 'individual' athlete. (Except when it's Tiger Woods, of course.)[/QUOTE] Cycling, at least in events like the Tour de France, is a team sport. The teammates all have specific roles, such as protecting Armstrong from being passed during certain stages, or allowing him to draft behind them. He gets all the glory, but he couldn't do it alone.

Faust

2005-07-25 21:10 | User Profile

xmetalhead

[QUOTE]Doesn't Lance go out with that god-awful singer Cheryl Crow?[/QUOTE]

And Cheryl Crow is about 10 years older than him and his wife too.

il ragno

2005-07-25 21:24 | User Profile

Crow has already driven one guy to suicide, by dumping him when she got famous. So I guess she decided to try it with a woman.

Hugh Lincoln

2005-07-25 21:26 | User Profile

[QUOTE=il ragno]A lot of wives who stick by you when things are bleakest and you need them like you need oxygen become, amazingly enough, clinging vines who are holding you back and never really understood you when the fame and fortune arrive. It's the oddest thing.[/QUOTE]

Sir, you are the master of what I think is best described as the sarcastic italicization clause.