Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Lance Armstrong NOT an athlete?

Don't forget....according to the ESPYs.....NASCAR drivers are athletes. I'm not putting them down, being rocketed around a track at up to 200 mph in a car with very little suspension travel for 3 hours in a jumpsuit with no AC is not something that most people could do, but I wouldn't say this person is an athlete, it's more that they possess said skills than anything else. That is like calling bowlers or Billiards players athletes.

Lance Armstrong is the most drug tested athlete in the world. Nobody can believe he is as good as he is without drugs. Well...in all this time he's come up clean everytime. Face it, the guy is an anomally. The did a physical and discovered his heart is 30% larger than the average person. This is acheived by both genetics and training. He keeps winning the toughest cycling race in the world against the worlds best cyclists by huge margins (over 7 minutes, that is like beating the next closest oppenent by a few miles, not even close!!)

I'm willing to bet that Mr. Armstrong could outrun (distance over time, not sprint) most professional athletes (you name em, Jordon, Bonds, heck even Marion Jones 'she's a sprinter')

The guy is truly an athlete!

I found some great responses to this jacka** Ron Borges. Check 'em out!

http://www.msnbc.com/news/785627.asp

My favorite was this one:

I?m surprised that you would publish an article based on what seems like a total lack of understanding of a sport. Borges? article may have been deemed entertaining as a flippant attack on an athlete, but it was not good journalism and shows a lack of editorial responisiblity at MSNBC. I?m fine with someone not caring for Lance Armstrong, but I am very disappointed that such an article would be published without some editor questioning the author?s knowledge of the sport. Come on, readers expect more than just some guy going off about things he doesn?t know.
Of course, if this is indicative of MSNBC?s standards, I?m ready to come work for you as a writer. Name the subject and I?ll work up a few thousand words. Just so long as I don?t actually have to know anything about the subject on which I?m commenting. Let me know when to submit my first article. I?m ready.

I think this one is the best I've read so far.

"Just read Ron Borges article titled, ?Great feat, but not a great athlete.? Ron, in his opening article makes the asinine statement of, ?I wonder if he (Lance Armstrong) is an athlete at all.? Ron, the real question is, are you actually a paid writer? Where did you go to school to learn your craft?
Tour de France cyclists routinely burn as many a 9,000 calories a day cycling through the French mountains. Nine thousand, Ron. After reading your last article, I would guess that is your IQ plus two zeros. You call cycling a ?fringe? sport. Breathed oxygen lately, Ron? Your idea of an athelete is obviously so small that it only has to do with team sports. Cycling has been around longer than football, basketball and even the most boring of all sports, baseball. Have you lately checked the figures of how many people, worldwide, commute by bikes, or participate in recreational or amateur cycling events? Ron, get your pudgy, sallow skinned butt on a bike, cycle through snow, rain, heat, through forests, passes and over baking concrete. Then come back and check your intellectually depressed ego at the door. You?re an embarrassment to MSNBC. I find it interesting, and highly amusing, that the poll on your cover story had 96 percent of 16,866 voters disagreeing with your ?assessment.? Don?t look now, Ron, but I think you just opened your mouth and removed all doubt."

What a load of carp. Lance is one of the best conditioned atheletes in the world, hands down.

Here's food for thought: Is Tiger Woods an athelete? All he does is hit a little ball as far as he can, then hit it with great accuracy on the ground from close range. How about Patrick Roy? All he does is stand in the way of a frozen piece of rubber travelling at 90+ MPH. Colin McRae? Just drives a car on questionable roads. Michael Schumacher? Drives on a flat track with curves. Mike Piazza? Squats to play catch and then runs no more than 360 feet at one time. What about Body Builders? They lift weights just to show their bodies off.

Anyone that trains and hones their body for a specific purpose is an athelete. Every person I just listed above, in my mind, is an athelete. I'm sure Tiger, Patrick, and competetive drivers (including NASCAR) all undergo physical training in one form or another (weights, cardio, etc.) in order to excel at their respective sports.

What a dumb bish! I couldn't care less for baseball, so maybe I should write an article and say that baseball players are not athletes! Biking of anykind requires much more than just pumping the legs up and down. Maybe if that guy can actually ride a bike, he'll understand. It pisses me off reading that crap especially since I just spent my whole day pumping my legs up and down off road today!

I CHALLENGE THAT GUY TO COME OUT, I'LL RUN OR BIKE AGAINST HIM. THEN AFTER I BEAT HIM, I'LL BEAT HIM UP!

You offroaders are no athletes,,,just patients waiting to happen,,,

I have seen the most horrific injuries from off road bikers from the pedaling and nonpedaling kind!!!

Armstrong is an amazing athlete that came from death(cancer) to destruction(the Tour) in a matter of years!!!!!

Endurance cyclists are most certainly athletes in every sense of the word. Listen to this great interview with Greg LeMond.

LeMond Interview

I think its sad that someone so narrow-minded is allowed to be published. I beleive in freedom of speech but Mr. Borges is plain ignorant and pessimistic. What about being patriotic? In these times, I think its important that we support our fellow Americans, not belittle them~! Lance Armstrong is extremely impressive for what he has accomplished, especially considering the cards he has been dealt in the past.

We all know bicycling is a sport. Its not a main stream athletic competition but still a sport. Physically and mentally its not easy. Yes, even autoracing is a sport. My father raced CART indycars for many years and the training/skill requiered is just as difficult if not MORE than your so-called "true athlete" who plays the typical team sport. Just because you dont know what its like doesnt give you the right to criticize something!

I think this proves my point