If his name was Kobe Bryant we'd say he was little more than a ball hog.If his name was Manny Ramirez we'd dismiss him as being all about him.
If he went by the initials T.O. we'd criticize him as a narcissist.
His name is Lance Armstrong, however, and because of all he's been through, what he's accomplished and how many people he continues to inspire, we aren't going to call him what he's unquestionably become: selfish.
It is still true -- as Lance trumpeted in the first of his best-selling books crafted by Sally Jenkins -- that his latest running in the Tour de France is not about the bike. It's just that this time his racing in the Tour is all about him. The altruism is in the sag wagon.
Lance's intent upon returning to professional road cycling may not have been about anything yellow except that which makes up his foundation's logo. Indeed, when he announced last September that he was coming out of retirement after three years, he promoted that he was doing so as part of his noble fight against the disease that nearly did to him what it does to close to 8 million people worldwide every year -- kill.
Then just before the Tour de France shoved off the first weekend of this month, Lance suggested he was going along for the ride to help his new team win. After all, Lance's longtime team manager, Johan Bruyneel, with whom Lance had reunited, had just announced that their Astana team captain would be the new young lion of the sport, Alberto Contador, winner of the 2007 Tour. The rest of the team would be expected to support Contador's bid to win the whole thing, just like Lance's teammates did for Lance for his Tour-record seven consecutive victories.
Tour de France Photos
Tour de France doctor Gerard Porte tends to Jose Joaquin Rojas, of Spain, after a crash in the pack during the 11th stage of the Tour de France cycling race in Saint-Fargeau, central France, July 15.
Bas Czerwinski, AP
Injured Spanish cycling team Caisse d'Epargne (GCE)'s Jose Joaquim Rojas of Spain is comforted after he felt on July 15, 2009 in the 192 km and eleventh stage of the 2009 Tour de France cycling race run between Vatan and Saint-Fargeau. US cycling Team Columbia-High Road (THR)'s leader Mark Cavendish of Great Britain won ahead of US cycling team Garmin-Slipstream (GRM)'s Tyler Farrar of the United States and French cycling team Francaise des Jeux (FDJ)'s Yauheni Hutarovitch of Belarussia. TOPSHOTS/AFP PHOTO PATRICK HERTZOG (Photo credit should read PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
Combo of the day made on July 15, 2009 in the 192 km and eleventh stage of the 2009 Tour de France cycling race run between Vatan and Saint-Fargeau, shows From L, top, injured Spanish cycling team Caisse d'Epargne (GCE)'s Jose Joaquim Rojas of Spain comforted after he felt with teammate David Arroyo of Spain (2ndL) and Luis Leon Sanchez of Spain (C), US cycling Team Columbia-High Road (THR)'s leader Mark Cavendish of Great Britain jubilating on the finish line, seven-time Tour de France winner and Kazakh cycling team Astana (AST)'s Lance Armstrong of the United States (R) ridding in the pack with teammate 2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador (L) and the pack ridding past sunflowers. AFP PHOTO JOEL SAGET/PATRICK HERTZOG AFP PHOTO PATRICK HERTZOG (Photo credit should read PATRICK HERTZOG/JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
The peloton rides during the eleventh stage of the 96th Tour de France cycling race between Vatan and Saint Fargeau, July 15, 2009. REUTERS/Charles Platiau (FRANCE SPORT CYCLING IMAGES OF THE DAY)
Reuters
SAINT-FARGEAU-PONTHIERRY - JULY 15: Marcin Sapa of Poland and Lampre leads Johan Van Summeren of Belgium and Silence-Lotto in the breakaway during stage 11 of the 2009 Tour de France from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry on July 15, 2009 in Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry, France. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Marcin Sapa;Johan Van Summeren
Getty Images
SAINT-FARGEAU-PONTHIERRY, FRANCE - JULY 15: Marcin Sapa of Poland and Lampre leads Johan Van Summeren of Belgium and Silence-Lotto in the breakaway during stage 11 of the 2009 Tour de France from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry on July 15, 2009 in Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Marcin Sapa;Johan Van Summeren
Getty Images
SAINT-FARGEAU-PONTHIERRY, FRANCE - JULY 15: Race leader Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy and AG2R La Mondiale signs autographs at the start of stage 11 of the 2009 Tour de France from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry on July 15, 2009 in Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry, France. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Rinaldo Nocentini
Getty Images
SAINT-FARGEAU-PONTHIERRY, FRANCE - JULY 15: Alberto Contador (R) of Spain and the Astana team rides in the peloton during stage 11 of the 2009 Tour de France from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry on July 15, 2009 in Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry, Framce. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Alberto Contador
Getty Images
SAINT-FARGEAU-PONTHIERRY, FRANCE - JULY 15: The peloton makes its way through the French countryside during stage 11 of the 2009 Tour de France from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry on July 15, 2009 in Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry, France. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
Getty Images
SAINT-FARGEAU-PONTHIERRY - JULY 15: Johan Van Summeren of Belgium and Silence-Lotto leads Marcin Sapa of Poland and Lampre in the breakaway during stage 11 of the 2009 Tour de France from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry on July 15, 2009 in Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry, France. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Marcin Sapa;Johan Van Summeren
Getty Images
But a funny thing happened coming round the bend on the first few stages of the Tour. The Astana team proved even stronger than many expected. Lance looked fitter than he had in warm-up races, surprising even himself, perhaps. (Lance even said the other day that he felt so good he figured he'd ride in the Tour again next summer.) And when he looked over his shoulder he saw most of the pre-race favorites -- like last year's winner Carlos Sastre, Christian Vande Velde and Cadel Evans -- buried minutes behind with Lance's specialty, the mountains, yet to come.
All of a sudden, Lance's main competition to win another Tour was the teammate he'd all but vowed to support, Contador.
To hear Lance the past few days, you would think that it is Contador who is breaking the gentleman's agreement on the team by making an unexpected breakaway to gain a second or two on an early stage. But the deal was that this would be Contador's race to win if he was proving good enough and it would be Lance's to serve quite humbly as a super domestique, a helper of the highest order. Those plans appear to have been shredded and turned into so much confetti high in the Spanish Pyrenees.
There isn't anyone with Astana who has the gravitas to tell Lance to stick with the game plan. How could they? Lance is the king. He's nobody's pawn. He makes moves on everyone else, like the number of women he's hooked up with over the years who make up the Tour de Lance. His newest baby, born last month, is from his latest girlfriend. If Lance was an NBA or NFL player, it would be pointed out that he hadn't wed the mother and has three other children by his ex-wife.
It has been easy to forget over the years that Lance is more like a lot of other athletes than he is not. He's kicked cancer to the curb and won a grueling event with apparent ease, over and over and over again. Remember the year he fell off his bike after it hooked in a spectator's bag, then slipped out of his cleats but still recovered, and with a vengeance, to catch the leaders and bury them? It was a singular comeback of the likes we'd never witnessed.
In a certain sense, it's kind of refreshing to see this side of Lance, to be reminded that that he is a cutthroat competitor carved from the mold of a Michael Jordan or Bob Gibson.We've marveled at Lance's resilience. His ability to comeback has defined not only his athletic career but his life as well. At the end of the day, however, Lance is an athlete driven by competitive juices and buoyed by ego. Lance has won all of his life and he can't bring himself to do anything less now, Contador's designation as team captain be damned.
This is the kind of thing that eventually derailed Kobe's and Shaq's Lakers and always kept the Tony Romo-Terrell Owens Cowboys from winning.
In a certain sense, it's kind of refreshing to see this side of Lance, to be reminded that that he is a cutthroat competitor carved from the mold of a Michael Jordan or Bob Gibson. He isn't just the soft speaker of measured words.
"I'm not going to say there's not a little friction," Lance told reporters of the fallout from the Contador breakaway that moved Contador into second place, ahead of Armstrong. "The biggest tragedy would be that if we both want it so badly that someone else gets it. ... That's not going to happen."
That wasn't supposed to be a scenario in the first place.
Follow me on Twitter: @ProfBlackistone
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
7-16-2009 @ 12:09AM
arhmgr said...
Wow Kevin what do you have against Lance?
Should he hold back and not live up to his potential in this Tour because of Contador's aspirations? Hands downs it was Contador who decided to take advantage and attack when the clear direction was to hold from the team Manager Johan. So are you suggesting that Lance has thrown out the team considerations when it was so obvously Contador's actions that indicated he is out for himself. And so be it, the team be damned and Lance should do all he can to win....yet again.
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7-16-2009 @ 12:57PM
terkurtz said...
Yes, Armstrong upset the team chemistry. Do you think Lance would stand for a newcomer to his team and challenge his leadership in his prime, even if the newcomer was stronger? NO WAY would he permit that.
7-16-2009 @ 12:10AM
miki49 said...
Heh, Blackstone, what have you accomplished in your sorry ass career?
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7-16-2009 @ 12:16AM
allstarace said...
Blackstone claims '"we see"' Kobe as little more than a ball hog" and infers Manny and T.O. have been treated harshly by "us" and relates this to Lance Armstrong. How ridiculous and, in typical Blackstone fashion, racist. Kobe Bryant is fawned over by fans and media like a child-God, Manny is constantly excused for childlike behavior detrimental to his team and T.O. has made millions through a career marred by dropped passes and poor behavior.
The assertion that Armstrong may be ambitious to the point of selfish may have some merit, but the racial undertone and irrelevant comparisons are offensive.
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7-16-2009 @ 11:20AM
Mr. Wright said...
You're right, Ace. Even in your ABSOLUTE WRONGNESS, you're right. It's racial. And Blackistone dances around the point..
..that maybe Armstrong gets a pass because he's got the backstory and the lack of melanin.
Fact is, *I* don't like Kobe. And yes, he gets fawned over but you would have to have your head in a hole (not saying which hole) not to notice that Kobe is considered selfish, and a ball-hog. Same with Manny.
So why should Armstrong's dalliances with women, the steroid allegations and his changing his team's chemistry just because he's a cancer survivor and, MAYBE, because he's white?
Face it..white athletes continue to get the benefit of the doubt over the "thuggery" that is the black athlete. Not saying that thug athletes don't deserve the scorn, but other black athletes should not be painted from the same brush just because they share melanin.
But you won't hear me. So go ahead and hate Kevin and call him a racist for pointing out the splinter in your own eye. We'll deal. We always have.
7-16-2009 @ 2:53PM
billh23 said...
Kobe is far from a god child and really boring to watch. He will never be even remotely close to filling Michael Jordans shoes. Kobe Bryant has time and time again proven what a ball hog he is.
7-16-2009 @ 12:41AM
Robert said...
Why do we listen to these non athletic sports writers?
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7-16-2009 @ 12:45AM
FUTURE SVP!!!!!! said...
Leave Lance alone and let him race! It's easier to criticize and write articles than actually DO IT. Get on a bike and climb a mountain in a 100 degree heat with the whole world watching. Sitting in some cubical and writing obscure articles is not exactly living life, or understanding it. Why am I even paying attention...?
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7-16-2009 @ 12:54AM
Jay said...
Kevin is right on this one.
Guys, all you need to do is superimpose Bill Belicheck's head on Lance Armstrong's body and read those quotes.
We don't see selfishness because we consider Cycling to be a lone man's sport, when it's most definitely not.
The problem is, when Michael Jordan selfishly powers his way to a NBA Trophy, all the other Chicago Bulls players still get rings and are still called champions. They can't really complain.
But Lance is is all about Lance, and he's throwing the team under the bus.
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7-16-2009 @ 1:05AM
Bob said...
*Unlike basketball and football, bicycling victories ARE given to one person, not a team. The team exists to push one man to the front. Contador was supposed to be the man, but he chose to violate team orders, leaving it open to debate who should be the "leader", and Lance stepped up. Kobe, Manny, T.O. and the like choose to promote themselves as if the team exists for them, which it DOES NOT. In cycling, IT DOES. Get over it, Blackistone. There isn't a doubt in my mind that you wouldn't even consider this article if Lance was black, given your exceedingly racist past articles.
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7-16-2009 @ 1:44AM
soccerarturo said...
I agree with your evaluation of Lance.
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7-16-2009 @ 1:31AM
sman44 said...
Ignoring the fact that Lance Armstrong and our incredible Oncologist, Dr. Lawrence Einhorn, both helped me get through several types of cancer, promote good health through the Livestrong Foundation, and allowed me nine additional years to watch my daughter grow into a young lady; it seems to me that if more people (most of all, people like YOU) were MORE like Lance Armstrong, the world would be a better place. What have you done? Bad-mouthed a world champion and an inspiration to millions? Thats about IT. Good job. Now do something useful and go stick your head in the sand after removing it from your rectum.
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7-16-2009 @ 2:54AM
Aja said...
i totally agree that lance has a huge ego.
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7-16-2009 @ 3:56AM
Danielle said...
It's really hard for me to be critical of Lance as I know I would be tempted to do the same thing myself. I am not sure if the comment from #8 Bob is correct or not re:Contador left the option available for Lance to try to win or not, but if so, I KNOW I would have done the same thing. I want to win and will do it if I can. My understanding of the cycling stuff though, is that it is a team endeavor, and the captain is the eventual winner. I don't like to think of great people being selfish and egocentric, but it happens. I just keep working on getting the crud out of me. Hopefully, Lance is also.
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7-16-2009 @ 4:05AM
Spanks said...
Some tidbits on Blackistone Bio-Dallas Morning News:
MOST UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE ON THE JOB: Spending a summer month in Europe writing about its sports.
SOMETHING PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME: I've never seen Roots.
IF I HAD TWO SPARE HOURS, I WOULD: Have two more to waste.
MOST MEMORABLE SPORTING EVENT I'VE COVERED: The Mike Tyson bite fight.
OK Folks; Now that you read what has been Blackistone's the Most Unforgettable Experience to the Most Memorable Sporting Event he's covered/written about...it's no wonder he sounds like a moron when he writes about Lance Armstrong.
Blackistone's writing looks like it was typed in green ink; put the jealous monster back in your ego!
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7-16-2009 @ 4:50AM
theOCD said...
I didn't even read this. Lance Armstrong being full of himself is old news. Lance Armstrong being a good cyclist is also old news. I guess you gotta fill the (internet) pages with words somehow...
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7-16-2009 @ 4:53AM
nyr99nhl said...
Another loser journalist doing what he does best. (Or is it worst?)
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7-16-2009 @ 5:37AM
captnwmkidd said...
I agree with Blackstone's assessment. Lance is and has always been about Lance and Lance alone.
He left his wife and 3 kids high and dry when he became famous so he could go & play with Sheryl Crowe. He eventually left Crowe high and dry too after she was diagnosed with cancer.
He always had team support behind him when he was chasing down Tour wins. There wasn't ever anyone ever falling out of ranks to go for there own win. It was a team plan and they stuck to it as Lance as their captain and it was successful.
For years he has been suspected of cheating with respect to Roids and the like.
He was good friends with Owen Wilson, yet still hooked up with Kate Hudson behind his back. Bro's before Hoe's dude.
Now he is going against the team's plan to push the team captain, Contador, for the win because he sees a glimmer of hope that team Lance might have a shot.
He is and always has been a douche to the highest order. He has proven time and time again that he is not loyal to his wife, his kids, his friends or his team. He is loyal only to team Lance.
I, for one, applaud Blackstone for saying what has been on the minds of many for years.
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7-16-2009 @ 6:39AM
paul said...
Kevin......... looks like you win the booby prize for your article on poor ole Lance. The readers generally are not buying into your thoughts here. I have no doubt that you aren't buying into them either. Even though they are of your own making. That's sometimes how it works with you writers. Make people respond good or bad don't matter.. you got that done.. too bad that it will diminish your value over time. Armstrong is a phenom. Phemoms are not normal. They hear different noises in their minds. You have admire them not admonish them. So get a life and write about Obama and his Cap and trade scam.. he and gore make a good pair..perhaps they will take a bike ride on day
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7-16-2009 @ 8:46AM
Gary said...
Lance...selfish? So what would YOU do? Your team can't keep up with you...so do you hold back and wait for them? Be loyal in defeat? Or do you say, "to hell with 'em", and then go for it? To berate him as being selfish without even getting his input is jumping the gun. I have no problem with Blackistone and watch him regularly on Around the Horn. But on this subject I think he is way off base. Give the guy a break. We all should have his drive and competitiveness. GO FOR IT, LANCE!
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