Why am I against Lance Armstong?
If you had told me 5 years ago that in 2009 Lance Armstrong would be riding in the Tour de France I would have assumed I'd be excited. I used to watch the Tour. I used to really care. Yet here we are, Lance is riding (and riding well), and it almost angers me to see him performing well. I am trying to figure out why.
I blame Brett Favre for most of my feelings against Lance Armstrong. Brett Favre was the classic "I will retire, I won't retire" athlete. I consider that a 'God Complex.' Every summer Brett Favre danced with Packers and their fans. Every summer the media was there to analyze every move and quote. The sheer amount of Brett Favre coverage lowered my tolerance for athletes and their "God Complexes." Now I feel generally the same with Lance Armstrong. If I were one of his teammates (because cycling is very much a team sport) I would be terribly upset. Here is Lance, retired for 3+ years, who decides to ride and swoops in to assume the number one spot on his team. "Sorry guys, Lance is back, please move to the back of the bus." Probably similar to the setting when David Beckham came over and played for the L.A. Galaxy.
The Lance Armstrong God complex is also aided by my addiction to twitter. Lance is one of the few celebrities or athletes I follow. Lance's twitter feed was everything I feared it would be (and why I hope Tiger Woods never has one) because it is all about him. He simply has started to annoy me because he thinks I should want to be him (eat his food, listen to his music, and anything else he does). Twitter could be an amazing tool for an athlete to show they are normal people, that they drink coffee in the morning just like the rest of us. Sadly Lance's (and seemingly other athletes) miss that opportunity.
So I will cheer for Lance, even though I bet my boss he would lose. I just hope that he is humble if he wins. It would be a story, and I will be interested to see how he goes about it. Will it be "of course I won, I am Lance Armstrong," or "my teammates were amazing by allowing me, and not them, to have this opportunity."
I blame Brett Favre for most of my feelings against Lance Armstrong. Brett Favre was the classic "I will retire, I won't retire" athlete. I consider that a 'God Complex.' Every summer Brett Favre danced with Packers and their fans. Every summer the media was there to analyze every move and quote. The sheer amount of Brett Favre coverage lowered my tolerance for athletes and their "God Complexes." Now I feel generally the same with Lance Armstrong. If I were one of his teammates (because cycling is very much a team sport) I would be terribly upset. Here is Lance, retired for 3+ years, who decides to ride and swoops in to assume the number one spot on his team. "Sorry guys, Lance is back, please move to the back of the bus." Probably similar to the setting when David Beckham came over and played for the L.A. Galaxy.
The Lance Armstrong God complex is also aided by my addiction to twitter. Lance is one of the few celebrities or athletes I follow. Lance's twitter feed was everything I feared it would be (and why I hope Tiger Woods never has one) because it is all about him. He simply has started to annoy me because he thinks I should want to be him (eat his food, listen to his music, and anything else he does). Twitter could be an amazing tool for an athlete to show they are normal people, that they drink coffee in the morning just like the rest of us. Sadly Lance's (and seemingly other athletes) miss that opportunity.
So I will cheer for Lance, even though I bet my boss he would lose. I just hope that he is humble if he wins. It would be a story, and I will be interested to see how he goes about it. Will it be "of course I won, I am Lance Armstrong," or "my teammates were amazing by allowing me, and not them, to have this opportunity."
Labels: sports
posted by Phillip @ Monday, July 13, 2009
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