Letter to the sports editor

Armstrong deserves magazine honor

I am writing in regard to the piece Dave Socier wrote about Lance Armstrong not being worthy of being named sportsman of the year by Sports Illustrated.

In his short, but misguided piece, he suggested that what Lance Armstrong has done, winning four Tour de France races was not much more of an accomplishment than what his aunt could do.

This goes back to the issue of if it doesn’t have a ball, it’s not a sport. Well as you might of guessed, I disagree.

Let’s set aside for a minute that Armstrong is a cancer survivor, we’ve all heard the heroic story of his comeback. That being what it is, he has accomplished what no other American has ever done. He has competed in probably the toughest endurance race in the world.

He has done it against the worlds best cyclists and in their back yard. Pro cyclists in Europe hold stature similar to Michael Jordan or John Elway receive here.

The Tour de France lasts around two weeks and there are usually only two rest days for the entire tour. When its all said and done, they race over 2000 miles. Each day the competitors race around 100 miles or more, and some of those days they climb up the Alps and the Pyrenees mountains.

I doubt Mr. Socier or his cycling aunt has ever looked over their shoulder or needed to use an altimeter to see how far up they had just climbed using only their body as the engine.

This is not a social ride down the nature trail. Along the route there is the kind of bumping and elbowing that would make a soccer match seem tame. And let us not forget that this is all being done on a bike going about 30 mph.

The crashes are horrific and even occasionally deadly.

Armstrong trains for this event more than 11 months every year to prepare not only his legs, but his lungs, heart and mind for this grueling event.

I wonder how well Sarena’s legs would hold up if she played daily tennis matches lasting six to eight hours against the world's best for the same two-week period? On top of all that, Armstrong has accomplished what few other Tour winners have with four total victories.

Cliff Brice III

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