Lance Armstrong the best athlete EVER

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RedCountry

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Okay, this has to be discussed, and I know that this board is usually a great place for interesting opinons on both sides of issues. With Lance approaching his 7th straight Tour De Lance victory, can we now finally lable him as the BEST ATHLETE EVER, as I think he so richly deserves??

I mean seriously guys, to think how impressive of an athlete one must be to even win ONE TDF, let alone 2, let alone 2 in a row, LET ALONE 7 IN A ROW!!!!!!!!!!! :woo Just completely blows my mind. I cant even really comprehend how incredible of a feat it is. All the things that could go wrong during the arduous journey across France for such a long period of time. The odds against him were ASTRONOMICAL. Yet he is still going to pull it off. The guy is superhuman. Oh yeah, all this AFTER he beat cancer, how many times.

Lets think about everything he has had going against him year after year:

-constant scrutiny from press & fans in France that despise him for being the BEST EVER at their favorite sport ever -- this takes time and energy away from him

-All the persistent drug testing -- he probably couldnt even get away with using a freaking energy bar for crying out loud!

-The potential pitfalls during a TDF -- many riders get injured, the conditions are usually less than favorable etc.

-Everyboby gunning for you, for 7 straight. Think about when someone is a champion in a US based sport. Take the Huskers. When we won back to back titles everyone wanted a piece of us and to knock off the Champs. Lance overcame this SEVEN STRAIGHT YEARS.

I know there have been some comparisons made to other sports, i.e. winning 7 straight TDF's is tantamount to a golfer winning 20 straight majors, tennis player winning Wimbledon 10 straight years etc. So when you think about it like that, I believe it really underscores the argument that Lance is the best athlete of ALL TIME. Thoughts?

 
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Best athlete ever, I don't think so . Maybe best Endurance Athlete ever. What he has accomplished is amazing but I don't think he is as good an athelete as Air Jordan. He falls in with Track and Field guys.IMO But compared to the greatest of all time in say the NFL, NBA, or maybe MLB he doesn't belong in the same catagory as those guys. E. Moses didn't lose a race for like 20 years. Or Michael Johnson winning World Championships. I think this is what you compare Lance Armstrong to. Which these guys are all great in their respective sports, but I don't think they fall in line as the best athelete ever.

 
Yea, I wouldn't go as far as the best athlete ever ... But definatley the best athlete in his sport EVER. I don't think there will be anyone that you could say is or was the best athlete ever because of all the different sports. No one would ever be able to be the best athlete in every sport.
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Thats what I was suggesting, not that he could outplay anyone in any sport, but that he's the best all-around athlete in his sport, ever, hands down. Think about it, who has accomplished more in their sport? And dont give me MJ's 6 or so titles b/c winning a team sport championship is nowhere near as tough as winning something like the TDF in 7 consecutive yrs. I challenge anyone to name someone who has dominated their sport more than Lance for a consecutive number of years.

 
E. Moses dude. He didn't lose the 400 meter hurdles for like 20 years. So Jordan or Bill Russell get points taken away because they play a team sport? Last time I checked Lance has some dudes watching his back during the tour. Pete Sampras dominated tennis for, I don't know if it was 7 years but it was probably around there.

 
E. Moses dude.  He didn't lose the 400 meter hurdles for like 20 years.  So Jordan or Bill Russell get points taken away because they play a team sport?  Last time I checked Lance has some dudes watching his back during the tour.  Pete Sampras dominated tennis for, I don't know if it was 7 years but it was probably around there.
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Yeah but he didnt beat EVERY top pro hurdler during each race. Arguments could be made that his competition was watered down in many of those races. And he didnt have half the scrutiny that Armstrong did.

No they dont lose points ONLY b/c they play a team sport, simply based on the fact that they didnt dominate the entire game for an extended period of time. Look at how uncommon one person winning consecutive TDFs is, then compare that to winning consecutive championships in other sports. The parallel would require a bball player like MJ to win MVP and help his team to a title in roughly 15 straight seasons. Its not even close how much Lances feat blows every other athelte's production out of the water in the history of modern sport. Really not even in the same conversation.

I dont agree when people just say "well you dont have to be athletic to pedal really fast". Thats BS. My definition of an athlete is someone who has participates in a physcially enduring event, requirng their body to perform well. Ahleticism to me = endurance, agility (yes cyclists have this!), heart, ability to overcome pain etc. If you think athletes are only people who can jump high or contort their body then Im sorry to say but that is pretty shallow minded. Good debate btw, i appreciate it! :)

 
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My hats off to him for all that he has accomplished. I bet you that if you asked him his biggest life accomplishment, it wouldn't have anything to do with riding a bike. The man beat cancer. Not only that, he triumphs over it, and goes on to be the most dominant athlete to a sport ever. Way to go Lance! :cheers

 
There is no doubt about who the two best athletes of all time are. Babe Zaharias, and Jim Thorpe. They dominated entire genders in multiple sports. Thorpe was an olympian, a football player, a baseball player, you name it, he could do it. Babe was the same way. There is no debate. For their time, they were by far the greatest athletes ever.

 
My hats off to him for all that he has accomplished. I bet you that if you asked him his biggest life accomplishment, it wouldn't have anything to do with riding a bike. The man beat cancer. Not only that, he triumphs over it, and goes on to be the most dominant athlete to a sport ever. Way to go Lance! :cheers
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Exactely. Really a great Amercian moment

 
Not to mention he's hitting Sheryl Crow.
Lance > all
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So did Kid Rock, Clapton, and Lenord Kravitz. So it really isn't that impressive. I guess he was the first to date her after she completely re-did her face. :thumbs

 
E. Moses dude.  He didn't lose the 400 meter hurdles for like 20 years.  So Jordan or Bill Russell get points taken away because they play a team sport?  Last time I checked Lance has some dudes watching his back during the tour.  Pete Sampras dominated tennis for, I don't know if it was 7 years but it was probably around there.
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Yeah but he didnt beat EVERY top pro hurdler during each race. Arguments could be made that his competition was watered down in many of those races. And he didnt have half the scrutiny that Armstrong did.

No they dont lose points ONLY b/c they play a team sport, simply based on the fact that they didnt dominate the entire game for an extended period of time. Look at how uncommon one person winning consecutive TDFs is, then compare that to winning consecutive championships in other sports. The parallel would require a bball player like MJ to win MVP and help his team to a title in roughly 15 straight seasons. Its not even close how much Lances feat blows every other athelte's production out of the water in the history of modern sport. Really not even in the same conversation.

I dont agree when people just say "well you dont have to be athletic to pedal really fast". Thats BS. My definition of an athlete is someone who has participates in a physcially enduring event, requirng their body to perform well. Ahleticism to me = endurance, agility (yes cyclists have this!), heart, ability to overcome pain etc. If you think athletes are only people who can jump high or contort their body then Im sorry to say but that is pretty shallow minded. Good debate btw, i appreciate it! :)
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Why was Moses races watered down? He beat whoever lined up against him. Don't get me wrong Armstrong has accomplished great things but I just agree he is the best athlete ever. I also don't think him beating cancer has anything to do with him being a good athlete.IMO We could go around and around forever. I'm not going to change your mind and you're not gonna change mine. So I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.

 
Not to mention he's hitting Sheryl Crow.
Lance > all
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So did Kid Rock, Clapton, and Lenord Kravitz. So it really isn't that impressive. I guess he was the first to date her after she completely re-did her face. :thumbs
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Yea, but which of those won 7 TDF's?!

See? Lance still > all

 
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