here for a few weeks now but hasnt made it to the front pages of the newspaper until yesterday.I wonder if he is planning his return because he was able to stay with Dave Wiens for most (READ: bonked towards the end) of an endurance offroad race recently.
Sarah Palin has been getting her fair share of media coverage here as well.
ps. in case you are wondering what the cover of the newspaper above Lance's head reads - "Divorce becomes even more easier".
29 comments:
Well, I don't know what to think about the return of Lance Armstrong. I think trying to something in a big way for cancer research is a good thing, but only Lance really knows inside of himself why he has chosen to return to the Lime lite. I could guess in a negative way that his personal stock was going down and it is probably hard to be deminished in "star power" especially after so much attention over the years. It might also be from the in ability to settle down or to find a solid relationship, or for any number of reasons. I think ego might have something to do with it, even though people's unsubstantuated critisism and acusations don't seem to go away. Perhaps he needs the focus and drive that competition at that level provides him. Perhaps he just misses riding his bike with the boys. I wonder what Levi and Contador really feel about it. Best of luck to Lance and I don't care if people don't like the United States, or think that Americans are arrogant or can't speak the truth. About the previous article, the word spook use to be a slang word for Nigger in the deep south. It also refers to the KKK when they would wear their white robes with the hoods on to conceal their true identities. They didn't want their neighbors to know they were killing and torturing innocent people! The reason people try not to use such terms is that it is ugly, hurtful, and the idea is to wipe out predjudice and the wrongful treatment of individuals of differing skin color, ethnic backgrounds, religions ect. I guess there could be a whole dictionary for ethnic slang or derogatory sterotypes, such wap, spick, nigger, wetback, kike, bulldike, dike, queer, faggot, whitey, honky, ect ad-infinitum. But freedom of the press, religion, the freedom to bring grievances against the goverment, protest, ... the bill of rights is pretty important, and that is the way it is here, or at least it needs to be what people need to pay attention to. I don't think people that try to kill us should have any rights, at all. They certainly don't think we have any rights to live and be free. So to all the terrorist that just kill innocent people around the world for what ever illogical reason, fffffuckkkkk you.
Jeez Rickie... It's only lance returning to cycling for like 6 races... ;)
Christine I too was intrigued to see that the word spook was Dutch for ghost. A number of 'English' words have been derived from Dutch/Flemish possibly from Hugenot and Orange descent?
Spook has come to mean a hiding one or lurking in the shadows. Which I guess could be derived from ghost, and of course spook is what a ghost would do to you.
It also makes sense with what Rickie is saying about African/Americans (either being the shadow -dark skinned- or hiding in them due to persecution, or even a form of sarcasm due to skin colour) and there KKK tormentors (hiding their identity/dressing like ghosts). As for spy's well again the hiding in the shadows/hiding their identity is clear to see.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Spook
Oh yeah and...
Go Lance!
Hey rickie:
You forgot "cracker." I see your point with what you wrote. I think with the 9/11 anniversary, we are all reminded of the ugly side of some people.
Hey Chr15: There are many words in dutch that just make logical sense. And of course as i write this i cannot think of a single one right now. Isn't that always the case.
I suppose the dutch-speakers (or rather Afrikaans language) in Africa use the word spook too. It is actually pronounced "spoke". Gotta go!
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words won't ever hurt me... Not! I love this utube of Armstrong taking a left into a forest trail to shake off several bikers behind him. It kind of has a Cross feel to the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CbQOLqZ8IA&feature=related
And oh, the dictionary link was very interesting.
You people have a wonderful day. My bike is going to need new tires soon, so I'm window shopping.
Rickie
Hey rickie:
When you are done shopping for windows, will you then shop for tires? teehee.
I broke my spoke (not to be confused with spook) today so i have to go spoke shopping.
Thanks for the lance video clip. i will check it out now.
Nemo, being very fashion conscience doesn't know what color she wants, and of course, she is going to have to have bar tape to match her new tires. It is a toss up between Vittoria Open Corsa EVO CX and Vredestein TriComps. Personally, I really want to try the Open Corsas, but I know they don't last as long. Perhaps tire talk is all sells hype anyway as I have run Michelins on Nemo for over 3000 miles and they are just starting to show noticable wear and cuts from the rough roads around here. I may purchase a vanderkitten jersey if they ever come in to test your chick magnet theory... ha! If you or ch15 has any tire suggestions, let me know.
rickie
hey rickie
I dont really have a preference for road tires - although specialized makes some ones that last a long time and ride well. I DO care about cross tires though and only choose to use challenge grifos. They do make clinchers now as well. Sorry i cannot be of more help.
Rickie I run Vittorias on the road, Open Pave EVO-CG, winter or summer, they are pretty light weight for an all weather tyre, hard wearing and GREEN. For the eurocyclist fashionista's out there they look awesome on the litespeed!
I ran them all through last winter no punctures (I know I shouldn't tempt fate) nearly three thousand miles and they have just been replaced. For Paris Roubaix they team I rode with got a deal on Continentals so I switched briefly to Conti 4 seasons in 28mm. Half a dozon punctures and numerous splits later (in about 450 miles) I have put the Vittorias on all my wheels.
I use Vittoria cross tyres too, but just found out my LBS can supply Bontrager Jones' as recommended by the last issue of CXmagazine, so i'm gonna give those a try.
Pinged a spoke on my race wheels too last weekend... Hope to get em back on Saturday as I have a RACE Sunday!!!
I did some serious house cleaning today and I will try to get my lazy butt on the bike tomorrow. It will probably be wet, but I need to get out. I am trying to get a Vanderkitten jersey to wear in the up coming Tour de Cure in your honor. I guess I will be the American representative of Team, "Fat Cats" I will definitely have the "Fat" part down. I only could ride 30 miles last week and I feel like a slug.
As a former cancer patient I would like to submit for the record my distaste for Armstrong not only for his beady eyes and kneecap-brushing shorts, which would be reason enough, but for his co-opting of an entire class of people who do not wish to, or at least have not been asked whether they would wish to, morally indemnify his sporting megalomania. (Don't even get me started on the fund-raising-for-research bullshit.) And as an American who can fully appreciate the many achievements and wonders of his country, I would also like to state my dismay and disappointment in our national arrogance and historical amnesia. I have lived in and traveled in dozens of other countries and cultures, and this one is, so far, the only one I know of in which the very idea of questioning its monstrous failures is regarded as taboo. Mr Chamberlain's point, it seems to me, is not that derogatory language is OK or cool or acceptable but that the euphemistic cleansing of hostile idiom is not quite the same thing as taking a hard look at a real problem and rectifying it. What's wrong with hostile language is not the language; it's the hostility. What's worse about euphemistic language — politically correct language, if you prefer — is that it often maintains and abets hostility through subterfuge, through concealment. Superficially it creates the effect of concern where no real introspection has occurred, where no real work has been done. That is virtually the definition of sanctimony.
— Elmo
[quote]it [politically correct language] often maintains and abets hostility through subterfuge, through concealment. Superficially it creates the effect of concern where no real introspection has occurred.[/quote]
Perfectly put.
Well, I'm sure if he wants to come back, he will do it. He is a winner.
I hope he doesn't base his decision on placing second in a mountainbike race where there was no real competition for a guy of his abilities. I mean, Lance has been mountainbiking all his life, still has the fitness to complete a 100 mile race and , with all respect, Dave Wiens must be even older than Lance.
I just hope he doesn't make the mistake of taking to illegal drugs to help him get back to where he was. Remember Museeuw .
So far Lance has been lucky none of the allegations against him could be made to stick. But coming back he will have to risk all that again.
I do wonder if Contador or even Leipheimer will ride for him. I highly doubt it. So will there be a new team with just Lance and some helpers? I doubt that too.
We'll see next year I guess.
Elmo:
So my $20 donation to "ride for the roses" doesn't actually absolve me of all responsibility in the "fight against cancer"?
BBW:
As i was reading your comment, I couldn't help but think that I wrote it.
Yes, well, occasionally I feel as if I could have written your comments, too. The next time you have twenty bucks to spend on a cancer charity ride, give it to me and I'll take it to my regional hospice, where all twenty of those bucks will be put to good use, instead of one of them.
-- Elmo
Pity it's like that.
I think the only charity sport event i did was at the age of 6. I did a march of dimes walkathon. My mom took us on the subway for most of the ride - i wonder if it still counts.
I have a sportive tomorrow for a local hospice :)
http://www.singletracks.com/blog/?p=1119
he won a race against lawyers and real estate agents.. yeah, Contador beware :)
Doesn't 1 + 1 always equal mango?
um, leave the algebra to kumon-trained japanese kids...
1 + 1 = dog.
when i get solicited to find a cure for ____ (fill in any disease name) fundraising effort by distant "friends," i take a minute or less to look up the charity organization in charge on Charity Navigator (CN) or Forbes Mega Charity List (F). two things i look: 1) charitable commitment/program expense (how much of your $20 ride for the roses contribution goes towards where it should be (is?) intended, and it had better be damn close to 100%), and 2) leadership compensation/top pay (how much one of the leaders of the organization is financially compensated, and it had better be no more than quarter of a mil, which is just my personal cut-off)
for example:
Lance Armstrong Foundation (CN)
1) 75%
2) $311,423 (it ain't LA's)
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (F)
1) 72%
2) $548,778
American Cancer Society (F)
1) 69%
2) $1,101,119
based on those two data, none of my distant friends' self-righteous mass e-mails earned a yen from me. A job position with over $1M a year at a charity organization ain't shabby.
i have taken my prada and bally shoes to salvation army...so, they must cure somethin', i reckon?
I recall mentioning to an acquaintance of mine who was not long ago the CFO/comptroller for a charitable organization about how such sites should be reliable because they their source data are mainly taken from 501(c)(3) IRS (990) filings. She just laughed and laughed and laughed.
-- E.C. Chamberlain
THanks for the info Twinkie - interesting. And E.C. i am not surprised to hear that. I wish i were.
Peanut: You're welcome. A dog, it is.
E.C.: I agree with Peanut...I'm not surprised either. I am curious by how much the numbers are off in reality. Did the CFO elaborate on the subject for her organization?
It reminds me of an expression 坊主丸儲け (A monk’s income is all-clear profit) -- A monk does not need reserve and operation funds, and all it takes is his prayer to earn an offering. It's a criticism/sarcasm for business as such.
twinkie
Thanks for the monk expression.
On a slightly tangental note, I hav always been bothered by the offer of free crap (t-shirts, socks, tote bag, etc) to those who donate to a cause. If it gets people to give more, then it seems a good thing to offer. But does it cheapen the person's original selfless intention? Or do we donate for selfish reasons and the socks simply address this directly? The few times I donated enough to get "free" crap, I have been compelled to include a note informing them that I opt to skip the freebee so i don't feel guilty. In reality, though, i have only opted out of the freebee once.
Not that this is the place, but to follow up with Twinkiepatissier, my CFO pal — Madame X, shall we say? — acknowledges that the situation of non-profit charities in the States is a very painful one. She avers that while a few of them — mostly small, seat-of-the-pants outfits whose names are not rubrics of tautological sham-morality — are earnest, dedicated, selfless organizations worthy of our admiration and munificence, many 501(c)(3)s function as barely concealed budget-laundering fronts and propaganda machines for highly vested special interest groups and corporations. She didn't speculate in finite terms. From the sine-wave of her eyebrows I inferred that in some instances administrative (which is to say, Maserati) budgets may actually exceed moneys raised for the festering mendicants in question Oftentimes, evidently, corrupt non-profits enter the system as pure and noble entities only to become increasingly beholden to less-than-pious contributors, mainly from the private sector, but certainly not exclusively (as in the case of a certain covert governmental agency's funding of the Asia Foundation, a practice thought by cotton-candy lovers everywhere to have ceased in 1967). Interestingly, having completed her "detention" at FPC Bryan, Madame X is now on the faculty of the Department of Religion at Peanut's alma mater. Her area of expertise is Substitutionary Atonement, a field that may uniquely qualify her to weigh in on why sport and entertainment, both being diversions of sensual delight, would become, in a hyper-religious, guilt-ridden nation like ours, linked irrevocably to disease and victimization.
-- E.C. Chamberlain
Peanut: I hear you...free craps cost something to be manufactured (probably in China), right? If they had been designed more tastefully, I might allow their wasteful productions for artistic values, but most free craps are, um...mere craps, even the finisher's medal stamped with Tiffany & Co for a women's marathon event in SF. Did you guys have "Green Feather" and "Red Feather" donations at school? Or is it my people's thing? For a donation of 10 yen, we "bought" a green or red colored (green for forest preservation? and red for what?! I don't know...blood bank?) pin and we all proudly wore it on our school uniforms until our short attention span lasted...I don't think most of us cared what the dead(?) bird's genuine feather stood for, I didn't donate 10 yen each time, I purchased them without knowing the exact cause, and I purchase them for serving my own selfish interest to be cool like every other kid at school. After almost 20-some years, I personally would not credit myself a selfless intention point in any of my past donations, actions, and services. They mostly directly or indirectly serve my interest (e.g. beach clean-up = surfing, salvation army = tax deduction), or if not so, they seem to fill some sort of void and guilt instantly and temporarily...I guess I haven't grown up.
E.C.: Thanks for your insight. It really is a pity that honest noble committed small organizations are overshadowed by the highly publicized ones. I wonder if one's sport-tied-to-disease fundraising effort tends to be more successful or rewarded greater by the solicited than other causes like marathon against hunger, triathlon to supply clean water...not that I have ever heard of those.
I am going to stop my babbling here.
Post a Comment