Surprised? I shouldn't be.

I can't say it is beyond possibility, and I shouldn't say I'm surprised. But...I am surprised, maybe astounded. The remarkable production of Lance Armstrong over the first 3 stages of the Tour de France and after a four year absence can be described as surreal. Jeez, he's only six weeks removed from a major surgery in which a five-inch metal plate was inserted along with 12 screws to piece back together his clavicle that was shattered in four places. And if you don't think it's such a big deal because he pedals for a living, think again. Try climbing a hill on a bicycle without pulling with your arms. Not that hard, huh? Now, turn that little incline you call a hill on your driveway into the Swiss Alps. Yes, Lance is pedaling up the Pyrenees and the Alps with a recently reconstructed shoulder, a pair of 37 year old legs and faster than any human on Earth. Wow. Are there any appropriate adjectives?

I have to admit there may be a full-bore, no-holds-barred man-crush in the near future if he pulls it off. I, was satisfied with his seven consecutive Tour de France titles with the first being only eighteen months after brain surgery to remove malignant cancerous tumors. I guess the key word in the last sentence was "I" because Lance was not. He's back.

I'm honored just to witness this bionic man will greatness. He is greater than Tiger, Federer, Jordan and Kobe combined. Don't scoff. What have any of these gifted athlete's overcome. Tiger won the U.S. Open on a destroyed knee. That was impressive, but everyone was rooting for him. How about Lance? He continuously battles an entire country of Frenchmen who want him extinguished, but can't ever seem to bring him down. These French elitists fill the media with filthy accusations, but they inevitably lead nowhere. He competes in a tarnished sport where cheating is the norm (kinda sounds like baseball). Armstrong has been tested more than another athlete in history, ten times more. Always passing each test, Lance chooses to take the high road and laugh off these detractors. But you know it stings.

And then there is the LiveStrong Foundation. Along with the Susan B. Komen Foundation, Livestrong is the single greatest vehicle available to find a cure for the disease that affects every single one of us on some level. Cancer kills. No one else fights a more public battle to defeat it than Lance Armstrong.

His exhibitions inspire me to be a better man, father, husband, Texan, American and cancer survivor.

Al

Pick of the Day(40-9-1)...Boston