"Vive le Tour"...
With that toast Lance Armstrong put a period and exclamation point to his 7th consecutive Tour de France championship yesterday. He won his first Tour de France on this date in 1999...
It's well documented that this genetically superior athlete whose capacity for using oxygen more efficiently than anyone else alive, had defeated a wide-spread testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs, abdomen and brain. For that feat alone, he is to be applauded.
The 33-year-old Texan put things in the right perspective just prior to cycling down the Champs-Elysees when he said, "I'm lucky just to be here." More on Lance Armstrong in my commentary...
More July 25 Memories...
1946) Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis debut at Club 500 in Atlantic City...
1952) Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the U.S...
1956) 51 people go down with the Italian liner, Andrea Doria off the New England coast...
1960) The Republican's say "Nixon's the one" at their convention...
1965) Bob Dylan does his first non-acoustic set to a chorus of boos at the Newport Jazz Festival...
1966) The Supremes release "You Can't Hurry Love"...
1966) Casey Stengel is elected to baseball's Hall of Fame...
1969) Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young debut at Fillmore East...
1970) Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" is released...
1971) The Beach Boys release their "Surf's Up" album...
1975) "A Chorus Line" debuts on Broadway...
1978) Bob Lemon replaces Billy Martin as Yankee manager...
1978) Louise Joy Brown, the first test-tube baby, is born in England...
1990) Rosanne Barr is booed for her tacky National Anthem performance in San Diego...
Happy Birthday to...
1924) Estelle ("The Golden Girls") Getty...
1935) Barbara Harris...
1951) Earth, Wind and Fire's Verdine White...
1955) Iman...
1965) Illeana Douglas...
1967) Matt LeBlanc...
Commentary...
You might consider Lance Armstrong self-assured and brash. Some might even feel that the doping allegations against him for using a body cream in 1999 were valid. You may be one of those that the 33-year-old Texan considers a "cynic" or "skeptic" or even dislike him for leaving his wife and family and taking up with Sheryl Crow but be very clear about what Lance Armstrong has accomplished. In addition to his phenomenal record breaking 7 consecutive Tour de France victories, he has overcome astronomical odds in surviving cancer and has established a successful cancer foundation which will save countless number of lives...
He has devoted his life to help defeat this dreaded disease. To date, his yellow wristbands have sales of over 50,000,000 with part of the proceeds going to his cancer foundation. Vive le Tour ? Oui. Vive le Lance too...
