Jul 19 2006
The Hardest Thing in Sports
Hitting an orange-sized, rock-hard ball traveling at 100 MPH with a thin wooden club is really tough. So is reading a zone blitz and making the right throw to the open receiver in less than three seconds with a 250 pound linebacker in your face. Bending a free kick around a wall of jumping men and sneaking it into the upper left-hand corner – that’s hard, too. But none of them are the hardest thing in sports.
You have to give strong consideration to Iron Man: a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and then a 26.2 mile run, all to be completed in 17 hours or less. Our friend Laura Edwards is competing in the Lake Placid Iron Man this Sunday, and all our thoughts and best wishes are with her in what is absolutely one of the most grueling athletic tests ever devised by mentally ill human beings. Go Mo-Mo!
And then there is Le Tour de France: three straight weeks of racing an average of 120 miles a day over the Pyrenees, the Alps, and across the baking 95-degree plains of central France to cover 2211 miles in total. That’s 32 miles more than the distance from Los Angeles to Cincinnati. There are two murderous time trials and countless hazards to avoid, including collar bone-snapping, 50 MPH crashes, and idiot fans rushing in front of racers to take pictures. Beyond saddle sores and road rash, and somehow consuming 7,000 calories a day, there is also the loss of bone density. Yes, these guys spend so much time on their bikes in July of every year, that like astronauts, they loose bone density because they aren’t supporting themselves by standing or walking. It’s one thing to finish this race, but to wear the yellow jersey as you cross under the Champs Elysées in Paris is an infinitely more ridiculous dream than winning a Super Bowl or World Series. Fewer than 200 men compete in the tour each year. Of them, a little more than half will finish, and of them, only one will be crowned champion. By comparison, the NBA has roughly 480 players, sixteen of whom will win a ring no matter if they play a single minute or not.
This year’s tour, despite having its favorites lost to doping scandals, is a true testament to the inhuman feat it was for Lance Armstrong to win seven in a row. Today, Floyd Landis, the top American contender, cracked under heavy pressure on a tough mountain stage while wearing the yellow jersey because his team disintegrated and left him isolated. Lance was a freakish athlete, but without his soldiers controlling the battlefield, setting a grueling pace to discourage would-be breakaways, and then chasing down those who did manage to escape, he may not have won any of those races. It’s due to Greg LeMond and Lance that we can even utter the phrase “top American contender” in a sport dominated by Europe since its inception. But today, as I watched poor Floyd crumble, his legs unable to spin the cranks at even half the speed needed to stay in contact with his rivals, I was again made aware of how good Lance was, how easy he made it seem, and how winning this grand tour is absolutely the hardest thing in sports.
been waiting 2.5 weeks for a tour commentary – excellent analysis of the sport, thank you. let’s hope landis is a better time-trialer than pereiro on saturday.
Even if he can stay with Spanish Oscar tomorrow (who should NEVER have been allowed to get a 30 minute lead in a flat stage because he as finished in the top 10 several times and won hard mountain stages before), Mennonite Floyd will be hard pressed to make up 8 minutes in a 60K time trial. I think what we’re seeing is a real human being here (unlike Lance), who had a shot to win, but was surrounded by a very weak team. The fact that Phonak did not put in an effort to bring back the long break when Pereiro climbed back into the race, and sacrificed the yello jersey, combined with their performance today, makes it clear to me that the team is inferior. Landis would likely have cracked anyway, but he may not have lost nearly this much time and could still be in it had the team performed like a true contender. Not to be too nationalistic, but the Germans hired U.S. trainers for their world cup team and played very well, and Lance’s American trainers got him seven tour wins, so perhaps ole Floyd should jump ship to Discovery or get himself some yankee trainers.
Turn on the tube. Landis don’t need no stinkin’ team.
Hey BradyBrad – So excited to see I was part of your blog even. What do ya say – Ironman 2008 – who is with me!?!?!