Discuss.
(Actual poll can be seen here, and may no longer reflect the results at the time of my screenshot.)

Lance Armstrong is either the greatest cyclist (potentially greatest athlete) in history or he is one of the worst (but most successful) cheats in history. He is, without question, the most most successful cancer survivor in history, one of the most successful cancer fund-raisers in history and the most tested athlete in history. In all those hundreds upon hundreds of tests in both the off season and during all his races, he has tested positive exactly zero times. To date the number of people, including even the absurdly bitter Floyd Landis and the perennially accusatory Greg LeMond, that have ever even alleged that they have actually seen Lance use performance enhancing drugs or blood doping procedures is also exactly zero. This while seemingly all around him in the peloton, other cyclists were falling to positive drug tests and substantiated allegations. Lance rode above it all, and even in the wake of persistent rumors and repeated investigations, no proof of wrongdoing has ever been found against him.

Despite that fact, the cynical among you (and you know who you are, your fingers are already itching to type the jaded comments that will inevitably appear below) have already concluded that Lance is guilty of doping and has been for years. You can be excused for those feelings, of course, after practically every rumour of athletic drug cheating (and most other rumors as well) ever uttered has already been substantiated in numerous recent investigations that seemed designed specifically to destroy any confidence anyone ever had in the integrity of sports. Are we always going to be disappointed by the sports heroes we most admire, or is it possible that some of the most heroic are actually worthy of our admiration? We may never really know the answer to those questions, but whether we do or not, it’s perhaps understandable that after all we’ve been through before, when the hard questioning in the Armstrong case starts, we will mostly just wince and turn away.

That’s what makes today’s events so difficult to understand.

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Contador was booed as they put the yellow jersey on him at the end of the ride. And this in an area of France that is near to Spain, his home country. You have to work hard to generate that much bad blood.

Contador says he didn’t know Schleck’s chain was off. Schleck says, “my stomach is filled with anger.” One thing’s for sure: the next few days should be very interesting.

*Update: Contador apologized to Schleck and the two shook hands. It’s nice to see this kind of classy move from Contador, who appeared to not only take advantage of Schleck’s misfortune, but also appeared to be lying about it when he said he didn’t know Schleck was having a difficulty. I’m glad Contador acknowledged the mistake and that there will be no continuing bad feelings between these two great riders.

Here is Contador’s video apology:

It’s a classy move, as I said, but it leaves some lingering issues:

First, Contador claims credit for stopping the peloton when Andy crashed on the stage to Spa. Most people think that credit belongs to Fabian Cancellara (holder of the yellow jersey at the time) and Saxo Bank, though it’s obvious that the decision could not have been made without the full cooperation of Contador.

Second (and this is the biggest problem) he throws some blame Schleck’s way for not waiting for him when the field was split on the later stage after the cobblestones. The problem there is that no one, even Contador himself, suggested that Schleck should have waited at that time. Further, there is an enormous difference between the two incidents: Contador hadn’t crashed and had no mechanical difficulty, he was merely caught behind the crash of other riders. The case could easily be made that this was his own fault for not being up front with his team where he should have been. Also (and this is the critical difference), Schleck didn’t attack at that time, the way Contador attacked in the Pyrenees. That makes all the difference in the world, and makes Contador’s apology seem like not so much an apology as a massive rationalization built on half-truths.

Despite that, he did say he was sorry, and I’m glad for that.

the Alps,

the Pyrennes,

the teams (Radioshack, Astana, AG2R, Cofidis, Garmin, Rabobank, Euskatel, Sky, HTC, Quick Step, Saxo Bank, Liquigas, BMC, Cervelo…),

the sprinters (Tyler Farrar, Robbie McEwen, Mark Cavendish, and… wait for it, Thor Hushovd…)

the contenders (Sylvain Chavanel, Fabian Cancellara, Alberto Contador, Bradley Wiggins, Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck…),

the king of the mountains,

We have had about a week of racing already and we are no closer to determining the winner than when we started, but tomorrow, the road goes way up into the mountains where the tour is either won or lost. Lance will be trying to get one last win, while Contador tries to repeat and Wiggins, Evans and Schleck try to get their first wins. What do you think? Can Lance bring back the magic? Will Contador be too strong? Will we crown a brand new champion?

Now we enter the elimination round, something that should be much more familiar to U.S. sports fans. Sixteen teams compete in a single elimination tournament for the cup. Think of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, starting in the Sweet Sixteen round. Or the way the NCAA Division I football championship should be decided in a perfect world.

Only there’s one catch: from here on out, games can no longer end in a tie. That sounds fine, and necessary—you can’t have an elimination game without the elimination—but the current solution is less than satisfactory. If an elimination game ends after 90 minutes (plus however much the officials decide to tack on at the end of the game) [Edit: plus 30 minutes of "extra time"], and neither team has a lead, they end the game with penalty shots. This is the equivalent of having an NBA playoff game decided by a free throw competition between Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen. In short, it stinks.

So here’s my idea. I’m just throwing it out there. Footsoccerball fans around the world can thank me later, each in his or her own way. The proposal: end the game in sudden death overtime, the first team to score wins. The gimmick: pull the goalies.

What, you have a better idea?

[***Better just fact check the whole thing. Thanks.]

Also, this.

2. Short Track Speedskating. WTF? That’s like the summer olympics having the same track events on two separate size tracks! What is short track for, munchkins? We have a different track for short people? I say get rid of short bus speedskating and make everyone skate on the big track, like grown-ups.

3. Luge. Come on, man, those lugers aren’t doing anything except laying on a cafeteria tray like meatloaf. They can’t even see where they’re going! And that goes double for doubles luge. Any event you can do laying on top of someone else in your sock feet must go.

4. Biathlon. Since when do guns have anything to do with winter sports? You can shoot guns at targets any time of the year, in combination with any aerobic activity. So why is cross country skiing so special? Get rid of the shooting and just ski.

Feel free to comment here before, during and after the big game on all things related to the cultural phenomenon that is The Superbowl.