Lance Armstrong's Last Ride

[underpants]

Lance Armstrong's Last Ride

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1086184,00.html

Many iconic athletes, who spend their entire lives as victors, often have to experience losing before they’re convinced to call it a career. Willie Mays stumbling in his forties with the Mets, Muhammad Ali falling to Leon Spinks and doing roach motel commercials in the late-seventies, Joe Namath tossing interceptions for the Rams. They should have retired years before.

Then there are the ones who leave us wanting more. Michael Jordan did it twice, in 1993 after three straight championships with the Bulls, and again in 1998, after a second troika of titles (we can just forget that stint with the Wizards, right)? Ted Williams, eye sharper than a razor at age 41, hit a homer in his last at bat. Barry Sanders might have rushed for 25,000 yards by now.

Lance Armstrong is of that second type, and as he cruised to his seventh straight Tour de France title on Sunday, his status as a cycling—and cultural—icon was secure before he even hit Paris, since Tour officials invoked a rule freezing the general standings when there's rain on the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysées. That didn't curb the excitement for the fans, whose eyes and whoops were all for Armstrong on the riders' eight last circuits around the Champs-Elysées, so fans could see Armstrong one last time. By the time Armstrong crossed the finish line, the sun had turned the day yellow, to match the jersey Armstrong wore like a kid’s favorite pair of pajamas. “He’s a once in a lifetime athlete,” says Jonathan Vaughters, an ex-teammate of Armstrong who now coaches junior riders in the U.S. “I don’t know if I will live to see, or my son will live to see, anyone like him again.”

[WeRQ4U]

1. They don't know that yet.

Who's to say he won't "unretire" like so many other athletes do? Noone called it the "First Battle of Bull Run" until after the Second Battle occurred. YOu know what I mean?