Sing along with the Simon & Garfunkel melody: Where have you gone La-ance A-armstrong? Your spo-ort turns its lonely eyes to you. Woo woo woo. What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson? LiveStrong has retired and gone away? Hey hey hey.
Isn’t it amazing that the Tour de France used to be a staple of the summer? At this point in the summer, our focus used to be tens of thousands of miles away wondering if the “Texas Phenom” could make it four in a row? Five in a row? Six? Then, incredibly, seven?
But today, as the race reaches its third week, we’re more inclined to care about French fries than the French athletic tour de force. Has any other athlete more directly turned us on to a sport and then so quickly turned us off to the same sport simply by leaving it?
 Tour de what? Are silly cyclists still pedaling the Alps now that Lance is gone? That’s news to us |
Seven years made Armstrong a household name. Whether by his cycling or his cancer fighting—we all knew the guy and the story. His rides made us bigger fans every year. Millions of us bought those yellow “LiveStrong” bracelets and decided to dust off our bikes one month each year only to realize how fat and out of shape we really were.
But just two years after his retirement, we, including yours truly, have turned off the sport of cycling quicker than Lance once whipped through the Champs-Elysées.
In a similar way, Tiger Woods brought an entirely new generation to his sport when he arrived on the golf scene in 1996 and promptly won the 1997 Masters. And when he doesn’t play, the PGA feels the pain. TV ratings for the U.S. Open fell dramatically when Tiger failed to make the cut in 2006 and went up 37 percent when he did play in the final round this year.
But would we really stop watching the Masters if Tiger left? Would we shut off our connection with baseball if A-Rod retired? Will we do something productive with our fall Sunday afternoons after Brett Farve hangs it up?
Of course not. But did you watch any of the Tour de France this year? Me neither.
And, sadly, Armstrong’s departure has stripped American sports fans of another thing—true patriotism. For seven years, Armstrong made us cheer not only for him, but for ourselves. Not since the Miracle on Ice has the country so rallied together, and yet, I bet you can’t name one American in the race this year.
Koo-koo-ka-choo, Mr. Armstrong, you’re missed by more than just your sport.
Wes McElroy hosts “The Final Round” on ESPN AM 840. M-F 4-6pm.