My response:
"To quote your article "Put it this way: Williams could peddle a bicycle for a couple hours in the Tour de France but Armstrong couldn't survive a single hit in the NFL." Correction: cyclists pedal, not peddle. Well, if their job is in sales then I suppose they do both.
And as to the content of the quote, you are somewhat correct in your assumption. Williams could easily pedal a couple of hours in the Tour, and Lance would probably get injured trying to take a pro lineman's hit. But neither could return Andre Agassi's serve, or stay upright for more than a few seconds on the pro surfing circuit, or have the courage to hang onto the wheel of a top-fuel dragster, or have a faintest hope of surviving a shift in the NHL, and both would look pretty foolish in a game of one-on-one with Rodman.
Just because he and the other very skinny guys that get paid to ride bicycles aren't 6'-3" and 250, and aren't huge superhuman muscle-bound machines, doesn't mean they aren't athletes. I would define an athlete as one who must use their body to manipulate or power either itself or a machine or tool to do something sporting that an average person (even one trained to do so) cannot reasonably do. I'd argue that said persons must usually be able to maintain that activity during periods of intense duress and/or endurance.Therefore basketball players are athletes. So are football players, baseball (I'll even give that one grudgingly) players, soccer, tennis, hockey, skiers, and yes, even cyclists. Golfers and car/motorcycle/boat racers, fishermen and hunters and such are not athletes according to my logic. They may be really really good at what they do, and it may involve some physical activity, but what they do does not for the most part require anywhere NEAR the conditioning and actual physical capability of true athletes. Yeah, I know pro motocross riders are exceedingly fit, but their power comes from that gas-powered engine between their legs - they're just along for the ride. And I am not suggesting for a moment that I or any other mere mortal can just hop on board and do what those top racers or golfers can do. Nor can I survive a hit from a lineman, or a mere portion of one of the stages of the Tour de France.
You also said "But I'm sorry ... neither makes [Armstrong] more athletic than an NFL running back." True again. But it sure doesn't make him LESS athletic, either.
