The Score

Let's start with Lance Armstrong. The cycling giant is two tenths of a second off the lead in the Tour de France. And his strong suit, climbing, starts in the Pyrenees tomorrow. Back in February, when I said here on The Score that, whether you cringe at the Armstrong colossal ego or not, you have to admit he's earned every accolade heaped upon him as a cyclist. Yet I received a number of emails from listeners, lambasting Lance as a doping cheater and further lambasting me for giving him positive ink...

If you're a tennis fan, then you're in virtual heaven. Especially on the men's side, there has never been an era replete with such rich talent and compelling personalities as we are witness to now. You can go back to the mastery of Bill Tilden, the complete player that was Rod Laver, the magnetic rivalry of McEnroe/Borg, the dominant Pete Sampras, the charismatic Andre Agassi. Yet never before have all the elements of the highest end of the sport come together as they do today...

The U.S. Track and Field Championships will be run next week in Eugene, Oregon, and for those of us track fans it seems so very long ago that the sport basked in its golden era. That’s because it was so very long ago. Way back in the late 50’s and early 60’s, more than 60,000 fans would crowd into American stadiums for the duel meets against the Soviet Union. There was no thrill in sport greater than witnessing Wilma Rudolph turn on the burners in a blaze down the straightaway. And we could say that one of the most exciting athletes of our day is Jamaica’s sprinter  Usain Bolt...

If any year was proof positive that high school players heading straight to the NBA was a good idea, it was this one. LeBron James was the League's MVP. Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard are the superstars of the two teams in the finals. And it was only a year ago that Kevin Garnett, 2004's MVP, led his Celtics to the Championship..

I'm just back from Paris and several days of dramatic tennis at the French Open. If you've never been, I can tell you that's it's quite a different experience from the other Grand Slams. The stadiums are much smaller which makes for an intimate feel, compared to the vastness of Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open and Rod Laver Arena at the Australian Open. And compared to Wimbledon, where the fans are respectful to the point of reverent, the French are downright raucous, I'd go so far as to say irreverent, during the matches at Roland Garros, especially if one of their own is playing. It's a rich time for French tennis...

It’s been a week now since former football superstar Michael Vick walked out of a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, escorted by agents who ensconced him for the last two months of his 23-month sentence in his home back East. During these two months, Vick will 24-7 wear a tracking device and be allowed to leave the house for only work, medical appointments, and check-ins with his prison officers. The former multi-millionaire is now flat broke and working a 9-to-5 construction job for $10 an hour. The reality of Vick's involvement in a cruel dog-fighting ring has slapped the once franchise quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons hard indeed..

Shawn Johnson was a star of the Beijing Olympics last August. As of Tuesday night, with her upset win on Dancing with the Stars, Johnson's a much bigger star. It's a hard-hitting sign of our times that the trophy of a reality television show, a mirrored disco ball, carries more weight than an Olympic gold medal but even the hype and summer dominance of the Olympics can't compete with the sustained huge audiences that tune in by the many millions every week for almost three months to Dancing with the Stars...

The second leg of thoroughbred racing's fabled Triple Crown goes off at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore this Saturday and the Preakness is buzzing with jockey drama this week. The stirring 50-to-1 odds winner of the Kentucky Derby the first weekend of May, Mine That Bird, was deftly commandeered by jockey Calvin Borel. It sometimes happens, when a crowd of horses comes shoulder to shoulder to the wire and one shows the heart to find that fifth gear and nose out the rest, that we give all the credit to the horse. And make no mistake, the little gelding Mine That Bird is a special race horse. But reviewing the Derby from start to finish convinces you that Borel and his colt were equally talented that day...

It used to be that basketball was the indoor winter sport. Baseball was the summer game. And football was the game of crisp autumn weekends. Now, baseball extends into snow days of October, football stretches almost to Valentines Day, and basketball finishes up post-Memorial Day. Money is the obvious drive behind these long, overlapping seasons...

The Kentucky Derby runs this Saturday and it's no surprise that the economy foreshadows a toned-down day in blue-grass country. The Derby weekend traditionally pulls in some $120 million in revenue for the Louisville area but the highest predictions for this year's event are to perhaps hit $100 million...

The fabled Masters teed off at Augusta today and the story lines run deep this year. Naturally, Tiger's comeback from his extensive reconstructive knee surgery is the leader-board focus, but it's an exciting year for the Masters in other regards. Australia's Greg Norman, he of three heartbreak runner-up losses in Augusta, will be back on the azalea-lined fairways that have haunted him since he first played there some 30 years ago...

Opening day for Major League Baseball is upon us. It's also the 70th anniversary of Little League. And once again this spring I wonder why women and girls are not diving for smooth-gloved catches across the outfields of America. It's not like football, originally a male-only sport, where women have always been outsiders. Women have a long history of running the bases. So where are they now?...

This year's Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska is over now and a record six dogs died this time out. Three dogs are lost to hypothermia or heart failure or what they dubiously call unknown causes on the Iditarod trail most years but this year it was six. Six innocent animals who want to please their masters so desperately that they will literally run to death for them...