I agree with the majority that no matter what your perception of Lance personally he has earned (and deserves) respect as an athlete and a cancer survivor.

IMHO I think anyone who is at the top of their field *has* to be a bit egotistical and self-centered. If you weren't how else could you make the kind of sacrifices that he has and continues to make in order to win TdF five times and begin training for your sixth run at the podium the day after you've captured #5? Someone mentioned Barry Bonds and his ego .. the same can be said about Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods .. anyone who is at the top of their game has to believe they are the best and that swagger can really polarize the public ... you either love 'em or you hate 'em.

If Lance didn't have the discipline, will power and self-centered mental attitude I doubt that he would have been able to push himself as hard as he did when he was first diagnosed with cancer.

I watch the Lance Chronicles on OLN and, yes, saw the tour of his house in Spain. But who's not to say that he doesn't deserve the money that he earns? When he is sitting in Spain looking out over the tiny courtyard with his 16th century paintings inside his gorgeously rennovated (read expensive) home ... you have to know that he is thinking back to those first few weeks after he started chemo, his odds of beating the cancer were slim to none and he could barely walk let alone get on a bike.

During Lance's training he will ride L'Alpe d'Huez no less than 10 times ... I whine about pedaling up hills here in Wisconsin. What kind of mental attitude does it take to ride up 'the Queen' of the TdF route ... not once but ten times.

Am I a Lance fan? You bet I am. He's taken the sport of cycling and removed it from the European theater and put it on the front pages and in the living rooms of the United States. He has used his name and his bike to help raise millions of dollars for cancer research ... while he's p*ssesd a lot of people off with his attitude, his commercials and his books ... he has brought hope to a lot of children and adults who look to him as a role model. They get p*ssed off at cancer (dubbing it the 'wee c') and get on a bike and ride .. for themselves and for other people who want to be survivors and not statistics.