Mass Market Bagels and Lance Armstrong

I thought about those cruddy round-shaped pieces of bread that are passed off as bagels when I got an email from Livestrong.com with the the title "Lance Ranked 2nd Overall After Stage 6."

Ranked? Yes, in the general classification (or gc or classment if you prefer the French), on which Lance has the second lowest overall elapsed time, Lance is indeed in second place, I couldn't help but be disappointed in the word "ranked." I would have preferred "Second Place" or even "2nd Place." I think Lance fans have enough sophistication in the ways of bike racing to understand Lance's position in the race.

I think of the bagel because it appears that many bagel makers decided to make their offerings taste more like traditional bread in an effort to gain a wider following. It hurt the bagel. Lance is big enough that his minions at Livestrong should use cycling terminology.