Lance Armstrong won the AP Male Athlete of the Year award for 2005. However, was he the best possible selection for this award?

Let’s first be realistic and refer to the Tour de France as exactly what it is, a team sport. The Tour is not an individual accomplishment by any stretch of the imagination. It is an event dominated by powerhouse teams, where every member plays a key role. There are rabbits, runners, blockers, and yes, predetermined individuals the teams identify as the eventual winner.

The team works together to ensure their guy wins the race. Armstrong most certainly does not win the Tour alone. His teammates have a great deal to do with his inevitable victory. As most athletes are dependant on teammates; Tim Duncan and his supporting cast, Shaun Alexander and his offensive line, etc, Armstrong is not a lone cyclist riding across the French countryside as perceived by certain US media outlets.

There is also the matter of money, as with all things these days. The US Postal Service team was replaced by Team Discovery… soon to be titled Team Trump. There are considerable amounts of money to be had by sponsors, advertisers, and the teams. And each team, each advertising outlet, each event needs a face, and Armstrong is Team Discovery’s face. Who draws the advertising dollars, the blocker on the team or the seven-time Tour champion?

Now that Armstrong has retired, Team Discovery will have to decide who to promote as the new face of the team. Who knows, he may leave his wife and kids for a musician too? That would be good for ratings. Money drives most -- make that all -- things and the Tour event and the US cycling team are no exceptions.

Then there is the controversy that continues to swirl regarding Armstrong and doping. Would it be in fact an edge over the competition to take a drug that truly enhanced your performance? Remove what the drug was being taken for from the equation. If it gave you a performance edge, it is illegal.

How many distance runners would line up to take an additive that increased the number of white blood cells streaming to their muscles before a competition? I certainly sympathize for the reason behind the drug being administered, but I can not deny the advantage it afforded Armstrong.

A great debate rages in the United States if NASCAR is a sport. I would challenge anyone with the opinion that it is not to provide examples as to why they would believe cycling to be. I believe both to be extremely challenging sports.

A good case could be made for NASCAR as being an American sport, with a lengthy season, numerous stars and having the most spectators of any other sport during the course of its season. The Tour is a single event, held in another country, that the majority of Americans have no idea as to when it takes place and could care less to the outcome. So why would the AP base a major award on a single event, held outside the country, regarding a sport the majority of Americans are not concerned about?

Tony Stewart would have been more deserving of this award than Armstrong. Stewart, two-time NASCAR cup winner (’02 and ’05), finally won the Brickyard 400 in 2005, and went in to the points chase leading and was the inevitable champion. Here’s a question, name another race Armstrong took part in over the course of the year? Remind me, is the award titled "Best Male Athlete of the Year" or "Best Performance in a Single Event for 2005?"

Presenting this award to Armstrong is a slap in the face to deserving athletes such as Roger Federer, Dan Wheldon and Tom Brady, to name just a few.

Federer’s record on the court in 2005 was 80-4! He was named ITF World Champion for the 2nd straight year, joining the likes of Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras. He won 11 titles in 2005, including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

Wheldon, IRL champ, like Stewart, is a racecar driver, but then racing is not a sport, right? Tell that to the millions of spectators it draws every year and to the drivers that risk their lives and lose 20 pounds a race during races held over the summer months.

Tom Brady only led his team to its third Super Bowl victory in four years. In an era of free agency and worst to first team turn-arounds, Brady and the New England Patriots are a shining example for the NFL that it can be done.

While winning the Tour is an accomplishment, it is a single event the vast majority of Americans could care less about, and that pales in comparison to the accomplishments achieved by athletes in predominantly American sports over lengthy grueling seasons. I wonder what bull-fighter, archer or athlete of a foreign event of zero importance to the American sports populist will win this "award" next year?