Lance Armstrong is getting stripped of his Tour De France titles.  It’s like Santa stripping off his clothes and it turns out he’s a little Jewish boy down the street named Ira Goldstein.  It’s like getting punched in the stomach and the back at the same time, then are told to run 5 miles in the rain uphill with rabid sharks chasing you.  And just for your information, rabid sharks run really fast…much faster than normal sharks.  He was found guilty of blood doping, which is like Al Capone being found guilty of tax evasion.  But cheating is cheating.  His excuse?  It’s not like he was using performance enhancing drugs…

We expect our heroes to be flawless.  So, with that incredible burden…they cheat their image to be greater than they really are in order not to let us down.  Sometimes being human and failing is okay.  It’s empathetic. It’s good for us to see our heroes go through the same struggle and every day strife we are going through.  Trying your hardest and failing is much more admirable than cheating your fans in order to win.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Bloc Party:

1. Flux (Intimacy)
2. Banquet (Silent Alarm)
3. Biko (Intimacy)
4. Kreuzberg (A Weekend In The City)
5. This Modern Love (Silent Alarm)
6. Version 2.0 (Another Weekend In The City)
7. Positive Tension (Silent Alarm)
8. Helicopter (Silent Alarm)
9. The Prayer (A Weekend In The City)
10. Secrets (A Weekend In The City)
11. Ion Square (Intimacy)

 I’m back from vacation.  Well, I wouldn’t call driving up and down California for 10 days in a car with a whiny 5-year-old and attention-starved 2-year-old much of a vacation.  I didn’t I find sleeping in 5 different strange beds very restful.  Nor, did I enjoy the endless supply of grease-filled foods at the roadside rest stops.  And most importantly, nothing was more pain-inducing than listening to the same Dora the Explorer album…50 times in a row.  I’m just glad to be home so I can finally get some rest.

 I know I’m a bit behind on my lists.  Kele Okereke, lead singer of Bloc Party, has a solo album out.  Go buy it.

 Here are the 11 Best Songs By Bloc Party:

 1. Helicopter (Silent Alarm)
2. Two More Years (Silent Alarm B-side)

3. Positive Tension (Silent Alarm)

4. The Once and Future King (Another Weekend In the City)

5. Hunting For Witches (A Weekend In the City)

6. Banquet (Silent Alarm)

7. Flux (Intimacy)

8. Halo (Intimacy)

9. Song For Clay (A Weekend In the City)

10. Version 2.0 (Another Weekend In the City)

11. I Still Remember (A Weekend In the City) 

 Buy Kele Okereke’s new solo album, The Boxer…now!!