Tony Kornheiser and Lance Armstrong Make Up, Plan Bikes and Beer Outing

We mentioned yesterday that Lance Armstrong and his LiveStrong Legion were not happy with Tony Kornheiser's comments about running bicyclists down in the street. Clearly Tony was kidding, and clearly Armstrong used it as an opportunity to get more awareness for cycling safety. ESPN980 took the original audio down and yesterday, after his show, Kornheiser and Armstrong talked on the phone to clear the air.

Today, Armstrong was on Kornheiser's ESPN980 radio show to formally bury the hatchet. Following the interview, Kornheiser said he'd never say anything like that again, perhaps spelling the end of Death Star Radio as we know it.

"Sometimes I say a bunch of things just for comedic or entertainment value and don't necessarily believe them and I think that most people who listen to the show can tell the difference. And then when people are brought in who have never heard the show before, they react in a different way. I appreciate that now more than ever. I apologize for that and I'm not doing it again."

The conversation with Armstrong was rather amicable, and you had a sense that the only reason he even made an issue of the Kornheiser comments was for this very reason – to draw more attention to bike safety and the need for separate lanes for cyclists. Armstrong is a lot of things, and surely smart is one of them. The conversation ended with a promise that the two would hop on some bikes and have a couple of beers. In part:

TK: Okay, so some day the deal is that you and I will take a bike ride of probably no more than a mile, because at my age I don't think I can make more. And then we're going to have a beer. Is that fair?

Lance:It is absolutely fair. I'm going to continue to pay attention, as are the millions of people that you've now encouraged to watch you closely. They're going to all pay attention to make sure that we don't get singled out again. But absolutely.

We had a pleasant conversation yesterday and I heard in your voice that you did not mean this, obviously.

TK:Oh these rants are over. Believe me. This is over.

Lance:It was a vindictive, cruel thing, and thank goodness. But you have listeners who listen to you and say, 'well Tony said it's cool, so it must be cool.' I have people who follow my career that if I say 'jump' they say 'how high?' That's a little scary, but that's the reality of the world that we live in today.

We can all just get along. We'll be on bikes and we'll move as far to the right as we can and if the cars just give us a little space, you know what, you're going to still get home. You're going to still get to the red light at the same time. It's all good.

Kornheiser also mentioned that he ends each show with a reference to an old Stones song by suggesting, "if you're out on your bike tonight, as always, do wear white." See, he doesn't hate cyclists. And if he and Lance ever do go on a bike ride, let's hope it's on one of those tandem bikes. (Full size image).

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.