Armstrong accuses France World Cup team of being 'assholes'
Lance Armstrong may be in for an interesting reception next week
when he returns to the Tour de France, having apparently
insulted France's soccer team by saying: 'All their players
tested positive... for being assholes.'  Armstrong's
relationship with the French has become strained, with his
persistent contention that they did not like him winning their
flagship event seven times and the allegations in the French
press last August that the banned blood booster erythropoietin
had been found in his urine samples from the 1999 Tour.  French
sports fans have voted him well up the standings in polls to
find the country's least popular sportsman.  Insulting the
heroes of the World Cup, even in jest, is hardly likely to
improve matters.  Armstrong apparently made the quip in his
prerecorded speech for tonight's ESPY awards, the annual gong-
fest of cable TV channel ESPN.  He then confirmed what he had
said to the Los Angeles Daily Times, stating: 'If they'