Lance Armstrong..."Domestique."

The other day I went to a lecture about Teamwork. The speaker talked a lot about Lance Armstrong -- the best long distance bicycle rider in the world, etc. etc. But the point was that for Lance to do that, he has a whole team supporting him.

These folks are referred to in the bicycle world as "Domestiques." (As in, "Maid.") If the main rider needs a drink, they get it for him. Powerbar -- they get it. He crashes his bike -- they give up theirs.

The "main" rider can NOT DO IT without the Domestiques. No way.

Now, the thing is, the speaker was talking about Lance Armstrong's latest ride, here in California. In this race, he wasn't the winner -- someone else on the team was. Because Lance rode....as a domestique.

Isn't this the perfect Bond Girl analogy? That's the deal. Bond is the "main rider." And the Bond Girl is there, to do what it takes to help him succeed -- she's not "#1," she is "#1 at being #2" or, in other words, the "domestique."

I hate it when women seem to see this as my saying "OH, you are saying that women need to be subservient to men" (blah blah). Well, James happens to be a man. And the Bond girls all happen to be women. But -- HELLO. The Armstrong/Domestique analogy is the same thing.

When a Bond Girl is doing what she "does" (whether it's being a nuclear physicist or a deep sea fisher), she is #1, and in fact, in the movies, Bond basically for that short period of time is her 'Domestique.' He hands her the plyers, so to say. But when she's not doing what her #1 thing is -- she is doing what it takes for HIM to succeed -- because then, as part of that team-for-a-time, SHE succeeds.

Yeah yeah, the Bond/Bond girl "teams" don't last for long. But that's the movies. They last as long as they are productive and the "team" is moving forward. (Just like the bicycle teams -- it might just be for that race, but that's what it's for and everyone works for that goal -- get the main rider over the finish line and everyone else on the team there too hopefully in one piece.)

Who gets the glory? The main rider. Who gets him there? The domestiques. Will the main rider BE a domestique at some point? You betcha. Or he can be a prima donna and not ever "assist" -- and then get a bad name like so SO many basketball players these days.

Bond Girl -- and sports analogies? Hey, why not?

Here's another analogy. When I was in the Marines, there was a big physical wash-out rate for lawyers (me, too -- blew my knees out). Why? Because the Marines, unlike any other service, believes that everyone who is a Marine is basically a "grunt"/rifleman "first." Yeah, so you're a big bad *ss lawyer -- you went thru Boot like everyone else. You can field strip an M-16. You slogged through the swamp, running in file carrying a telephone pole with your belt with the other girls in your team. (Um, yes, that is all true.) Anyway -- the deal here is that the other services send lawyers and doctors through what is called 'Knife and Fork School' -- meaning you learn what all the different ranks are, and are pretty much soft-soaped through any of the combat stuff.

But to me, this is another analogy for a Bond Girl. Now, I know, don't call any Marine a "Girl," but let's put it this way. Let's say I hadn't gotten hurt, so I was a JAG for the USMC. Guy comes in, needs me to defend him. He knows that I didn't just go to "Knife and Fork School." I had to go through the ringer too. So, he basically can take what I would call the "Bond Girl" position (or the "Domestique" if you prefer) for that case -- he knows that I have done something that he respects, so he can take the "back seat" and let me do my Stuff for him.

This is probably not as good of an analogy as the Domestique thing....but it came to me as I was writing.

Guess Who.