its been said that folks who exhibit cruel behavior are in six kinds of pain themselves..... they cry themselves to sleep.

The comment itself could be written off as off the cuff, but the initial responses he had to the backlash was insensitive and insincere. For a media personality, he doesn't seem to know how to handle the media very well.

Complaint sent.

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S3

So...who cares? Why give him credit with the attention?

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Let's just say that I'm not sure I'd want you to be the arbiter of when people can be justifiably offended and when they are just thin skinned. I wouldn't put, "has a solid grasp of appropriate social norms," at the top of your skill set. To be fair, I wouldn't put it near the top of my own skillset either.

As you said, "I don't get it." I think that's just who you are. But where I think you often seem to rub people the wrong way, at least on this forum, is that thinking that because you don't get it, it shouldn't make sense to other people either.

That being said, I do agree with Paulo that Woody Paige's comment is the far more dangerous and unacceptable comment. There is a certain ridiculousness to what happened to which laughter is a somewhat understandable response. I.e., "did that really just happen?" Whereas Paige's comment is the sort of thing that leads to motorists teeing up cyclists.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

I sent a message..... 999 characters.


This is in regards to the statements of Michael Smith and other commentators about a recent Tour de France crash. It was very disappointing from a network I enjoy watching.

I appreciate seeing what little endurance sports coverage ESPN actually airs. As endurance sports grow, I find it pathetic to hear the ignorance of some of the networks agents. Biking at the level of TdF riders takes more athletic ability than many sports these commentators speak highly of.

As for the crash, it is bad enough to find humor in someone's pain no matter what the situation, but it is truly sad that Mr.Smith and thereby ESPN have continued to spread the insensitivity regarding the sport of cycling and belittle the seriousness of injuries or crashes that affect these athletes lives.

Pathetic apologies with no sincerity are almost worse than the ignorance.

Many cyclist's lives have been lost to accidents such as these. How would you feel if you got a call saying your child was hit by a car?

If it were some guy on the street, I'd brush it off.

When the guy has a TV audience of millions of people and represents a huge voice in the sports world, I think it's important to address it. For good or for bad, he has the power to influence a lot of people and comments like his encourage dangerous behavior and anger towards cyclists. It bothers me even more that it appears to be a trend by ESPN journalists. That's now 4 or 5 that I know of that have made similar comments.

A single idiot on the street is relatively harmless. An idiot with a national audience can do a lot more damage.

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-Andrew

Well, I normally would go with that. However, in this situation I think these attitudes that are heard by that many people, just perpetuate the disregard for cyclists out on the road in general.

Don't post much but thought I'd give my reason for complaining. I was hit by a truck. I wasn't badly hurt but it was a nightmarish situation for both me and for the driver. It has been 4 years and I still don't think it is funny and I don't imagine he thinks it was funny to see me fly into his windshield.

Thinking that a car hitting cyclists is funny sends a public signal that bike crashes aren't as serious as people like me think they are. It tends to normalize and trivialize rather than see the situation for what it truly is.

If I read your analogy correctly about getting hit in the nuts being funny, then if we happened to be playing baseball together, I may tend to be more careless around you knowing that you think getting slammed in the nuts is funny rather than excruciating.

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Blog about being a dad and 140.6 racer wannabee. http://irondads.blogspot.com/

Does anyone know if the cycling forums have picked up on this. I don't frequent them but would love to hear that they too are outraged and are also contacting ESPN.

When I saw the title of this thread I thought ESPN was announcing another new cable channel.

ESPN Douchebag: A 24/7 sports channel devoted entirely to the Boston sports fan!

Now that I don't mind laughing about. :-)

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It seemed like a good idea at the time. . .

Had Mr. Smith made similar comments regarding the fan falling to his death trying to catch a foul ball, an equally absurd/can't believe that just happened scenario, his relationship with ESPN would have ended immediately.

Getting hit in the balls is one thing. You don't see America's Funniest Video showing a video of someone getting hit by a car and going to the hospital. Plus these specific comments go deep into the psyche that cyclists do not belong on the road and it's a cyclist's fault for getting hit.

If they showed a video from a baseball game of someone taking a foul ball in the face and ending up with a broken nose and some stiches, do you think he would have the same reaction?

Thanks for the link, I wrote this:

"I am very passionate about cycling and understand that the sport is not as popular in the United States . I also understand that those unfamiliar with cycling like to malign it for personal reasons. That being said, what Michael Smith said is inexcusable to me. Calling a tragic accident of a professional humorous is ridiculous. This has had an extremely detrimental impact on how I view your organization. Should their be a punishment? Perhaps Mr. Smith having to live with that kind of personal character is punishment enough."

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http://www.y-rocket.blogspot.com/

Lots to say.

As to why bother responding: These talking heads have a large following. What they say can have an impact. Therefore, when they say something that can create a dangerous atmosphere for cyclists it needs to be addressed.

As was said earlier: If Mr. Smith had made similar comments about Joe Theismann when Lawrence Taylor broke his leg, he would have been fired within hours! Offensive remarks need to be punished. Jimmy the Greek was fired for talking about how black slaves were bred to be big. There is some truth to that statement, yet he was fired, rightfully.

Tony Kornheiser used to be a funny columnist for the Washington Post. Since his comments about the addition of bike lane in D.C. I have refused to watch his show. He advocated running over the cyclists. Unfortunately Lance went on the show to berate him. So Tony got a reward for his assinine comments: The most well-known cyclist in the US came on his show and he got ratings. So the incentive is to do it again.

Woody Paige is an ass. I will not watch a show with any of these three talking heads anymore.

By responding and not watching and passing the word we can affect the bottom line for the shows these people appear on. Monay talks.

Remember when Tony made the derogatory remarks about a women's college basketball team? Well, we should all speak up at those times too. Idiots like this should not be allowed to spread stupidity. If we want the general public to respect cyclists more, perhaps we should speak up whenever ESPN pinheads spew ignorant, hurtful comments.

One final thought: I travel to Europe often and US sports get virtually no airplay there. It is soccer, tennis, golf, and car racing. Even cicket gets more. One time Kobe scored over 60 points in a game. That got reported, but no mention of who won, or even who the Lakers were playing was made! The media in the US does indeed have a VERY narrow focus!

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http://www.EpixGear.com

wrote ESPN. I wonder if they actually care?

What is wrong with you R10C?? The reason we are freaking out about this is because Smith's comments validates the disrespect that drivers have towards cyclists. His words put your life more in danger than it already is while riding. Cycling is dangerous enough as it is, we don't need lunatics thinking that it's "funny" to hit people. You must not value your life or the lives of any of your loved ones that cycle if you're not pissed off.

Excellent response:

I wrote in as well, and wonder that as well, Ian. But as with any job, he has to be accountable to someone. I just hope our collective voice is such that the network does make a decision that punishes him in a significant way. A smarmy apology yesterday, then a seemingly forced apology to the cycling community today ain't it, though. His seeming flippant behavior is what really pisses me off.

I really wish we could stick this guy on a bike for a week; he'd have a greater understanding of how wrong his comments were. Of course, that'll never happen. My suggestion, after ESPN fired his ass (hopefully) was to have some "fun and laughs" and push his ass out a car moving at 28mph. He'd be "ROTF"... literally.

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Jay Prasuhn
Marketing Specialist, American Bicycle Group (Quintana Roo//Litespeed//Obed)
twitter.com/jayprasuhn

My thought was: "They SHOULD have their very own douchebag ... after all, FOX does"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

That's the way to go ... maybe say to the kids: "Disney doesn't care if you get hit by a car, just as long as you watch your "Toy Story 12" DVD from your hospital bed"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I think the more people who write for sure the better. I doubt he'll lose his job over this - but my thoughts echo yours. In my note to ESPN I wrote:

"I hope ESPN is willing to put Mr. Smith on a bike ride for 100 miles and see how he feels when cars come driving past him through out the day"

To be honest I am actually more offended by his bull-shit apology then I am by the original tweet. it's these dumb-asses job to be controversial - it's just when they take it too far I would have expected to see some actual remorse rather then the continued "back at you dude..." tweets to everyone who "supports" him.

Someone else asked "what do you think the response would have been if he made fun of a car hitting a dog..." sobering to think about.

This is what happened when one Ausralian comedian made comments about cycilsts on the roads in Oz.Our media is a small group compared to the US and we don't follow the politically correct route in Oz( as you can tell from some of my posts) so when someone screws up the whole nation jumps on board.

I presonally love Robbie McEwan's response..

www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/confidential/magda-szubanski-forced-to-apologise-for-attack-on-cyclists/story-e6frf96o-1225781652764


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Well I stand a bit corrected - I did receive an actual email in response signed by a person (Eric) addressed to me.

I'm sure that could also be automatically generated but I do appreciate ESPN acknowledging my note.