Well, I don’t really mean that. But I have to admit I have found the event underwhelming over the past few years.
The author of this article seems to feel the same way I do…
http://slate.msn.com/id/2121810/?nav/fo/
What say you? Are you as exited about this tour as much as in the past? Or do you just check out the “box score” at the end of the day?
I don’t think it “blows”…that may be somewhat of an over-statement. But aside from '03, it has been a bit “uneventful.” Taking a look at this year already (i.e., the prologue) it seems to be “over before it starts.” But we’ll see, things could get a little more exciting yet…
People were saying the same things when Indurain was knocking off 5 Tour wins in a row in the early 90’s. It does become a bit ho-hum when the same people win all the time. I have started to look at it another way. If you think about it, it really is extraordinary what Armstrong and other multi-time Tour de France winners have done. There are so many variables in each day of racing and over the course of the three weeks - many which an individual rider or even a team of riders can’t control or anticipate. Consider that a puncture or bike mechanical at the wrong time can really throw things off. It’s truely remarkable that Armstrong has continued to beat the odds every year. Think about the Beloki crash of a few years ago. That could just as easily been Armstrong that went down heavily, as Lance was right on the Beloki’s wheel at the time going over the same slippery tar and oil slicked surface. Beloki has never been the same since. Lance goes on to win that Tour and another after that!
Fleck
I thought yesterday’s finish was outstanding.
Agreed. The Dekker breakaway was daring and he and his companions nearly pulled it off. However, this is a subtle drama that is hard to sell in North America. People only seemed concerned with who is “winning”.
Dekker was the hero of the day, but this seems lost on many North American viewers because he did not win the stage nor is he winning the race!
Fleck
NASCAR is more subtle tahn cycling and not to mention NASCAR sucks balls…but look how popular it is, for some reason.
**However, this is a subtle drama that is hard to sell in North America. People only seemed concerned with who is “winning”. **
It is the same thing in other sports. During a televised baseball game, the average person sees an “easy groundball that even I could field” (or similar comments that I hear when watching the game with a non-athlete friend). I see a perfectly located pitch that dictated that the hitter, based on the hitter’s known tendencies/weaknesses, would hit that specific pitch in that specific location right to where the defense positioned the second basemen. I see poetry; they see routine, whose difficulty they under-estimate.
No one is interested in subtle drama. Sometimes they are not even interested in winning, but the most flambuoyant personailty.
Football seems to be the one sport that holds many people’s attention … and what grabs them is not subtleties of a TE dragging the line and drifting to the open area of the field behind the LB’s and in front of the safeties, it’s the linebacker late-hitting the QB and sequential 5 instant replays showing the event from every angle … and the LB’s celebration even though he just got his team a 15-yard penalty.
I would guess that many “cycling fans” do not appreciate the subtelties and the inherent drama in many of the seemingly, insignificant moves. For one to understand that, they literally have had to have been there or in a similar situation.
NOT A SPOILER but after today I think we can say the ‘uneventfull-ness’ is at least on hold?
“No one is interested in subtle drama.”
I beg your pardon. Well, at least I am, but perhaps I am the odd-ball. However, upon further review, I think not. You actually get to witness the great divide right on the OLN coverage - Phil and Paul( the Europeans), with their detailed analysis and discussion about all of the subtelties of professional bike racing at this level and then you get the Americans( Trautwig and Roll), who seem obsessed with only the Yellow Jersey ie the Winner. Actually, Bobke( Roll) knows more than he let’s on having ridden in the Pro peloton for a number of years.
Fleck
Agree with your comments re: Liggett and Sherwen vs. Trautwig and Roll. Hate listening to the latter on the replays, love listening to the former live. It is literally like night and day with the pairs.
I beg your pardon.
You have it. I have this habit of speaking generally, in order to stay somewhat brief. If I consider all exceptions, I tend to get wordy.
I don’t get to witness the OLN coverage, or perhaps I would have noticed the division.
From the major sports I watch, the expert commentaryis less in volume and less in substance than what my former college-athlete buddy is explaining on the couch next to me (or on the phone). We get watered down coverage so that the disinterested don’t get lost.
I’m not a cycling fan, by any stretch of the means, but I’d be interested in learning about the subleties of the actual race,movements that dictate responses, etc.
The competition is still very good. We just had great
fights in the classics and at the Giro, and it is
a bit early to make a pronouncments on the Tour 
The coverage tends to be “bite-sized”. I’d be there,
and I’d probably be watching the flemish coverage mostly:
a bit of a linguistic challenge, but it is good.
It’s because fat, lazy-ass rednecks can all drive cars.
And there’s a lot more fat, lazy-ass rednecks than there are cyclists in America.
Subtle drama aside (which I do love!) I could still watch Lance and Disco cream the competition with huge efforts all day long. It is simply amazing to me to be able to witness such an amazing piece of history live! What I would give to go back and be able to watch Mercx or Hinault race…(yes, I’m a “youngen’”)
I’ll be watching too. I vaguely remember Eddy’s days: in Belgium, he was just part of the landscape. As a kid we took all these guys for granted. For a small country with not much of an identity, he was pure gold. Now that’s gone, and worse: we don’t even cream the French at soccer like we use to ;/ I guess there’s Tom B…
Actually I am of the opinion that due to OLN’s coverage, the Lance factor, now 4 Americans in the top 10 that viewership is way up. And given the complete lack of interest in the US towards cycling 8 years ago, its amazing how many more americans are increasing thier literacy in the ways of the road cycling. You might be surprised how many non-cyclists, non-triathletes are following the daily coverage for the full two or three hours. and enjoying the sublety (which credit goes to the ability of the crew at explaining the nuance.)