The Tour and Lance

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Anonymous's picture
Anonymous

From a column in the Atlanta Constitution berating the awarding of the Sportsman of the Year Award by SI to Lance Armstrong:

Ever seen a marching band take the field in the middle of a bicycle race?
Nope, you don't see tubas at the Tour de France, and for darned good reason.
The French hear marching music, and they think the Germans are coming

Anonymous's picture
lance fan (not verified)
am I missing something?

what does that have to do with Lance?

Anonymous's picture
Carol Waaser (not verified)
The Caravan

"Clearly the columnist has never actually been to the Tour de France, else he would know that the equivalent of the marching band comes in advance of the riders. It takes the form of sponsors' vehicles (in the shape of the sponsor's merchandise) blaring music, with good looking young men & women tossing souvenirs to the screaming crowds. It's pure entertainment, although it's ""pre-game"" rather than ""half-time"".

And, yeah, what does this have to do with Lance winning Sportsman of the Year?"

Anonymous's picture
No (not verified)
Sad but true

I think Fox News covered the event the other night but managed to interview & showed video clips of 2 porky baseball players in action, then interviewed Robin Williams while Lance & his wife were in the background busy NOT being interviewed! How do you go to an award ceremony & not interview the award recipient?! That goes to show how cyclists & the sport of cycling are not respected here. Very sad.

Anonymous's picture
Alfredo Garcia (not verified)
Excited but true

Hi,

You should have seen the WBII evening news (WPIX), that night . Sportscaster Sal Marchiano had a wonderful segment on Lance. Robert Williams said a few humorous things. Prominent athletes interviewed by Sal had admiration and praise about the 4-time (and counting) Tour de France champion. Sal saved the best for last getting Lance to say a few words about winning despite cancer.

I wouldn't worry about reporters, writers, media, even cyclists knocking Lance. It comes with the territory. In fact, the athletes interviewed by Sal have supposed flaws: Venus (or Serena) Williams--both dominant in what appears to be a diluted field in Women's tennis; Derek Jeter--his four World Series rings is sometimes overlooked--he doesn't make the big money and better stats than fellow baseball shortstop A(lex) Rod(riguez); Tiger Woods--his stellar golf record is overlooked by his views on Augusta and multiculturalism.

It will be interesting to see generations later, the influence of Lance Armstrong, on pro, regular and even NYCC SIG cyclists, many whom are not born yet.

Alfredo

Anonymous's picture
Charles Lam (not verified)
More LA sightings

"I also agree L. Armstrong’s efforts are making cycling known in the vast landscape of the American sport scene. He is a frequent guest on the Jim Rome talk show ‘the Last Word’ on ESPN(?). Rome is a huge fan (and friend) of LA, who always has intelligent questions and interesting conversations every time he has him on. LA was also a guest on the Charlie Rose show (PBS) last Wednesday night (not the first time). Midway through the 40 min interview, Rose revealed that he didn’t have a cyclist on his research staff when he made the point that LA was not ""Superman"" after 4 TDF (post cancer) wins and the SI award, because he only placed third at the Olympic TT two years ago. I guess no one informed Rose that LA was hit head-on by a car just weeks before the Olympics. The crash demolished the bike and LA suffered a C7 fracture in his neck. He was able to come back from an injury that would sideline most mortals for the season and win an Olympic medal. If that is not super human, I don’t know what is.

LA is ""Da-Man"", not the 300-pound guy with the superman tattoo.

-Chuck

BTW, someone should sell Mayor Bloomberg some wool tights to go with the jacket and tie. And what’s with the people commenting that not everyone is a billionaire with $500 for a new bike? It’s not like he’s buying a building to garage his 65 Porsches.
"

Anonymous's picture
Shymember OK (not verified)
Lance and the NON-SPORT article.

"The article in question is apparently a joke: cycling needs marching bands and mugs raised around a keg to be a ""real"" sport, hahaha. It's a tease.

Lance is an amazing athlete. He has overcome cancer (which has taken both my parents), is going for #5 in the TDF and his Foundation does fine work. Aside from that, when he is NOT riding, I really don't care all that much what he has to say (""If I (Lance) had a dollar for everytime some said ""Dope"" to me, I'd be a millionaire."" ) !!??!! Stick to riding Lance. STFU and ride.

And, why the heck does he not ride more in the USA if he is that concerned about domestic cycling?? Seriously!"

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