For those of you not in the Gainesville area, Pat Dooley is a local sports columnist for the Gainesville Sun.
In monday's paper, I was delighted to see the amount of coverage Lance and the Tour got. Lance made the front page as well as a huge spread on the cover of the sports page. Usually, the only sports topics that get that much press in G-ville have to do with the Gators win over FSU or Tenn (which I love). Pat Dooley's column also pertained to Armstrong and his accomplishments of the past 7 years. (***check out Dooley's column by clicking on the title of this post***)
All in all, I enjoyed Dooley's column...he was very respectful of the fact that what Lance does is HARD, harder than golf, harder than a lot of stuff...even went as far as claiming that Lance is possibly the greatest athlete ever, which I absolutly agree with (except for the possibly part).
What kinda got to me was his closing statement...
"The sport will suffer from his absence, and the Tour de France will go back to the back pages of the newspaper next year with the IRL results and bowling scores.
But it was a great ride. "
...Yes, the sport may suffer from his absence because he's an irreplaceable superstar, but why should the TdF go to the back page of the newspaper? I realize that we're dealing with the standard uneduacated cycling fan who can't understand how Lance can finish a stage in 85th place but still lead the overall General Classifacation.
Why can't we take the interest in cycling derived from Lance and extend that into future tours by learning the ins and outs of the grand tours. My wife didn't know a thing about cycling a few years ago, but now she gets as excited as anybody to see a cyclist successfuly bridge the gap to the break away off the front of the peloton. I know it's always more fun to have a hero to root for in the race, but do we not still have a bevy of heros to root for. Are Levi or Floyd, Horner or Julich, Hincapie or Danielson not worthy of our cheers. Yes, Lance was great...but let's get behind another great athlete; he doesn't even have to be American, my wife loves Jan Ullrich (and I think Basso's sister is HOT (but that's neither here nor there)).
If millions of people can watch a bunch of cars go around in circles for 3 hours, why can't we get behind a sport that offers soo much more. Let's try to get past the closed-minded view of cycling and take time to understand the intricacies of the sport...because once you learn what is going on, it's one of the most exciting things around.
Cycling is a phenominal sport. The Tour de France is a phenominal event. The endless miles of training Lance put in to win the TdF will still be ridden by the winner of next year's tour. The tireless preparation for July will still be tirelessly endured by next year's TdF cyclists. Just because Lance is no longer racing, the Tour isn't any less hard, any less gruelling and the winner won't be any less deserving of our support.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
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3 comments:
just wanted to leave a comment re: the dooley article and lance's place in cycling, sports, and american sports/cycling history.
first of all, just the fact that cyclng is getting front page news is a good thing.
i hope that someone at OLN decides that the tour is marketable without lance. i tell you, though, i get awfully tired of lance being the topic of every other sentence, especially from al trautwig, who drives me up the wall.
i also hope that OLN decides to bring back some live coverage of the classics, the giro, and the vuelta (this year and future).
lance being the greatest athlete ever is a stretch. he has won the tdf more than anyone, but it is shortsighted to call him the greatest athlete ever. i don't believe he is the greatest cyclist ever, but that is another discussion.
there is a fact, though, and that is that usps/lance have changed the way the season is looked at and has changed training and goals to focus only on july. they have been deadly effective in their endeavors, but i don't think that the shift in mindset is a good thing.
if you are a baseball fan, for example, imagine that your favorite player plays his first game about 20 games into the season. he trains, hits in the batting cage, faces a thousand curve balls a day, but doesn't play. he plays next just before the all star break. he plays another 10 games, then sees where he is weak and strong. he goes off to train and then comes back for the final 40 games of the season. he hits .450, 25 homers, drives in 100 runs and blows everyone away. then he disappears for the playoffs and world series (if his team makes it) except for a token pinch hit appearance in a couple games. this is how lance has been. he is the greatest july rider we have seen, period. the fact that he raced more days in july than the entire season has to be taken into account. i don't think it is good to see your favorite athletes, the armstrongs, the ullrich's, the mayos for only a few races outside the tour.
that's just my opinion.
he is one hell of a competitor and probably the greatest sports story of all time considering his journey. hope to see you all on the road soon. peace.
Anthony,
I agree with a lot of what you've said. I think the comparison between baseball and cycling is a stretch, but I understand your point.
The sport of cycling is soo diverse, with races rangeing from one day classics to 3 week grand tours. The technology as well as the level of athlete has risen soo much since the 60's when Merckx was winning everything from february to october.
Yes, Lance will be known as the best ever cyclist in July, and for good reason...but you're right he was very specialized and that's because that is the way to be sucsessful in grand tours.
When was the last time a cyclist won the Paris-Roubaix, or the Tour of Flanders and then went on to win the Tour?
Hi Paul! I love reading all your comments. You get so excited over cycling. I think that enthusiasm is what has spurred my enthusiasm! At any rate, I too hope that American broadcasting (mainly OLN) will continue to cover the TdF and other cycling events now that Lance is no longer cycling. I loved having him to root for, but also get tired of the monotonous coverage!!!
After watching his interview yesterday, I am looking forward to who Discovery will have as the front-man for the TdF next year!
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