The subject of the Tour de France came up on a KTRS sports talk show Monday night. Mike Claiborne was the host. Claiborne is basically a fair host. He will freely admit he doesn’t “get” the sport but he respects the cyclists abilities.
The real treat on these shows is when the yahoos start calling in. I was only able to listen to a few callers before getting a phone call of my own, but twice I heard the ever-popular putdown of the sport that the caller rode bikes as a kid. So, what’s the big deal about cycling? Everybody rides a bike as kid. But, only men can play REAL sports.
This argument always makes me start talking back at the radio. The mental geniuses never seem to realize that they probably played baseball as a kid too. But, somehow, during a young man’s adolescent years baseball or football or basketball get exponentially harder and require greater skill. Yet, cycling remains a childhood diversion with playing cards stuck in the rear spokes.
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On a completely different subject, I turned on the Versus network a little early before their evening coverage of the Tour. They were airing one of their looks back at the career of Lance Armstrong. This particular show was a recap of the 2001 stage in which Ullrich famously rode off the side of the Col de Peyresourde.
The racing aside, I was struck by what I was watching. In 2001, helmets were not yet a requirement. Helmet Nazis be damned I enjoyed watching cycling more when the riders could go helmetless.
A certain personality was lost when the helmets became mandatory. There were no more big ears and bald head of Pantani. No more long hair of Gert-Jan Theunisse, etc. With so many camera angles being from behind on a motorcycle or from above, often all you see is the helmet you lose a the head and/or hair as a means of identification and you are left to decipher a riders identity by their size or riding style. An improvement in safety? Yes. An improvement for the sport and its connection with its fans? No.
The real treat on these shows is when the yahoos start calling in. I was only able to listen to a few callers before getting a phone call of my own, but twice I heard the ever-popular putdown of the sport that the caller rode bikes as a kid. So, what’s the big deal about cycling? Everybody rides a bike as kid. But, only men can play REAL sports.
This argument always makes me start talking back at the radio. The mental geniuses never seem to realize that they probably played baseball as a kid too. But, somehow, during a young man’s adolescent years baseball or football or basketball get exponentially harder and require greater skill. Yet, cycling remains a childhood diversion with playing cards stuck in the rear spokes.
------------------------------
On a completely different subject, I turned on the Versus network a little early before their evening coverage of the Tour. They were airing one of their looks back at the career of Lance Armstrong. This particular show was a recap of the 2001 stage in which Ullrich famously rode off the side of the Col de Peyresourde.
The racing aside, I was struck by what I was watching. In 2001, helmets were not yet a requirement. Helmet Nazis be damned I enjoyed watching cycling more when the riders could go helmetless.
A certain personality was lost when the helmets became mandatory. There were no more big ears and bald head of Pantani. No more long hair of Gert-Jan Theunisse, etc. With so many camera angles being from behind on a motorcycle or from above, often all you see is the helmet you lose a the head and/or hair as a means of identification and you are left to decipher a riders identity by their size or riding style. An improvement in safety? Yes. An improvement for the sport and its connection with its fans? No.
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