Cycling Unrecognized in U.S.

Hud said:

It's amazing to me how under-recognized cycling is here in the U.S. I've
got nearly 300 cable channels with several sports channels and I rarely find
anything about any races anywhere in the world. I have tried searching for
cycling movies and have only found "American Flyers" and "Breaking Away."
Both movies are more than 20-years old. One is 28-years old. Lance
Armstrong is a U.S. cycling icon. Where's his movie? It doesn't exist.
There are phenomenal cyclists and teams all around the world. American
television ignores them. What a shame! Nascar (backed by tobacco company
sponsors) is outrageously popular and gets broadcasted ad nauseum. That's a
sport where the power comes from a motor. In cycling the rider "is" the
motor. That is much more exciting, in my opinion. We must ask ourselves,
"How can any athletic endeavor heavily backed by cigarette companies be
called sport?" But that's another topic. Certainly I'm not the only one
who feels this way. Any thoughts?

There is supposed to be a Lance Armstrong movie in the works, but I
haven't heard any other details. I agree that there should be more
cycling coverage. Versus has cut back on theirs, they used to do more
on the Giro D' Italia and the Vuelta Espana.

Smokey

[email hidden] wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

There is supposed to be a Lance Armstrong movie in the works, but I
haven't heard any other details. I agree that there should be more
cycling coverage. Versus has cut back on theirs, they used to do more
on the Giro D' Italia and the Vuelta Espana.

With all the drug controversies in pro bike racing these days, I'm not sure
if Lance Armstrong (innocent or not) would be interested in getting a movie
about himself made.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Hud said:

It's amazing to me how under-recognized cycling is here in the U.S.

Is it? Really? I assure you that cycling will have its breakthrough
moment in the US the day after the World Cup's ratings smash the Super
Bowl's.

--
My personal UDP list: 127.0.0.1, 4ax.com, buzzardnews.com, googlegroups.com,
heapnode.com, localhost, teranews.com, x-privat.org

"Doc O'Leary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Hud said:

It's amazing to me how under-recognized cycling is here in the U.S.

Is it? Really? I assure you that cycling will have its breakthrough
moment in the US the day after the World Cup's ratings smash the Super
Bowl's.

World Cup? What is this thing "World Cup", that you speak about?

Frank Drackman said:

"Doc O'Leary" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
"Hud" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It's amazing to me how under-recognized cycling is here in the U.S.

Quoted message said:

Is it? Really? I assure you that cycling will have its breakthrough
moment in the US the day after the World Cup's ratings smash the Super
Bowl's.

World Cup? What is this thing "World Cup", that you speak about?

Ratings? What are these "ratings" you speak about?

- Frank Krygowski

Hud said:

I've
got nearly 300 cable channels with several sports channels and I rarely find
anything about any races anywhere in the world.

well, versus is running a piddling one hour summary of the vuelta
on the 30th, repeating on oct 1. several years ago, when it was
named OLN, they were running a full month of daily stage
coverage, and the same for the giro, instead of the weekend
summaries they ran this year.

eurosport covers bike racing fairly well if it's one of your 300
channels, but their english language coverage doesn't have paul,
phil, & the bobke. i wish versus would can that idiot bob
troutmouth, though. he's a throwback to the days when they hired
announcers because they had great pipes (bass voice) even when
they were total idiots.

Hud said:

I've
got nearly 300 cable channels with several sports channels and I rarely find
anything about any races anywhere in the world.

well, versus is running a piddling one hour summary of the vuelta
on the 30th, repeating on oct 1. several years ago, when it was
named OLN, they were running a full month of daily stage
coverage, and the same for the giro, instead of the weekend
summaries they ran this year.

eurosport covers bike racing fairly well if it's one of your 300
channels, but their english language coverage doesn't have paul,
phil, & the bobke. i wish versus would can that idiot bob
troutmouth, though. he's a throwback to the days when they hired
announcers because they had great pipes (bass voice) even when
they were total idiots.

Hud said:

Nascar (backed by tobacco company
sponsors) is outrageously popular and gets broadcasted ad nauseum.

Note that NASCAR hasn't been backed by tobacco company sponsors for
quite a few years now. Their primary series sponsors are Nextel
(Sprint), Busch, and Craftsman.

--
jeverett3<AT>sbcglobal<DOT>net (John V. Everett)

Quoted message said:

Hud said:

Nascar (backed by tobacco company
sponsors) is outrageously popular and gets broadcasted ad nauseum.

Note that NASCAR hasn't been backed by tobacco company sponsors for
quite a few years now. Their primary series sponsors are Nextel
(Sprint), Busch, and Craftsman.

Quoted message said:

jeverett3<AT>sbcglobal<DOT>net (John V. Everett)

Yeah! Those sports that are "outrageously popular" shouldn't get
broadcasted! We could have more bowling! More water polo! More rugby! More
jai alai!

I am not a NASCAR fan, but, sheesh! Saying that it shouldn't be broadcasted
because it is popular? What's up with that?

Pat in TX

Hud said:

It's amazing to me how under-recognized cycling is here in the U.S. I've
got nearly 300 cable channels with several sports channels and I rarely find
anything about any races anywhere in the world. I have tried searching for
cycling movies and have only found "American Flyers" and "Breaking Away."
Both movies are more than 20-years old. One is 28-years old. Lance
Armstrong is a U.S. cycling icon. Where's his movie? It doesn't exist.
There are phenomenal cyclists and teams all around the world. American
television ignores them. What a shame! Nascar (backed by tobacco company
sponsors) is outrageously popular and gets broadcasted ad nauseum. That's a
sport where the power comes from a motor. In cycling the rider "is" the
motor. That is much more exciting, in my opinion. We must ask ourselves,
"How can any athletic endeavor heavily backed by cigarette companies be
called sport?" But that's another topic. Certainly I'm not the only one
who feels this way. Any thoughts?

Well it looks like someone is looking at the rest of the world through
European eyes and expecting the US to see things the same way they
do. Surprise, we don't. First update is that Nascar hasn't been
backed by RJ Reynolds company (the makers of the Winston) for several
years now. If there is any tobacco money left in Nascar, I don't
recall from where now. Either way that has nothing to do with it.
Nascar series sponsor now is Sprint, using the Nextel brand this year
and Sprint next. Formula 1 on the other hand is still tied to tobacco
and the regulations are largely hurting only those countries that have
enacted them. F1 to my knowledge has not added a single new race
anywhere where legislation prohibits tobacco advertising. Nor are
they likely to when there are plenty of places willing to pay them
tons of cash and let them run the tobacco ads on the car.

Next you say driving a Nascar stock car isn't either athletic or a
sport. Well let see. You try sitting in a car that the temp can get
up to 140 degree F in on the hot days of summer (it would be like
taking your hottest days of the year, rolling the windows all up,
turning the heat on wide open and then you have a realistic simulation
of the inside of a stock car in the summer) maintain total focus for
several hours with no time outs, no breaks, adapt to changing
conditions all while being able to used the finest of muscle movements
to control a 3400lb car with about 3 times the horsepower of most
performance autos. It takes physical endurance to do that. As far as
is it a sport, well that's a tougher question. I usually consider any
competition between two people to be a sport. Trouble is recent
events is turning that more into a gray area between sport and
entertainment. It was a sport, and for the most part it still is, but
they are doing their best to turn it into WWE style entertainment
which is a true shame.

Second a lot more people drive here than ride bikes and cars have
engines. Once you can drive, going faster is only natural. Taking
that to the limit is what those guys do. Many would find that far
more exciting than someone in shorts trying to see how fast they can
go on something that most adults here haven't ridden since they were
kids. There is a good reason for that. Distances here often make
travel by bike and daily commutes in many of the cities totally
impractical. In many places the cost to live somewhere close enough
to where biking to work would be an option would place you in an
income bracket that a limo is more likely to pick you up and drive you
the 3 blocks to your office and have the driver have your morning
coffee and paper ready for you on the trip. You mention 2 movies, but
they were not made because of the bike. They were made because of the
story. There have been very few racing movies made in the last
several years too and they were stinkers.

Lance is a great story, but so was Greg LeMond and how did that
affect cycling here? It didn't. People watched a bit while they were
on top. TV doesn't care about anything other than how many eyes are
tuned to the sets. If there were enough eyes that wanted it, there
would be a bike channel here. There isn't, but there is a channel
that is devoted to all types of auto racing.

Everyone can enjoy what they like to enjoy. The thing I get ticked
off about is when someone says what I should and shouldn't enjoy
because they don't like it. Its called freedom to choose, and its
something that many would like to take away.

Pat said:

Yeah! Those sports that are "outrageously popular" shouldn't get
broadcasted! We could have more bowling! More water polo! More rugby! More
jai alai!

I agree it's Quixotic (at best) to wish away the overblown sports, but
I'd love to see more X/C skiing, triathlons, track & field and other
sports. And - oh yeah - cycling.

- JR