French fans, Serena, and Lance

[Nev Shea]

After watching Serena Williams crying like a ***** after losing and rough treatment from the French
Open fans, I'm wondering if Lance will be in for more of the same or worse, something like that
asshole punching Eddy Merckx? Or do you think that sometime before the Tour will we see Lance and
Halgand and Bush and Chirac all singing Cumbayah together and everything will be cool?

NS

 

[Bart]

Serena?

I had the impression that were all Belgian fans. One third of the crow was Belgian was Belgian for
sure. They made the noise, some French joined.

Soaked in by the succeses of our girls these people went to nearby fans. The are not acquainted with
tennis etiquette. In our main stadium sport, soccer, it's perfectly normal and logical to root for
your own side. And to boo the opponent at every ballcontact. That wasnt the case here fortunately,
but they cheered for every miss for sure.

It was simple folk fandom. Fueled maybe by boredom with the Williams supremacy.But the
interpretations of anti-americanism or even racism were off the mark really.

 

[Bart]

sorry for the typos...

here it is again

I had the impression that were all Belgian fans. One third of the crowd was Belgian for sure. They
made the noise, some French joined.

Soaked in by the succeses of our girls these people went to nearby Paris. They are not acquainted
with tennis etiquette. In our main stadium sport, soccer, it's perfectly normal and logical to root
for your own side. And to boo the opponent at every ballcontact. That wasnt the case here
fortunately, but they cheered for every miss for sure.

It was simple folk fandom. Fueled maybe by boredom with the Williams supremacy. But the
interpretations of anti-americanism or even racism were off the mark really.

 

[Robert Chung]

"Bart" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> sorry for the typos...
>
> here it is again
>
> I had the impression that were all Belgian fans. One third of the crowd
was
> Belgian for sure. They made the noise, some French joined.
>
> Soaked in by the succeses of our girls these people went to nearby Paris. They are not acquainted
> with tennis etiquette. In our main stadium sport,
soccer,
> it's perfectly normal and logical to root for your own side. And to boo
the
> opponent at every ballcontact. That wasnt the case here fortunately, but they cheered for every
> miss for sure.
>
> It was simple folk fandom. Fueled maybe by boredom with the Williams supremacy. But the
> interpretations of anti-americanism or even racism were off the mark really.

You saying LANCE shouldn't race in Belgium?

 

[Kenny]

> After watching Serena Williams crying like a ***** after losing and rough treatment from the
> French Open fans, I'm wondering if Lance will be in for more of the same or worse, something like
> that asshole punching Eddy Merckx? Or do you think that sometime before the Tour will we see Lance
> and Halgand and Bush and Chirac all singing Cumbayah together and everything will be cool?

When i saw the french coverage of the Dauphiné it was pretty easy to understand that the french
commentators rather want that Lance don't win "Le Centenaire". Their comment wasn't by far
objective spreading their belief that Lance mentally became unstable, that he lost confidence
because Mayo dared to attack so many times. Offcourse this is crazy talk. Without any misfortune
lance takes his nr5.

 

[Nev Shea]

"Bart" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Serena?
>
> I had the impression that were all Belgian fans. One third of the crow was Belgian was Belgian for
> sure. They made the noise, some French joined.

Interesting. No reporting that I saw here in the US considered it could have been Belgians. TV news
and sports commentators were all complaining how the French fans were carrying bad political
relations over to the sporting arena. I'll bet it made some Americans so mad they went right out to
buy French wine and pour it into the gutter in protest.

NS

 

[Van Hoorebeeck]

>
> You saying LANCE shouldn't race in Belgium?
>
> >

No. Since we don't have a challenger at all.

But look at how Groenendaal gets treated by part of the cross fans. As the sole factor able to spoil
the party.

 

[Dan Gregory]

"Kenny" <[email protected]> wrote in message > When i saw the french coverage of the Dauphiné it
was pretty easy to
> understand that the french commentators rather want that Lance don't win "Le Centenaire". Their
> comment wasn't by far objective spreading their belief that Lance mentally became unstable, that
> he lost confidence because Mayo dared to attack so many times. Offcourse this is crazy talk.
> Without any misfortune lance takes his nr5.
Funny what I heard on Fr2 Saturday & France 3 Sunday was their saying what a phenomenal descender
Lance had become despite his crash. Chasing down Mayo on the descents etc. On the motorbike
commentator Laurent Jalabert was saying he never experienced the kind of risks they took when he was
riding as much as he did following. As I was watching a postage stamp size picture on the Canal+
mosaic channel (no descrambler for full size) I really had to rely on the commentary and it seemed
very objective and pro class all the time whether Armstrong or Mayo... All the best Dan Gregory

 

[Robert Chung]

"Dan Gregory" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Kenny" <[email protected]> wrote in message > When i saw the french coverage of the Dauphiné
> it was pretty easy to
> > understand that the french commentators rather want that Lance don't win "Le Centenaire". Their
> > comment wasn't by far objective spreading their belief that Lance mentally became unstable, that
> > he lost confidence because Mayo dared to attack so many times. Offcourse this is crazy talk.
> > Without any misfortune lance takes his nr5.
> Funny what I heard on Fr2 Saturday & France 3 Sunday was their saying what
a
> phenomenal descender Lance had become despite his crash. Chasing down Mayo on the descents etc. On
> the motorbike commentator Laurent Jalabert was saying he never experienced the kind of risks they
> took when he was riding as much as he did following. As I was watching a postage stamp size
> picture on the Canal+ mosaic
channel
> (no descrambler for full size) I really had to rely on the commentary and
it
> seemed very objective and pro class all the time whether Armstrong or Mayo... All the best
> Dan Gregory

I was watching the France2 and 3 coverage, too, and I sorta agree that they didn't seem particularly
anti-Lance. I don't know whether Lance has become a better descender or Mayo is a lousy one. We need
to see Savoldelli in there. I didn't hear Jalabert's comment, but maybe he meant that in the sense
that on the bike he was in control but on the moto he was a passenger. It shows the producers have
some confidence in him as a commentator, though, putting him on live. Earlier in the season he was
doing mostly pre-recorded setups and occasional interviews.

 

[Scott Hendricks]

"Robert Chung" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...

>
> I was watching the France2 and 3 coverage, too, and I sorta agree that they didn't seem
> particularly anti-Lance. I don't know whether Lance has become a better descender or Mayo is a
> lousy one. We need to see Savoldelli in there. I didn't hear Jalabert's comment, but maybe he
> meant that in the sense that on the bike he was in control but on the moto he was a passenger. It
> shows the producers have some confidence in him as a commentator, though, putting him on live.
> Earlier in the season he was doing mostly pre-recorded setups and occasional interviews.

I seem to recall that pre-cancer Lance had quite a reputation as a descender. Someone help me with
this, but wasn't he credited w/ learning it from Sean Yates during their days on Motorola?

 

[Davide Tosi]

Nev Shea <[email protected]> wrote:

>"Bart" <[email protected]> wrote in
>news:[email protected]:
>
>> Serena?
>>
>> I had the impression that were all Belgian fans. One third of the crow was Belgian was Belgian
>> for sure. They made the noise, some French joined.
>
>Interesting. No reporting that I saw here in the US considered it could have been Belgians.

???? The court tribunes looked like that Maurice Vlaminck picture ...

 

[Jeff Jones]

"Scott Hendricks" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Robert Chung" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
>
> >
> > I was watching the France2 and 3 coverage, too, and I sorta agree that
they
> > didn't seem particularly anti-Lance. I don't know whether Lance has
become a
> > better descender or Mayo is a lousy one. We need to see Savoldelli in
there.
> > I didn't hear Jalabert's comment, but maybe he meant that in the sense
that
> > on the bike he was in control but on the moto he was a passenger. It
shows
> > the producers have some confidence in him as a commentator, though,
putting
> > him on live. Earlier in the season he was doing mostly pre-recorded
setups
> > and occasional interviews.
>
> I seem to recall that pre-cancer Lance had quite a reputation as a descender. Someone help me with
> this, but wasn't he credited w/ learning it from Sean Yates during their days on Motorola?

Yes, it was in one of the Scott Sunderland giro diaries.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/giro03/?id=scott/scott035 (and probably elsewhere too)

cheers, Jeff

 

[Stewart Fleming]

Scott Hendricks wrote:

> I seem to recall that pre-cancer Lance had quite a reputation as a descender. Someone help me with
> this, but wasn't he credited w/ learning it from Sean Yates during their days on Motorola?

Yep, Sean coached Lance in many of the ways of the peloton in his younger days. Fortunately, Lance
has forgotten how Sean used to climb cols (53x19). STF