Wal-Mart replacing Post Office as USA Bike team sponser?

I heard a rumor that in 2005 Wal-Mart would replace the US Post Office as the US cycling team sponsor. Does anyone know more about this or was someone just blowing smoke up my rear?

If this is true that one of the most evil entities in the world is about to make cycling VERY ugly looking.

 

A possibility - the USPS contract only goes through 2004, so the team is up for grabs after that.

Wonder what kind of bike they'll be riding?

 

It'd put a whole new spin on the term "Walmart Bike" eh.

 

Yeah ! Do you think TREK might have something to say about that !!!???

 

Maybe Lance could win #7 (hopefully) on a huffy.

 

It's be neat to see the whole team outfitted with those 80 lb full suspension mongoose bikes. They make me cry.

 

Yup, it's official!!

 

LOL!!!!!

serenaslu, you're a genius!

 

trek is not putting on there bikes usps anymore as od this year so the huffy company has a chance

 

I think Huffy will be in the tdf next year. Yep I can see it now.....

 

Will Wal-Mart have a greeter at the finish line?

 

Maybe the girls of Wal-Mart might be there.

 

Was a friend of mine just trying to get one over on me that Huffy actually sponsered a pro cycling team a while back? Of course, they didn't race Huffys but it was their sticker on their bikes. Anyone know if there is any truth to this?

 

That would be the fastest way to kill my interest in the team. Walmart represents the worst in American mass-produced consumer culture (if you can even call it that). I for one would not want the highest profile US riders sponsored by the lowest of the low in trashy sell-out corporate sponsors.

I'll take USPS anyday.

 

Well, it was only a matter of time.

Next we'll have McDrivethrough and MTV patches on military uniforms.

Or how bout naming public places like stadiums and parks after corporate sponsors... Oh... Wait... That's already happened.

Next thing you know, Corporations will be declaired "persons" under the law and be entitled to free speech... Oh... again, that's already happened.

Well, at least they haven't signed any kind of trade agreements which allow the interests of corporations to automatically overshadow little things like democratic soverignity.. Oh... I forgot... They Have.

Ah well, stick a fork in us... we're done.

 

I second that! I whole-heartedley agree with that. You totally hit the nail on the head. I think it sucks that they'll be riding under the Wal-Mart name. That name doesn't belong in something as pure as cycling. I hate Wal-Mart, and I never go there unless I absolutely have to.

I'll take USPS anyday too!

 

LeMond rode them back in the early 80's. (Wasn't he ride one back in 1981 in the Red Zinger Classic?).

Found this: http://www.firstflightbikes.com/huffman.htm



"In 1977 the named was officially changed to the Huffy Corporation. In the 1980's Huffy acquired the rights to the Raleigh name in the United States. The Huffy Tech Center in Miamisburg, Ohio, under the direction of Mike Melton, produced the 1984 Olympic bikes. Greg LeMond would ride Huffy branded bikes in the Tour De France. "

In the late 80's 7-Eleven and Huffy team up for a team also.

 

Bwah!! Oh, now that is a doozy. As pure as cycling???

Let's run down the rapsheet shall we? Cycling is a sport where:

- current and former champions drop dead in hotel rooms or keel over when climbing mountains due to heart failure despite being young and in prime physical condition.
- entire teams are suspended from the premier event in the sport after they are found to be in posession of huge caches of performance enhancing drugs.
- riders found guilty of doping are back riding in the peloton in months.
- the governing body fails to take responsibility for the drug problems in the sport.
- outcomes of races are sometimes agreed upon by the riders in advance or even determined during the race by way of promises of cash payments.
-a million other damning things I can't think of right now.

Pure? Um, no!

Seems to me that teams should be grateful to have any sponsor, let alone the largest retailer in the US. The only reputation that is at stake here is Walmart's reputation, not cycling's. Cycling's reputation is already irreparably damaged.

Since you are all up on the high horse about international conglomerates, I suppose you should also be criticizing Lance Armstrong for being sponsored by Nike, a company that also represents "mass produced consumer culture". Clearly, Lance is a "trashy sell-out corporate" w-h-o-r-e! W-h-o-r-e, I say!!

Edited to add: Why the hell can't I say w-h-o-r-e without being censored? This site sucks!

 

Well, where I'm from, cycling is still pure. Maybe it's not everywhere, but here it still. We do it for the love of the sport and getting away from the city and pressures of life. For your information, I don't buy Nike apparel, nor do I buy from Wal-Mart. Personally, I don't like Nike being in Cycling, just like I don't want Wal-Mart in it. I was offering up my personal opinion of the sport and I how I feel so if you don't like that, too baaaadddd.
Oh and if this site sucks so bad, then why do you bother posting here huh? Get on with your bad-a$$ self and hike it out of here if you hate it so much.

 

This thread isn't called "Walmart sponsors weekend warriors in Idaho". Its about sponsoring a professional team. Cycling is a business. This thread isn't about your or your friends. Professional cyclists aren't jacking themselves full of epo and steroids so they can "get away from the city". They are there to make money, pure and simple.

What, are you twelve? And, if you don't want people criticizing your opinions then don't post your opinions on the internet for the entire world to see. Maybe you should try talking to a mirror - I find that the reflection usually does not talk back. Alternatively, you could befriend a mime.

Well, I thought about that but now I've decided to continue posting here just to spite you.