[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
This was from an email I received:
Let me see if you find this athlete’s backstory slightly more interesting than whether Barry Bonds will get indicted or Barbaro will ever walk again.
This athlete grew up a Mennonite in Lancaster County, Pa. His parents were against his pursuing his sport on religious grounds – they believed if he continued competing, he would go to hell – so his father sought to discourage him by trying to exhaust him with long hours of chores during the day. To no avail. He simply trained late at night, sometimes until 2 in the morning. Outside, in the dark and the rain and the snow and the ice and the subzero temperatures.
This man also served as a lieutenant to one of the most successful and popular athletes in America, helping him win repeated championships.
He took the lead in his sport’s biggest event one day and cracked physically the next day to fall hopelessly out of contention, yet somehow pulled himself back into the running the day after that with what many consider among the great performances in the sport’s history.
And oh, yes, one more thing. A previously broken hip now has the same problem that ended Bo Jackson’s career and will have to be replaced with an artificial one after this competition.
Interesting, huh? So why isn’t more attention directed to Floyd Landis?
Oh, I know. It’s cycling, and Americans watch cycling even less than they watch soccer. Fine, I can understand that. I can’t even say exactly why I enjoy watching the Tour de France. It goes on for hour after repetitive hour, with the monotony interrupted by an occasional breakaway that is almost always chased down. This is particularly true in the early stages. You watch the same type of images over and over followed by a last-second dash to the finish line. And yet I still find it very relaxing and oddly addictive.
But I can easily understand why others aren’t as eager to watch this acquired taste (especially as the races take place early in the day). What is less understandable is the lack of attention Landis is receiving in the media. It’s almost harder to watch TV without seeing “Law & Order” than it was to do so without seeing Armstrong as he went for his seventh Tour title. The attention was well-deserved, but where is the spotlight for Landis? I mean, this is an American who very well might extend our country’s Tour de France streak to eight consecutive victories. Yet there is more attention on Barbaro’s broken leg than Landis’ powerful legs.
It can’t all be about Lance, can it? Armstrong might have been a great champion but several of his victories also were almost a foregone conclusion midway through the Tour. That’s not the case this year, when there already have been seven riders to wear the yellow jersey, as well as riders flipping over guardrails, eating the pavement and cracking in the Alps.
That includes Landis, who in one three-day span of mountain stages, took the Tour lead, then lost it and fell out of the top 10 in one horrible ride, then nearly regained it with a spectacular ride Thursday that regained him nearly eight minutes. That last stage featured grueling climbs and a final sprint down the mountain. Landis’ comeback from Wednesday’s collapse was extraordinary, the stuff of legend.
Yet what was the day’s big news? Barry Bonds’ not being indicted.
We’re missing the boat on this one, but it’s not too late. The Tour is still very much up in the air and probably will come down to Saturday’s time trial, in which Landis is among the favorites (he is third overall, 30 seconds behind leader Oscar Pereiro, but is considered a better a time trialist than Pereiro). So do yourself a favor. Pop into the TV coverage Saturday morning. This could be the year’s most dramatic sports story that doesn’t involve an autistic manager.
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Nice post, i like the way you say that cycling is reptitive, addictive and relaxing, so true.
I don’t know what is wrong with the world the tour de france is never mentioned over in the uks news either, yet even cricket takes up most of the coverage. :s
This is probably the hardest event in the world (or one of) and no one cares.