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"Steve" wrote in message
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Excerpts from King Kaufman's column in Salon -

I think the Tour de France leaves Americans cold because it is almost
perfectly antithetical to the American character.

It's all very sporting and civilized and everything, and while I find
that sort of cooperation heartwarming and admirable, it's also as
foreign to me as a Martian soil sample.

If I'm Ullrich, and I'm 67 seconds behind with four days to make up
that time, I'm not giving up two of those days. I don't know anyone
who would. Especially since Armstrong has never lost that final
Saturday time trial since he started winning this thing.

It sounds nice, riding together, agreeing not to bust out of the pack
to try to gain an advantage, but dude, if I can make up even 10
seconds today and 10 tomorrow, I'm only 47 seconds down going into
that all-important time trial. I'll take my chances. Maybe without a
truce Armstrong would blow me away, but at least I'd go down fighting.

And when my closest rival hits the deck and has to spend a minute
getting untangled from that spectator who got in his way, well, sorry
pal, but I'm turning on the jets.

I don't think I'm a bad guy. I think I'm in the absolute dead-center
mainstream of American thought here. This is the national character
speaking. I think that down in our bones, most of us can't fathom this
business of gentlemanliness and sportsmanship. For better or worse,
here's the American way to compete: Try to knock the other guy down,
and if you succeed, put your boot on his neck and keep it there until
he cries uncle.

And if you see his wallet while he's down there, take it.

Sportsmanship means helping him up after you've cleaned his clock.
Before then, it can be summed up in these three words: Don't cheat
blatantly.

Americans care about Lance Armstrong because he's a celebrity. He's a
great story, a cancer survivor who's a magnificent champion. But we
don't care about him as an athlete. When his run ends, the Tour de
France will lose most of what little interest it holds in this country
until or unless another American rises up to dominate it. I think
that's neither a good or bad thing, but just the way things are.

It just doesn't speak to us.