Tour de France - is it unAmerican?

Absolutely correct! And there is no way in hell that the "culture" of any
other state is like that of Texas. Texas is different---and one reason is
because it straddles between the "old South" and the "new West" areas of the
country, a transition area as it were.


And as I vaguely recall from a linguistics course, that's even reflected in the dialects. East Texas dialects were more
"Southern" as in Mississippi and Alabama. West Texas dialects were from border states like Tennessee and Kentucky.

Just some more trivia....Art

Steve wrote in message . ..
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.

A couple other published bits exploring this vein of "thought":

Lance Armstrong is a tremendous athlete, but not one of the all-time
greatest. Bo Jackson could smack a baseball 450 feet and treat Brian
Bosworth like a bug in the path of a H2 Hummer. Conversely, Armstrong
can climb a hill on a bike. The Texan is nearly superhuman when it
comes to riding a bike, but he doesn't belong in the pantheon of great
all-around sportsmen.

If the Tour de France took place during Week 6 of the NFL season
instead of in July, would anyone care about Lance Armstrong?

(Cecil County, MD, Whig,
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...1 77149&rfi=6
)

-------

Forget the fact that the riders in the Tour de France put in the
equivalent of a marathon every day for three weeks.

Forget the 12 million roadside revelers.

Forget the scenes of riders finishing above the clouds or rolling
through vineyards or the miles of fields of sunflowers.

The Tour rises above other sports spectacles because of its
sportsmanship. Perhaps that's one of the reasons its seems so hard for
the general American sports fan to open up and embrace.

(St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/spo...+T our+unique
)

-------

--Brent
bhugh [at] mwsc.edu

"Brent Hugh" wrote in message
om...
Steve wrote in message
. ..
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.

A couple other published bits exploring this vein of "thought":

Lance Armstrong is a tremendous athlete, but not one of the all-time
greatest. Bo Jackson could smack a baseball 450 feet and treat Brian
Bosworth like a bug in the path of a H2 Hummer. Conversely, Armstrong
can climb a hill on a bike. The Texan is nearly superhuman when it
comes to riding a bike, but he doesn't belong in the pantheon of great
all-around sportsmen.

If the Tour de France took place during Week 6 of the NFL season
instead of in July, would anyone care about Lance Armstrong?

(Cecil County, MD, Whig,

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...=461&dept_id=1
77149&rfi=6
)

-------

Forget the fact that the riders in the Tour de France put in the
equivalent of a marathon every day for three weeks.

Forget the 12 million roadside revelers.

Forget the scenes of riders finishing above the clouds or rolling
through vineyards or the miles of fields of sunflowers.

The Tour rises above other sports spectacles because of its
sportsmanship. Perhaps that's one of the reasons its seems so hard for
the general American sports fan to open up and embrace.

I would, but that's because I care squat about organized team sports such as
baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. Individualist sports such as
track and field and Bicycling get my attention, but then I don't care too
much for the complex "team" approach of professional bicycling either. I'd
like to see the TdF raced by individuals. Then we'd see the "real stuff".


(St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/spo...n+Nelson/0C2D4
18DC7B4874F86256D6F000B73C1?OpenDocument&highlight =2%2Cbike&headline=Good+sp
ortsmanship+makes+Tour+unique
)


--
Robin Hubert

I'd
like to see the TdF raced by individuals. Then we'd see the "real stuff".

Even better: make them carry all their own gear, and camp out at night,
and cook their own food. That would be more fun anyway.

Peter

In article nk.net,
says...

"Brent Hugh" wrote in message
om...
Steve wrote in message
. ..
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.

A couple other published bits exploring this vein of "thought":

Lance Armstrong is a tremendous athlete, but not one of the all-time
greatest. Bo Jackson could smack a baseball 450 feet and treat Brian
Bosworth like a bug in the path of a H2 Hummer. Conversely, Armstrong
can climb a hill on a bike. The Texan is nearly superhuman when it
comes to riding a bike, but he doesn't belong in the pantheon of great
all-around sportsmen.

If the Tour de France took place during Week 6 of the NFL season
instead of in July, would anyone care about Lance Armstrong?

(Cecil County, MD, Whig,

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...=461&dept_id=1
77149&rfi=6
)

-------

Forget the fact that the riders in the Tour de France put in the
equivalent of a marathon every day for three weeks.

Forget the 12 million roadside revelers.

Forget the scenes of riders finishing above the clouds or rolling
through vineyards or the miles of fields of sunflowers.

The Tour rises above other sports spectacles because of its
sportsmanship. Perhaps that's one of the reasons its seems so hard for
the general American sports fan to open up and embrace.

I would, but that's because I care squat about organized team sports such as
baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. Individualist sports such as
track and field and Bicycling get my attention, but then I don't care too
much for the complex "team" approach of professional bicycling either. I'd
like to see the TdF raced by individuals. Then we'd see the "real stuff".

Do every stage as a time-trial? That'd be interesting.


--
David Kerber
An optimist says "Good morning, Lord." While a pessimist says "Good
Lord, it's morning".

Remove the ns_ from the address before e-mailing.

In article ,
says...

"Brent Hugh" wrote

A couple other published bits exploring this vein of "thought":

Lance Armstrong is a tremendous athlete, but not one of the all-time
greatest. Bo Jackson could smack a baseball 450 feet and treat Brian
Bosworth like a bug in the path of a H2 Hummer. Conversely, Armstrong
can climb a hill on a bike. The Texan is nearly superhuman when it
comes to riding a bike, but he doesn't belong in the pantheon of great
all-around sportsmen.

Haha. Could Lance luck out and get a hit or two, and get on base during a
whole baseball season? Probably. Could Bo Jackson or Brian Bosworth get
better than last place overall on the TdF? Probably not.

I'll bet with a bit of training, Bo could. He would likely do rather
well in the sprints, since that's where he excelled. Brian Bosworth was
nowhere near the natural athlete Bo was.

.....

--
David Kerber
An optimist says "Good morning, Lord." While a pessimist says "Good
Lord, it's morning".

Remove the ns_ from the address before e-mailing.

x-no-archive:yes


Haha. Could Lance luck out and get a hit or two, and get on base during
a
whole baseball season? Probably. Could Bo Jackson or Brian Bosworth get
better than last place overall on the TdF? Probably not.

I'll bet with a bit of training, Bo could. He would likely do rather
well in the sprints, since that's where he excelled. Brian Bosworth was
nowhere near the natural athlete Bo was.

....

--
David Kerber

I am skeptical that Bo, with his tremendous bulk, could be a success at
riding a bike for a long distance--and even in the TdF the sprints are not
short events. For one thing, he'd probably chafe like crazy.

Pat in TX

Could Bo Jackson or Brian Bosworth get
better than last place overall on the TdF? Probably not.

I'll bet with a bit of training, Bo could. He would likely do rather
well in the sprints, since that's where he excelled. Brian Bosworth was
nowhere near the natural athlete Bo was.

Even with a lot of training, Bo Jackson would never make it over the
hills in the Tour. He wouldn't make the time cut, unless he lost a
lot of weight. There is a reason why no pro cyclist weighs 225 lbs.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/

In article ,
says...
archer wrote:

says...

Even with a lot of training, Bo Jackson would never make it over the
hills in the Tour. He wouldn't make the time cut, unless he lost a
lot of weight. There is a reason why no pro cyclist weighs 225 lbs.

No way of proving it, of course, but I'll bet in his playing days he
could have finished the course with no problem (at least if there was a
bike strong enough for him). He had tremendous power in his legs, and is
one of the greatest natural athletes in the last 50 years.

Which is a bit like saying that a dragster could finish the Daytona
500 because it has more horsepower. I can't see Bo surviving the
mountains inside the cutoff time, unless he's hiding huge reserves of
endurance, and that would be very rare for those who are the fastest
sprinters in the world.

It takes a significant amount of endurance to play an entire NFL game at
running back, which he did at the very highest levels. He would need to
train for it of course, but I think he would have done ok.


--
David Kerber
An optimist says "Good morning, Lord." While a pessimist says "Good
Lord, it's morning".

Remove the ns_ from the address before e-mailing.

In article ,
says...
In article , archer
wrote:



It takes a significant amount of endurance to play an entire NFL game at
running back, which he did at the very highest levels. He would need to
train for it of course, but I think he would have done ok.


oh please,


dood you sure you don't want to re-consider the word "endurance." A
running back plays only when the offense is on the field so thats one
half of an hour. More than half of that time is spent in huddles. So,
a running back spreads 10 minutes of exertion into 10 second blocks
spread over two and one half hours with a 20 minute break in the
middle.

So I exaggerated a bit GGG. But consider that that 10 minutes is spent
at maximum exertion level, wearing 20 lbs or more of padding, and that on
nearly every play, he is either being tackled, is running as a decoy for
another ball carrier, or is trying to knock down someone.


It may be athletic but it AIN'T endurance.

You've obviously never played the game at an organized level. I have,
and I know how hard the players work in a game. If you think there's no
significant endurance requirement for playing football at a high level,
then there's probably nothing more I can say to convince you.


At our Grand Tour ride this year 29 cyclists rode 300 miles in 24 hours
(or less). THAT'S endurance.

Yes it is. That's pretty impressive.

--
David Kerber
An optimist says "Good morning, Lord." While a pessimist says "Good
Lord, it's morning".

Remove the ns_ from the address before e-mailing.