who still cycles? didn't lance retire or something...

So as I'm waiting for Lance to start the Prologue in Luxemborg and suffering through endless repeats of the Lincoln Navigator commercial on OLN's coverage of the '02 Tour, a slew of interesting (at least to me) thoughts have popped into my head. First, it looks as though we're passed the golden years of cycling coverage on American TV, and everyone complained about it the ENTIRE time! You know who you are. Remember all those horrible co-anchors (Kirsten Gum, Al Trautwig, and those other guys...), repeating commercials, fishing shows, bullriding, 5-6 hours continuous coverage of mountain stages, multiple show times, and full Giro and La Vuelta coverage? Well thankfully those days are over as the coverage looks to be lean and mean this year.
I will flat out say I NEVER complained about any of the coverage OLN gave us because I remember trying to watch Lemond during weekend coverage on ABC's Wide World of Sports. So what would you rather have: one hour a week, or full 4 mountain-pass coverage for nearly every mountain stage? This is why the rest of the world thinks we're ridiclulous, we whine and complain when we actually have it good. Pathetic.

OLN is bringing the Giro back, but only on streaming video on the internet. For $20 you can have live coverage. Aren't we already paying for cable? This is what you'd call progressively archaic. OLN listened to us, and took everything away. This isn't a rail against OLN (well, somewhat) but it's unfortunate that once Superman left Metropolis... Lance definitely isn't the only American cyclist but to the general public he is. I still get the obligatory "Go Lance!" when I'm out riding. Ahh, the post-Armstrong blues.


oln, cycling, lance, giro