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"Cycling is not a sport"



 
 
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  #11  
Old July 23rd 03, 11:18 PM
Mike Krueger
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Default "Cycling is not a sport"

And what kind of athletic ability is required in auto-racing,
horse racing, or chopping through a log with a chain saw?
I think we just need separate words to describe people who actually expend
energy when they compete and those who just sit on their asses.

I am no fan of auto racing, but I do think that maintaining utter concentration
while encased in a hot Nomex suit and full face helmet while steering a race
car at 200mph for 3 hrs straight requires some athletic skill and endurance. I
wouldn't describe it as just sitting on one's ass.
However, standing in a field for three hrs chewing tobacco, spitting, and
scratching my nuts while waiting for someone to maybe hit a baseball in my
direction, picking it up, and throwing it to someone else does not necessarily
qualify me as a great athelete, does it?
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  #12  
Old July 24th 03, 12:35 AM
Naughty_hitter
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Default "Cycling is not a sport"

DiabloScott wrote:
The Betting Fool is just a clown. He talks crap about all kinds of
sports, teams, players, etc. He tries to be witty but he lacks the
requisite rhetorical tools. He enjoys when people send him angry
e-mails. He's not worth your time, no one takes him seriously, don't
take the bait. He's proud of being a fat arrogant ****** -- Betting Fool
is the Don Rickles of sports journalism - he likes saying stuff just to
**** you off. If he ****es you off he wins and you lose. Only way to win
is to not give a damn what he says.




****es me off nonetheless... Now i understand how badminton players feel
when they get the whole "badminton is not a sport" routine...



--
wannabe roadie...

Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

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  #13  
Old July 24th 03, 12:35 AM
tbunch
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Default "Cycling is not a sport"

John Riley wrote:
So says SF Gate columnist:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...ve/2003/07/22-
/fool227.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archiv-
e/2003/07/22/fool227.DTL




Here is the email I sent:

Under your premise of why cycling is not a sport, your argument could
dethrone most activities currently regarded, even by dinosaurs such as
yourself, as "sport". Let me draw up a list:

1. Nascar (Toddlers on tricycles going in circles is more compelling,
but only if you get to keep score)
2. World of Outlaws Circletrack Racing (see above, in the dirt, in
smaller circles)
3. Any kind of motorsports (dominated by Europeans and Japanese, except
for the above)
4. Track and Field (happens in Europe, who's faster, anyone can run, no
ball, no score, etc...)
5. Professional Wrestling (you need me to explain?)
6. Tennis (OK there is a score, but who knows what Love and Deuce
really mean?, the best tournaments happen in Europe)
7. Hunting (It will only be a sport when the animals get weapons, it's
played in a stadium, and we get to keep score. Maybe the Romans were
in to something...)
8. Pool (Any game you can play with a twelve pack in you belly and a
cigarette in your mouth is not a sport, even if it is on ESPN)
9. Poker (just because its on ESPN doesn't mean the participants are
athletes and you get to call it a sport. Involves no physical skill
unless you include "poker face")
10. Baseball and Basketball (any sport where one team is so dominant
that the other side wonders why they should show up is not a sport.
You might as well crown the Yankees and the Lakers and all go home)
11. Golf (there is a score, but there is no defense, and no strategy.
Any sport where a NOBODY on a good day can whip the rest of the free
world is not a sport)
12. Horse and Greyhound Racing (circles, no score, no strategy, no team,
and the participants are so disposable that injury results in
euthanasia. Imagine your favorite pitcher getting put down for
wicked case of tendonitis)

Need I go on? And don't give me any crap about, history, glory,
tradition and beauty of your favorite sports. They are all just hobbies,
grown men playing games so they don't have to get a real job at
McDonald's for minimum wage. Same could be said of you. Wait, you
already have.



--
www.weblock.tk

Enjoy the Tour de France LIVE on your Desktop!

"La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar"
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wannabe roadie...

Check out my bike blog!

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  #14  
Old July 24th 03, 12:35 AM
chuy
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Default "Cycling is not a sport"

i bet the guy that wrote this is some overweight fuc* thats claims to be
a know-it-all when it comes to sports. See how well you perform in a 40+
mph sprint to the finish coc*-sucker.



--
www.weblock.tk

Enjoy the Tour de France LIVE on your Desktop!

"La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar"
http://weblock.webuildit.nl/index.php?itemid=1246

wannabe roadie...

Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

--------------------------

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  #15  
Old July 24th 03, 12:35 AM
DiabloScott
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Default "Cycling is not a sport"

John Riley wrote:
So says SF Gate columnist:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...ve/2003/07/22-
/fool227.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archiv-
e/2003/07/22/fool227.DTL






The Betting Fool is just a clown. He talks crap about all kinds of
sports, teams, players, etc. He tries to be witty but he lacks the
requisite rhetorical tools. He enjoys when people send him angry
e-mails. He's not worth your time, no one takes him seriously, don't
take the bait. He's proud of being a fat arrogant ****** - read his BIO
(long URL, copy and paste if necessary)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...ve/1999/05/07-
/foolbio.DTL

Here's a line from a previous article he wrote: "* The NBA Finals start
tonight. This coincides with my need to clean the garage and stain the
deck. Sorry, I won't be watching. Other than Robinson and Duncan and
that Parker guy who came out of nowhere, name three Spurs."

By the way SFGate is the website for the San Francisco Chronicle. About
12 years ago their famous columnist Glenn Dickey wrote a hatchet piece
about cycling when Greg Lemond won the Sportsman of the Year award from
Sports Illustrated. Dickey said pretty much the same thing as the
Betting Fool including "give me a bicycle and I could sure as hell ride
it up a mountain." He got a lot of nastygrams about that one and later
apologized, but he is a serious columnist - Betting Fool is the Don
Rickles of sports journalism - he likes saying stuff just to **** you
off. If he ****es you off he wins and you lose. Only way to win is to
not give a damn what he says.



--
Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

www.weblock.tk

Enjoy the Tour de France LIVE on your Desktop!

"La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar"
http://weblock.webuildit.nl/index.php?itemid=1246

wannabe roadie...

Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

--------------------------

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  #16  
Old July 24th 03, 12:35 AM
offthe back
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Default "Cycling is not a sport"

John Riley wrote:
So says SF Gate columnist:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...ve/2003/07/22-
/fool227.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archiv-
e/2003/07/22/fool227.DTL




That article is obviously a joke worthy of Dave (I swear I'm not making
this up!) Barry because only an idiot would make such a statement except
in jest. I notice he says he THINKS he could buy a bike and in a couple
of years of training be a professional cyclist - chances are he had a
better chance of beating Michael Jordan at the top of his baketball
career than keeping up with ANY pro peleton - hey, just for kicks, buy
that bike and see if you can keep up with ANY of your local club
cyclists and I'm talking the ones over 80, the women, and the juniors.
(Nothing like getting your butt kicked by a fourteen year old girl.)
Until you've suffered up some climbs and watched the group disappear in
the distance, you have no idea how hard a sport it is. Like the TV
commentators all say, bike racing is about suffering - until you try it
and try to keep up, you have no idea. (Now, golf and baseball - those
are activities that seem like excuses just to drink beer.)



--
Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

www.weblock.tk

Enjoy the Tour de France LIVE on your Desktop!

"La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar"
http://weblock.webuildit.nl/index.php?itemid=1246

wannabe roadie...

Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

--------------------------

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  #17  
Old July 24th 03, 12:35 AM
bladewalkerusa
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Default "Cycling is not a sport"

John Riley wrote:
So says SF Gate columnist:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...ve/2003/07/22-
/fool227.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archiv-
e/2003/07/22/fool227.DTL


What do you expect from a guy who calls himself a fool. Only a fool
would state this fact:

"Millions of Europeans and a handful of Americans are wrong. Soccer is
boring and cycling is not a sport."

So millions of Europeans are idiots for thinking cycling is a sport
and this guy's right? Well, as Clint Eastwood said he's a legend in
his own mind.






--
Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

www.weblock.tk

Enjoy the Tour de France LIVE on your Desktop!

"La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar"
http://weblock.webuildit.nl/index.php?itemid=1246

wannabe roadie...

Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

--------------------------

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  #18  
Old July 24th 03, 12:35 AM
TbosS
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Default "Cycling is not a sport"

@ Topmounter: Excellent email! LMAO



--
www.weblock.tk

Enjoy the Tour de France LIVE on your Desktop!

"La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar"
http://weblock.webuildit.nl/index.php?itemid=1246

Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

www.weblock.tk

Enjoy the Tour de France LIVE on your Desktop!

"La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar"
http://weblock.webuildit.nl/index.php?itemid=1246

wannabe roadie...

Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

--------------------------

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  #19  
Old July 24th 03, 12:35 AM
Topmounter
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Default "Cycling is not a sport"

REHASH, every year all the jealous "journalists" who feel left out
of the cycling hype because they are too busy counting stats from
the sidelines lash out with some mindless piece of dribble like
this article.

my email to this nut:

BF,

Put your cushy TV sports bum on a bike and train for 2 years and let us
see just how far you really get on the LOCAL recreational group rides,
then we can talk about your career as a competitive cyclist

I think what confuses non-cyclists (i.e. beer guzzling SPECTATORS) about
cycling is that for nearly all (real) cycling fans (i.e. beer guzzling
after PARTICIPATING), cycling is NOT a spectator sport, whether they
ride for fun or competition, it is a participatory sport for them and
seeing the best of the best compete for 2 hours a day for 3 weeks per
year is just a bonus.

Also, assuming "Californiots" are the norm with regards to cycling
(or for most anything else for that matter) is a pretty bad
misconception to base your opinions on. Not to mention not all
cyclists are liberals either.

And yes, without a succesful U.S. competitor, just like Soccer, Rugby,
Cricket, F1 and countless other wildly popular international sports, the
media hype in the U.S. will subside to some extent when that competitor
and fellow countryman has dropped out of the spotlight.

But do note, that OLN just signed up for Tour coverage through 2008 and
cyclist don't cycle because of Lance, cyclists sat in front of the boob
tube getting a little fatter and a little slower watching 30 minute
snippets of Tour coverage on ESPN long before Lance became popular.

Enjoy!

--



--
www.weblock.tk

Enjoy the Tour de France LIVE on your Desktop!

"La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar"
http://weblock.webuildit.nl/index.php?itemid=1246

Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

www.weblock.tk

Enjoy the Tour de France LIVE on your Desktop!

"La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar"
http://weblock.webuildit.nl/index.php?itemid=1246

wannabe roadie...

Check out my bike blog!

http://diabloscott.blogspot.com

--------------------------

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  #20  
Old July 24th 03, 03:49 PM
Clovis Lark
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Default "Cycling is not a sport"

TbosS wrote:
wrote:
Do other countries have to deal with guys like this?




Oh of course, ignorance is not an American invention. This guy basically


Ah... But we have refined it into an art!

makes a stupid argument about cycling being no sport, while everybody,
who has ever practiced it or watched it, realizes it is. But behind this
stupid column of the Fool, there is of course a real subject.


When is an activity a sport? I have never been able to give a suitable
definition.


Perhaps Stanford can now offer a new discipline Recreational Metaphysics?

Cyclists usually aren't in the position that they have to defend their
activity as a sport. Other sports are less fortunate (badminton, table
tennis -when disputed called ping-pong-, figure skating, cricket,
perhaps soccer in the US)


According to the OED... Hmmmm, perhaps the author was correct? First
definition "a. Pleasant pastime; entertainment or amusement; recreation,
diversion." Since Sherwin insists that they are really suffering, then,
by this definition, cycling is no sport. But be of good cheer, (d)
redeems cycling: "d. Participation in games or exercises, esp. those of
an athletic character or pursued in the open air; such games or amusements
collectively."



And there are sports that are truely in the grey area. Pool

has been
mentioned already, snooker, darts (basically all bar-related sports).
Other sports that at least feature on TV under the header sport like
chess, or checkers (Think sport).


Let's try to name a few basic features of sport. And try to seriously
come to some kind of definition.


Basic features of sport:
- competition (there is no other goal than being better than the other)
essential: you compete against somebody else.
- strategy the feature of sport that distinguishes it from a play:
- athletic training (in one way or the other)


As long as your excellence in an activity is only based on the fact
that you have a talent, the brains, or that you can do the trick,
without doing some athletic/physical training, I don't think we should
call it a sport.


Please react, and let's get this straight once and for all. We can mail
it to the Fool of SF Gate, and any other stupid columnist in the future.




--
www.weblock.tk


Enjoy the Tour de France LIVE on your Desktop!


"La Grande WEBlock Boucle Bar"
http://weblock.webuildit.nl/index.php?itemid=1246


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