Lance gets 6

[jobob]

Originally posted by MightyMitre
I have to say I'm disappointed Armstrong won. Firstly I was really rooting for Jan or even A.N. Other to appear and make a big impression and secondly because the legend of no one ever being able to beat 5 tour wins was kinda cool.

I have mixed feelings. I'm very disappointed that Armstrong had such little competition - last year was absolutely thrilling and I was looking forward to more of the same. Of course, one could hardly blame Armstrong for showing up completely prepared, while many of his main rivals were either woefully underprepared (or, perhaps in some cases overtrained, burned out or psyched out?) or prone to bad luck (Tyler, I have two words: bubble wrap).

On the other hand, I figured Armstrong winning six titles would raise the visibility of cycling in the US, which would be a Very Good Thing.

But now I'm wondering if all it's done is to raise the visibility of Lance Armstrong in the US. The evening 'expanded' coverage of the tour in the US on OLN was absolutely hysterical (or nauseating) in it's "All Lance All The Time" approach. I did get a chuckle whenever the Official Homeboy, Al Trautwig, would say something particularly moronic and you could see Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin blink, pause, take a breath, and patiently explain how no, this isn't quite all about Lance, and this is why ... and then Trauwig would interrupt them in mid-stream (as if to say, oh don't bother us with the facts )

Glancing at other message boards it seems to me that all this tunnel-vision emphasis on Armstrong has produced a fresh crop of rabid LanceFans, not cycling fans, who would just as soon tune out if Their Man Lance wasn't in a particular race. And when Armstrong inevitably retires, if there isn't another rah-rah Americ'un "hero" (tranlation: winner) to occupy the hearts and minds and souls of the fairweather fan base, cycling will return to the ranks of obscurity.

[edited to add] ... or, to end on a more hopeful note, maybe many people attracted by Lance's Quest for Six will see what a cool sport this is. Were it not for Armstong, we'd have only a fraction of the coverage in the US that we enjoy now (assuming you can get OLN), here's hoping that interest gains momentum here in the states.

Just MHO, of course.