Argument: Tour TV

by Andy Shen

Section head text.

With the Tour is full swing right now, it’s a TV bonanza for the cycling fan. But it seems everyone has their complaints and annoyances with the current state of Tour coverage – um, that pretty much describes my July, in fact.

But should we just shut up? Should we be thankful that there’s any coverage at all? I’ve lived through the “media dead” eras of the Tour when you got the results in the newspaper a day later and then had to get a week long recap on an hour long digest. I’ve always thought that if you want to complain, you should at least offer a solution. So complain away – I’ve got 3 hours of the Tour to mock.

33 Comments

Baldwin

One must approach the Tour as a multimedia event and use all available resources to create a sensurround experience. Inundation leads to quality.

Ben H

I think we should enjoy the reasonably extensive daily coverage while it lasts. I bet next year we end up with the 1 hr sunday recap a la Giro or Vuelta.

yes

i hear bitchin about 8 ball, rodeo, duck hunting, BBQ bake-offs – how many duck hunters do you think are f’cking apoplectic right now they got dudes riding bikes (in their underwear, no less!) for 3 hours 4 times a day on OLN? i g’tee you the die-hard followers of the pro B.A.S.S. circuit are hitting some serious hawg withdrawal right now. g’d bless OLN for being a fringe sport network – dont think ours is any less ridiculous than the others – ill take whatever i can get

but kvetching makes for fun
reading at work so keep it up

oh random side note

i got a chub last night when i told my wife i wanted to hit the sack at 10 and she said we’re staying up to watch the tour, its 3 weeks out of the year, suck it up you pansy

and then when we were watching it she aaid damn havent’s we hit the mountains yet

schmalz

If you get all of your coverage from me, you get to complain about: accuracy, objectivity and mind numbing repitition. SMASH!

Baldwin

The Russian Eurosport commentator has been on the air for four hours now, all by himself, for 50 or 55 minutes an hour. He is losing his mind and has begun going down the GC list and trying out different ways of pronouncing everybody’s last name.

Niko

Re: chubb. Me too when my girl chastised a family member when he asked if Boonen was a threat to win (the overall) "he’s a sprinter!, none of those guys" [she rattles off sprinters names] could ever win the tour!"

Daniel

While I’m thankful for the coverage we’re getting from OLN, I’m also tired of the "LANCE ON: OVEREXPOSURE AD NAUSEUM." Still, it is better than ABC’s 1 hour coverage during the Lemond era.
Will they revert to that kind of coverage next year? Maybe, but we always have cycling.tv to fall back on. They may get rights soon enough. The only problem with watching it on the web is that fewer ‘civilians’ will watch it, and it’ll just be us ‘diehards.’
We’ll always have Schmalz!

Iban Mayo’s G.C. aspirations R.I.P.

Anonymous

Ok, schmalz, so the SMASH and Toto’s guns are getting repetitive, can’t you find other riders to fixate on? Maybe some lonely stick insect Spanard.

joe canuck

just be thankful that you’re not watching OLN Canada. we get the same coverage, but the added bonus of cheap-ass canadian commercials. last year it was boflex followed by "take me boating" (some bullshit lifestyle campaign). this year boflex is back, over and over and over. there are no other commercials. I would kill to see what schmalz is writing about. I will never buy boflex. I may do harm to boflex inc in an automaton state induced by their commercials being played before my eyes 178 times every morning. then there is one cervelo commercial and the specialized thing without levi, an hour apart. we are all grateful for sponsorship so we can have the coverage, but this is madness and a public health menace. and stop with the lance/greg/ventura stuff. if filler is required, show old footage of 50s, 60s and 70s races, that might be interesting to the cycling people who do not need to be told that Smash may not win the tour. ok, I’ll stop now. thanks OLN anyway

gob

The most irritating thing to me is that OLN has heard all of our complaints in years past, and has done nothing to rectify them. How many letters did ESPN get about the giant pantload, Adrian Karsten, and yet OLN brings in the even gianter pantload Al Trautwig? It’s really simple to cover a bike race. LET PHIL TALK. Not having Trautwig there sucking all the air out of the studio saves that much more in salary that could go towards playing one less "Made From Jets" Saab Deceptagon commercial per hour at least.

lee3

2 years ago Trautwig was unbearable. These days he’s upped his knowledge a small notch making it less horrific. Much rather have McCrosson or Sean Kelly.

Faber

I rue the day I saved a couple of dollars and got digital cable without the DVR. Doh!!. I counted at one point two whole minutes of chaotic racing before getting rocked back in to the soothing rhythms of Styx music and Jets morphing into former Swedish autos owned now by Ford.

I guess I shouldn’t bitch I get paid to book actors in commercials. Biting the hand that feeds? Perhaps.

Greg F

agreed…the DVR is worth it if only for tour coverage. you can get through 5 hrs of full coverage in a little over 3hr if you’re diligent with FF. and no annoying SAAB ads (which is actually owned by GM…details).

mcsly

it’s an amazing thing though that at basically any time of the day you can turn on OLN (soon to be….. versus) and watch cycling…i hope it stays this way for years to come

i find the America’s cup coverage thrown in between tour sessions quite….. exhilerating… i know alot of average Americans think cycling is an extremely boring thing to watch… i guess they haven’t seen yachting… i’m sure its a great sport… but possibly one of the worst spectator sports. Imagine 20 hours a day of yachts with bike racing thrown in between. haha shoot me

And forget that Saab commercial.. im voting "most irritating commercial" as the penzoil commercial. the LL Bean one is starting to get to me too..(Hey that should be the new poll…)these commercials are getting almost as annoying as the anti-smoking commercials with the guy with the hole in his throat that ran on every channel, 50 times a day, ALL OF MAY AND JUNE. I couldn’t take it anymore…"things will never be the same, not even the simple things"…

but less complaining
it’s july. the tour is on. and an american is in yellow.
LIFE IS GOOD!

lee3

I’m curious about this "VS." thing. What is it. I’m guessing its a pipeline to cycling Tv.
Hands down the best ads going is the Beef Jerky "Messing with Sasquatch" The shaving cream prank had me rollin!

lee3

bike geek, band geek, building geek, art geek, film geek and of course my shirt pocket protector has a pimpin set of kohinoor’s –
(old school)

JohnV

Have we come full circle? "I wanna ride" ads with 8 year olds for Honda motorbikes. I’d love to see a "I wanna ride" ad with old geezers like myself pedaling down a freshly paved country road.

Dave Duffield anyone?

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