Tamar is off today. She and I went to coffee this morning so I did not watch the fin-ah-lee of the stage. I missed Mark Cavendish's fifth field sprint victory of the '09 Too-er and I missed hearing about how shopping for a $40,000 car is like trying on a dress.
I still like cycling, honest I do. You believe me...don't you?
8 comments:
I understand completely, however, the wonder of watching it live after so many years of reading about it weeks later in Cycling or International Cycle Sport or gleaning tidbits off the short wave never seems to go away and pulls me in like a magnet.
Phil Brown
For folks in the US of A, the inane commentary we get certainly has something to do with "Tour Fatigue". I don't know whether Shiggett and Lerwen are pressured by their bosses into acting like Chance Legstrong is Jesus himself or they are on Legstrong's payroll, but between that and their constant blather, "roundabout 5 minutes" and "at the head of the main field" I want to turn the audio off! Too bad someone doesn't offer a broadcast with audio of the ambient sound ONLY! I might even PAY for that!
Too bad someone doesn't offer a broadcast with audio of the ambient sound ONLY! I might even PAY for that!
Having been in the broadcast business I'm willing to be that he host broadcaster-ORTF?-offers an international feed with no commentary.
Phil Brown
.......Once upon a time long ago, we waited for word to come down through the grapevine with tour results, or motorsports results. Now we have overload and reach point of fatigue or worse.
But technology( yes this is coming from me the Luddite) has given us the DVR, and other primitive recording devices prior to that. One can FF through the commercials, maybe pausing however for the Cadillac girl.
I still find the commentary a refreshing change from the standard US package of hyped stories, and machine gun deliveries.
The countryside footage is usually nicely done with some arty stuff tossed in by the camera crews,and you always have a Mute button on your remote( or a volume knob on the Teelyvision set.
yeah I am fatigued too but glad to have the option of it all.
I've been leaving just the picture on to glance at the scenery, and I listen to the live radio coverage from L'Equipe's website. They too have to do their share of filling up broadcast time, but it's a lot more interesting. Of course, you do have to be able to understand French.
The nice thing about listening as opposed to watching is that like radio has always been, you can do other things as you listen. Kind of handy for this sort of sports event.
Live is like steel, it's... well you know. I have the green jersey for sprinting to my TV remote mute button. I'm so fast that I broke it and needed a neutral service remote change. Thanks to Radio Shack I'm still in the lead. (Is it time to buy RSH stock?)
I'll listen to Phil and Paul anytime. Their like the Vin Scully of cycling. Formative, credible voices. This has been a wickedly exciting Tour and I can't wait for tomorrow. Seeing the volume of spectators on the Ventoux today was amazing. Let me test that mute...
opps, typo. I meant They're not Their.
And, I'd like to thank Cadillac, Flomax and E x t e n s e for their commercials. I'm a new man! I got the girl, piss like a race horse and, am now hung like one.
Vive Le Tour. Until next year....
As much as I've spent a lifetime loving to ride my road bikes, I've always found bicycle road racing to be sadly deficient as a spectator sport. There are spurts of action now and then, but it's all very predictable and mostly boring. The exception to the rule is some forms of track racing, which can be very exciting to watch.
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