Posted on 07/08/2005 6:02:21 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Rocker Sheryl Crow has ruined the Tour de France.
Well, she's ruined it for me, anyway. I'm sure her fans are much more interested in cycling now that she's lending her astute commentary to the race coverage.
But I'm not impressed, or enlightened. Just annoyed.
Because her famous boyfriend, Lance Armstrong, is wearing the yellow jersey, I'm supposed to care about what she thinks of his position in the peloton?
No, thanks.
Listen. We know you support him. We all support him. My guess is, when he was married, his wife even supported him. But she wasn't sharing her insights with Bob Roll and Al Trautwig. And she probably knew more than some spotlight-hogging rock star.
What makes Crow's ubiquitousness more disappointing is that the Tour de France was always one of those sporting events that didn't seem to need the touch of celebrity; huge as it was in the cycling world, it managed to keep a low profile everywhere else. In my teen years, I scoured the networks for signs of the tour, but those days, it wasn't huge. There were no cable networks to track the live progress of Greg LeMond, Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon or Pedro Delgado. Instead, I'd set a VCR for six hours on a Sunday, and cross my fingers for about 20 minutes of highlights.
Now I have the luxury to watch every stage live if I want, and listen to the sharp commentary from Phil Liggett - who's been narrating the tour for as long as I remember - and Paul Sherwin. It's a great thing for Tour junkies.
Until now, when the second-day commentary featured Sheryl Crow, in her breathy, soft Southern twang, fretting: "Oh my gosh, I was sooo worried that I made Lance's foot slip out of his pedal, 'cause I gave him the thumbs-up just then, and I asked him later, 'was it my fault?' "
Ugh.
There she is, on a split- screen while Lance is pedaling furiously. There she is, on the sidelines when the racers start the stage. There she is, riding in a support car with five- time tour winner Hinault. There she is, canoodling with Lance.
There she is, EVERYWHERE.
The tour doesn't need Sheryl Crow to make it relevant, but yet there she is, in front of the cameras, sharing her thoughts and relating to the masses. I wouldn't be surprised if she starts playing a number or two during the pre-race coverage.
On second thought, maybe I shouldn't give the geniuses who decided to put her on the air in the first place any more ideas.
If it makes you happy..... it can't be that bad.
My interest in the Tour de France is equal to watching paint dry.
Speaking of tour coverage, www.olntv.com has a great stage status section. Text based, updated at two minute intervals (approx), and with just the highlights. Not as good as watching live, but for cubicle bound folk, a low bandwidth fix.
Go Lance!
Top sends
The use of the word "peloton" ruins it for me. Why can't we just call it "the pack". Let the Frogs call it the "peloton".
Golf.
But, all she wants to do
is have some fun...
Jealousy from Nicole, or her honest unbiased opinion? I don't much care. It's NASCAR for me.
Actually, paint is more interesting.
I can't think of anything that would.
I used to be a BIG Lance Armstrong fan. Read his book - IT"S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE or something to that effect. I used to soak in everything related to the Tour De France.....well, that was then and this is now. I have lost all respect for Mr. Armstrong since he left his wife and kids for Crow!
I thought Lance and Sheryl broke up.
get a life
It is annoying that Lance, the essence of the America dream plus a miraculous recovery from cancer, has hooked up with a celebrity with a huge ego. It doesn't take anything aways from his accomplishments, but it's irritating.
That's something that I just can't bring myself to say, particularly with an exclamation point. "Go Lance" is bad enough, but when you add in the fact that the Lance in question, true to his name, wears spandex, a yellow bracelet, and rides a bike, I just can't do it.
Sadly, it's not the first time that a Hollywoodista tried to kick start a flagging career by popping up at a non-Hollywood type venue. We see them all the time using lefty political events for the same reason.
Our media has become so, over-the-top, celebrity worshipping, it's really starting to make me sick. They keep foisting these people in our face like we give a damn. Any culture that would make an icon out of the likes of Paris Hilton is a dying culture, IMHO.
Yo Di-
Thats what TIVO is for
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