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.
The term is "flicking," derived from the German fichen which is cognate with the aristocratic Anglo-Saxon f-word. In the peloton, an etiquette prevails. Unmannerly newcomers discover that the pros have myriad little ways to annoy and delay them.
That's ok. I just wanted to set the record straight. Others have said the same thing, that he left the woman who stuck with him when he was so sick.
The woman who stuck with him when he was so sick was his mother, who has helped him over constant hurdles his entire life. He had a really hard life early on, and she has always been there. His father deserted his mother and Lance, maybe even before Lance was born, IIRC, so considering his early years, it's not surprising the issues he must still have from that.
No, definitely not bad for her age, but she's a whole lot older than Lance, who is what?, 32? (Not that I think it matters in the slightest.)
Maybe the ex-wife's problem was really with mama-in-law? Who knows. It's all water under the bridge now.
Sheryl = 42 years old
Right, who knows what really happened?
He went through a lot early on, then the cancer on top of that. No surprise that he may not be the most stable guy on a personal level.
He's an amazing athlete, and besides that, he has done an awful lot for cancer patients, besides raising tons of money with the yellow wristband. I read that 40 million of those have been sold (at $10 each) -- that's a lot of money going to research.
As a wonderful, and attractive writer might say, "Shut up and pedal."
Apparently there was a lot of flicking going on; like every time she got up and starting riding again.
"All those who disparage the Tour, and cycling, shoudl be required to get on a bike and ride uphill..say only a gentle 5 degree grade, for 10 minutes..."
And that's exactly WHY I just posted the article and kept my mouth shut, LOL! I tear around on my mountain bike at least 2x a day (great for running the dogs out on the "Back Forty") but no way could I even begin to touch anything even the WORST cyclist on the TdF does day in and day out. ;)
"Cycling is complex and often hard to understand."
So basically, there's no Tour de America because it's as appealing to the masses as say, John Kerry? ;)
Sorry. Couldn't resist slamming that hoser.
And BTW..hockey players aren't athletes either...they just slip-slide around the ice...(G)
My apologies. I just tire of seeing the same misinformation on every thread, duly correcting it, only to see it again on the next one.
Me too. Used to be exciting but now like the writer said...celebrity laden...who needs it? Especially Cheryl Crowe. Lance is one heckuva rider but I can't say much for him as a person anymore. I used to but he has gone glitzy in my opinion.
Uneffinbelievable how slow some freepers are: read the thread Bannie. Everything you just posted is totally inaccurate as was already elucidated by just about everyone else above you on this thread. FACTS: Lance met wife at First LAF Tour of Roses in Austin AFTER he was already famous and AFTER his diagnosis & treatment for cancer. Wife decided she just couldn't handle Lance's singleminded commitment to the sport(a condition she was well aware existed when she married him BTW), they break up on good terms, then he hooks up with Skanky Craw.IN THAT ORDER! If you absolutely have a compulsion to judge the guy, please, at a bare minimum, do so based on readily available facts.
Sheesh. Really makes you wonder about everything you read on this site, if people can be so casual about condemning people based on such ridiculously clicheed, and easily contradicted, falsehoods. And Jim R. really needs to stage a reading comprehension clinic on weekends for posters who don't/can't/won't avail themselves of facts already established on a thread before they post.
Look at my post #55.
Re the yellow wristbands, something like 50 million sold at $1 each.
They were going for $10, I thought. Maybe only $1 each is going to the foundation?
No,you're right. $1 each.
http://www.lancearmstrong.com/
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