How did this guy get a column?
<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/785267.asp?cp1=1"; target="_blank">Idiot</a>
Read this link - this guy clearly knows nothing about what it takes to be a great cyclist, let alone a great athlete. My guess is he just views with disdain things he doesn't understand.
There are so many things in there that show his lack of understanding - "What if they were playing defense?" THEY ARE PLAYING DEFENSE. Its a team sport. His requirements for being an athlete - mental toughness, hand eye coordination etc. You try descending down a narrow mountain pass on 1/2" tires at 60+mph with a sheer drop of 500m on the side. Tell me that doesn't take both. Tell me that riding up an interminable hill with your lungs, legs, heart screaming for you to stop doesn't take mental toughness. Why does stuff like this bother me so much?
Thoth
[ fixed link - Amorph ]
[ 07-25-2002: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
Read this link - this guy clearly knows nothing about what it takes to be a great cyclist, let alone a great athlete. My guess is he just views with disdain things he doesn't understand.
There are so many things in there that show his lack of understanding - "What if they were playing defense?" THEY ARE PLAYING DEFENSE. Its a team sport. His requirements for being an athlete - mental toughness, hand eye coordination etc. You try descending down a narrow mountain pass on 1/2" tires at 60+mph with a sheer drop of 500m on the side. Tell me that doesn't take both. Tell me that riding up an interminable hill with your lungs, legs, heart screaming for you to stop doesn't take mental toughness. Why does stuff like this bother me so much?
Thoth
[ fixed link - Amorph ]
[ 07-25-2002: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
Comments
<strong>Thoth, your link doesn't work.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I just clicked on it and it worked for me.
Here's the URL if you want to type it in:
<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/785267.asp?cp1=1"; target="_blank">http://www.msnbc.com/news/785267.asp?cp1=1</a>;
and I'll try again with the link :
<a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/785267.asp?cp1=1"; target="_blank">Lance Armstrong is not an athlete</a>
Thoth
[ 07-25-2002: Message edited by: Thoth2 ]
Oops. I guess Amorph saved my bacon and that's why it worked. Thanks.
[ 07-25-2002: Message edited by: Thoth2 ]</p>
[quote]Ron Borges writes regularly for NBCSports.com and covers boxing and the NFL for the Boston Globe.<hr></blockquote>
I see he's more into punching people and playing with balls.
From the article [quote]"Just don’t be trying to give away the title of world’s greatest athlete to a skinny guy from Texas who sits on a bicycle seat for nine hours a day careening through the mountains, tall though those mountains might be."<hr></blockquote>
Fine, but don't try to convince me that overpaid thyroid cases running back and forth trying to throw a ball through a hoop for an hour or so are any better than the skinny guy from Texas.
I don't know if Lance Amstrong is the greatest world athlet, and frankly it does not bother me, but i can tell you that Ron Borges is the greatest stupid sport columnist that i ever read
I have try to vote : the results 96 % of people have a different advice from him.
I think the guy has just make a non PC essay to appear intelligent : the reality is he is just a moron <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />
<strong>Well, I've known a stripper or two that I'd consider atheletes, and their moves definately...athletic.
You wouldn't happen to be talking about anyone at the Fuzzy Grape in NH, would you?
Thoth
<strong>
You wouldn't happen to be talking about anyone at the Fuzzy Grape in NH, would you?
Thoth</strong><hr></blockquote>
Nah...Club Rock-za in HI. And her name was Marika. Or, that's what she said it was, anyway.
With maybe the exception of eye-hand coordination Lance has all that and in great quantity.
The guy hasn't been watching the tour. A fight even broke out this year. Too bad my wife taped over it.
<strong>
With maybe the exception of eye-hand coordination Lance has all that and in great quantity.
The guy hasn't been watching the tour. A fight even broke out this year. Too bad my wife taped over it.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, I caught the fight... looks like they could use some additional hand-eye co-ordination skills
I can't say anything that hasn't already been said in regards to this article. Cycling is, hands down, one of the toughest sports in the world. Cyclists train longer and harder than most athletes. We're talking about races here that can last up to six hours... of continuous physical exertion and mental concentration. The number of people in this world that can do that, and do it competitively, are few and far between.
When that columnist is damned to hell, he will be made to live out eternity by riding a bicycle
was going to be my off day, but now I think I'm going to go do another 40 mile ride just to spite him...
This guy does a good job of making me embarassed to be an American. I just don't even know where to begin...
<strong>You know, I wish I hadn't read that damn article
was going to be my off day, but now I think I'm going to go do another 40 mile ride just to spite him...
This guy does a good job of making me embarassed to be an American. I just don't even know where to begin...</strong><hr></blockquote>
don't be embarassed there is idiots everywhere. Idiots share one thing with god : they are omniwhere
<strong>...
When that columnist is damned to hell, he will be made to live out eternity by riding a bicycle
That's Hell <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
i wonder if he has even looked up the definition of the word "athlete". If he considers football to be more atheltic than cycling, I just don't get that. Football has a bunch of people good at memorizing plays, hitting people, throwing a piece of leather, and catching that piece of leather. But it isn't sustained physical exertion. Each "play" ends up being like a "sprint". In my opinion, that's less respectful athletically than cycling. Basketball and Hockey, two sports I actually like, are more along the lines of a form of continual exertion.
But I still consider them all athletes. Cyclists are endurance athletes. The fact that they ride a bike doesn't make them less of an athlete, and to be quite honest, I don't know a single successful cyclist that got where he is by ONLY working his lower body in the gym or by ONLY riding his bike. Cyclists are probably the most well disciplined athletes in the world. These guys don't go to wild parties after a race, they don't make millions of dollars, they don't live a superstar lifestyle. They discipline themselves to the fullest. From what they eat to how they train on and off the bike, to how they prepare mentally... it's ten times more difficult than any football player's training.
Yeah, this has been bothering me all day... a lot
<strong>...
Cyclists are probably the most well disciplined athletes in the world. These guys don't go to wild parties after a race, they don't make millions of dollars, they don't live a superstar lifestyle. They discipline themselves to the fullest. From what they eat to how they train on and off the bike, to how they prepare mentally... it's ten times more difficult than any football player's training.
... </strong><hr></blockquote>
I'm not sure about that. Where's Jan this year?
<strong>But it isn't sustained physical exertion.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Did you play football in high school?
That's when you play offense *and* defense, you're on the field the entire game and it really is like sprinting.
We've got guys on our football team (University of Texas) that can run 4.6/8 in the 40 and weigh ~300lbs.
You can't be out of shape and be a good football player.
Baseball... that's debateable.