Re: purpose?

Quoted message said:

MagillaGorilla said:

Other sports likewise assign sponsors to these extra-curricular
competitions as well. However, they are smart enough to call them what
they are - statistics. No athlete shows up to tournaments or Superbowls
or a World Series with the intent to mold their entire game of play
strategy to win STATISTICS at the expense of losing the overall win.

Riders like Robbie McEwen win statistics, not races. What Robbie McEwen
does in the Tour de France is akin to a running back gaining the most
yards in a game despite his team losing.

Robbie McEwen is not winning statistics at the expense
of losing the overall win. I'm fairly sure McEwen has no
chance at the overall Tour win. Nor does anyone else
on his team, usually.

Teams shouldn't be allowed to compete in a Grand Tour unless they bring
someone who can win the GC. Otherwise, you get these weirdo sprinter
types who go for statistics and their entire team shows up AWOL to the
actual event and rides for these statistics. This is like a baseball
team showing up to a series to see if they can make the most bunts
because they know they can't win the game. Or a basketball team showing
up to the playoff and trying to make shots from beyond half court to see
if it can make the longest shot in the game while intentionally losing
the game.

In all professional sports (except for cycling), everyone on the playing
field has the same overall goal. It's mano v. mano.

In cycling, it's like everyone has all these different agendas and it
creates this bizarre "game" where every race has like 4 different
"winners" (KOM, sprinter's jersey, most aggressive, best U-boat
commander) - none of whom compete directly against the other riders or
teams.

It's stupid and it really needs to stop.

Quoted message said:

Cycling is a team sport that is also an individual sport.

Wrong, it's just a team sport.

Quoted message said:

That is one reason why its strategies are different from
either baseball or (for ex) distance running. Cycling
is also one of the few team sports where the courses
change from event to event - football fields are more
or less the same apart from wind and altitude; baseball
fields have minor differences in the outfield; soccer pitches
vary in size but they don't put hills in the middle, and so on.
In fact I can't think of another team sport that uses varied
courses, though surely someone will come up with one
(Relay XC skiing doesn't count).

McEwen can't win the Tour and Basso has little shot at
winning many of the major classics.

Riders like McEwen shouldn't show up to the Tour de France. Let
Leipheimer and Valverde sprint for time bonuses. It cracks me up how
hyper Phil Liggett gets when he calls fields sprints in the Tour de
France. All that hype for a guy who finishes 2 hours down on GC in Paris?

Imagine if baseball

Quoted message said:

stadia differed so much that which player performed well
depended so strongly on the venue.

No, there will be no imagine this or that, John Lennon.

'Grilla

"MagillaGorilla" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Cycling is a team sport that is also an individual sport.

Wrong, it's just a team sport.

Then why does the President of the United States of America only call Lance
& Floyd when they win and not the whole team? If it was only a team sport
the President of the United States of America would call the whole team.

When the 1996 New York Yankees, with Wade Boggs (but no Margo), won the
World Series they all were invited to the White House to see the President
of the United States of America

Frank Drackman said:

"MagillaGorilla" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Cycling is a team sport that is also an individual sport.

Wrong, it's just a team sport.

Then why does the President of the United States of America only call Lance
& Floyd when they win and not the whole team? If it was only a team sport
the President of the United States of America would call the whole team.

When the 1996 New York Yankees, with Wade Boggs (but no Margo), won the
World Series they all were invited to the White House to see the President
of the United States of America

Clinton throated a plumper.

Apeface

MagillaGorilla said:

Frank Drackman said:

When the 1996 New York Yankees, with Wade Boggs (but no Margo), won the
World Series they all were invited to the White House to see the President
of the United States of America

Clinton throated a plumper.

Holy [censored], I never knew _that_ about Wade Boggs.

Ben
rethinking the secret history of the 90s