TDF Negativity

vl1016 said:

So, after reading all the posts on the TDF, watching it daily, being inspired, disappointed, awed, etc....I gotta ask what gives? Intelligent discussion is fine, such as the discussion about Basso v Armstrong, etc. BUT, all the disparing remarks about how this year's TDF is lame/boring, Voekler being a nothing rider propelled by the yellow jersey for a few lucky days, on and on (someone even called Basso a [censored])...I gotta ask a few q's. Who on this board has ridden a stage of the TDF, the Giro, the Vuelta, or any other European professional race? Who here could compete with Voekler, Basso, Hamilton, Cippolini, or even the weakest support rider? The commentary on this board is worse than fat ass drunken armchair quarterbacks trying to show off to their buddies concerning their limited knowledge in an effort to make their meaningless, dull, squandered existences brighter for just one moment by disparaging someone who is out there competing in a world a thousand times removed from their own. Personally, I make my squandered existence just a little better by watching and relishing all of the TDF our American networks will show. And when I'm being crushed on the local Texas Hill Country HC (in my mind) climbs, I think of Voekler's smile, Basso's persistence, and Armstrong's fortitude. Peace.

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