I write a lot about football, and I was almost tempted to write my Sunday Morning Football column on Saturday afternoon today, as all the week's biggest footballing action from Spain took place today. What I realized was that I would probably just write another football column tomorrow, so I'll save you the trouble of having two football columns to read and instead, write about cycling today.
The Amgen Tour of California (AToC) has been going on for the past week. It's the biggest cycling event in the United States, with many of the world's best riders traveling to (not-so) sunny California. Levi Leipheimer has won back-to-back AToCs and currently leads this year's as well. (In the meantime, he finished 3rd at the Tour de France, 2nd at the Vuelta a España, and won a bronze medal in the Individual Time Trial [ITT] at the Beijing Olympics - not too shabby.) Until the return of Lance Armstrong this year, one could not have questioned Leipheimer's status as the best American cyclist. Armstrong is, however, working as a domestique (an assistant in cycling lingo) for Leipheimer at the AToC this year.
After spending four hours in the library this afternoon, I decided I needed to take a break from work, so upon returning, I went to www.velonews.com (no they're not paying for this advertising) to check out the AToC. The stage was in progress, so I decided to read the live commentary. I must say, it's a heck of a lot better than the football commentary from soccernet.com.
Anyway, it sounds like quite the exciting stage. The first half of the stage was uphill. I group of ten got out in front, including some of the big names: Hincapie, Vande Velde, and Frank Schleck. The stage is currently in its closing stages as the group of ten attack, counter-attack, and counter-counter-attack inside the last 8-10 miles.
I can't understand why cycling isn't more popular in this country. I think the reason is that it doesn't have a lot of complex rules. If we look at "America's game(s)," they all have lots of ridiculous rules. Baseball is just absurd, but its replacement as America's sport, American football, certainly has a great number as well. Perhaps in this country, we just feel the need to make our sports ridiculously complex. The most European sports (football, tennis, and cycling), are all relatively simple games. The "American" sports, baseball, American football, hockey, and basketball, all have a great many rules. (I have, of course, conveniently excluded rugby from the list of European sports to aid my argument that they are usually rather simple.)
The other reason why I think cycling is not more popular here is its "disruption" to everyday life. When a cycling race passes over certain roads, they must be closed for a number of hours that day. Americans are so intent on getting this and that done that we find any inconvenience to be unacceptable. The French, in contrast, love the Tour de France. They beg it to come through their little villages, for it brings with it revenue from fans who stop there to watch the beautiful colors of the peletón streak by at 40km/hr. So what if they can't get to the city's market that day. It can wait until tomorrow. We American don't have that patience.
So I'm done generalizing now. Obviously, I have totally stereotyped the American people and our country's culture. Sorry 'bout that - well, no I'm not. But don't take it as fact. It's not. It's just my overly-critical opinion. Check in tomorrow for Sunday Morning Football. There's already lots to talk about from today.
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