Monday, July 23, 2007

The Tour de France Makes Me Cry

Who thinks Al Trautwig is an idiot? Raise your hand.
I can't even watch the "expanded" edition of the Tour on Versus for fear that Al Trautwig's inane commentary will make me gouge out my own eyeballs. I wouldn't be upset about it except that it means I'm not getting my Bobke fix. You'd think that someone over at VS would have noticed by now that they've paired the comedy relief with the weather girl to anchor the evening news. Maybe now that it's not the Only Lance Network anymore they just don't even bother to watch their own coverage.
I finally got myself a DVR just so that I can record the live coverage with Phil and Paul and watch it while the prime-time show is going on. This kills two birds with one stone: One - no more Al, Two - I can fast forward through the six commercials they run every five minutes during their tour coverage. To add insult to injury, they're the same six commercials they ran last year during the tour. What is this, the quantity beats quality argument? Will I somehow become more disposed to like a product because I've seen the same commercial for it every five minutes for three straight weeks - for two full years? Could they only find five companies that thought it worthwhile to advertise during the Tour? (One company actually bothers to run two different spots - hats off to them) I've been considering writing one or two of the sponsors to ask them if THEY bother to watch the tour on VS - but my guess is 'no' to that as well.
I love the Tour Day France (as Bob Roll calls it). The majesty of it. The athleticism. The no guts, no glory, take no prisoners, no gifts, no free lunch, no excuses, single greatest epic sporting event 'epic - ness' - of it. Alexandre Vinokourov's seesaw ride back and forth between victory and despair may have me biting my nails this year, but it's the crappiness of the coverage that's making me cry.

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