Dave Brailsford - cycling genius

[Robert5091]

Re: Re:

I know this is off topic, but Matt DeCanio is going off in the CN Comments section!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/can...ore-end-of-tour-de-france/#comment-3421275693

His perspective is worth reading!

Wasn't expecting him to recommend everybody look at what Alex Jones said about Lance. I didn't even know AJ "knew" Lance.

Alex Jones lives in Austin, so ...

Guardian's story on "incident" https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...e-brailsford-verbal-attack-cycling-journalist

The Times too - tetchy! - behind paywall at https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...d-in-four-letter-rant-at-journalist-hkqrk027d

 

[BetOrLose]

Brian Nygaards comment about today's interaction http://sport.tv2.dk/cykling/2017-07-17-sky-boss-udelukkede-journalist-fra-pressemoede-det-er-patetisk

 

[Tonton]

Press conferences...other times...the Lance blasting of Paul K...now Sir. Dave...for people sharing my views, it's a lot like history repeats itself.

 

[Electress]

Re:

Brian Nygaards comment about today's interaction http://sport.tv2.dk/cykling/2017-07-17-sky-boss-udelukkede-journalist-fra-pressemoede-det-er-patetisk

So Ryan should have kept a tactful silence and let others report on it? Ha, Nygard's being ridiculous.

It's the best damn story of the rest day. Why on earth would Ryan let other journos scoop him? He's not in a gentleman's club. He's a reporter FFS.

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

Brian Nygaards comment about today's interaction http://sport.tv2.dk/cykling/2017-07-17-sky-boss-udelukkede-journalist-fra-pressemoede-det-er-patetisk

Is he still on Sky's payroll? Geezus!

(Has SDB run out of "dirt" on other teams?)

 

[Brullnux]

What a ***. I can see why he was such good friends with Shane Sutton

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The best way to avoid those pesky Johan Bruyneel comparisons is not to invite them, just saying.

 

[Benotti69]

Re:

The best way to avoid those pesky Johan Bruyneel comparisons is not to invite them, just saying.

Bit hard to do that when Sky since 2012 have looked like they stole the USPS blueprints!!!!

 

[SeriousSam]

Dave Brailsfraud, media management genius

 

[pmcg76]

Re:

The best way to avoid those pesky Johan Bruyneel comparisons is not to invite them, just saying.

Bingo, whether you think the offending article was fos or not, responding like Bralisford did was straight from the Armstrong book of behaviour. Just mind numbingly stupid.

 

[keeponrollin]

Re: Re:

When Ryan asked Brailsford what parts of the piece before the Tour de France he considered inaccurate, Brailsford replied: "I'm not getting into that. It was opinion, you write ****.

“We make ourselves available, we answer all the questions and you write this ****.”

The heated exchanged continued. Ryan suggested that the only other person to act like this (with the media) was Bruyneel when he barred Sporza at the 2009 Tour de France.

Brailsford replied: “Are you accusing me of running a doping programme as well?”

Ryan said: “Well, UK Anti-Doping are investigating that...”

At that point Brailsford said, “You can stick it up your ****” and walked off.

Beautiful.

very well played indeed.

Ryan making a mockery of the self-proclaimed journos who have their heads so deep up Sky's *** they can't see proper.
Will Fotheringham, David Walsh, Neal Rogers, Matthew Syed, Richard Moore, to name a few who are incapable of asking good pointy questions. Ball-less reporters all hiding behind the same cop out along the lines of "I'm not going to sling mud and throw around baseless accusations. I deal in facts, not insinuations. Show me the proof and I'll write about it."

Oh well, you need a lot of eunuchs to guard a harem ....

 

[AICA ribonucleotide]

Press conferences...other times...the Lance blasting of Paul K...now Sir. Dave...for people sharing my views, it's a lot like history repeats itself.

What is about Irish journalists that these guys dislike so much?

 

[keeponrollin]

Press conferences...other times...the Lance blasting of Paul K...now Sir. Dave...for people sharing my views, it's a lot like history repeats itself.

What is about Irish journalists that these guys dislike so much?

Tom Wolfe summed the Irish best in Bonfire of the Vanities:

Irish bravery was not the bravery of the lion but the bravery of the donkey. As a cop, or as an assistant district attorney in Homicide, no matter what kind of stupid fix you got yourself into, you never backed off. You held your ground. That was what was scary about even the smallest and most insignificant of the breed. Once they took a position, they were ready to fight. To deal with them you had to be ready to fight also, and not many people on this poor globe were willing to fight…No, thought Kramer, they don’t need alcohol. They’re high on what tough, undeluded motherfuckers they are.”

It really doesn't matter if we're right or wrong; once we adapt a position, we'll defend it till the end, & fight like tigers in the process.

For people who believe in nothing, & who are afraid of people who do; the Irish can be very disturbing ...

 

[TeflonDub]

Press conferences...other times...the Lance blasting of Paul K...now Sir. Dave...for people sharing my views, it's a lot like history repeats itself.

What is about Irish journalists that these guys dislike so much?

Probably more accurate to ask 'what is it about these guys that Irish journalists dislike so much?' Probably because they don't have much time for people pontificating and being holier than thou, as we've seen where giving respect to that kind of nonsense where none is due can lead you. We're getting the hang of calling BS on charlatans who say all the right things in public and get up to all kinds of hypocrisy behind closed doors, so seeing through a chancer like SDB isn't that hard and treating him with the contempt he deserves comes naturally. Nothing like sticking 'Sir' before his name to help maintain focus.

I've commemorated SDB's wee meltdown with a new version of the Brailsford BS Generator. A bit rough around the edges, but it gives his new catchphrase the prominence it deserves.
https://twitter.com/TeflonDub/status/887017747967815680

 

[The Hegelian]

Re:

This is a scandal to compare Dave Brailsford with Johan Bruyneel without evidence, if Brailsford would he could sue for defamation of he's name.

You don't get it. Journos have not been able to say anything about Sky for years, precisely because of this threat. But in the last year there has been an open investigation, so it is absolutely appropriate for journalists to ask questions about those matters.

 

[samhocking]

Sounds more like Brailsford is pissed at Ryan, because he had access to Team Sky to write his Strong & Stable piece, but decided not to and publish as an opinion piece rather than an investigative piece of journalism. There's clearly more to this than being compared to Bruyneel when at Astana.

 

[glassmoon]

BetOrLose, you're funny

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

That's so stupid, picking a fight with the press like that. Is Brailsford trying to achieve something or just losing his mind?

He's rattled - the investigations, the change in press narrative, the fact that it is no longer under his control. There can be few illusions any more about how much Sky are disliked and distrusted and the scales are falling from the eyes of an increasing number of fans. This must put them under pressure from sponsors - I wouldn't want to link my brand to them at the moment. What do they represent? Can't imagine ASO et al are massively happy about the continuing dark cloud around the tour.

No doubt if G weren't injured they would have wheeled him out for a bit of smiling loyalty, jokes and good nature. But who in the team can serve that function now? I'm curious to know what SDB and Sky will try on to turn this narrative around? They've played the sympathy and nationalistic card before, but can't see something like that getting traction in the current atmosphere around team sky.

SDB strikes me as a man with a massive ego. He wants to be respected, to be the expert and guru. But folks have stopped playing ball and he doesn't like being questioned or undermined. You can bet 'Froomey' isn't happy with all this negative attention - not to mention the rise of Landa in a kind of weird Bertie Bromance, the narrative being of talent and panache sacrificed for sticking to the boring ole 'drill it out' plan.

Ah, nemesis. It's a ***.

And this is far more fun to watch than the race itself. :lol:

Very good post, this is pretty much how I see it as well. Brailsford must have known about all the comparisons to Armstrong/Btuyneel that this behaviour would bring about. How could he think it possibly would be a good idea to start banning and bullying journalists that didn't peddle his narrative? Like you say, the most likely explanation is that it is an ego thing, a need for absolute power and control. I wouldn't be surprised if Murdoch ditched him after this tour; his ego is becoming a loose cannon. Maybe he even knows that already, so is going out all guns blazing, settling a few petty scores.

 

[sniper]

Not to take anything away from Ryan, there was an interesting suggestion made by someone that Brailsford's rant was actually directed at the Clinic (and its extension on twitter). Frustrated about the things he can't control.
Don't know if that's too much praise for the antidoping trolls, but I like to think there's truth in it.

 

[samhocking]

I think you're confusing Brailsford being rattled with the wrong trigger perhaps?
Cyclingnews are 'Sports', not 'News' Journalists, but have challenged Sky & Brailsford as if they are 'news' journalists, which they are clearly not and neither is Ryan. i.e. Ryan has privileged access to the teams and the sport, so that he can write their sports stories and sell advertising off them to us the public who want to read about the sports news each day we won't know about from a news journalist. The general mutual agreement between sports teams and their 'sport' journalists, is, if you have that privileged access to the teams, you don't then use it and switch sides to being a news journalists like Ryan has seemingly done. It's easy to confuse sports journalists, perhaps maintaining omerta, or being under the cuff of the teams, but the reality, is if you break the mutual agreement like Ryan has, your privileged access as a 'sports' journalist typically gets revoked. This is just how it works. If Ryan wants to be a 'news' journalist, he needs to decide to stop writing about sport and become one and set out his stall for us to see what he's made of.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

I think you're confusing Brailsford being rattled with the wrong trigger perhaps?
Cyclingnews are 'Sports', not 'News' Journalists, but have challenged Sky & Brailsford as if they are 'news' journalists, which they are clearly not and neither is Ryan. i.e. Ryan has privileged access to the teams and the sport, so that he can write their sports stories and sell advertising off them to us the public who want to read about the sports news each day we won't know about from a news journalist. The general mutual agreement between sports teams and their 'sport' journalists, is, if you have that privileged access to the teams, you don't then use it and switch sides to being a news journalists like Ryan has seemingly done. It's easy to confuse sports journalists, perhaps maintaining omerta, or being under the cuff of the teams, but the reality, is if you break the mutual agreement like Ryan has, your privileged access as a 'sports' journalist typically gets revoked. This is just how it works. If Ryan wants to be a 'news' journalist, he needs to decide to stop writing about sport and become one and set out his stall for us to see what he's made of.

In which case it comes back to an issue of control. If he can't control the message he gets rattled. Ryan can write what he wants; if he's broken some kind of unwritten contract of sycophancy, then just stop feeding him lines and treat him like an outsider (or as a 'news journalist'). Don't create a big scene, reminiscent of Armstrong and Bruyneel, to the detriment of your own team and sponsors, just because someone has dared to question your absolute power.

 

[samhocking]

It doesn't work like that in the real world. Cyclingnews challenged Team Sky like 'news' journalists, but still want to be treated like 'sports' reporters and be invited to press day and have access to the team. It simply doesn't work like that & Ryan knows this. He walked the other side and now he's lost access. It's nothing unique to Brailsford or Bruyneel, simply how sports journalism works and how news journalism works. Ryan got his strong and stable piece out and perhaps he was prepared to loose access to Team Sky, who knows?

 

[DFA123]

Re:

It doesn't work like that in the real world. Cyclingnews challenged Team Sky like 'news' journalists, but still want to be treated like 'sports' journalists and be invited to press day. It simply doesn;t work like that & Ryan knows this. He walked the other side and now he's lost access. It's nothing unique to Brailsford or Bruyneel, simply how sports journalism works and how news journalism works. Ryan got his strong and stable piece out and perhaps he was prepared to loose access to Team Sky, who knows?

This is ridiculous. When a team is under a parliamentary investigation for corruption and cheating, which is directly linked to their cycling results; then the line between 'sport' and 'news' journalism is so blurred that it's pretty much non-existant. It's absurd to expect one to be separated from the other, particularly when the guy who was in charge during the alleged corruption is the one now trying to feed you lines about how their great strategy and form is winning them the race. He just doesn't have the credibility to do that unquestioned.

 

[samhocking]

This is the real world DFA123, it doesn't make sense all of the time. The separation of Sports & News Journalist is as old as media itself. No point saying it's absurd, everyone already knows this.

 

[The Hitch]

Re:

Not to take anything away from Ryan, there was an interesting suggestion made by someone that Brailsford's rant was actually directed at the Clinic (and its extension on twitter). Frustrated about the things he can't control.
Don't know if that's too much praise for the antidoping trolls, but I like to think there's truth in it.

Most of the world agrees with the clinic. Ask anybody in the street if they think cycling is doped and 9 out of 10 won't let you even get past the world cycling without shouting "its all doped".

Brailsfraud who travels round the world watching cycling races, doesn't have to have read the clinic to feel this sentiment.