Is Walsh on the Sky bandwagon?

[Benotti69]

Best thing Pierre Ballester could do is get hold of Froome's data(UCI, Barloworld and Sky) and write a book on how it points to doping.

That would hurt Walsh more than any court case.

 

[Benotti69]

Milking it

MyTimesPlus@timesmembership

We're putting your questions to our journalist responsible of revealing the Lance Armstrong doping scandal. Ask your question #askdavidwalsh

Interesting the questions are not overwhelmingly easy

Duke Cuneo ‏@LUduke31 4h4 hours ago
@timesmembership Why haven't you worked to actually reveal the level of doping in the sport instead of chasing a vendetta against Armstrong?

Stevo ‏@Sharadospolier 3h3 hours ago
@timesmembership do you remember who Pierre Ballester is? Did you ask him to sign away his rights? If so why? #askdavidwalsh

Richard Roeton ‏@richroet 4h4 hours ago
@timesmembership #askdavidwalsh just how clean is top level cycling now and what can be done to improve it further?

valar morghulis ‏@Jamie140299 3h3 hours ago
@timesmembership when did you get down from froome's arse?

Arno Nymous ‏@DearWiggo 3h3 hours ago
@timesmembership how do you think Landa will go at Sky in 2016? #askdavidwalsh

More
‏@Abraham_Neil 26m26 minutes ago
@timesmembership #askdavidwalsh Is the signing of Landa a danger to Sky's reputation, given Astana's reputation?

‏@Abraham_Neil 29m29 minutes ago
@timesmembership #askdavidwalsh Do you feel like you have gambled your reputation on Froome and Team Sky being clean? Thanks

tough crowd....

 

[LaFlorecita]

This guy..
‏@Abraham_Neil 29m29 minutes ago
@timesmembership #askdavidwalsh Do you feel like you have gambled your reputation on Froome and Team Sky being clean? Thanks

"Thanks"

 

[Benotti69]

It would appear that the #askdavidwalsh is not going according to plan.

 

[JimmyFingers]

Did any of those get answered?

 

[Benotti69]

Not that I am aware off.

 

[Gung Ho Gun]

Apparently he's going to answer them at a large Q&A after the launch of the Armstrong movie. So you can still send questions!

 

[thehog]

Walsh a man in love...

O'Dowd plays Walsh in The Program, which chronicles the career and eventual downfall of Armstrong, and Walsh revealed that he wondered if the Moone Boy star was the right choice when he first heard he had been cast.

"I wondered about Chris when I first heard, I mean, I loved him in Bridesmaids, how can you not like that guy? Officer Rhodes. You know what I love about Chris? He didn't really try to put on an American accent, he's this American cop with an Irish accent, and you don't know how the woman doesn't fall for him immediately because he's so lovable . . . " Walsh said.

http://www.rte.ie/ten/news/2015/1014/734840-david-walsh-was-unsure-about-odowd-playing-him/

 

[del1962]

Cant get Roy from the IT crowd guy out of my head whenever I see Chris O'Dowd.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Re:

Cant get Roy from the IT crowd guy out of my head whenever I see Chris O'Dowd.

Same.

 

[The Hitch]

You can see the influence of JV, Millar and the rest of the Garmin hacks on the movie, the way its all about making a quick buck. The little ped story designed and released at a specific point in order to get free publicity, this little Walsh stunt. I caught a quick 2 min interview with the lead actor in one of those free rags you find lying around London transport. He was asked about Lance's charity and came out with the usual - oh he was a great charity guy who did it to save the people.
Does that mean they will also chicken out from exploring Lance's use of his charity and just have it there as a good thing in order to simplify Lance into this "flawed character with redeemable qualities" trope?

 

[Benotti69]

ouch

Mark, A Schwartz ‏@MarkofSchwartz Oct 6
#askdavidwalsh @timesmembership what impresses you more: your inability to expose one other doped athlete or making Lance's story about you?

14 tweets for #askdavidwalsh ......not impressive at all. All bar one, are negative towards Walsh as a journalist. That must hurt his ego a little.

 

[thehog]

The film, the program, sounds like a Walsh book... a slow motion car accident

No surprises its terrible and getting bad reviews.

The film opens with him as he pedals hard and furiously, uphill and downhill, through spectacular mountain scenery, breathing hard. It’s 1991, his first Tour de France, which is where he first meets the Sunday Times sports reporter David Walsh (Chris O’Dowd), who went on to question Armstrong where others wouldn’t, and on whose book (Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong) this is based. I’d imagined the film would adopt a cat-and-mouse structure, with Walsh closing in on his prey, step by step, inch by inch, but, in fact, Walsh feels strangely disconnected and is often abandoned in London, where he spends all his time arguing tediously with his boss. He feels like a bystander, and when Floyd Landis (Jesse Plemons), one of Armstrong’s former teammates, finally opts to spill all the beans elsewhere, Walsh is pushed out altogether. It’s as if one half of the story can’t be bothered to go meet the other half. If there’s a story at all.

The film lacks a dramatic structure, or any narrative oomph. In fact, it could have done with a good dose of performance-enhancing drugs itself. It plays mostly as a chronological, tick-boxing exercise. Here’s Armstrong hooking up with the creepy Italian doctor Michele Ferrari, who is played by Guillaume Canet as part Bond villain and part Gino D’Acampo, and who introduces Armstrong to blood transfusions, alongside all the other substances. Here’s Armstrong bullying the rest of his teammates into joining ‘The Program’. Here’s Armstrong avoiding a positive test by diluting his blood. Here’s Armstrong appearing before some Tour officials, who have their suspicions, but who let him off because, as he tells them, the sport’s over if they take any action. (I would have liked more on the corruption at the top.) Here’s Armstrong looking you in the eye and saying, ‘I have never tested positive.’ And, ‘I’m the most tested athlete in the world.’

So there is all this, none of which we didn’t know already, and all the while it makes no concession to his personal life at all. He meets and marries his wife in two split-second scenes and then she is never heard of again. Even when he is seen at home, in just the sort of house you’d expect Lance Armstrong to live in — mansion-style, beige, soulless — there is no sign of any wife or children. (They had three.)

Where does Armstrong’s horror of losing come from? Why was winning so important that he would do whatever it took? Where has he put his wife and children? Even if Armstrong is a sociopath, or suffers from some kind of narcissistic personality disorder, as seems likely, might we not have been awarded some indication of where this personality came from? Some nod to childhood, perhaps, rather than yet another scene of him injecting the illegal drugs? (If you are needle-phobic, btw, The Program is not for you.)

By the end, this film seems bored of itself, rushing through Armstrong’s unravelling in an instant, and giving no time to the fall-out at all. At the very least, I would have expected to return to Walsh, who had been successfully sued by Armstrong, and who had lost his newspaper £1 million. But this is skipped over, as is Armstrong’s confession to Oprah, which merely plays over the closing credits. So you’ll likely feel cheated, but then this is Lance Armstrong, so I guess you could also say: what’s new?

https://new.spectator.co.uk/2015/10/the-program-could-do-with-a-good-dose-of-performance-enhancing-drugs/

 

[djpbaltimore]

'The Program' is sitting @ 50% on Rotten tomatoes, so the reviews are pretty mixed. Ben Foster is getting most of the plaudits FWIW.

 

[The Hitch]

Just want to make it clear to all cynics that if you go pay to see this, you will forever be banished from the clinic 12

 

[thehog]

Re:

Just want to make it clear to all cynics that if you go pay to see this, you will forever be banished from the clinic 12

I like all things Walsh because it is pure comedy! Can I please go see it!?????

 

[The Hitch]

Re: Re:

Just want to make it clear to all cynics that if you go pay to see this, you will forever be banished from the clinic 12

I like all things Walsh because it is pure comedy! Can I please go see it!?????

Walsh sure. But this movie is more sinister. It's got the dark dirty hands of Millar, Jv, Wiggins on it. It's just immoral to fund this mob.

 

[thehog]

Re: Re:

Just want to make it clear to all cynics that if you go pay to see this, you will forever be banished from the clinic 12

I like all things Walsh because it is pure comedy! Can I please go see it!?????

Walsh sure. But this movie is more sinister. It's got the dark dirty hands of Millar, Jv, Wiggins on it. It's just immoral to fund this mob.

You are right. I cannot fund those corrupt animals.

Alas, I await the next Walsh book... "David Walsh, Hollywood didn't change me".

 

[wendybnt]

I think 'The Program' was doomed the moment they decided not to cast Bryan Cranston as Lance.

 

[thehog]

Looks like Walsh went for all the glory. What a suck!

This is where the film starts to lose its cadence. Paul Kimmage, for instance, is never mentioned, depriving viewers that infamous moment when the embattled Irish journalist referred to Armstrong as "the cancer of the sport" during a press conference. Pierre Ballaster, the French journalist with whom Walsh wrote his accusatory book L.A. Confidential, is wholly omitted.

This may simply be an attempt to keep the story simple and not over-complicated matters - the same reason why Armstrong's wives and children are barely introduced, why there's no Greg LeMond and why Armstrong's comeback stops with his third place for Astana in 2009 and glosses over his troubled final year at RadioShack. (Of course, legal issues may be to blame, too.)

But it is precisely these omissions that make the story incomplete for the cycling-savvy audience. As Frears inferred - nothing escapes the attention of a collective of fans who, for the most part, will pounce with a bilious 140-character precis on any rider who, say, breaks one of the unwritten rules of cycling, let alone an actor who tries to convince us he's been riding a bike all his life.

As much as we're impressed by Menochet's comedic likeness to Bruyneel and can see echoes of the tortured Landis in the excellent Plemons, we're left exasperated by the actor playing Alberto Contador looking more like Gert Steegmans than the real El Pistolero.

Eyebrows are raised - well, mine were, at least - when Oscar Pereiro stands alongside Landis on the podium not only in spectacles but also the white Banesto kit (instead of the black and red of Caisse d'Epargne). How hard can it be to find an extra who vaguely resembles Ivan Basso? And what of the curious absence of Jan Ullrich - Armstrong's biggest rival - who is never mentioned, only seen once alongside the Texan on the podium (another questionable lookalike).

Throughout the film we see too many bulging biceps squeezing out of lycra (even a supposedly emaciated Foster - in the post-cancer scenes - is too bulky to be a convincing cyclist) while a journalist working away into the wee hours alongside a coffee plunger reeks is more hackneyed than, well, a decaf soya latte.

Confusing matters further, the film is consistently spliced with archive footage so we jump between images of the real Armstrong and Foster's fictional one; at times it's highly effective, but not always. While it does lend the movie an element of realism, it does inadvertently give Messrs Liggett and Sherwin more lines in the entire film than all of the other journalists put together, including Walsh (whose role is in fact very under played).

All in all, there's a (perhaps unavoidable) element of parody and pantomime that runs through the veins of The Program. It has a distinctive docu-drama feel - with action sequences coming across like those battle re-enactments put on by weekend hobby groups (although admittedly in a much slicker manner). The net result is that it feel more like a TV film than a Hollywood blockbuster - and for that reason, many would be better off waiting until it's out on DVD or shown on television

http://www.eurosport.co.uk/cycling/blazin-saddles-the-program-film-review-and-david-walsh-qa_sto4951287/story.shtml

 

[del1962]

Looks like Walsh went for all the glory. What a suck!


http://www.eurosport.co.uk/cycling/blazin-saddles-the-program-film-review-and-david-walsh-qa_sto4951287/story.shtml

Do you not even read your own links

Confusing matters further, the film is consistently spliced with archive footage so we jump between images of the real Armstrong and Foster's fictional one; at times it's highly effective, but not always. While it does lend the movie an element of realism, it does inadvertently give Messrs Liggett and Sherwin more lines in the entire film than all of the other journalists put together, including Walsh (whose role is in fact very under played).

 

[Benotti69]

Not that Eurosport or Felix Lowe have much credibility.

 

[elduggo]

it does inadvertently give Messrs Liggett and Sherwin more lines in the entire film than all of the other journalists put together, including Walsh (whose role is in fact very under played).

Its pretty clear that the credit is all Walsh's. I was at the Irish premiere on wednesday and he was in attendance. He apologised before the movie if it seemed that it was him getting all the credit.

I'd suggest going to see it. As a cycling fan I found it particularly 'interesting'.

Cycling fans are going to be very familiar with the details of the story, hence will be the absolute worst audience for it as poking holes in it, pointing out its inaccuracies, etc, is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Some of the cycling scenes are just woeful. In particular the one where Lance chases down Simeoni. They got this scene so wrong that its a wonder someone didn't stop them putting it in. Your average joe bloggs who was never au fait with the ins and outs of this, may not question it. Not so, the rest of it.

Cycling fans know a lot of background about Lance, his life, childhood, etc. There is nothing about this whatsoever.

There is no mention of LeMond, Casartelli, Danielson, Vaughters, Hincapie (though the guy they got to play big Georgie is a ringer for the guy - all he got to do was watch Landis drink 15 cups of coffee), or a lot of others who had major parts to play in Lance's 'sporting' life. There is nothing about the inner circle that is described both in the USADA report, or by both Landis and Hamilton.

To be fair, a lot of the detail in the movie is good. The bikes, team kit, etc - the casting and set people did an ok job. Well done to them.

But, prepare to watch large parts of this movie through your fingers. It is really cringeable in parts. REALLY cringeable.

Oh, and wait to see the guy they got to play Contador. They were doing so well up to that point. They managed to cast most characters pretty well. They must have been losing the will to live when it came to Contador. Terrible.

 

[Benotti69]

"The Program" was originally to be released in the USA tomorrow. Now, apparently no release date set.

 

[thehog]

it does inadvertently give Messrs Liggett and Sherwin more lines in the entire film than all of the other journalists put together, including Walsh (whose role is in fact very under played).

Its pretty clear that the credit is all Walsh's. I was at the Irish premiere on wednesday and he was in attendance. He apologised before the movie if it seemed that it was him getting all the credit.

I'd suggest going to see it. As a cycling fan I found it particularly 'interesting'.

Cycling fans are going to be very familiar with the details of the story, hence will be the absolute worst audience for it as poking holes in it, pointing out its inaccuracies, etc, is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Some of the cycling scenes are just woeful. In particular the one where Lance chases down Simeoni. They got this scene so wrong that its a wonder someone didn't stop them putting it in. Your average joe bloggs who was never au fait with the ins and outs of this, may not question it. Not so, the rest of it.

Cycling fans know a lot of background about Lance, his life, childhood, etc. There is nothing about this whatsoever.

There is no mention of LeMond, Casartelli, Danielson, Vaughters, Hincapie (though the guy they got to play big Georgie is a ringer for the guy - all he got to do was watch Landis drink 15 cups of coffee), or a lot of others who had major parts to play in Lance's 'sporting' life. There is nothing about the inner circle that is described both in the USADA report, or by both Landis and Hamilton.

To be fair, a lot of the detail in the movie is good. The bikes, team kit, etc - the casting and set people did an ok job. Well done to them.

But, prepare to watch large parts of this movie through your fingers. It is really cringeable in parts. REALLY cringeable.

Oh, and wait to see the guy they got to play Contador. They were doing so well up to that point. They managed to cast most characters pretty well. They must have been losing the will to live when it came to Contador. Terrible.

No Vaughters!???! What were they thinking? Wasn't DiCaprio free to play the role?

I actually want to see it now, just so I can laugh at it. I want to see the Contador character? Did they take the basis from Froome's book the climb? Amigo drinking coffee?

Just found him on IMDB... Lucien Guignard

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2088231/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t35