What Americans Want in Their Cycling Coverage

[lagartija]

No, they had full coverage every day, live and replayed during the day just like their TdF coverage. They had the same for the Vuelta. Then the channel changed the demographics it was targeting; they began covering bull riding for rednecks and fighting for no-necks. All the shows like High Country Climber disappeared. Finally the channel gave up any pretense of being about outdoor sports and lifestyle. It then changed its name to Versus.

yeah thats right .........they also aired all the world cup road events at the time and even mountain bike races, i remember tyler's crash in the giro's final TT, im thinking 01, i was pulling for him to win the overall and that crashed stamped paid to his effort......man i was bummed.......

ive been saying it for years VS needed to grow a fan base by airing other events, you cant follow something if you dont have an avenue to do so. and now after lance reretires , well i dont think it will be pretty. and it just does not help VS having a contract with ASO for the north american broadcast rights.................

 

[3rdWheel]

No, they had full coverage every day, live and replayed during the day just like their TdF coverage. They had the same for the Vuelta. Then the channel changed the demographics it was targeting; they began covering bull riding for rednecks and fighting for no-necks. All the shows like High Country Climber disappeared. Finally the channel gave up any pretense of being about outdoor sports and lifestyle. It then changed its name to Versus.

My a$$ is getting too old I don't remember that at all or I just missed it. Was the year in the Veulta Aitor Gonzalez beat Heras on the last day in the time trial to win the Veulta or is that off base too???

 

[Libertine Seguros]

2003 was the Vuelta Heras won the jersey in the final time trial from Isidro Nozal, who'd held it since stage 3, and ONCE lost the teams classification they'd held since the prologue to Banesto. I felt sad for Nozal.

 

[Boeing]

Let's count the number of times Phil and Paul add Hincape to the list of favorites for Le Tour

 

[Oldman]

Yikes! Sir Lanceolard picked up a stalker. Fan being short for fanatic and all.

I can't speak for Americans, but speaking for North Americans, we want coverage of the whole cycling season, not one man's season or a couple of stage races. That's how you grow a sport.

Speaking for some Americans we'd like to see more of the Euro feeds we've been getting on Universal Sports, uh...with some better commentators.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

More CYCLOCROSS dammit!!!! If there ever was a cycling event made for ADD afflicted, fast-food-nation, North American tv viewers it's the hour of power of a CX race. Never a dull moment.

 

[BroDeal]

More CYCLOCROSS dammit!!!! If there ever was a cycling event made for ADD afflicted, fast-food-nation, North American tv viewers it's the hour of power of a CX race. Never a dull moment.

Universal Sports has been broadcasting some cyclocross. They had the world championships.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Universal Sports has been broadcasting some cyclocross. They had the world championships.

Yeah, but we need the full CX seasons of the Euros and the Americas. It's a rockin' good time, you know what I mean. I wouldn't mind seeing more road semi-classics either like KBK, E3, etc, etc. A North American Eurosport channel would be nice.

In this day and age we should be able to see whatever we want and not have to search around the internugget for it like mad. Just a thought.

 

[BroDeal]

Yeah, but we need the full CX seasons of the Euros and the Americas. It's a rockin' good time, you know what I mean. I wouldn't mind seeing more road semi-classics either like KBK, E3, etc, etc. A North American Eurosport channel would be nice.

In this day and age we should be able to see whatever we want and not have to search around the internugget for it like mad. Just a thought.

I think it is only a matter of time before a service like cycling.tv is set up that actually works. Cable TV these days sucks. The quality of the product continues to decline. I know quite a few people who have ditched their cable in favor of Netflix and the occasional Red Box rental. Not only is it cheaper, they get to watch what they want to watch. The winter Olympics coverage showed how the networks are failing to give people what they want.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

I think it is only a matter of time before a service like cycling.tv is set up that actually works. Cable TV these days sucks. The quality of the product continues to decline. I know quite a few people who have ditched their cable in favor of Netflix and the occasional Red Box rental. Not only is it cheaper, they get to watch what they want to watch. The winter Olympics coverage showed how the networks are failing to give people what they want.

I suppose this has a lot to do with bandwidth limitations too. I've always wondered why WCP hasn't jumped into the live feed broadcasting ring with their own dedicated cycling channel instead of having to piggy back on Vs.

 

[pmcg76]

Yeah, but we need the full CX seasons of the Euros and the Americas. It's a rockin' good time, you know what I mean. I wouldn't mind seeing more road semi-classics either like KBK, E3, etc, etc. A North American Eurosport channel would be nice.

In this day and age we should be able to see whatever we want and not have to search around the internugget for it like mad. Just a thought.

Eurosport is good but not great but they dont show cyclo-cross or the semi-classics like K-B-K, Het Nieuwsblad. The best thing would be to get Sporza somehow even if it is in Flemish.

 

[Ferdinand Artichoke]

what americans want?
Drama involving their own (or own language group!)
'the most'
'the best'
'the worst'

truth shouldn't get in the way of a good story.


just like this: (it gets me going admittedly!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_onBx2ZSHA

 

[Jonathan]

what americans want?
Drama involving their own (or own language group!)
'the most'
'the best'
'the worst'

truth shouldn't get in the way of a good story.

But that's exactly what the Tour delivers, and the other races as well. So it's a shame that Americans don't like watching racers from other countries, because cycling is a staged drama, with many different classifications to recognize all kinds of performances and a huge press coverage that articulates the story every day. The most? Cavendish. The best? Contador. The worst? Kenny van Hummel.

Americans don't like the French because they are so much alike. A bit of a shame really.

 

[Ferdinand Artichoke]

Americans don't like the French because they are so much alike...

how they speak french you mean?

 

[Boeing]

Yeah, but we need the full CX seasons of the Euros and the Americas. It's a rockin' good time, you know what I mean. I wouldn't mind seeing more road semi-classics either like KBK, E3, etc, etc. A North American Eurosport channel would be nice.

In this day and age we should be able to see whatever we want and not have to search around the internugget for it like mad. Just a thought.

I get that but it is a start. In addition we got the WC Track events a day late and a dollar short but it is cycling on TV and it is well done. Not over produced. Just the facts and results. Rather than a bunch of dramatic scripted story line before, after and during the race like VS.

I thoroughly enjoy GoGo's color commentary on Universal.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

In the meantime, I think I just need to learn Flemish this summer to get ready for the 10/11 CX season so I can watch the Sporza.be feeds.

 

[WinterRider]

Agree with every word of this.

Living north of the 49th, I get exactly 1 race on TV each year. One.

The Vs coverage of Lance and a bunch of other people riding bikes somewhere.

Pathetic.

To be honest, I'd rathe have nothing than have to listen to the fawning drivel that passes for coverage.

I'm in the same boat as you, but thankfully I have discovered the internet and the spring classics. There's a whole side of the sport I knew nothing about. Now if only I could get english commentary that synced with the video.

 

[Oldman]

But that's exactly what the Tour delivers, and the other races as well. So it's a shame that Americans don't like watching racers from other countries, because cycling is a staged drama, with many different classifications to recognize all kinds of performances and a huge press coverage that articulates the story every day. The most? Cavendish. The best? Contador. The worst? Kenny van Hummel.

Americans don't like the French because they are so much alike. A bit of a shame really.

How is it a thread about what Americans want in cycling TV is characterized by someone who wants to air all of their prejudices? I'm not a Vs fan, Lance fan or blind fan of much of anything but it's always laughable when national alliances cloud the forum judgement. I'm presuming you're from the UK?

 

[flicker]

I t is not versus fault. The US needs a dramatic rider to follow. Americans are not going to follow a rider from another country. That is how it is in the US home of NAScar.

 

[Oldman]

I t is not versus fault. The US needs a dramatic rider to follow. Americans are not going to follow a rider from another country. That is how it is in the US home of NAScar.

Truthfully I think that day is possibly over if a charismatic star comes through. David Beckham is the hearthrob of every Oprah fan and that's how it probably will begin. Hard core fans have already moved on from that narrow mindset due to the positive influence of more broadcast availability and the internet. The rest want a star just like every casual observer.

That's not just an American attitude.

 

[Ferdinand Artichoke]

In the meantime, I think I just need to learn Flemish this summer to get ready for the 10/11 CX season so I can watch the Sporza.be feeds.

U moet echte probeer .
Elke dag leren een nieuwe word... Maar met geen dagelijk gesprek praktijk U heeft zonder mogelijkheid.
Fiets courier eh?
Welke stad?

 

[B.Rasmussen]

U moet echte probeer .
Elke dag leren een nieuwe word... Maar met geen dagelijk gesprek praktijk U heeft zonder mogelijkheid.
Fiets courier eh?
Welke stad?

I should try to learn Flemish too even though we get decent coverage here in Denmark of the bigger races at least, but i wouldn't mind understanding the commentators for the smaller races. I'll have a go at this, although seeing it in text is much easier than to hear it as I learned German in school many years ago and there are similarities.

Learn a new word every day...if possible, make sure to practice talking it every day.
Bike messenger eh?
What city?

 

[Jonathan]

How is it a thread about what Americans want in cycling TV is characterized by someone who wants to air all of their prejudices? I'm not a Vs fan, Lance fan or blind fan of much of anything but it's always laughable when national alliances cloud the forum judgement.

Actually, the observation that Americans prefer to see American riders more than several other nationalities prefer to see their own, is a conclusion that can be drawn from this thread. As for the part about two nations being similar, I cannot see how that is prejudiced. No two countries have been affected by the enlightenment in a more similar way, and this has deeply affected their people.

I'm presuming you're from the UK?

An exchange I saw, filmed in New York:

Interviewer: "What do you think of Amsterdam?"

Newyorker: "Great! Great country."

Int.: "Amsterdam is a city."

NYer: [Indignantly] "No it's not!" [Walks away]

Assuming you can deduce where I'm from just by reading my message shows more prejudice than I ever put forward to begin with.

 

[pmcg76]

Truthfully I think that day is possibly over if a charismatic star comes through. David Beckham is the hearthrob of every Oprah fan and that's how it probably will begin. Hard core fans have already moved on from that narrow mindset due to the positive influence of more broadcast availability and the internet. The rest want a star just like every casual observer.

That's not just an American attitude.

Unfortunately, Beckham is not exactly unlike Armstrong, he is more famous because of all the PR, his non-football related lifestyle, married to a celeb, constantly changing hairstyle etc and because of this he is far more widely known than many more talented footballers and when it comes to things like 'the greatest polls' he always features even though he was no more than a good footballer. He is nowhere near the same talent class as Zidane, Figo, Messi, Rooney, Kaka, Ronaldinho all modern greats but he is way more famous.

Of course that is why he was chosen to sell US soccer and he screwed them over royally by going back to Europe at every chance and now he is crocked, all that cash and so little return. If there is one athlete I dislike as much as Armstrong, its Beckham but at least Lance had more talent and was more successful. I guess I just dont like sportspeople who get by on their carefully crafted PR myths and spin.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I should try to learn Flemish too even though we get decent coverage here in Denmark of the bigger races at least, but i wouldn't mind understanding the commentators for the smaller races. I'll have a go at this, although seeing it in text is much easier than to hear it as I learned German in school many years ago and there are similarities.

Learn a new word every day...if possible, make sure to practice talking it every day.
Bike messenger eh?
What city?

german and dutch look alike in text but sound much different. good luck though