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The Cycling.TV Drinking Game

Posted on 23 April 2006 by cosmo

Not sure how many of you will find this useful, but here goes: alcohol has long been used to augment classics of cinema, and I have here attempted to carry that spirit over into the classics of cycling. I know that most of Cycling.TV‘s races air between 7 and 9am EDT, but that’s what they invented Bloody Marys and Mimosas for, right? I think the real issue may be that college students, who seem to find the most use for such boozy diversions, are either asleep or racing on early Sunday when the races are run. I suppose you could do it to their on-demand race highlights, but where’s the fun in that? Anyway, this should make tomorrow’s Liege a blast, no matter how conservatively it’s raced.

The game goes like this: all players drink on each of the prompts listed below. A drink is defined as anywhere from a tender sip to a hearty swig of the player’s beverage of choice, at the player’s discretion, based on his or her target level of intoxication and plans for the rest of the day. Game ends when the race does; if all goes well, everyone’s a winner.

Drink every time the streaming video jumps, stalls, or is interrupted; drink twice if you have to reset it.

Drink once for every one of your friends who will have to wait 10 hours to watch the tape delay on OLN.

Drink every time Anthony asks an easy question just to make Brian talk some more (you’ll have to exercise your own judgement on this one).

Drink every time Brian criticizes a rider for wasting too much energy; drink twice if the rider is Paolo Bettini.

Drink every time Anthony talks about how nice the pictures are.

Drink every time Anthony talks about how they can’t be blamed for bad camera work.

Drink every time Anthony uses the phrase “come to grief”, “spent force” or “armchair ride”, describes a hill’s grade as a ratio (instead of a percent), makes an “Ooooffff” noise, or refers to a team as “The [insert team name]” (e.g. “The Liquigas”, “The Quick.Step”, etc)

Drink every time Brian makes a cell phone call to Sean Yates, Scott Sunderland, or any of his other contacts in the team car; drink twice if they can’t get though.

Drink if Anthony’s or Brian’s pick wins; finish your drink if Anthony lies and claims to have picked the winner after the race ends.

Drink every time Brian looks bored when he’s in the studio.

Drink every time English profanity or crudely-rendered genitals are scrawled across the road.

Drink every time a rider who was previously described as “looking strong” gets dropped.

Drink every time an email message is read on-air.

Drink every time a commercial break is less than 30 seconds long.

Drink every time Brian agrees (with anything).

Drink every time a player mentions Phil Ligget or Paul Sherwen; drink twice if they mention Bob Roll (abuse of this rule is considered poor form).

Drink every time Anthony hopefully suggests that a rider he can’t identify is British or American; drink twice if the rider actually is British or American.

Drink every time Anthony encourages viewers to buy the Premium service.

Drink every time Anthony expresses hope that a late-race move will stay clear; drink twice if Brian believes the winner will instead come from the second group.

Drink every time the controls are unavailable (as far as I can tell, they are always unavailable – just click them if you’re feeling thirsty).

Drink every time a post-race interview is conducted in English; drink twice if it involves profanity.

thoughts on “The Cycling.TV Drinking Game”

  1. Anonymous says:
    23 April 2006 at 7:22 am

    Sounds like a fun game!! I think i might play it.

    Does anyone agree with me that Anthony is probably one of the most uninspiring sports commentators that they have ever heard? He just gets on my nerves, he cant even properly describe the race e.g. “oh look its a quick-step attacking off the front of the peloton” when actually its a rabo-bank!! Also he needs more enthusiasm, my annoyance with him and his buddy has gotten so bad that i now turn off the sound and watch the pictures!!

    Reply
  2. Chris says:
    23 April 2006 at 9:41 am

    Drink every time Anthony hopes you are enjoying the coverage.

    Drink every time Chris Horner is spotted, mentioned, wished upon, praised, hoped for, or otherwise recognized.

    Drink every time a foreign pronunciation is mangled.

    Drink every time an upcoming race is mentioned.

    Drink every time the kilometer-to-go total is mentioned.

    Reply
  3. liz says:
    23 April 2006 at 11:15 am

    Hysterically funny Cosmo.

    This am Anthony gave a promo for the premium service at 1KM
    to go….”Pour orange juice over your head – careful of the keyboard- everytime Anthony promos the premium service at the 1 KM to
    go banner”

    Reply
  4. chris says:
    24 April 2006 at 6:21 pm

    Can this be done with espresso?

    Reply
  5. Anthony - Cycling.tv says:
    28 April 2006 at 5:34 am

    Hello, we are playing this drinking game at Cycling.tv after races, excellent idea!!

    However, you forgot….

    ‘sting in the tail’ and ‘churning a massive gear’ as double drinks and

    Brian saying ‘as I said’ which is a triple.

    I wouldn’t recommend orange juice over the head though. Glad you are enjoying cycling.tv, even if it needs alcohol to deal with the commentary!!

    Reply
  6. David says:
    6 April 2007 at 11:44 am

    Drink every time Anthony says “fantastic”
    Drink every time Anthony says “absolutely flying”
    Drink every time Brian speaks in a monotone
    Drink every time Brian speaks in run-on sentences
    Drink every time Anthony mentions Cervelo bikes

    With these few rules alone you would be wasted beyond belief!

    Reply
  7. Anonymous says:
    4 April 2011 at 4:01 pm

    Post subscribed – excellent blog post.

    Reply

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About the Author

a headshot of Cosmo Catalano

Best known for his How The Race Was Won® video series, Cosmo Catalano began blogging about pro cycling from a bike shop in 2005. Between then and now, he's designed cycling infographics, built cycling web apps, and supplied cycling content to print and broadcast media, all in the name of backing up his near-endless criticism with proof that it can be done better. He complains about cycling on Twitter at @Cyclocosm.

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