Jeez, what is up with all the Vino’ press lately? The guy has an interview in L’Equipe and gets coverage like he’d cracked the Zodiac case or something. But sure, it’s newsworthy that TdF contenders have a sparse early season schedule [pause] NOT! It’s about as newsworthy as a story on a TdF contender fine-tuning his time-trial position in a wind tunnel…oh wait. <sarcasm>Well, it’s just good to know I can always count on my friends in Boulder for a worthwhile story.</sarcasm>
No, you’ve got to dig a little deeper for meaningful previews. Pez covers the glossy historical angles, there’s a comprehensive rundown of favorites over at the Cafe, while ProCycling, no doubt stinging from yesterday’s diatribe (probably could have put </sarcasm> around that last bit), has a complilation of quotes. It would be nice to see Leon Van Bon’s win at Nokere Koerse get as much coverage as the MSR previews, but Cyclingnews’ was fairly in-depth, so I guess I can’t complain.
Of course, for the real stories, you’ve got to dig even deeper. And I’m not talking about Unibet’s new Halloween kits for racing in The Hexagon. I’m talking about things like McEwen’s grey-area tactics (this isn’t his first offense, you know?), or the rampant abuse of socialism in Europe. I mean what the hell kind of a name is “Palma Velodrome”? It’s almost as pathetically uninformative as “Fenway Park”. “Ameriquest Field in Arlington”, “The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl”, “US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor” – that’s how you name your sports entities.