Sunday 22 June 2008

The New York Times notices cycling, again! But maybe not in such a good way.

After the attention paid to the Christian Vande Velde article, the editors at the New York Times perhaps could not believe their good fortune, so for the Weekend Fashion & Style section, which has a lot more readers than the weekday version, they have turned to Lance Armstrong, with an article about the "2 Lances:" one being the Cancer Foundation Guy and the other being the Texas Playboy. Needless to say, CFG does not get as much attention as TP, who has recently become actress Kate Hudson's arm candy, apparently.

Has Big Tex moved from post-athletic celebrity to becoming the new Paris Hilton? As the only American cyclist who has brought near-universal notice, if not recognition, in the US to our obscure sport he retains our interest but he is reduced in stature by these kind of articles, as is the Times, which seems to be turning into People magazine.

Maybe we should think about Lance Armstrong the way we do about other sports figures: they were great in their day but they don't have much to contribute now. They have our money and should just go away so we can concentrate on Taylor Phinney, instead of a Rich Guy Who Dates A Lot of Similar-Looking Celebrity Blondes.

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