Professional Cycling - Best Male Athlete ESPY

So on ESPN.com they have a poll and it says "Would you consider Floyd Landis a top contender for the Best Male Athlete ESPY next year if he won the Tour de France?" and more than half of the people who have voted say no. WTF?!?! LA has won it, what - 4 years in a row now, for riding a boring TdF with a killer team (and on one testicle - fine I'll give him that), and here Floyd "The Menonite Menace" is riding on half a hip, completing one of - if not - the best stages in tour history. I don't understand america's obsession with Lance. I thought it was because he overcame adversity, was a champion, and was american. HELLO! Those same qualities apply to Floyd. What gives?

Well, considering how many races Lance won each year he got his ESPY for Male Athlete Of The Year, Floyd's year would look pretty impressive (IF....if.... if Floyd comes back to win the TdF, that is).

Tour of California
Paris-Nice
Tour de Georgia
(maybe the TdF)

How many stage races did Lance win in the years he snagged the ESPY's? I can think of the 2004 TdG, but not many more (they may be there, I don't know).... Oh yeah, he snagged Sheryl Crow and became a MASSIVE public figure beyond cycling.... that counts for something in the image-conscious world of glad-handing award shows....

Floyd doesn't need an ESPY.

Who needs an ESPY when you have one of the biggest comebacks in Tour history. ESPY's are for pre-chosen crowd favorites.

I'd put him up there, but I'd put up LeBron James and Dwyane Wade too. Then I'd really have to think long and hard... then vote for Floyd! :D ;)

Koffee

The thing i love about Landis is his modesty and humility.

Marketing.

Lance was unknown to the masses till after a few years of winning and a large marketing campaign. Mainy still have zero clue who he is.

I shudder to think of the packaging Nike would do after they give Landis a contract upon winning the TdF.

I can't imagine Landis taking a contract with Nike. I see him more as a Converse or Addidas guy. I betcha he shuns Nike for a different shoe company.

Koffee

Floyd wears Specialized cycling shoes.

I'd put him up there, but I'd put up LeBron James and Dwyane Wade too. Then I'd really have to think long and hard... then vote for Floyd! :D ;)

Koffee

I would respond to your nomination of Wade, but I'm pretty sure I'd get called for fouling him if I did. :rolleyes:

If Lance won for best male athlete for 2005, it would just make sense for floyd to win in 2006. The problem is that after giving it to Lance so often, I don't think the public wants to give it to another cyclist, especially someone that they don't know.

What did Lance do in 2005? He won the hardest bike stage race in the world, and he did it conservatively.
What did Landis do in 2006? He won Paris-Nice, the two biggest bike races on the continental United States, and he won the hardest bike stage race in the world.

I would respond to your nomination of Wade, but I'm pretty sure I'd get called for fouling him if I did. :rolleyes:

+1

The ESPY's are an award for having a popular, well known, public persona while being an athlete, IMHO. I don't think Landis will think about it to much. Then again, I've never met him, so...

boog