Professional Cycling For the Fans - Hack article slights Armstrong

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/col_imrem.asp?intID=38194111

Prepare to be floored by this article (http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/col_imrem.asp?intID=38194111) in which the author postulates that Ricky Williams or any other NFL running back is a better athlete than Lance Armstrong.

My guess is this fella just threw the two compelling sports stories of the weekend, Lance Armstrong's TdF win and Ricky Williams sudden retirement, in a blender and came up with this. Sadly, this kind of tripe gets everybody's attention, and sadder still, people probably believe this and don't appreciate cycling.

I'll just be content with myself for knowing better.

What a total tool. Now I have another reason for telling those morons at the Herald why I don't want their pathetic little newspaper. I drive past the Herald offices on my way to/from work. I should stop in ... :mad:

Oh... yet another article trying to belittle Lance and cycling. Is it me or are these coming out with more frequency nowadays? I wonder if the stick and ball sportsfans somehow feel threatened.

What an a**hole. That dope has no business writing columns for a newspaper. Just ignorant.

I read through Mike's article and decided to have a little peak into his past and see what he was all about. One of the first hits I came accross was this one by a devoted fan of the Chicago Fire soccer club. If you want to read the post, here's the link: October 8th (http://www.october8th.com/kindling02-01.php)

If you don't want to read the post, let me cut to the chase with a couple excerpts regarding Mike's slams and the author's response:

I'm losing my soccer fan hypersensitivity.
Don't get me wrong, it's still there. I still lose patience with ignorant putzes like the Daily Herald's Mike Imrem.

What effect could a soccer-bashing mediocre writer have on my attitude? Well, it all started a year ago.
Mr. Imrem wrote a column about how ridiculous it was that he received a copy of the MLS Media Guide. Without realizing that he was not, in fact, in Don Garber's PDA address list under "Important Sports Writer," Imrem complained about all things soccer.

Now, this is where the second catalyst in my attitude adjustment comes in. I watched the horror and disgust as soccer fan after soccer fan posted on bigsoccer.com what they had written in response to Imrem's column.
"You are so ignorant!" they howled. "You don't know nothing about soccer, your not even a good righter!"
I admit it. Aside from the double negative, the comma splice, and the spelling errors, I was one of you! I don't remember what I called him, but it wasn't pretty. Last year, a hundred soccer fans from around the country wrote him. DC United fans, Burn fans, and Galaxy fans all joined together for the sole purpose of ripping him "a new one."

This year, he wrote a very similar column after receiving another media guide. No, Mike, they still don't know who you are. He even acknowledged the fact that he received a plethora of hate mail from soccer advocates. Fans wrote him again this time. One fan wanted to know "why the Daily Herald would solicit such trite." Another hoped that this "wasn't the calibur of of soccer bashing we should expect from the American sports media in the future."

Is this the caliber of soccer basher bashing we can expect from fans in the future? I hope not. In any case, I wrote him too. This time, however, I thought I'd be more personally productive. I asked him if, since he resented receiving it, I could have his media guide.

He replied, "sorry, i'm saving it a souvenir. it is one of the better league guides i receive."
So, finally, I get it. In response to one person's lamentation, Imrem wrote, "you blew my cover with 'rhetorical narcissistic self gratification. that was my motive precisely.'" He was telling the truth.

Soccer lovers are fun to mess with. We're so sensitive. We must be the whiniest, easily manipulated bunch of pansies in the world of sports, and I plan to continue my ascension to a nice, warm place above all that.

...and concluded with:

So the next time some putz degrades our beloved sport, move on. Don't give him (or her) the satisfaction or the traffic.

You know what? And this is my quote: Cycling lovers are fun to mess with. We're so sensitive. We must be the whiniest, easily manipulated bunch of pansies in the world of sports, and I plan to continue my ascension to a nice, warm place above all that.

Mike's a putz. Soccer, like cycling, is a sport Mike neither grew up with nor has grown to love. I knew neither as a youth, but count myself as one of the lucky who has learned to love and enjoy the intricacies of both sports.

What a bozo! Even admits thata half hour on a stationary bike is his limit! The guy has a picture and he looks like a pasty dweeb. He admires running backs for their ability to take a hit, but his article demonstrates that he has taken too many hits himself--off his crack pipe!

Wayne Gretzky was skinny enough in his prime to win the Tour de France. Dennis Rodman could have if it wouldn't have bored him to death. Alex Rodriguez would have if there were more money in it.

Proves he has no concept of cycling.

It seems that his "article" revolves around the definition of the word "athlete" and his seems to be "one that can 'take a hit in the NFL' "

Silly, and pointless waste of print, no matter your viewpoint.

According to this guy if you can't take a hit from an NFL lineman you're not an athlete. Wow.

Y'all keep forgetting that these "stick n' ball" sports guys are playing to their audience. If you missed this article, you might want to take a minute to read through:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsbusiness/news/story?id=1833339

In essence, it cites a market research where less than 2% of Americans has an interest in the sport of cycling and notes it even trails behind American interest in Formula 1 racing @ 3% (count me as one of these - thank you SpeedChannel), Arena Football @ 4% (what the hell is that?), and Horse Racing also @ 4%.

So, is it any wonder that a stick and ball guy is going to reassure all the sports fans who grew up playing stick and ball games that yes, THEY ARE the REAL athletes? Heaven forbid that a human being with 3% body fat who rides a damn bicycle in spandex and who shaves their legs might, in fact, actually threaten their egos by doing something that only a select few human beings are capable of. Never mind how utterly insane it is to compare completely dissimilar sports where few of the elites from either sport could succeed in the other.... Hell, even Nike has lampooned this concept with a string of "What if" commercials last Summer (remember Lance as the boxer, Tiger as a ball player, Randy Johnson as a pro-bowler, Serena Williams as a gymnast.

These guys write this stuff (which I didn't even bother to read) to get a (over)reaction from over-sensitive enthusiasts of fringe sports. Cycling and soccer are their main targets but with this an Olympic year other sports will get ridiculed as well.

It's obvious to the point of inane that nobody in the NFL could do what LA (or even the Tour's Lanterne rouge does nor can LA do what any of the players in the NFL do. There is absolutely no similarity in the fields. However, some coloumnist states this in a condescending manner and people get fired up.

Ignoring it is the most effective thing you can do.

:beer:

This moron did what he set out to accomplish. He went against the grain and generated controversy which generates newspaper sales. It also generated a thread in this forum in which there have been a number of replies. Mission accomplished.

His article is misleading. The heading says Armstrong is not a "top athelete" while his article argues that he is not the "greatest athelete." I am not sure that Armstrong is the "greatest athelete", however he is definitely a top athelete.

A lot of it depends on your definition of the word athelete. Is Lance the strongest, fastest, most atheletic person in the world? No. Is he the toughest, strongest, most dedicated athelete in the world? YES

More importantly, he is a hero and a warrior. These other "atheletes" like Ricky Williams and Shaq and Kobe are babies. They were born with a lot of natural gifts. They have simply used those gifts and basically coasted through life.

Meanwhile Lance Armstrong has stared death in the face and seemingly not only defeated it, but laughed in it's face. He had testicular, lung and brain cancer. He had brain surgery. I wonder if the loser that wrote the article knows what kind of pain is involved in that? I wonder if he knows what kind of pain is involved in riding a bike 2,000 miles at a super human pace entails?

No, he doesn't. He likely has never suffered at all. You would likely find him in McDonalds getting his exercise. That does not qualify you to speak on such things as this writer did. He has no idea what he is talking about yet he gets to write and likely many believe it.

I ride my bike a lot yet i have never ridden the tour de france. I also have never had any form of cancer nor had my brain cut on. I also don't know who is the world's greatest "athelete", yet i know the world's greatest warrior in the field of sports. His name is Lance Armstrong.

Sure, I agree he's playing to his audience. Hell, I love baseball more than anything. I love basketball as long as its collegiate, and I now believe that the NFL season is the best among the major sports.

What bothers me, is that this tongue-in-cheek column does *real* damage to a populus in need of better fitness, more efficient modes of transportation, and in general, a little more humility. Sheesh, I'm a Republican for crying out loud, and I hold these truths to be self evident. :)

That's the beauty of cycling as compared to the stick-and-ball stuff. How many adults do you know play baseball? Softball, even. Full contact football? Flag football? Play in basketball leagues? I would guess a number that is closer to zero than it is most.

Yet anyone can get a bike and with time, greatly improve his or her fitness. Even if you're not on Lance's level, if you can ride a century, hold 20-25mph for an appreciable amount of time, or climb a hill that makes cars down shift to hold their speed, then YOU are the real athlete and you have my complete admiration.

I guess I'm getting older (31), but I just don't identify with what most sportshacks consider to be an athlete. Most folks I know weren't dipped in the river of Supergenetics and have immortal abilities. They have to earn everything. What it is that I'm supposed to admire in an NFL tailback, NBA shooting guard, or MLB cleanup hitter is lost on me. Somewhat because I don't play those sports any more, but mostly because I can mount a bike and see what a 6-8% climb can take out of me.

Yet anyone can get a bike and with time, greatly improve his or her fitness. Even if you're not on Lance's level, if you can ride a century, hold 20-25mph for an appreciable amount of time, or climb a hill that makes cars down shift to hold their speed, then YOU are the real athlete and you have my complete admiration.

Well, see that's the problem with cycling as an accepted sport in the US. Most people equate true acts of athleticism to something so totally out of this world that they don't rate cycling up there because they think that maybe they can do it themselves. This is because baseball, football, basketball games are so polished and produced looking, it's like watching a video game or a movie with really good special effects. It no longer seems real and the sportsfans revel in that. They want to see something unreal. Unfortunately, cycling as a competition sport is a lot about subtlety and many people have neither the patience nor the will to engage and entertain themselves in that. Cycling is a lifestyle sport that promotes involvement... stick and ball sports are generally speaking entertainment sports that promote watching. Most people would rather go for the short-lived instant entertainment that they can watch rather then be involved in a certain lifestyle.

Da$% it!!! I already wrote him a letter. I have been duped. I thanked him for his article and for raising the bar on ignorance about cycling in the American sports reporting world. I thanked him for supplanting Max Kellerman as the most misinformed journalist in America. I told him he wasn't even comparing apples and oranges, he was comparing apples and monkeys. I also suggested that L.A. and Ricky probably both had tremendous respect for one another and so we should just respect each achievement for what it was. But I'm sure it was all feeding him just what he craved. Crap, I'm so weak.

Look at that ****ing dorks headshot. No brain,you can tell by the sucked in appearance of the ears. Lets see a pro football player go all four quarters six out of seven days a week, for three weeks. It would never happen. They get a bad case of turf toe and a tractor comes out to stretcher them off the field. *******. A Pro cyclist will run off a cliff, fall sixty feet into a tree, climb down, climb a hundred fifty feet back up the cliffside, get on another bike and take off again. Only things that come close, Australian rules and Hurley.

Well said, khuon. Very well said.

what a f**king a**hole.......wow, he knows NOTHING about cycling and what it does to a human body.....he sucks, just plain sucks

What a pud. If you want to talk about athletes, don't talk to this guy. Look at his picture this guy is NO athlete.

Will cancel my subscription tomorrow.

The guy is a dork. Look at his picture. Your typical nerd that worships the "ball and stick" athletes that he wished he was.

I would like to see Ricky Williams survive a mountain decent at 60mph. I would not be surprised to see him dead in a ditch.

Comparing the Tour de France to a long casual bike ride is like comparing the NFL to playing catch in the park. 30 minutes on a stationary bike is more pathetic than playing catch with your grandmother.

Prepare to be floored by this article (http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/col_imrem.asp?intID=38194111) in which the author postulates that Ricky Williams or any other NFL running back is a better athlete than Lance Armstrong.

My guess is this fella just threw the two compelling sports stories of the weekend, Lance Armstrong's TdF win and Ricky Williams sudden retirement, in a blender and came up with this. Sadly, this kind of tripe gets everybody's attention, and sadder still, people probably believe this and don't appreciate cycling.

I'll just be content with myself for knowing better.


Well, I read that and I got mad. So I emailed the a-hole: mimrem@dailyherald.com


Let's all let him know what a big *** he is.

This moron said Lance Armstrong is not an athlete because he's never been tackled in an NFL game. I don't remember Muhammad Ali ever taking a hit in the NFL, does that mean Muhammad Ali wasn't an athlete either?

What a pud. If you want to talk about athletes, don't talk to this guy. Look at his picture this guy is NO athlete.

Will cancel my subscription tomorrow.


I hope you write them a letter telling them WHY you are unsubscribing too.

what a moron.

maybee osmone should direct him to the sports illistrated article where Armstrong was rated athelte of the year and they put all these other athletes up gainst him. IIRC the only one that came close was the basketballer.

speaking of basketball, Dennis Rodman on a bike? how much crack has this guy smoked. If its so easy. lets see him get his puny little monkey butt out there and do the miles to prove it.

Well, see that's the problem with cycling as an accepted sport in the US. Most people equate true acts of athleticism to something so totally out of this world that they don't rate cycling up there because they think that maybe they can do it themselves.

Same thing with golf. I cannot tell you how many guys I know with 4 or less handicaps who are in their mid-40's think they can make it on the Champions Tour.

Who is this guy? The Daily Herald, eh?? Bet it was picked up by ALL the nationals...

Maybe when this guy grows up, he can get a job at the Trib or the Sun Times.

What cracked me up is that while both are great athletes, their sports require totally different body makeups from the standpoint of muscle makeup and endurance. I wonder what William's resting heart rate is, his VO2 max, and his lung capacity? But Lance cannot bench press 250+ pounds.

BTW, if his standard is getting hit by an NFL lineman, does this rule out Sammy Sosa?

Even one from the Bears. ;)

Emailing the guy and calling him an a$$hole or a *** does nothing except tell him his article was successful. Doesn't make you look too smart either. Telling him the comparison is totally invalid is legit but he won't care. Soon he'll have another column in which he details all the vitriol he received and, to keep everyone fired up, he'll include excerpts from someone who agrees with him.

This stuff happens every July, ignore it.

FWIW a poll taken by athletes themselves ranked LA pretty highly. I think LA put Jordan up as #1 but again there's not much comparison. Jordan doesn't win any TTs and I doubt LA would score in an NBA game.

:beer:

Look at that ****ing dorks headshot. No brain,you can tell by the sucked in appearance of the ears. Lets see a pro football player go all four quarters six out of seven days a week, for three weeks. It would never happen. They get a bad case of turf toe and a tractor comes out to stretcher them off the field. *******. A Pro cyclist will run off a cliff, fall sixty feet into a tree, climb down, climb a hundred fifty feet back up the cliffside, get on another bike and take off again. Only things that come close, Australian rules and Hurley.

Damn where to begin.
This guy has no business writing about sports...all these athletes he named who "could have won"
the tour....(head shaking)
Is there anywhere to complain? LOL

Here is what I am cleaning up to send in:

Imrem's argument is unfounded due to its basis: the popularity of a sport versus true athletic ability. If you look closely, it is a reversed Argumentum ad Hominem. The writer's main attack is against Lance's true abilities as an athlete and that the sport in which he participates is far from the what Imrem sees as a true sport: US Football. I would have to question what Mike Imrem thinks is the true definition of "athlete" vs. what it really is. The closing line tells a great deal about Imrem's lack of interest in anything not football in this article:

"he won't be the athlete he was as an NFL running back".

Of course not. Different sports demand different skill sets and abilities. That is painfully obvious, yet easily missed by Imrem's lack of knowledge of the true definition of athlete:

Main Entry: ath·lete
Pronunciation: 'ath-"lEt, ÷'a-th&-"lEt
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin athleta, from Greek athlEtEs, from athlein to contend for a prize, from athlon prize, contest
: a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina
(from www.m-w.com)

Nowhere in this definition is it stated that one sport has a higher level of prestige than another. I am not sure why this was even written, unless Imrem just wants some attention. It is a highly uneducated and short-sighted stance.

It's amazing the things people can earn money doing these days. Here we have a man with no obvious talent or intelligence apparently earning a living 'writing' for a large city newspaper. America truly is the land of opportunity.

It's amazing the things people can earn money doing these days. Here we have a man with no obvious talent or intelligence apparently earning a living 'writing' for a large city newspaper. America truly is the land of opportunity.


Another opportunity to bash America?
Of course every other newspaper writer in every other country is better than this guy <yawn>

I hope you write them a letter telling them WHY you are unsubscribing too.




Will tell them I am cancelling my paper for one reason and one reason only....the article from Mike Imrem.

It may not be much but their company will lose my money, because of the actions, of one of their employees..Mike Imrem.

ONE word totally blows any of the atheletes he named out of the water....STAMINA. Sure a football player has strength and muscle, BUT does he have endurance, can he BIKE up a five grade w/o stopping for a breather, AND fight off other cyclists NO WAY, JUST WONT HAPPEN.

If he posted his garbage he would be called a troll.
Just because some editors decided to print it, it no different.
He is a troll.
Please don't feed the trolls!!

These articles have become an annual rite. Not really worth anything more than a chuckle. He's not advocating violence against cyclists, so don't sweat it. Thicker skin is a good defence against tripe like this, and it makes falling less traumatic, to boot.

Here is one in support.


http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/0726p2main0726.html

Calling this "writer" a hack is doing a great disservice to the legitimate hacks in the industry! :)

ONE word totally blows any of the atheletes he named out of the water....STAMINA. Sure a football player has strength and muscle, BUT does he have endurance, can he BIKE up a five grade w/o stopping for a breather, AND fight off other cyclists NO WAY, JUST WONT HAPPEN.


"Wayne Gretzky was skinny enough in his prime to win"

talk about clueless

god damn ignorant bastard.

they do seem to crawl out of the woodwork every July... I'd liek to see any of these guys even try to ride 25 miles at half the speed the pros are averaging ! It jsut wouldn't happen.


jeff

I thought I'd send Mike an email, here's a copy:

Hello Mike,

How are you doing today? Me? I just came back from a long trip in Colorado where I cycled through the Rocky Mountains. We rode 3 mountain passes a day, burned 5000 calories per, total of 80 miles each day. We did it for a number of days in a row, man, it was fun. A highlight of the trip was Loveland Pass. Have you been to Colorado? Maybe you know Loveland Pass. It's elevation is just about 12,000 feet with switchbacks that'll raise a hair and tighten a scrotum. Although no professional, I'm reasonably sound on a bicycle and did my best to hammer up those hills. I'm proud to say only one guy caught me and he was a local.

Meatheads in Chicago don't know much about cycling, don't care much either. Ask Mike North, he'll tell you the same. They're inept at comprehending the sport so they try comparing it to football in order to organize it better in their heads. Some are even lucky enough to have their opinions seen in print. It's a nice gig actually because there aren't many cycling fans to call them on it.

And *****, I'm calling you out. If Ricky Williams rode a bicycle as much as I did, I'd still beat him up the mountain, Newton on my side if you catch my drift. Don't know Williams personally, but it's a reasonable guess to say he doesn't have the discipline of an Armstrong and couldn't follow his training regime. Football players are lucky, they're on the field for what? 20 minutes, then sit out another 20. Have you ever done anything where you're at your max heart rate for over an hour? Neither has Ricky Williams. (You can fill in John Elway's name here if you like, and I love John Elway). Armstrong can't take a hit? Did you see the time trail up Alpe D'Huez? No, that's right, you probably didn't. Well, there were a million people on that course taunting, spitting, and slapping Armstrong as he forged ahead to win the stage, won the Tour that day to, if you ask me. No, it's not the Monsters of the Midway but even Ricky Williams would struggle with that one, after twenty minutes he'd want a drink of Gatorade, retie his Nikes and call his agent.

Did you hear the statistic that's floating around. Racing the Tour de France is equal with running 8 Boston Marathon's in succession. There's not on NFL football player alive that has the discipline to train enough to compete, to train enough to drag his fatassed, muscled skeletons through France for three weeks. Not a chance, Home Slice.

I don't care if you don't think much of Armstrong. Keep your football close, have another sausage. For me, Armstrong helps keep me on the bike, keeps my body fat at 11.2%, keeps my cholesterol below normal, gives me a resting heart rate of 55. I'm out on my bike while you're at the drive through at Krispy Kreme, better loosen that belt.

In conclusion, if I ever see your fat ass in the Loop, behind the wheel of your Impala, I'm gonna take out my U Lock and whack your hood three times: once for me, once for Lance, and once for every one celebrating life on their bicycles,

later, *****


--Mayonnaise

I thought I'd send Mike an email, here's a copy:

Hello Mike,
--Mayonnaise


Mayo...

You are my freakin' HERO ! Some of the best writing I've ever read from you !

Please tell me you actually sent that to him !

jeff

They guy is an idiot. He just wrote this for the controversy.. Seems like the thing to do these days with reporters. If their not hated, their not good. He just had Bill O'Reilly envy.. This guy is just another Moron with a pen..

I acutally sent that to him, and I mean every word.

Weezer's Only In Dreams was playing full blast as I hit send

They guy is an idiot. He just wrote this for the controversy.. Seems like the thing to do these days with reporters. If their not hated, their not good. He just had Bill O'Reilly envy.. This guy is just another Moron with a pen..

This is true...try filling up 3 hours a day like Rush Limburger does with out getting people riled up. It's called entertainment I guess, either that or you're boring, so they troll

D**K don't know sports.
To compare:
U.S Postal is a team, team sports\ football.
Armstrong would be IMO the quarterback, always the skinny.
Linebackers protect the guy, he delivers in the end.

They guy crossing the line wins for the team. Armstrong coasted.

Won 1 km from the line, Haaha...lets see a football hero pull that kinda win.

I HATE hero junk. I do regard Lance Armstrong as one of the greater athletes of the old and new century.

No big deal, I think Bono working for world AIDS awareness is more important.

Lance rules...for now, some kid is peddling fast thinking he will do 7 in a row.. And will.

Someday. ......Or maybe never. Doesn't matter, it's an achievement for all athletes to marvel at.

Go ask a pro baller, he'd say Lance is a MONSTER athlete, regarless of size.

Ever watch UFC?

I love the "meatheads in Chicago" part.

This is the "Since I Don't Understand This It Must Be Stupid" annual article.

The Herald makes me laugh. A nuke could go off in Bombay, and the Herald would run a front piece about how Doris McGinnley's cat got hit by a 16-year-old in a chevy pickup.

I think Mayo should write for the Herald to increase it's rep. Hell, I'd even subscribe! "Home Slice" ... I'm going to have to use that!

:beer: for Mayo!

LOL Mayo. That was great!!

It's not just america, we have plenty of talentless morons who work in media here in canada.

Yet another dork who thinks you have to be a huge hulk to be an athlete.ANd of course, cycling isn't physical. It's not like they ever hurt themselves or anything!

Without even bothering to read the article, would I be correct in stating this is another of those "Lance is not an athlete" type columns? Gee, either I'm a genius or that was entirely predictable.

So this guy thinks Ricky quit because of the hits? Hmmm, this tells a slightly different story...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=577&e=1&u=/nm/20040729/sp_nm/nfl_williams_dc

So this guy thinks Ricky quit because of the hits? Hmmm, this tells a slightly different story...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=577&e=1&u=/nm/20040729/sp_nm/nfl_williams_dc

Old, fat, poor and giving us the dope, the skinny, the inside story. Hmmmmmm.....Thanks Dek.