On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 3:54 PM, Jerome & Elizabeth Moos
<jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Well, Indurain manged it after 5 TdF, and Lemond was at least not arrogant
> after 3. Hinault and Anquetil had pretty big egos, but as they were Fren
> ch, the French public was more inclined to tolerate them, and in the case o
> f Anquetil, he really wasn't that popular, most of the public hoping for Po
> ulidor to beat him. Merckx has as big an ego as Lance, but was/is more t
> actful in handling the press. Plus, Merckx can more easily be forgiven h
> is pride because his record is at least 10 times as impressive as Lance's.
> Eddy won 5 Tours and 5 Giros, a Vuelta or two, and every classic worth
> mention, some of them 5 times. Lance's only major victories other than t
> he TdF were one World Championship and one San Sebastian. Combined wit
> h 7 TdF, that is certainly an enviable record, but I think Lance's overall
> record wouldn't rank him in the top 10 all time, and probably not even in t
> he top 20. The American public may believe that the Tour de France is th
> e
> only bike race in the world, but the European fans know better. Lance w
> as perfectly logical and ruthlessly efficient in exploiting America's fixat
> ion on the TdF to become rich and influential in America. I don't blame
> him for it, but if he expects to be loved in Europe for his approach, he ex
> pects too much.
>
Jerry, I still can't figure out what is your criticism is of Lance. Haven't noticed an in-your-face attitude from him myself, either there or here. But maybe you know something I don't, or are more aware of attitude somehow. Haven't ever heard him rank himself among the greats of cycling (outside of the numerical fact of 7 tdf wins) and certainly not in the top ten of all time. Perhaps I missed his claim to Coppiness. And haven't heard him complain of not being loved by Europeans. Maybe he was premature in fretting about getting knocked off by fans, but that's not exactly asking to be loved. It sounds from your description of his ruthlessness in seeking riches and influence, that you in fact do hold it against him, but perhaps I'm misunderstanding you. But I defer to you if it's just a Texas thing, where one Texan has the right to knock down any other Texan who gets too big for his boots, or something like that. That's the case in lots of places.
Mitch Harris (In Ireland they have a saying that which ever head sticks up above the crowd gets cut off) Little Rock Canyon, Utah, USA