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I am trying to come to grips with understanding what the significance is of a whole countries media shutting down TV for that nation because a national tests positive.
That’s huge!
I can’t figure out if I agree with it at not, but what a club!
Thoughts?
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I think it is funny an entire country is in a snit because one of their riders tests positive. What is telling is they dont blame the rider, they blame the Tour officials.
I don’t agree with the German TV stations actions, contractual or not. I understand their desire to provide coverage of a clean race but they are essentially punishing the people that matter most here…the fans. If they want to punish anyone..punish T-Mob by cancelling any advertising they have associated with Le Tour. That’s going to bring down a shit load of pressure on the team (who’s fault this is I might add).
And they certainly have other German riders in the Tour to watch. I’m sure the friends and family of someone like say, Linus Gerdemann are really happy the coverage blanked.
I guess they are trying to put pressure on cyclists not to dope. But, at the same time, they’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
We certainly aren’t there yet in this county, the grand ‘ol US of A. Landis’s future looks bleak, his arbitration result is being held back to after the Tour finishes, Hamilton is fucked, etc, etc. And still we have coverage.
T-Mobile and the other teams get advertising via “TV time”. Being active in the race can get better exposure than the commercials. I don’t think they show commercials with the same neurotic frequency like they do here in the states.
I see their angle and I agree that it is huge.
I think that the actual reaction itself isn’t nearly as relevant as its magnitude. Nothing substantial was ever going to be done about doping in cycling until the sport’s filth became too putrid for capital to associate itself with. The media outlets that earn revenue from cycling coverage are arguably at the top of food chain so when they gag I think it sends a powerful message. I’ll be surprised if Tour coverage stays off German TV for the duration; I’ll also be surprised if this issue manages to sneak back into the closet.
wait… i watched some on TV today, and I have basic cable.
Where YOU getting your info, or did I miss something while leveling up my 17Lv undead warlock?
Pulling the plug is quite extreme. Hopefully they will get it back up for the fans befor the end but maybe this is the “slap in the face” that the sport needs. I think that the peleton is cleaning up though, seeing how there hasn’t been any superhero moves so far that we have become used to seeing in the past.
bp, roll 2d6 and save vs nerd omg lol!!11
Here in good old US of A, we can watch anything we want*
* excludes world opinion, government policy in action, things that upset clear channel execs and the religious right, etc, etc.
If everything you understand about Germany and Germans is based on Hogan’s Heroes, this will be confusing. The state controlled TV pulled the plug because they have no tolerance left. The Germans never understood why Ullrich was paid hundreds of thousands of Euros a month when he wasn’t winning races. Now they have an embarrassingly long list of cheating to deal with.
I as going to say ask bikepunk WTF is up
That kind of all or nothing mentality about not showing the Tour at all is inappropriate and extreme. Was it only on German National TV (Is that like Public TV or the BBC?) or any TV shown in Germany?
German Dogmatic Thinking evidently marches on.
I had an uncle who was German. He worked in an electroplating plant and stuck his erect penis into a vat with chrome in it. He was the first person to ever have his pumper-nickled.
OK. Its 11 am, and my sinuses are so throbbing, it makes my last hummer-erection look like it was made of cookie dough, but here goes.
I will watch a bit of the noon news and see if I can decipher enough of what happened to post here, or maybe in another post. Velonews and all them other sites will have better/more thorough/better translated coverage, but you don’t come here for that.
Last night there was some guy ranting and being interviewed (as we the case when Ullrich, then Zabel came clean…) and it was a “Why is the sport so doped” type of show. I’m sure they will have another and If I can get my sinutab-addled brain around anything for longer than 45 seconds, Ill let you guys know.
It IS still on Eurosport, which I have had at every place I have lived here in this fair city. I do expect it has something to do with backlash about getting paid only to find out all your guys are dopers.
We also pay for regular TV here. ARD and ZDF are two of the public channels that we pay for. Im not talking cable, I mean, you own a TV, you pay TV tax. No shit. The upside, minimal as it is is that you can get movies and other things on those channels with little or no commercials. That’s right. Imagine your local affiliate with 1/3 or so of the commercials you get now. Imagine that channel showing SHOWGIRLS with no interruptions AND all the tits intact. Imagine then showing Die Hard, with no blood. (Those last two are a German thing.)
Off to see what is up with it. Back later.