Sunday, February 25, 2007

BJM vs Versus

Yeah, I know nobody's reading this blog since Cyclocross season has ended (no doubt with good reason), but I gotta rant SOMEWHERE.

Versus (formerly OLN) is on my shit-list...why?

photo stolen from the BJM blog...

#1 - Ok, I was a little bummed that our local boy Ben Jacques-Maynes didn't get any facetime on TV for his 3rd place in the Prologue at the Tour of California. I mean come on, turn those freakin' cameras on when the race starts...duh.

#2 - The Stage One ruling to ignore the written rules of the tour and keep Levi in yellow (and BJM in third) may or may not have been prudent, but I don't think they even mentioned who would have been in yellow on Versus if they had stuck to the rules.

#3 - In my mind, the worst offense was a lack of any mention of BJM's stellar ride in the Solvang TT except for a cursory "oh hey look who's in 10th" by Phil Liggett as the credits began to roll. There, amongst a list of Europe's finest racers was one of Norcal's finest. Ben's teammate Zirbel did get some good coverage for holding the best time early on, but Ben's mug was not to be seen despite beating Zirbel's time and sitting high (3rd) on the leaderboard before the big guns started to roll. Also this ride was further proof that the Prologue was no fluke.

5 comments:

swiggco world said...

Hah, just when you though the whole world wasn't watching....well it isn,t , but I have to agree. BJM was really flyin' in this tour of Calif. but you would never know that unless you were at the race in person. I saw him go up the hill to Coit Tower.....he was smoother and faster than the whole field except for a flailing Jason Donald and mr. Levi "they re-wrote the rules for me and my team" Leipheimer. Granted, Levi is really fit but think of what Ben would do if he had a team like that . Cheers.

Dr. Xeno said...

Righton Funk Daddy! They did however mention the displacement of BJM as leader with the extended neutral zone ruling; at least once.

I am really buggered every time they show 'other notable riders' (or some such bs) and they'll show Tommy D sitting in 78th or 94th place at 10 days off the lead, but not a mention of where BJM is in the GC... dumb. Jason Donald gets an update, but BJM is ahead in GC and killed him at the TT. Perpetuates the myth that Disco are the one & only competitive US team and any US rider worth a shit would be on the squad. Go BJM. Go Funk Daddy... pilates is a start...

Dave Carr said...

C'mon Funke, bashing Versus/OLN is like the Daily Show picking on GW Bush, too easy a target. Since when did you expect good things?

On the plus side, Liggett did mention BJM's brush with yellow during Stage 2 coverage... and he even figured out the pronunciation.

--Carr

Greg said...

Funke,

Agreed but Phil Ligget did throw shim som props on Sunday's stage when BJM was in the break. Everytime I saw him and Tim J (he and Lynne are new Boulder-ites!) I cheered for the crossers amongst the peleton. Rad. Given his performance (and maybe Pate's...although that guy should have probably showed his class 3 or 4 years ago after his Espoire TT gold)) I'd say that BJM will be getting some calls from some noteable squads with some budget. He's absolutely sick year round.

funkdaddy said...

I agree, Ben got some great props on Sunday's stage while in the break.