12/22/24
July 23, 2003
There may no longer be any gentlemen in NASCAR racing, but there are plenty in the Tour de France.
I also recall in football (soccer is a dumb name) when Iran and Holland (I think) played a match where one Iranian player mistook a whilstle in the stands in extra time of the first half as the end of the half - and picked the ball up. The ref had no choice but to call it a penatly shot becuase the player was in the box at the time. The Dutch conversed, then walked up to the penalty kick and promptly kicked the ball to the sideline - not taling advantage of the Iranian's misfortune. Holland lost the game 1-0. I really like that.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 04:27 PM on July 23, 2003
"This is NASCAR, not NICE-CAR" heh. I'm not a NASCAR fan so I don't know how often that bon mot gets used but it sure sounds good using my mental good ol' boy voice.
posted by gspm at 04:28 PM on July 23, 2003
Heh. Actually I bet 'Nice Car' gets said a lot at NASCAR events. I bet 'Sweet ride, homie' doesn't get said a lot, though.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 04:40 PM on July 23, 2003
There are dozens of different articles right now breathlessly proclaiming cycling as the sport to save sportsmanship and civility. I can only speak from personal experience (a few years working as a bicycle mechanic), but most road cyclists I've met are opposite the model citizens being portrayed in the media. Plus, there has been a lot of bad conduct totally ignored: David Millar and his team manager pointing fingers after his prologue chain mishap, the Euskaltel riders sprinting past Jan Ullrich after he dragged them up Luz-Ardiden without their help, Richard Virenque "line scabbing" for points, etc, etc.
posted by dusted at 04:53 PM on July 23, 2003
NASCAR and NICE-CAR sound the same in my mental good ole boy voice.
posted by mbd1 at 04:57 PM on July 23, 2003
Plus, there has been a lot of bad conduct totally ignored: David Millar and his team manager pointing fingers after his prologue chain mishap, the Euskaltel riders sprinting past Jan Ullrich after he dragged them up Luz-Ardiden without their help, Richard Virenque "line scabbing" for points, etc, etc. In order: Millar's gripe was mechanical, which makes it a bit less subject to the rules of the road. the Euskatel thing is part and parcel of racing, alas, and riders are left with the choice of not pushing on to force others to make the pace, or riding at the front knowing that you'll lose the sprint. Those sorts of tactics even themselves out over the course of a tour or a season. Virenque... well, he's just a fucker. And yeah, it's too hard a sport to be a 'gentleman's game' (I remember reading about how Hinault used to barrack the peloton during his glory years) but there are enough unwritten rules to make sure that there are rarely acts of bad behaviour that go unavenged.
posted by etagloh at 05:17 PM on July 23, 2003
Armstrong was a bit graceless regarding the chivalry of Ullrich, reminding everyone that he had behaved ina similar fashion previously, so he wouldn't have expected any less from Ullrich. He was also a bit insensitive about Beloki, plus he sped away like shit off a shovel when Beloki fell, not worrying about how bad his injury was. The fucker.
posted by Fat Buddha at 05:24 PM on July 23, 2003
Shit off a shovel?
posted by wfrazerjr at 06:32 PM on July 23, 2003
I remember how amazed I was after Fabio Casartelli's death during the 1995 Tour, when the riders gave the entirety of the next day's stage to his Motorola team (which gave the day's prize-winnings to his family, as I recall). Every rider and every team sacrificing their chances for glory on what might otherwise have been a pivotal mountain stage -- I'd never seen anything like it. I don't know what that is -- sportsmanship, chivalry, what -- but it seemed to go unquestioned: There's something more important than a bike race, even the greatest one in the world. Armstrong was a bit graceless regarding the chivalry of Ullrich, reminding everyone that he had behaved ina similar fashion previously, so he wouldn't have expected any less from Ullrich. That seems fair to me, though -- it sounds like the proper context for Ullrich's choice to wait. He was doing what Armstrong, or any sportsmanlike cyclist, would have done had the situation been reversed. He was also a bit insensitive about Beloki, plus he sped away like shit off a shovel when Beloki fell, not worrying about how bad his injury was. The fucker. He had to have known Beloki was hurt. He was right there, saw it happen, knew just how fast they were going. But also, as I understand it, the etiquette isn't to stop everything in the event of a crash; it's not to take advantage of one. And Armstrong's impetus to keep going down that mountain wasn't to take advantage of Beloki, but to respond to Vinokourov's earlier attack. In general, though, it doesn't seem so much that cyclists do this because they want to be nice to each other. They're competitors through and through (and have to be, to endure what they do). Rather, these are just the accepted rules of their chosen sport. Ullrich, Armstrong, all of them -- they all want to win, they just want to do it a certain way. That doesn't make them nice guys; it just gives them a certain integrity.
posted by mattpfeff at 06:46 PM on July 23, 2003
I dunno, I guess it slides off really quick. Some football etiquette.
posted by squealy at 06:50 PM on July 23, 2003
Interesting article, squealy. If I were managing Arsenal, I'd let Sheffield score an uncontested equalizer, and then let the game continue competitively from that point on. Replaying the entire game seems a little much.
posted by mbd1 at 08:25 PM on July 23, 2003
They can be found all over the place. One of the more interesting books I've read recently is Simon Rae's It's Not Cricket, which is a fine expose of the myth that cricket is a recently-corrupted sport of gentlemen.
posted by rodgerd at 10:59 PM on July 23, 2003
I am not so sure Armstrong knew the extent of Beloki's injury, as he was off so quick. If he did know, I agree there is no point in waiting. Etiquette suggests though, that you wait until you know, and I am not sure Armstrong did that. Afterwards when he was asked if he felt bad for Beloki, he referred only to the way in which the fall had impacted on him. It is this ruthless selfishness that makes him so good I suppose, but I find it a bit, well, graceless. My point re Armstrongs comments on Ullrich is that he did not thank him or acknowledge the magnitude of the gesture, he again referred only to himself. But you are right matttpfeff, they are all ruthless sportsmen and when push comes to shove, they would happily send each other into orbit.
posted by Fat Buddha at 02:45 AM on July 24, 2003
Racing back to the yellow in NAPCAR is pretty scary, and I'm surprised it hasn't caused more disasters itself. But at least you know for sure what positions the cars should be in, unlike the farce that ended the 2002 Indy 500 where a yellow was supposedly in effect before anyone actually saw any yellow lights come on, making Paul Tracy's pass on Helio Castroneves invalid. Tracy most definitely should have won that race. One things for sure, there are no gentlemen in that racing 'leage' to be found.
posted by Space Coyote at 05:44 AM on July 24, 2003
Oh man, they have their Yates and their Kellys mixed up