Velochimp

I could also title this entry as No Respect I Tell Ya.

The Tour of California TV coverage….what can I say…no respect.

Tonight as the images of Levi Leipheimer storming up to Coit Tower make their way onto TVs of insomiancs everywhere, I will be tucked into my bed snoozing away as my DVR hums along recording the action. As I write this report ESPN2 is showing some Poker tournament. It probably gets better ratings than the Tour of California would get in the same time slot…I woud think.

I am still surprised that folks watch poker being played on TV and so many channels have glommed on to the wave of popularity. With the oversaturation of Poker on just about every channel I would expect that the popularity of the showings to be waining. Apparently, that isn’t the case, who would have thunk it?
I would totally understand if ESPN2 was showing College Basketball. I actually love College BB, but not so much this year as my Syracuse Orange is a bit sour.

The NBA is on All-Star break, the NHL on Olympics break and the Olympics being the sole domain of NBC there could be room for cycling somewhere. ESPN 2 answered the call for cycling coverage, but forgive me if my thank you note is not in the mail yet. It has been 10 hours since the end of the prologue and I have yet to see any coverage.

You would think ESPN in their large empire of sports programming would at least find a time slot that would not require DVRs, TiVos or a bad case of insomnia. How is this event going to inspire a young kids who is no good at “Ball Sports” to find that cycling does exist beyond Lance Armstrong and the Tour De France. Heck, can’t Ahhhnold the Gov of Kalifornia use his entertainment connections to encourage ESPN2 to show the race at a decent hour for those on the east coast?

With coverage like this, why even bother to watch. ESPN2 should give the rights to cycling.tv and allow us to watch it live on the web. Please ESPN2, stop covering cycling. With coverage like this it would be better that you do not cover the race at all.