That being said it is obviously an incredibly hard sporting event and the life of the professional cyclist is far from easy but as the old champions of the sport sometimes noted, it was better than working in the factories, in the fields or down the mines! The professional cyclists of today are much better paid than their ancestors although unfortunately they are still far behind other European sports of similar followings on the pay scale.
The sport itself is as much to blame as anything. It is a badly run mess and of course continuing drug scandals only undermine it’s credibility with sponsors and fans alike. Even so it pains me to see these overpaid soccer (sorry, football!) prima donnas, primmed and permed as many of them are getting zillions for kicking a ball around for ninety minutes, faking falls in order to get a free kick when compared to a fella who is risking life and limb flying down a Pyreneean mountain pass at 100kmh who only gets a fraction of what a soccer player, sorry, footballer gets!
I have to admit that soccer must have great appeal. The unfortunate thing for me is that I can’t see it! The game is undoubtedly skillful but to me there is nothing that makes a soccer player stand out as an athlete. Nothing to build a legend on. Perhaps it is the fact that in the poorest villages in the poorest places on earth all you need to play the game is a ball. And anyone can play. I think this may be where soccer’s appeal really lies and once a game is part of a culture it really takes hold of hearts and minds.
Nah, for me sporting greatness lies in facing the new ball as light fades at the MCG on a seaming wicket or continually running into an All Black defensive line knowing you are going to get smashed everytime, climbing into a boxing ring for twelve rounds of physical punishment or having to kick the winning goal in the dying seconds of an AFL Grand Final.
Soccer has it’s admirers but I’ll stick with my favourites and I hope everyone even those with only a passing interest in the Tour de France will take a moment to watch these great men as they race La Grand Boucle, The Big Lap!
It’s been an interesting week for me personally. As I noted in my last blog the Mail Centre took a big hit with illness this week with many off sick and some people in pretty poor health attending, potentially spreading their germs. Things seemed to improve as the week went on but it felt like a long one for some reason.
I got over my sniffles within a couple of days but it seemed to evolve into a potentially nasty little chest infection that stayed with me for the rest of the week. It was still bothering me when I got up this morning but tonight I seem to be back to almost 100%. I should be as I have made sure that I stayed inside most of the week including today but it seems to be paying dividends.
The downside is that Linda has come down with the same bug and has spent all day today in bed feeling miserable. Of course I got the blame with some semi-joking digs thrown at me but I deflected it by blaming the people at Australia Post. A lesson for us all to stay warm in this cold weather and to make sure we clean up after ourselves.
Man the weather has been cold! I can’t remember so many days below zero in a winter although the days have been nice and fine it can’t really make up for the evenings and mornings. A front is moving in from South Australia tomorrow which will apparently bring with it winters other companions, wind and rain. Can’t wait.
So now the weekend is half over and we settle into another Saturday night. For me it will be a long one watching the Tour de France until 1.30am or so I expect. I have had a good day, quiet, no hassles so it has been good and relaxing. The sort of Saturday everyone should have. I even cooked dinner which made the other occupants of the house happy as it let them off the hook with that chore. I guess I better go and make an effort to clean up.
Have a great weekend.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 