Comments on: Levi Leipheimer Calls “Mulligan” on 2006 Tour de France http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france/ It's like reality TV. Except it's real. And there's no TV. Fri, 04 Mar 2022 03:21:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: jim http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france/comment-page-1/#comment-503892 jim Tue, 18 Jul 2006 16:58:11 +0000 http://fatcyclistspacesarchive.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france#comment-503892 This just in from Lance's press agent:   Armstrong announces that when the TdF officially restarts he is going to enter the race himself.  In order to honor his promise to retire, he will NOT be riding a bike.  He is convinced that he can win yet another tour but this time on foot.  With the absense of so many competitive riders in both body and spirit...he may have a point.   More to come as the story develops... This just in from Lance’s press agent:
 
Armstrong announces that when the TdF officially restarts he is going to enter the race himself.  In order to honor his promise to retire, he will NOT be riding a bike.  He is convinced that he can win yet another tour but this time on foot.  With the absense of so many competitive riders in both body and spirit…he may have a point.
 
More to come as the story develops…

]]> By: jim http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france/comment-page-1/#comment-503893 jim Tue, 18 Jul 2006 16:55:09 +0000 http://fatcyclistspacesarchive.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france#comment-503893 Is the constant mentioning of Lance's name due to this horrific and somewhat boring TdF or is it because Sherwin, Ligget, and Roll cannot get over their love affair with Armstrong?   The man was true greatness but you'd think more commentary would be on current riders rather than past legacy. Is the constant mentioning of Lance’s name due to this horrific and somewhat boring TdF or is it because Sherwin, Ligget, and Roll cannot get over their love affair with Armstrong?
 
The man was true greatness but you’d think more commentary would be on current riders rather than past legacy.

]]> By: Ariane http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france/comment-page-1/#comment-503894 Ariane Tue, 18 Jul 2006 15:38:55 +0000 http://fatcyclistspacesarchive.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france#comment-503894 Fatty. We here at OLN do not think that you are not being fair to the Cyclysm. We understand the disappointment that many fans may be feeling at their favorite rider's absence in this year's Tour, but, guys, Lance just needed to retire, OK?,Nevertheless, we feel that we have more then compensated for this by maintaining our standards; Lance still recieves at least 50% of our coverage. To be honest, we aren't sure what more you could ask for. Yours etc, A. OLN (Versus) Rep Fatty.

We here at OLN do not think that you are not being fair to the Cyclysm. We understand the disappointment that many fans may be feeling at their favorite rider’s absence in this year’s Tour, but, guys, Lance just needed to retire, OK?,Nevertheless, we feel that we have more then compensated for this by maintaining our standards; Lance still recieves at least 50% of our coverage. To be honest, we aren’t sure what more you could ask for.

Yours etc,

A. OLN (Versus) Rep

]]> By: Glen http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france/comment-page-1/#comment-503895 Glen Tue, 18 Jul 2006 12:03:26 +0000 http://fatcyclistspacesarchive.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france#comment-503895 go Cadel...... go Cadel……

]]> By: Andrew http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france/comment-page-1/#comment-503896 Andrew Tue, 18 Jul 2006 11:19:56 +0000 http://fatcyclistspacesarchive.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france#comment-503896 FC--high drama that usually comes with the Tour? Such as: will Lance in by one minute? Two minutes? Five minutes? Ten minutes? And just who will come in second this time? FC–high drama that usually comes with the Tour? Such as: will Lance in by one minute? Two minutes? Five minutes? Ten minutes? And just who will come in second this time?

]]> By: Unknown http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france/comment-page-1/#comment-503897 Unknown Tue, 18 Jul 2006 08:52:21 +0000 http://fatcyclistspacesarchive.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france#comment-503897 heh heh.  this was funny.  maybe they should give a green sport coat to the winner this year.  :)   -bm heh heh.  this was funny.  maybe they should give a green sport coat to the winner this year.  :)
 
-bm

]]> By: Unknown http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france/comment-page-1/#comment-503898 Unknown Tue, 18 Jul 2006 02:49:03 +0000 http://fatcyclistspacesarchive.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france#comment-503898 Anyone care to speculate what LA thinks of all this?  I hear he will be in Europe for the last week of the tour.  Hope he brought his mountain bike! Anyone care to speculate what LA thinks of all this?  I hear he will be in Europe for the last week of the tour.  Hope he brought his mountain bike!

]]> By: Unknown http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france/comment-page-1/#comment-503899 Unknown Mon, 17 Jul 2006 20:51:02 +0000 http://fatcyclistspacesarchive.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france#comment-503899 Popovych wins on Huez. Win attributed to Armstrong berating the team for letting defector Floyd Landis admit that he could beat everyone in the pro peleton with only one leg and six guys riding in support. Popovych wins on Huez.
Win attributed to Armstrong berating the team for letting defector Floyd Landis admit that he could beat everyone in the pro peleton with only one leg and six guys riding in support.

]]> By: Unknown http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france/comment-page-1/#comment-503900 Unknown Mon, 17 Jul 2006 20:32:20 +0000 http://fatcyclistspacesarchive.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france#comment-503900 The notion of a Mulligan was cute.  But knowing the role Karma plays in things, it would probably turn out more like some weird version of Groundhog Day, and everybody would be stuck with a similar fate.    Floyd Landis' mechanic would break Bobby Julich's wrist while going for a bread basket at dinner the night before the prologue.  Floyd himself would wind up wearing skinny little glasses that make him look even funnier.    Dave Zabriskie would suffer some horrid, random freak accident that totally dooms his season.  That, or he'd still be stuck riding for Team CSC.  Same thing, pretty much.    Ibn Mayo would take the lead on the first hill stage and Hincapie would be riding better, on Mayo's wheel, but Mayo would still blow up, killing Hincapie.  A couple tough domestiques would also be splattered, and casual fans would be disturbed to find Salmon with a side of Mayo, as well as Mayo spilled all over the Carpets.     (Sorry, that's really going inside baseball on you, isn't it?  It's okay though, you don't like spilled Mayo jokes, it's not a complete di-Sastre.)    Savodeli would have a freak accident descending... the stairs at his hotel.  Assuming "freak accident" means "a not surprising spill over a suitcase full of EPO."    Many other riders would withdraw, suffering from mysterious stomach pains.  Some from knots, knowing that the Spanish police are coming.  Some from getting stuck in the gut with long needles.  Still others from eating too much fine, fine Belgian muesli and incurring sandpaper burns on their bottoms.      Floyd would have to destroy his other hip socket, suffering a fresh bout of Osteonecrosis, just to keep up the positive publicity.  Because who could possibly like a guy like Floyd, if he wasn't a pathetic cripple?   The French would still lose the stage going into Bastille Day.  When your national holiday is a celebration of regicide rather than high falutin' principles, you've got it coming.  Bouen'd Oevre, France!   Jens Voigt would still ride a few folks off the wheel, blow himself up in a couple senseless attacks, and still fail to realize that he could be a great GC man, if only Bjarne "Peanut Butter Cups" Rijs could accept that his fascination with tiny, scantily clad male climbers is just a manifestation of his surprisingly healthy and almost normal fetish for tiny female gymnasts.    Mattias Kessler, in an effort to prove how tough he is, would have to stick himself in the groin with a can opener while attempting to free some tuna for a nice pre-race sandwich, and would probably have to get dragged behind the Discovery Team Mobile Home, just because.  He'd need to find some sharks to feed, and to look for a building to scale in a single bound.  He'd also have to find a better cliff to ride off of, because we're unimpressed that he escaped from yesterday's crash (that left Rik Verbrugghe's leg broken and Verbrugghe himself shaking and bleeding on the ground) with mere bruises on his entire body, a torn jersey and rocks embedded in his skull.  Actually, seeing the way that hard little German bastard rides, it's possible that the rocks are on the inside, and were merely working their way out, much like frost heaves in a farmer's field bring rocks to the surface each spring.    Finally, if everybody got a do-over, the doping scandal would come out totallly different.  Ulrich would ask the Doping Docs of Barcelona to label his bags of blood with the name of Basso's dog.  Being an inveterate loser, however, the Kaiser would still get suspended, finding out with great bitterness that Basso outmanuevered him yet again, sending in his bags of bouncing Basso blood with the label "Rudy's fat wannabe perpetual loser acolyte and I'm fat and my mother dresses me funny and my hair stinks and I drool when I climb hills and I'm fat."  Spanish police drop the pretense of "innocent until proven guilty," stating "if that's not Ulrich's blood, then nothing is."      Sorry about the length.  Can't help myself.  I'm enjoying the hell out of this Tour.    The notion of a Mulligan was cute.  But knowing the role Karma plays in things, it would probably turn out more like some weird version of Groundhog Day, and everybody would be stuck with a similar fate. 
 
Floyd Landis’ mechanic would break Bobby Julich’s wrist while going for a bread basket at dinner the night before the prologue.  Floyd himself would wind up wearing skinny little glasses that make him look even funnier. 
 
Dave Zabriskie would suffer some horrid, random freak accident that totally dooms his season.  That, or he’d still be stuck riding for Team CSC.  Same thing, pretty much. 
 
Ibn Mayo would take the lead on the first hill stage and Hincapie would be riding better, on Mayo’s wheel, but Mayo would still blow up, killing Hincapie.  A couple tough domestiques would also be splattered, and casual fans would be disturbed to find Salmon with a side of Mayo, as well as Mayo spilled all over the Carpets.  
 
(Sorry, that’s really going inside baseball on you, isn’t it?  It’s okay though, you don’t like spilled Mayo jokes, it’s not a complete di-Sastre.) 
 
Savodeli would have a freak accident descending… the stairs at his hotel.  Assuming "freak accident" means "a not surprising spill over a suitcase full of EPO." 
 
Many other riders would withdraw, suffering from mysterious stomach pains.  Some from knots, knowing that the Spanish police are coming.  Some from getting stuck in the gut with long needles.  Still others from eating too much fine, fine Belgian muesli and incurring sandpaper burns on their bottoms.   
 
Floyd would have to destroy his other hip socket, suffering a fresh bout of Osteonecrosis, just to keep up the positive publicity.  Because who could possibly like a guy like Floyd, if he wasn’t a pathetic cripple?
 
The French would still lose the stage going into Bastille Day.  When your national holiday is a celebration of regicide rather than high falutin’ principles, you’ve got it coming.  Bouen’d Oevre, France!
 
Jens Voigt would still ride a few folks off the wheel, blow himself up in a couple senseless attacks, and still fail to realize that he could be a great GC man, if only Bjarne "Peanut Butter Cups" Rijs could accept that his fascination with tiny, scantily clad male climbers is just a manifestation of his surprisingly healthy and almost normal fetish for tiny female gymnasts. 
 
Mattias Kessler, in an effort to prove how tough he is, would have to stick himself in the groin with a can opener while attempting to free some tuna for a nice pre-race sandwich, and would probably have to get dragged behind the Discovery Team Mobile Home, just because.  He’d need to find some sharks to feed, and to look for a building to scale in a single bound.  He’d also have to find a better cliff to ride off of, because we’re unimpressed that he escaped from yesterday’s crash (that left Rik Verbrugghe’s leg broken and Verbrugghe himself shaking and bleeding on the ground) with mere bruises on his entire body, a torn jersey and rocks embedded in his skull.  Actually, seeing the way that hard little German bastard rides, it’s possible that the rocks are on the inside, and were merely working their way out, much like frost heaves in a farmer’s field bring rocks to the surface each spring. 
 
Finally, if everybody got a do-over, the doping scandal would come out totallly different.  Ulrich would ask the Doping Docs of Barcelona to label his bags of blood with the name of Basso’s dog.  Being an inveterate loser, however, the Kaiser would still get suspended, finding out with great bitterness that Basso outmanuevered him yet again, sending in his bags of bouncing Basso blood with the label "Rudy’s fat wannabe perpetual loser acolyte and I’m fat and my mother dresses me funny and my hair stinks and I drool when I climb hills and I’m fat."  Spanish police drop the pretense of "innocent until proven guilty," stating "if that’s not Ulrich’s blood, then nothing is."   
 
Sorry about the length.  Can’t help myself.  I’m enjoying the hell out of this Tour. 
 

]]> By: Fat Cyclist http://www.fatcyclist.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france/comment-page-1/#comment-503901 Fat Cyclist Mon, 17 Jul 2006 20:09:48 +0000 http://fatcyclistspacesarchive.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/levi-leipheimer-calls-%e2%80%9cmulligan%e2%80%9d-on-2006-tour-de-france#comment-503901 gttim - it was strange how so many people bought into the fantasy, in spite of all evidence. which is not to say that hincapie isn't a great rider. he is. he's incredible, really. just not a grand tour guy.   tim d - i don't know who any of those people are, but i always approve of microphone bludgeonings. they sound great.   chiddong - oh, believe me, if i had been wrong and he had been in contention, i'd be yelling my lungs out for hincapie. i love it when a dark horse surprises me.   bikemike - johan really said that? sheesh. i'll bet he said it before popovych gave him a little something to live for, though. he was just cranky. and thanks for catching the tommy twotone reference.   weak link - of course you see the hypocrisy of my whole story, right? ie, if i really found it as horrible as i make it seem here, would i really stick around and keep watching it every single day? (though i must admit i triple-speed most of the flat stages). i wouldn't say i'm jaded so much as sad. my wife and i were SO looking forward to rooting for our favorites (she wanted Ullrich to win, I wanted to Basso to win), and now we're instead forced to root for our fallback guy (Landis for both of us). And while I appreciate the suspense of the random winners of individual stages, this tour doesn't have much in the way of an evolving storyline. i miss the high drama that usually comes with the tour.   tummy wobbler - were you and dug separated at birth?   boz - you know, whether it's real or not, it's not even a very fun argument to have. it feels like everyone's trying to conjure the hotly debated "is hamilton's collarbone busted or not?" argument, but nobody's really feeling it.   big mike - i'll wake you up if it looks like anything's going to happen.   botched - hey, you caught the tommy twotone reference, too. you racing the 50-miler this weekend? i've decided to give it a try.   ty - kiitos! en tieda (sorry, don't know how to place umlauts) jos sina tiennyt, mutta asuin suomessa monta vuotta sitten ja jonkin veran osan teidan kieltaa. gttim – it was strange how so many people bought into the fantasy, in spite of all evidence. which is not to say that hincapie isn’t a great rider. he is. he’s incredible, really. just not a grand tour guy.
 
tim d – i don’t know who any of those people are, but i always approve of microphone bludgeonings. they sound great.
 
chiddong – oh, believe me, if i had been wrong and he had been in contention, i’d be yelling my lungs out for hincapie. i love it when a dark horse surprises me.
 
bikemike – johan really said that? sheesh. i’ll bet he said it before popovych gave him a little something to live for, though. he was just cranky. and thanks for catching the tommy twotone reference.
 
weak link – of course you see the hypocrisy of my whole story, right? ie, if i really found it as horrible as i make it seem here, would i really stick around and keep watching it every single day? (though i must admit i triple-speed most of the flat stages). i wouldn’t say i’m jaded so much as sad. my wife and i were SO looking forward to rooting for our favorites (she wanted Ullrich to win, I wanted to Basso to win), and now we’re instead forced to root for our fallback guy (Landis for both of us). And while I appreciate the suspense of the random winners of individual stages, this tour doesn’t have much in the way of an evolving storyline. i miss the high drama that usually comes with the tour.
 
tummy wobbler – were you and dug separated at birth?
 
boz – you know, whether it’s real or not, it’s not even a very fun argument to have. it feels like everyone’s trying to conjure the hotly debated "is hamilton’s collarbone busted or not?" argument, but nobody’s really feeling it.
 
big mike – i’ll wake you up if it looks like anything’s going to happen.
 
botched – hey, you caught the tommy twotone reference, too. you racing the 50-miler this weekend? i’ve decided to give it a try.
 
ty – kiitos! en tieda (sorry, don’t know how to place umlauts) jos sina tiennyt, mutta asuin suomessa monta vuotta sitten ja jonkin veran osan teidan kieltaa.

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