Cyclists attitudes to other sports

the playing mantis

im not sure if this is right, but i get the impression that roadies, and the hardcore ultra dedicated (cycling is life types) one s in particular in general look down upon other sports, in particular football, and have something of disdain for those who follow it. now this may be bollox, but im just putting it out there to see if anyone else has sensed this or if im going completely mental and imagining it!

JackPozzi

There are other sports?

VTech

Ive not seen this here, I would have thought the opposite as sporty people tend to like many sports ?

the playing mantis

im referring to watching it, more than partcipating in. (i appreciate wiggo made condescinding remarks about football fans, but that has not triggered my question (whats triggererd it is boredom sitting here on the train home and distracting me from the anticipation of getting it in the neck for being late home from work today!!)).but i think its something ive perceived a bit, especially from the 'older' roadie i think.

VTech

Ahh, I get what you mean.
I still dont know the answer but a lot of people do seem hardcore so I reckon many would rather watch a cycle event even if not really interested that a man u vs man city derby

GiantMike

I don't like football. This isn't because I'm a cyclist though, it's because it's sh!t.

Pross

I love loads of sport, this used to include football and I would regularly travel up to Anfield. Now I still like the game but don't like what money has done to it at the top end and hate the amount of media coverage it gets at the expense of other sports even in the off season (the Olympics did a great job of momentarily pushing it off the back pages which to me was the real legacy). This season I've been to the Emirates twice with my company's season tickets and enjoyed myself - they have an excellent set up there and seem to use their money for the greater good which I'm sure doesn't go down well with supporters looking for success but is better in the long term IMHO. I also went to watch Newport County in the Conference and enjoyed a game with real tackles. I still love rugby union and have a season ticket for one of the most famous Welsh teams of all but unfortunately money is starting to have an effect there too and my team like several others have suffered as a result. The regional setup has destroyed the game and internationals are now just a day out for people to try to get seen on TV. I also watched rugby league quite regularly when the Crusaders were playing in South Wales but again it was destroyed by money.

Mikey41

GiantMike wrote:

I don't like football. This isn't because I'm a cyclist though, it's because it's sh!t.

A man after my own heart.

I like a few other sports though, cycling is still a new arrival to me after all. Mostly I love motorsport though, F1 and MotoGP being my favourites.

finchy

I love football as a game but hate it as a multi-billion pound business.
Rugby's crap. If I wanted to watch a load of overweight oafs crashing into each other I'd spend more time at Asda.
Most other forms of racing are usually quite boring because they lack the magnificent arena of road cycling.
Motorsport barely even registers on my radar.

I don't look down on people who like those sports though. It's true that you get lots of morons who follow football, but you also get lots of highly intelligent. Because it's by far the most popular sport in the world, you'll get a representative cross-section of society following that you don't get with many other sports.

Gabbo

Follow football, boxing, and occasionally tennis. Keeping up to date with cycling now, too.

Nothing beats a huge boxing event. I went to Vegas during the Mayweather-Mosley fight and it was an incredible atmosphere and build up. You could almost feel the tension yourself! Boxing is an incredible sport, and at the highest level the technicality is ridiculous. Only issue with boxing is the fact that there are two huge promotion companies who refuse to work with each other, thus a lot fights the fans want to see will never materialise. Also top fighters are scared to take particular fights, which if they lose, could potentially ruin their legacy. All about PPV numbers for them so the fights you often want to see (Mayweather vs Pacquiao) will never happen.

As for football, this country is built up on the sport. It's our national sport, and will continue to be so for many, many years. It's a beautiful game, riddled with flaws, but never cease to impress.

verylonglegs

How do you determine a 'cyclist'? The hardened roadie you speak of who knows no other sports? Not met many of those. Most people in the UK will have encountered many other sports competitively before cycling due to the education system, generally only those with a particularly enthusiastic parent will fall outside of this and cycle from a young age. That may change in the current climate however, I don't know.

Personally I've played football for many years, a bit of cross-country running and as a follower I watch or have watched mostly football, rugby union, cricket, and cycling of course but to be honest I can be a sucker for any sporting occasion because I love the unknown and the narrative as it unfolds. It is that fascination that draws me to it and obviously many others, the story being played out there and then. Like Pross I agree with the football sentiment, there is too much bs around it these days.

Gabbo

verylonglegs wrote:

How do you determine a 'cyclist'?

Lycra... 8)

Omar Little

As a spectator football is my favourite sport...but at the same time i've become very disillusioned with it over the last few years with the amount of money involved and the increasing disparity between a handful of super rich clubs and the rest grows ever wider making a farce of competition and in the process ruining the romance of the game.

on the road

I don't like rugby, this isn't because I'm a cyclist but only thugs play rugby. And I hate golf, again not because I'm a cyclist but I just hate golf with a passion.

roypsb

I used to absolutely love football. Very disillusioned with it these days though. Still watch it on TV a bit (don't have Sky SPorts) but I watch any road cycling that's on Eurosport.

Still go and watch the mighty Brentford, but pick and choose my games now.

MichaelW

There are some cycling athletes who do other sports and there are some cyclists who hate all sports.
I think the key word in Tour de France (apart from France, and de) is Tour. Who doesn't like a Tour.

Yossie

They aren't sports, they are games. Apart from golf - that's just shyyyyyyyt. And tennis - outdoor ping pong. Children's game played by adults.

Everything else is fair game though. Agree re football losing its way sentimentality though - have gone form being a "fan" to being a "watcher" due to anger at footballerists inherent stupidity/arrogance/media toadying.

capt_slog

I'm not a sports fan at all.

I'm hardly a cyclist to tell the truth. I bought a bike to get fitter, mainly to help my high blood pressure to get a bit lower and thus halve the medication I need for that. Years ago I used to run, and did a marathon before my feet gave way big time.

I hate football with a passion you couldn't begin to comprehend. Rugby I can't see the point of. Tennis, ye gods, they watch this for entertainment? Three fecking hours of listening to a crowd shouting "come on Andy" every two minutes? As for athletics :roll: You can guess the 2012 did little for me.

But I watched the TDF for the first time last year and was enthralled, largely by the sportmanship of it, (the "thumb tack" incident for example), and will be watching it again when I have the time.

RowCycle

I don't think it is just cycling. I'm a very keen rower and the same happens.

I think there are a couple of things:

- Most people have their sport and will therefore make fun of others. Just like most football fans have their team and make fun of others.

- Sports like football are seen as soft sports in comparison to some others. Some sports (such as rowing and cycling) have people who train most days of the weak and are exhausted where as other (such as football) doesn't tend to have this. People who do a 'tough' sport make fun of those 'weak' sports.

- Everyone dislikes the pomped up tw*ts you play football don't they?

Captain Slackbladder

RoyPSB wrote:

I used to absolutely love football. Very disillusioned with it these days though. Still watch it on TV a bit (don't have Sky SPorts) but I watch any road cycling that's on Eurosport.

Still go and watch the mighty Brentford, but pick and choose my games now.

I'm the same.....not sure if its a getting older thing....times more precious with family commitments etc, so i'd rather spend my limited leisure time more wisely.

capt_slog

It could have something to do with the sport itself (cycling I mean). Apart from those that enter organised events, we tend to be largely individuals in that we cycle when we like, for how far we like and it's up to us what we put into it. So we tend to look at other sports differently to those who usually play team based games.

I know there are those who like to play the foot-the-ball etc, think of it more of a trend than a rule.

ddraver

I grew up playing rugby (and am far more physiologically suited to it than cycling although it just breaks me to play front row now (and that's all I'm good for!)).

I like watching rugby, I ll watch a bit a bit cricket since I started playing for my work time, but finding it on in the Netherlands is near impossible. To be honest I ll watch anything - I love the Winter/Summer Olympics just for this, even more so if it's live (as in, I'm there). For example my housemate played in an indoor hockey match and I watched a bit of that which was great! No idea what was going on, but it was still brilliant.

I don't tend to watch national football, but I ll watch the big European matches and the WC/EC.

I like the way that cycling is a little lake watching/listening to Test Match Special in that in reality naff all happens until the last 10 km, but you can while away a whole afternoon ( hopefully after the morning club run) watching it...

A little bit wary of what is happening to Rugby (though I suspect some of this is just nostalgia), but everytime I ve been to Twickenham I ve had a fantastic time and been surrounded by knowledgeable people who I can have an in depth discussion with about whatever - My Dad went to the Millenium Stadium recently and was astounded by how little people seemed to care that Wales had just been thoroughly beaten by Argentina. I'd guess that a lot of that is luck of the draw though...

Anyone that says it's played by thugs has clearly never met a rugby player mind....

freddiegrubb

I like riding my bike but I'm passionate about a game of tiddlywinks, until you experience the ruthlessness & cunning of a good wink you've never lived. Now where did I put my pills?

the playing mantis

longlegs, its not the hardened roadie not knowing other sports, it about them being disdainful of those who follow football.

i follow pretty much most major mainstream sports bar rugby league, and club rugby union and athletics, as well as a few minor ones, like darts and US sports.



Pross:

"This season I've been to the Emirates twice with my company's season tickets and enjoyed myself - they have an excellent set up there and seem to use their money for the greater good which I'm sure doesn't go down well with supporters looking for success but is better in the long term IMHO"

as a season ticket holder i take issue with this!! the emirates is a souless bowl full of JCL's and tourists who are just there for a day out. the food is shite and overpriced, and sure club level is novel a couple of times with the freebies and meal but thats not football. how is money spent for the greater good??? a business model that is widely quoted as being exemplerary, yet upon minisicule analysis, is revealed to be entirely dependent on star player sales and one off property deals to turn a profit. any club could make a profit if they sold there best player and didnt replace him every summer. likewise the highest paid manager in the world refusing to spend money he has available yet handing out massive wages to underserving has beens and never will bes, who can then never be shifted off the wage bill as no other club would pay their ridiculous wages, so are loaned out with arsenal paying 90% of there wages still....

how is that better int he long term?

sorry, its a sensitive subject!!

mfin

I think the mistake a lot of people make is thinking that cyclists are all the same, when often the only thing they have in common is that they cycle. I know of loads of cyclists I wouldn't even want a conversation with as I don't have anything in common with them just because they pedal a bike and I do.

Also, cycling fans aren't all the same when watching or following cycling, some cream their knickers at certain riders, attacks, shout at the telly etc, and some just enjoy watching it.

But, I think that there are always some of these over enthusiastic types who follow a sport who like to project great romance and validity to their chosen sport, and vocally slate other sports as being 'lesser'.

I just remember that a lot of sports fans are closed minded and get consumed by it all, but who cares, they can do what they want. In cycling we even have to see fans supporting outed cheats. You don't get so much of that in some other sports (even if it maybe that the drug cheats aren't outed in those sports).

johnny25

I'm a big sports fan.

Football was once a passion. Now the game has been ruined by money and lots of the smaller clubs have/are falling by the wayside. Still go and watch Coventry City (while they are allowed to play in the Richo Arena!) when I can.

F1's not bad. A bit of a one trick pony these days though. I can't see past Vettle and Red Bull again this year.

Enjoy a bit of cricket on Sky. On the very rare occasion I have ventured to Edgebaston to watch England play.

Play a bit of golf too. Unfortunately it seems to attract far too many t**ts driving BMW's and Audi's who have no f**king idea how to play.

mm1

I loathe football. My (Italian) Dad always said there was a reason why I didn't choose a team sport. He was an awkward cuss, grew up when Coppi was God, with nothing but disdain for calcio.

Rowing and running are ok i suppose, triantelopes as everyone kno are for laughing at.

crispybug2

I enjoy most sports (except anything involving dogs, horses or an engine) but I do loathe football. Loved it when I was a kid but something happened in the early 80's, can't quite put my finger on what it was, but I completely lost all interest. But strangely I've tended to find the football fans have no interest in any other sports bar football. It's the most probable reason the the back pages of the Sun, Mirror, Star and Sport always feature football.


One thing I love about cycling is the solitary nature of it, hours on my own out in all weathers just me and my thoughts

pinno

(My twopence worth) I was born under a wond... No, in Kenya. My school had lots of sport and it was with incredulity that when I got to the UK, there were kids that hated it.
I coach Table Tennis. Table tennis is in the doldrums in the UK. When I sat my coaching certificate, I had no idea how to actually coach. It took a lot of German and Swedish DVD's and books to get an idea of the complexity of the sport. The fastest game in the world and arguably, the most technical. The standard of TT coaching in the UK is diabolical. Accross the board, the technical proficiencies of each sport are often not conveyed to the viewer because I find that commentaries are 'dumbed down'. Listen to Motson - "Oh yes, he's got the ball, and he's missed...and its a corner...and its... Frank Lampard... Lampard... oh dear, oh dear...".
I watched the documentary on Tuesday on Mourinho. At that level of football, the philosophy is mind boggling. However, I do agree that the money (wages) in footie is obscene.
On a personal note, I have respect for long-distance runners, the Iron Man etc and any endurance sports. I couldn't give a monkeys about Bolt travelling 100 meters in 9 point whatever - endurance sports take a particular mindset and I admire those who overcome both the physical and mental barriers, despite that, I also admire the technical sports - Cricket, Golf, Snooker. I was singles Pool Champion in my local league in 2009. If I could, my perfect life (per week) would be 2 rounds of Golf, 20 hours on the snooker table, 8-10 hours Table Tennis practice and coaching, 150 miles of (alpine) cycling and 2 hours a day Football Manager for PC as well as some cricket practice in the nets. But I am a Dad and not even a lottery win/triple cloning could fulfil that dream. In my next life...

rick_chasey

OP has obviously never met someone who considers himself a rower.

thegreatdivide

The only sport that comes close to the drama of Pro Cycling