Food Packaging
 

If only ....

"I need a pink twat, sex on the beach and a Fuck Off."

"Here are your two drinks. Eight dollars. Oh, and Fuck Off!"

Gay marriage and the Pope.... Whaaaaaa????
 

Your assuming religion is rational.

I think Atticus's explanation is probably the closest to what's going on. Civil marriage will always be thought of as quasi-religious, so anyone who seriously believes in the religious aspects of marriage will be concerned that by permitting civil marriages between gays/lesbians, religious marriage will be tarnished.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

I think Ullrich'll manage a few choice words today. How tough can be to translate "you lying, insulting bastard" from the German?

Making the Band II: The Next Big Thing?
 

Yeah, Frederick has potential. But that's it -- potential. As Puffy said, he has not yet made it. Until F puts his own money and reputation on the line, he better listen to what P. Diddy et al have to say. And at the very least, F should be respectful of ANYONE who gives him a job and place to live and food and a chance at something really great. I wouldn't sit there sucking my thumb with my eyes closed if the person giving me a *pedicure* were talking to me, let alone if it were the managing partner of my firm, which in this situation for F, Puffy basically is.

I agree--that song is sounding like it will be cool.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

True. He'll figure it out. Of course, did Jan ever claim to slow down? Lance talked a lot about how he was "returning the favor" from the peyrousourde in 2001. Guess that was before he watched the video.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

From EVERY single (unverified) source that I have, from people who have met him to just plain rumours, all have said that Lance is a fucking prick...

Hey Tour Freaks
 

Are your sources from Plano?

http://www.gay.com/entertainment/fea...tml?sernum=511

A poll on gay.com in which people guess which boys are gay and which boys are straight on boy meets boy.


And while we are playing with stereotypes, pick out whether the guy is gay or straight (I got one wrong, oh the humanity) http://www.gay.com/health/sexuality/...tml?sernum=882

Hey Tour Freaks
 

People on the very inside line report he is.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

True. But while I can't bear arrogance, he is literally the best athlete on the planet right now, so I can hardly blame him for pointing out the truth (even if we all prefer humility). At least he gives credit to his team and still openly lauds Hamilton. And before yesterday, at least he gave Ullrich his due as the other best cyclist of his generation. (I thought Ullrich did slack off a bit post-Lance-crash, but maybe he was just bonking, game face on or not.)

Hey Tour Freaks
 

What top athlete isn't a bit cocky? Lance clearly thought he was hot shit years ago, and obviously reined it in when he realized that doesn't work in cycling. He's won five straight tours, so he does have a bit of a right to say there are only a few riders who can really challenge him. Still, he's a hell of a lot better than Barry Bonds or any 100m sprinter.

As for Jan, I agree. It looked like he wasn't really pushing the pace. You can't just stop going uphill; Lance didn't stop when Jan went off road; he just freewheeled.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

I don't want to get into this argument, but this statement is absurd...

He's the best cyclist. That's it.

Food Packaging
 

What's the WB-word (if you don't want to actually type it, can you just give me a clue?) White Boy?

[I guess I'm not down with all the latest racial epithets -- note my attempt at cool talking with "I'm not down with" -- did I use that right?] Man, I'm lame.:rolleyes:

Hey Tour Freaks
 

I wasn't talking about being cocky to his opponents; I was referring to the fact that he's just a plain dick on an everyday basis. To fans, teammates, etc. He SHOULD be cocky to his opponents. He's the best.

To contrast, I hear Tiger (and I'm not a fan) is a pretty nice/decent guy off the course. Friendly to volunteers, aides, etc...

Someone should kick Lance's scrawny 140 lb. ass.

Food Packaging
 

Yeah, I didn't know what S-word was being mentioned either, but I was not going to call attention to my epithet ignorance. N-word is obvious to me, but probably more so because people really do call it "the N-word". I guess there is no other. Except for niggardly.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

Well, he is from Plano after all. :rolleyes:

Hey Tour Freaks
 

The Tour is by far the most difficult sporting event on earth and the most demanding in terms of pure athleticism, stamina and strength. I cannot think of any other sport than remotely comes close.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

I disagree. I don't think anyone trusts anyone except teammates and even then rivalries can fray decorum (see below).

Granted the norm is to extend certain courtesies but this behaviour is not unheard of, see Hinault v. Lemond, 1986. Or Ulrich v. Riis, 1997.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

I think I am acquainted with you. Wednesday. Track. Group 1.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

He has probably always been cocky, whether justified or not. The stories of his "coming out" in the tri world where he put the hurt on the Big 4 as a 16 year old and was cocky as hell about it are legendary in the world of tri.

Go fast, talk trash!

Hey Tour Freaks
 

I'll give you stamina. That's about it.

Running takes more athleticism than cycling, and you can have no athletic ability whatsoever and be a good runner...

Hey Tour Freaks
 

A friend of mine went to a children's cancer charity/Armstrong tribute event, where Lance was to be presented with an award. He showed up late, signed no autographs for any of the kids, spoke to essentially no one, and didn't say a word at the podium after being presented with his award. He just said something like, "Thank you," and left. She said everyone was completely floored.

Thurgreed(he sounds like a prick to me)Marshall

Hey Tour Freaks
 

Concur.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

Seriously, I always thought it was the caber toss.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

Depends what you mean by "top athlete". Wayne Gretzky is pretty shy in person. Not at all cocky. I've probably met about 50 or so NHL players (not all stars, mind you) and I would only describe one or two of them as cocky. And people literally worship these guys.

Hey Tour Freaks
 

So where the fuck's my gold medal then?

Hey Tour Freaks
 

He's an incredibly obsessive athlete, so a measure of dickishness is de rigeuer. However, "a fucking prick"? I guess it depends on who is describing him.

I don't know him personally, but as an Austinite, I do know his representatives, foundation guys, and friends and I have never heard him described as any worse than any other athlete -- in fact he's far better than basketball and some pitchers who live around here.

Coltrane on Running
 

How?

Hey Tour Freaks
 

If you trained SERIOUSLY for five years, you could get really really good. I know a guy who can't dribble a basketball, throws a baseball like a girl, and trips over his own feet playing soccer.

But he runs sub-2:30 marathons.

Endurance sports are much more about hard work than god-given talent. Granted, the very best are genetically superior, but not in an athletic way. For example, Khalid Khanoucchi (world record holder in the marathon) weighs 125 lbs and has a tiny chest. However, he can expand his chest to well over 50 inches, which is completely absurd. His lung capacity is off the charts. Hence the world record.

Coltrane on Running
 

You're not using a $5k piece of equipment to propel you. Just your own body.

Granted, neither sport is high on the "athletic" scale.


Let me say that I have the utmost respect for endurance athletes. Running is one of my passions. But I'm never going to claim that it takes too much "athleticism" to be somewhat successful. It takes hard fucking work. With this hard fucking work, almost anyone can be relatively successful. That can't be said about most skill sports. In the latter, either you have it or you don't.

My favorite reviews since Battlefield Earth
 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"'Gigli' makes 'Hudson Hawk' look like a hiccup, 'Ishtar' like a minor misstep. It’s the stuff 'Mystery Science Theater 3000s' are made of. . . . Watching him try to distract her sexually while she's reading a book is embarrassing. Think: Winnie the Pooh coming on to Catherine Zeta-Jones. . . .One recurring metaphor Gigli employs for the battle of the sexes, gay or straight, is that it all comes down to bulls (him) and cows (her). Maybe that explains why 'Gigli' is such a pile of manure."

Chicago Tribune

"Put together enough pointless, random details, and you get "Gigli," a movie that's less incompetent than bewildering. How on earth did writer-director Martin Brest ("Meet Joe Black," "Scent of a Woman") envision this movie? As "Chasing Amy" meets "Rain Man" meets "Pulp Fiction"? Did someone think that sounded like a winning combination?"

The Cincinnati Enquirer

"There are so many things wrong with Gigli that you might be surprised to hear its worst fault is sheer tedium. ... Whatever the reason, Gigli stutters and flops and flounders around in a sludge of would-be comedy, action and pathos. Tone, pacing and character devlopment are flat out inept. The mood is about as thrilling as the waiting line in an unemployment office. And the dialogue - sweet, screaming Jehosephat, it's awful. "

filmcritic.com

"Together, Affleck and Lopez have approximately six good movies to their names. Gigli isn’t one of them. Vulgar, insensitive and unaware of its direction, the split-personality character study wavers from mob drama to romantic comedy when it should’ve picked one and stuck with it."

Los Angeles Times

"So forget the hype — this movie would stink even without its big-ticket stars, which isn't to say that either is entirely blameless."

New York Times

"But Larry's name is pronounced ZHEE-lee, or as he likes to say, 'rhymes with really.' As in really, really silly, which is the kindest way to describe this hopelessly misconceived exercise in celebrity self-worship, which opens to nationwide ridicule today. . . . In one scene Ricki takes on a group of ill-mannered ruffians who are making noise at a taco stand. Larry wants to beat them up, but she takes a more refined approach, sauntering over in her short denim skirt and lecturing them on their "people skills." She also threatens the apparent ringleader with a baroque martial-arts torture, which involves gouging out the eyes and also removing that part of the brain that stores visual information, so that the victim will not only be blind, but will also lose all memory of what he has seen. Having seen "Gigli," I must say that the idea has a certain appeal."

San Francisco Chronicle

"Gigli" doesn't need a review; it needs an inquest. The movie is dead on arrival. Who or what killed it? There are multiple suspects: Was it the endless prattle? The ludicrously inappropriate soundtrack? The funereal pacing? The uneasy mix of vulgarity and cheap sentiment? The almost nonexistent story? The resounding miscasting of Ben Affleck as a tough guy and Jennifer Lopez as a woman who'd actually speak to him? Or the bad, bad, bad, bad writing? The answer: This is one of those "Murder on the Orient Express" situations, in which all the suspects are guilty. The result is the most thoroughly joyless and inept film of the year, and one of the worst of the decade."

Houston Chronicle

"To readers of People magazine and tawdrier purveyors of celebrity gossip, Gigli is known as the movie that brought Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez together as a couple. For the rest of us, that isn't much of a recommendation. Separately, Affleck and Lopez have rarely given better than passable performances. (This is especially true of Lopez, who acts about as well as she sings.) Together, they present an insurmountable challenge for a film that was saddled with a bum script from the beginning. . . . "

Salon.com

"As is often the case with movies that have poisonous advance word of mouth, "Gigli" turns out to be merely bad -- not a train wreck, not the crime against humanity it's been rumored to be."

Coltrane on Running
 

This is the stupidest thing you've ever written.

Tour d Afrique
 

For something most of us could physically accomplish there is the Tour d Afrique to be held next year. But, $8k and at least 100 days is certainly out of the question.

Coltrane on Running
 

Hey, don't sell me so short. I've written some pretty stupid things.

And your bias is so blatant is disgusting. It's obvious you worship the sport of cycling and it's athletes. I have no problem with that. But, I'm trying to be a little bit more objective here.

Coltrane on Running
 

No shit. I was gonna say, that it is impressive that was the stupidest thing you have ever written.

You write stupid things a lot.



(Happy Friday!)


I like this Gigli review:

I ordinarily don't like to go after an easy target. It used to be a blast to mock the French, but then everyone started doing it after that country didn't back efforts to root out nonexistent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (how could they, les bastards!). I tried applying the same logic to Gigli, at least before I saw it. Since the buzz was unbelievably bad, and the few critics who screened the film before me had such a great time bashing it with all of their might, I thought it might be fun to approach the film in a positive manner. "Even if it's bad," I reasoned, "it might be so bad it's good."

So much for my optimism. Gigli is a gargantuan piece of shit and deserves a place in the Bad Movie Hall of Shame. Put it higher than Showgirls (because that had the balls to push the nudity envelope) and the unholy trinity of Glitter, Battlefield Earth and Gods and Generals (because those were vanity projects forced through the system). Gigli, which was originally slated for release last November, is the biggest waste of talent since Full Frontal. Or maybe even Ishtar.

For the rest see http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/...=3&rid=1180471

Hey Tour Freaks
 

He certainly has every right to be arrogant about his cycling abilities -- and his being a prick does not detract from his significant accomplishments, but I don't see how being the best at something has anything to do with being a prick.

He is, or he isn't. I don't think his being the best athlete makes it ok for him to treat others badly (when it has nothing to do with cycling); and that's the sense I get from reports that he is a prick.

No "free pass" on being a dick just 'cause you're the best at something.

Coltrane on Running
 

I'm always pissing off the establishment. You AND E/O?

I will never learn.

Coltrane on Running
 

Precisely. ;)

Cycling is purely an endurance sport like running and long distance swimming.

You are the engine, the bike does not propel you forward. The bike is like a good pair of shoes. It's just a tool.

Like running, lung capacity is key. Lance has off the chart lung capacity which is why he can attack up a mountain after riding for 5 hours at 40 kph.

I'd prefer to leave this to our tri folks to make the true comparison.

Coltrane on Running
 

Waste of "talent?" That is a bit imaginative.

Coltrane on Running
 

I don't think one is better than the other. In fact, I'll retract my comment regarding running being more athletic than cycling and replace it with: neither are that high on the athleticism scale compared to skill sports.

Edited to add: :flowers: