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Credit: Associated Press
Sure, I get that Tony Kornheiser built a career on being a grumpy, surly old guy who hates just about everything under the sun be it cyclist scum, Paul Farhi, or a coworker dressed like a "sausage". He's learned, like Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck, that controversy sells.
So I'll give Post writer Dan Steinberg the benefit of the doubt when he defends Kornheiser's comments as simply a part of the veteran writer's "shtick" rather than an actual call to run cyclists from the road. Still, listen to Kornheiser's tone, and you can see why Lance Armstrong (and a significant percentage of his two-million-plus Twitter followers) are incensed by the remarks, which are indeed callous and brainless.
But that's not the point. It doesn't really matter what a washed up old twit like Kornheiser has to say about cyclists. What's more alarming than what Kornheiser did say is how little we all say about the daily parade of killings the take place on our roadways. In the last few weeks alone, just look at a handful of recent incidents:
*A nine-year-old boy was killed while cycling. (MetroNews)
*An eleven-year-old girl was killed while cycling with her mother. (Daily Reporter)
*A 13-year-old boy was killed in Pennsylvania. (KDKA)
*A 57-year-old woman was doored by motorist and then struck and killed by a bus (Daily News)
Maybe Kornheiser was indeed joking when he encouraged listeners to "tap" those "disgusting crunchy poseurs" who wear their "shiny shorts" and "think they own the road." But the thing is, Tony, that lycra-clad adults training to be the next Lance Armstrong aren't the only people who ride bicycles. There are large numbers of kids and older people who use them as well (often because they aren't eligible for a driver's licence). Are those really people you think motorists ought to "pop a little bit to see what happens"?
More on bike-bashing from the bicycle transportation examiner
Comments
Great posts. As cycling continues to get more and more popular AND gets more and more press, this sort of thing is going to get worse for a while. And anyone who jumps on this bike-bashing bandwagon deserves the same sort of treatment as Kornheiser.
HUGE kudos to a cycling luminary like Lance Armstrong for jumping on him and speaking for all those who, for whatever reason, bike for transportation or any other reason. This is an example of a celebrity using his fame for the right reasons, and it's just another reason he's so justifiably popular.
Power in numbers- the more cyclists there are out on the roads, the safer it will be
I still think the points is that it's unconscinable for ESPN to keep a so called sportscaster that whould use the air waves to encourgage all the gel-brainers out there who REALLY do feel that way!
They're all saying "You Go Tony...You got that right" and feeling validated by his comments! ANY of our loved ones could be the next statistic as a result!
There are jerk cyclists in cities. Just as there are jerk drivers and jerk runners/walkers. If he would have substituted "pedestrian" or "cab driver" it would have passed unnoticed.
Armstrong is just pandering to his base. He and Kornheiser are two of a kind on this point.
All I have to say is if you substituted the word "jew", "woman", or "black" for the word "cyclist" you would have had a criminal case with TK losing his job and most likely ending up in prison for suggesting that it was OK to assault persons with a motor vehicle, but making that same suggestion about people who choose a different mode of transportation is a "joke"? As the victim of a road rage assault because I was riding a bicycle I find this about as funny as "jokes" about rape and child abuse.
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