Cycling is not football

"Footballers are soft faje"
"Football is a game, not sport"
one thousand and eight memes showing Christiano Ronaldo lying on the ground and pretending to be injured, and next to a cyclist who is riding without skin on her hip

Every time a football match is played, someone on the internet is crying that cycling is not so popular. The same is true when one of our cyclists wins the race, and the media throws it as third-level information. Thanks to social media, we live in a bubble, we surround ourselves with people with similar interests and views. It's a bit like with politics (which I ignore in any public statements) - as if nobody in the "Your Internet" votes for the currently ruling party, but in the vote comes out that most people vote for it. It's the same with cycling - everybody is passionate about it and grasps what is happening in the world, but still, when you ask a random man on the street who he is Kwiatohe answers that he does not know. Because life is not the Internet, and certainly not the one in which you sit.

The riddle of the day: Do you know what this sport is?

No, this is not what you think - but also from India. As I say that with one billion people in the world you will not believe that you have never heard of Kabaddi, I will not exaggerate. It is such a berek, connected with stalking, zbozakiem and stocks. The competition of the professional league is watched by over HALF MILIARDA. They also live in such a sports bubble as we do with cycling.

When I watch the competition on the Pruszków track and throw a photo of the empty stands, everyone is outraged that nobody came. Catch it? Everyone is indignant that there is no one. The perfect place to paste meme straight from the Trench:

Let's think about where this situation is from and if professional cycling, in contrast to the kicked ball, is interested in this topic. I was inspired by the empty bleachers of BGŻ Arena (which have been breaking frequency records lately thanks to some clever organizers' efforts).

1. Money

Gentlemen do not discuss money (because they have so much that they do not have to). Earnings, however, are often in close correlation with popularity, prestige and interest. Here's how they represent themselves among athletes:
Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish or Peter Sagan earn about three million pounds a year. For comparison, millions of people earn: Usain Bolt - 22, Manny Pacquiao - 110, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (NASCAR) - 16, Sachin Tendulkar (Cricket) - 12 and the aforementioned Cristiano - somewhere between 50 and 100. Numbers taken from the Internet, may lie, but it's about scale.

This shows where the most beautiful of all sports in the life of the average bread eater is.

2. Cycling is not a game, it's sport.

The most common statement of the Internet, discriminating against other disciplines. Why cycling is not popular among children and in the backyards? The answer is very simple: just compare how many people and equipment you need to play both. Football is probably the easiest sport to embrace with a beater - it does not require an even ground like basketball, skills like volleyball and equipment like cycling. I think only Kabaddi needs less (because you do not have to make a goal with shoes and balls from anything). If you're interested in something since childhood, your idols that you have on the walls and running them on PS4 are playing exactly the same, a big chance that it will stay that way.

3. Nobody understands cycling

As you watch the marathon in Berlin and see that Bekele and Kipsang run two minutes before the third - you think: "but the boots will beat this race". In an analogous situation, during any spring cycling classic, when you see two riders a few minutes before the peloton ... and you do not know whether it's good or bad. Have you ever tried to explain to a non-player friend what is going on with this cycling as a "team sport"? Exactly - everyone tried and almost everyone failed. Track sprinters standing in place, long hours of escapees caught 500 meters before the finish line, race leaders struggling to not be thrown out of the race for exceeding the time limit in the mountain stages ... you will not embrace.

4. Crowd psychology

I used to watch a TV report on TVP Info about some new coins or something and people crowding under the mint to get it. The reporter asked one of the random customers why this is so, the answer was simple: "I do not know, I'm going for a walk, I look, people are standing, it's also stopped." People do what the crowd does. Everyone at work watching the series? You also have to watch to have something to talk about. If you count on the fact that in the company's kitchen you will talk about the latest Contador attack instead of Manchester's goals - forget it.

The situation changes for a moment in the Tour de Pologne, which is just a classic exception to the rule. They talk about the event in the media, the streets are blocked, in the city traffic jams, towed cars. People are crowding along the route because they want to cross the street, but I can not. They stand and look. Other people come to these watching people, see what the first ones stand for - the circle is spinning. Who goes there, what's going on and how it works, basically no one is interested - you can get a bottle for free! And a hat! Riding among the crowd of fans is great, as you can convince yourself when driving, for example Kinga's memorial - worse, when it happens later in this crowd, it turns out that 90% of it is HWDP and JP100%: people who do not want to be here, but can not escape.

Let's look at it honestly: "Left" is the most popular Pole in the world right after the pope. People love popular people. They read about them on boxes, watch what they eat for breakfast, where they go, what they do and analyze every slip. It drives the popularity further.

Following the blow, I find it embarrassing for any comments, columns and articles offending other disciplines:

"It was not Michael's victory that knocked me down (I will join the group of people who always believed in him), which is the comments of football fans. I knew that they were not eagles of the intellect, but stupid - I admit - I thought that whatever they know about sport, not just on the dug, if they know anything at all ... "

~ http://starzyalejarzy.blog.pl/2017/03/07/o-ogladaniu-goscia-na-rowerze/

... and yes, cycling fans are eagles of the intellect, we have this example at every race, which the Pole can not win ;-)

5. Pedals

The guys ride bikes in leggings, they shave their legs, they do not wear underpants, they lubricate themselves with oil, they exaggerate their weight, and the six-pack can only speak in the context of a set of rice cookies prepared early in the morning. For this we can add a classic image of MAMILA (middle-aged man in lycra), pressed into a suit compressing it by 60%, fighting with the car driver at traffic lights and we have a set. It's even more fun than a guy in sneakers, expensive polo and checked pants, walking with a stick for a small ball.

6. Cycling is beautiful ... and boring

Cycling is the hardest sport in the world, people say in the city. And yes, I suspect that in addition to several ultra-sports, which even more #nikogo, actually 3-week cycling tour may be the most extreme effort. Is sports, however, the most difficult? It is enough to look, for example, at the training of swimmers or marathon runners, in order to create doubts. Just like in the open space, the amount of work that is generated is of no great significance - effects matter.

Even the most hardened fans often turn the race into the last hour of the ride. In sports with ball emotions are non-stop. Reports on cycling races are beautiful: landscapes, curiosities, castles, fudges by the road, a funny fan ...

Complaining that a perfectly documentary or nature documentary (you know: 90% nature, 10% attacks of animals) has worse viewership than a sensational film (even C class) with the participation of several well-known names is strange. That's what the world looks like.

7. There is nobody to support

PZKOL did a good job, at least compared to previous years. They inform about events on our cycling track, they make competitions for fans that are supposed to attract people. I used to naively believe that people do not come because they do not know. This is not true: people do not come because they do not care - even riders. The first comment under the information that there will be a competition for supporters is: "at what time the draw". Awards distributed, half of the people go home. Why? Because there is no emotion.

Sport looks completely different when we have someone to cheer on. If KTK Kalisz from TKK Pacific is racing, I have a problem with the choice. Our friend recently solved this very simply: we threw 1 PLN into the hat, betting on who will win more competitions. Emotions reached the zenith, the game was a blast and in general it was great - like at horse races in Służewiec. I mean, it would be, because it's illegal and we could not do that. Like Keirin in Japan, which owes its popularity to betting rather than cycling: the total sum of bets in this funny sport is in the country of a blossoming cherry, note ... about 30 MILLION PLN.

7. To cheer, you have to be able to

Doping in team sports is simple - you stand and shout, sometimes blowing with a vuvola or waving a flag. From time to time you will give someone in japa, but taking into account the number of supporters - this is not surprising. If they stood in a place and did not do anything, away from any stadium, also someone would give someone in Japan. Visits to Giro, Tour de France, Milan-San Remo, or Route du Sud have taught me that cheering for cyclists is a complicated process. All day "lost" to see them for a few minutes. It took a moment to realize that it was not about these few minutes. This is about the morning expedition to find the best place. Spreading out with a blanket, TV or radio, local beer and a baguette, which we savor during a long-term relationship, or to watch together in a nearby Belgian restaurant where everyone is drunk before the riders start to think about escapes.

Cheering on riders is a completely different art than cheering in stadium sports. Is it really so bad that others are interested in something different, and the media shows what people want to know?