Heart and soul
They have these interesting commercials on Versus this year to accompany the Tour de France. Essentially they are ads for their own tour coverage, but the ad campaign is called "take back the tour", and the slogan, which is more manifesto than ad slogan goes, "screw the dopers, politics, and critics, the false allegations and fair weather fans; they ripped the soul out of this race, but the tour doesn't belong to them...it belongs to us."
There are several of these ads. One that just shows a rider coming up one of the harder climbs in the Tour, through a tunnel of fans and has the above slogan flash across the screen. Another that has reverse footage of some of the famous riders who've been caught doping (or were suspected to be doping) set to Paul Weller's Brand New Start.
They're a little cheesy, and a little too obvious in their design, but I have to admit one of them gets to me a little. There's one that shows crashes with a voice over saying that in a sprint finish they're going an average of 40-45MPH and on a mountain descent up to 50-60MPH and then says "next time you're in your car at 50 miles an hour, strip down to your underwear and jump out the door, that's what it's like to crash in a professional bike race"
There are, of course, a few reasons this ad strikes a chord with me. I did spend several years of my life loving a bike racer and, in addition to washing jerseys, and making smoothies, and grilling chicken, and baking cookies, and standing by the side of the road to cheer and hand him fresh bottles of water, I also played nurse maid to a few cases of really bad road rash and worried constantly about the possibility of other, far more dire consequences of bike crashes.
However, lately I'm thinking that the main reason this particular ad might really get to me is because I seem to have more than my fair share of empathy. The past few years some of my friends have been spectacularly mistreated by other friends, spouses, or exes and I, of course, have a lot of sympathy and/or empathy for them, but remarkably I find myself really feeling sad for the people dolling out all the hateful behavior. I'm saying to my friends, who are in pain, how bad I feel for the person who caused them that pain. The really sad thing, I say, is that they can't love anyone, least of all themselves. Imagine how low their self esteem must be, how afraid they must have to be to not even be able to accept love from someone without having to stomp it out(to say nothing of giving love to anyone). I have friends that are so close they're like family to me and so, when I see people who don't really have friends at all, they have acquaintances, or worse "contacts", but no real friends, no real love in their lives, I feel indescribably sad for them.
I know at first glance these two things might seem unconnected (physical pain vs. emotional pain), but if you've had any close contact with bike racers, if you've seen them lose the race lead due to a crash, or have to abandon a race due to a crash, you know the physical pain of their injuries pales in comparison the the emotional pain of coming so close to something and then having in snatched away. You see guys crying when they have to abandon the Tour and I can almost guarantee they aren't crying because of injuries (at least not entirely, or even mostly, because of their injuries)...okay, I can't say for sure that those tears aren't caused purely by physical pain, but if I were a betting woman (and who am I kidding claiming not to be), my money would be on those tears being, at very most, 40% caused by physical pain and 60% by disappointment.
A prime example would be Tyler Hamilton, who's superhuman pain tolerance is legendary, when he had to abandon the 2004 Tour. My guess would be on an even greater disparity, more like 70-30 or even 80-20, between the disappointment and the physical pain. When they have to abandon Tour riders are almost always crying or clearly trying very hard not to. Even Jonathan Vaughters seemed close to tears when he had to abandon the race in 2001 because he'd been stung by a wasp (which he was violently allergic to) and couldn't take anything for it and also stay in the race because the treatments for such an allergic reaction are banned substances. Dave Zabriskie didn't have to abandon the race (at least not right away) when he crashed in the team time trial, but when he crossed the line, alone, his skin suit all torn up, looking down, he looked so sad, it broke my heart. But maybe my heart breaks a little too easily.
There are several of these ads. One that just shows a rider coming up one of the harder climbs in the Tour, through a tunnel of fans and has the above slogan flash across the screen. Another that has reverse footage of some of the famous riders who've been caught doping (or were suspected to be doping) set to Paul Weller's Brand New Start.
They're a little cheesy, and a little too obvious in their design, but I have to admit one of them gets to me a little. There's one that shows crashes with a voice over saying that in a sprint finish they're going an average of 40-45MPH and on a mountain descent up to 50-60MPH and then says "next time you're in your car at 50 miles an hour, strip down to your underwear and jump out the door, that's what it's like to crash in a professional bike race"
There are, of course, a few reasons this ad strikes a chord with me. I did spend several years of my life loving a bike racer and, in addition to washing jerseys, and making smoothies, and grilling chicken, and baking cookies, and standing by the side of the road to cheer and hand him fresh bottles of water, I also played nurse maid to a few cases of really bad road rash and worried constantly about the possibility of other, far more dire consequences of bike crashes.
However, lately I'm thinking that the main reason this particular ad might really get to me is because I seem to have more than my fair share of empathy. The past few years some of my friends have been spectacularly mistreated by other friends, spouses, or exes and I, of course, have a lot of sympathy and/or empathy for them, but remarkably I find myself really feeling sad for the people dolling out all the hateful behavior. I'm saying to my friends, who are in pain, how bad I feel for the person who caused them that pain. The really sad thing, I say, is that they can't love anyone, least of all themselves. Imagine how low their self esteem must be, how afraid they must have to be to not even be able to accept love from someone without having to stomp it out(to say nothing of giving love to anyone). I have friends that are so close they're like family to me and so, when I see people who don't really have friends at all, they have acquaintances, or worse "contacts", but no real friends, no real love in their lives, I feel indescribably sad for them.
I know at first glance these two things might seem unconnected (physical pain vs. emotional pain), but if you've had any close contact with bike racers, if you've seen them lose the race lead due to a crash, or have to abandon a race due to a crash, you know the physical pain of their injuries pales in comparison the the emotional pain of coming so close to something and then having in snatched away. You see guys crying when they have to abandon the Tour and I can almost guarantee they aren't crying because of injuries (at least not entirely, or even mostly, because of their injuries)...okay, I can't say for sure that those tears aren't caused purely by physical pain, but if I were a betting woman (and who am I kidding claiming not to be), my money would be on those tears being, at very most, 40% caused by physical pain and 60% by disappointment.
A prime example would be Tyler Hamilton, who's superhuman pain tolerance is legendary, when he had to abandon the 2004 Tour. My guess would be on an even greater disparity, more like 70-30 or even 80-20, between the disappointment and the physical pain. When they have to abandon Tour riders are almost always crying or clearly trying very hard not to. Even Jonathan Vaughters seemed close to tears when he had to abandon the race in 2001 because he'd been stung by a wasp (which he was violently allergic to) and couldn't take anything for it and also stay in the race because the treatments for such an allergic reaction are banned substances. Dave Zabriskie didn't have to abandon the race (at least not right away) when he crashed in the team time trial, but when he crossed the line, alone, his skin suit all torn up, looking down, he looked so sad, it broke my heart. But maybe my heart breaks a little too easily.
posted by Beth at
5:00 PM
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