By MIKE JONES Associate Editor on Aug 21, 2008, at 2:36 PM Updated on 8/21 at 2:36 PM
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I think the rowing portion of the Beijing Olympics is over. At least I hope so. It's another one of those sports that I never watch except during the Olympics. It's like watching paint dry. But who am I kidding, I like to watch golf on TV.
Now, the real reason I watched a lot of the rowing competition was not to see which sculler or rower or coxswain or whatever they are called do his or her rowing, it was because I was fascinated by that huge group of bicyclists riding alongside peering at the rowers.
I do know that seeing people on bikes is not uncommon in China. There are more bikes than cars. Not knowing much about the sport of rowing, although it seems pretty straightforward - you row hard, you win - I learned by watching the experts who did the play-by-play (or row-by-row) that those folks on the bikes are not locals, but coaches and whatnot, pedaling along shouting instructions and keeping time.
That is when I began to watch the rowing competition not for who won but to see the colossal pileup of bikes when someone swerved. It never happened. But it would have been great TV. I held out hope to the very end. Maybe next time.
Early on in the Olympics I also got interested in the cross-country bike races. Again, not because I have any great interest in bike racing (I never watch the Tour de France), but because I have visited China and they were racing by some of the places where I had been. (And there might be a colossal pileup. It's the same reason I think people watch car racing.)
It's pretty impressive to tell the person on the next barstool that you have been at that place that those bikers just whizzed by. See that? Oops. Too late.
Oh, well. I'll check back in 2012. Maybe then someone won't be paying enough attention and, whoo, boy, colossal pileup.
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