Nothing says Summer Insomnia quite like the Tour De France, except maybe Wilmbledon and soon, The 2008 Summer Olympics. (Although, this year, the Olympics say “Political Oggida” and “WTF” a little bit more, thereby crashing a bit of their late-night charm.) And after turning the thing upside down for some kind, any kind of local hook — there is none, unless you wanna count the ever-so-cute Versus Network, which is owned by Comcast but apparently run out of Connecticut — let us just say it plain: The whole thing is so cute, we could just scream. And there may be nothing more glorious than watching the whole of the French countryside spin out before each night as you fall asleep. At first, we were a little spooked by the aforementioned Versus — who’ve got exclusive rights to the Tour this year — and their Take Back The Tour campaign, but it turns out that this is not some patriotic mumbo jumbo (phew, this whole Fuck The French Movement has gotten tres boring) but is rather some stock extreme sports rhetoric that seems to be the only language Versus can speak. Although we have to give this to them: We also are as obsessed with crash footage as they are. Nevertheless, if it’s Americans you want, you can place all of your hopes and dreams in Team Garmin-Chipotle, who are pretty much the only thing going in American riders this year. And they’re cute, too! Maybe not as cute as these French guys, but still. The Tour De France started on the 5th and runs until the 27th; it’s on Versus pretty much all the time. Get into this, Philadelphia.
Posted by The Rooster