ESPN's Tony Kornheiser made some unbelievably stupid statements recently about running over bicyclists because "the last time I looked the roads were made for automobiles". Apparently he was let back on the air (after some sort of inappropriate comment about a woman's clothing) and began bitching about some bike lane that just got put in in his home town of Washington D.C. What he said is actually pretty bad - here's an excerpt:
"They all wear … my God … with the little water bottle in the back and the stupid hats and their shiny shorts," he said. "They are the same disgusting poseurs that in the middle of a snowstorm come out with cross-country skiing on your block. Run 'em down."Let them use the right, I'm OK with that. I don't take my car and ride on the sidewalk because I understand that's not for my car … Why do these people think that these roads were built for bicycles? ... They dare you to run them down."
Tony.... um. That pushes the line even for an edgy baby boomer guy like you.
Lance called Tony a "complete fucking idiot" (thanks, Lance!) and continued to trash him on Twitter with words like "disgusting" and "ignorant".
After reading the U.K. Guardian article (linked above) I went to Facebook tonight to see if there was a "Tony Kornheiser is a Jerk" page or something that I could "fan". Instead, I came across Tony's actual page. It turns out I am late to the dance on vitriolic anti-Tony rhetoric - here's what's currently up on his page:
Ouch - that's pretty harsh, and I am guessing it's only going to get worse until the page ultimately comes down. I bet this also might signal the closing of Tony's career at ESPN as well. Unless he's the token "bad boy" and this part of his contract or something, in which case he'll probably get a bonus for this.
I hate this. As both a cyclist and a MC rider which I bring up because the FB page has him on a MC we both face dangers as vulnerable road users. I get more respect from MC riders on my bike than drivers period. This moron needs to be forced to ride a bike as a commuter for a week to see how it feels.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought that sentencing aggressive drivers to ride a bike made a lot of sense but we don't seem to go in for creative sentences in U.S.
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