"And they all, my God, with their water bottles in the back, and their stupid hats, and their shiny shorts, they're the same kind of disgusting posers that in a snowstorm come out with cross-country skis on your block. Run them down."Regular listeners to the show recognized this for what it was: shtick - a sarcastic, over-the-top rant, meant to entertain and not to be taken seriously.
"So you tap them. I'm not saying kill them."
Unfortunately, Tony's recent notoriety has apparently brought a number of new listeners to the show who are not familiar with Tony's act. As a result, Tony's comments were taken out of context and resulted in a Twitter confrontation with Lance Armstrong:
"Listening to Tony Kornheiser's comments/rant on ESPN radio re: cyclists. Disgusting, ignorant, foolish. What a complete f-ing idiot."Tony reached out to a mutual friend and apologized to Armstrong both off-air and during an on-air conversation on his radio show.
"Not happy about Kornheiser's comments? Let them know @ESPNRadio980, @ptishow, and here http://www.espn980.com/info/contact_us.php"
During that conversation, Tony asked a question along the lines of "Why do think there's such animus between cyclists and motorists?"
Armstrong responded with something like, "I don't know. Look, motorists will patiently sit behind school buses and farmers on tractors, but they have no patience for cyclists."
Armstrong also provided a scenario along the lines of, "Let's say a 40-something women with a couple of kids decides she wants to lose a few pounds. She goes out and buys a bike. The first time on the bike, a motorist 'taps' her. I can guarantee that she'll be so freaked out she'll never get on a bike again and that's a shame."
I certainly agree that there's no place for that kind of behavior by motorists; you can't be out there with your two-ton car intimidating cyclists. Let me make that perfectly clear, I do not in any way condone any behavior in which a cyclist, pedestrian, motorcyclist, scooter-driver, or other automobile is placed in jeopardy by the actions of a motorist.
The problem, however, is that many cyclists are not aware that a bicycle is classified as a vehicle -- the same as a car, truck, motorcycle, scooter, etc. -- and is subject to the same laws and "rules of the road." It is, for example, illegal in most jurisdictions for a cyclist to weave through cars stopped at a traffic light just as it is illegal for a car, truck, motorcycle, scooter, etc. to do the same. Many cyclists act as if they are exempt from these rules and I think that's where the root of the animosity from motorists comes from.
Do motorists have a responsibility to be on the look out for and drive carefully around cyclists? Absolutely. Cyclists, however, have an equal responsibility to obey traffic laws and operate their vehicles as responsibly as any other motorist.
Why is is that we require motorists, truck drivers, motorcyclists, scooter operators, school bus drivers, etc. to get licensed? Because operation of those vehicles take certain skills and mis-operation of those vehicles can lead to harm to innocent bystanders. Why don't we require cyclists to to get licensed? I have no idea, but we should.
The idea that the 40-something woman in Armstrong's example can just go out, buy a bike, and begin riding on busy streets frightens me as a motorist. I no more want her out there, untrained and unlicensed, than I want some 16-year old kid who hasn't passed his learner's permit test out there driving. Both are road hazards that the rest of us don't need.
This is the point that I think was missing from the exchange between Tony and Lance; namely that the two communities, cyclists and motorists, need to show equal respect to one another. Cycling, like driving, is a privilege, not a right. And, if you abuse that privilege, there are going to be consequences. Again, those consequences should be legal -- no one has a right to "tap" a cyclist.
