Levi interview

by Hons on Jun 27, 2008 3:32 PM EDT

I know that Levi is a polarizing figure in this neighbourhood, but there is a very interesting interview up at Velocity Nation. A huge 'chapeau' to the folks at Velocity nation. They have to have big cajones to interview Levi after the way that he is often portrayed in the 'As the Toto turns'. Like this. Or this.

But they did. And asked a number of interesting questions that usually get avoided. I guess when you've portrayed someone at a finger-sandwich-serving-whiner it makes it easier to ask "So...what's it like to be not Lance?" Or "at what point did you realize that you were going to have to work for Bert and have your dreams crushed...again?"

Levi also discusses some interesting points about the French psyche.

Personally, I found that this interview tapped into a more human side of Levi that often doesn't get portrayed in other interviews. Go check it out. Good stuff.

2 recs | Comment 42 comments

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Great read!

BTW, I flirted with promoting this diary to the front page, but I can’t in good conscience run VelocityNation’s artwork like that.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Jun 27, 2008 2:31 PM EDT 0 recs

Better?

I can never decide whether to post pics or links. I guess with art like that links makes more sense.

by Hons on Jun 27, 2008 3:06 PM EDT up 0 recs

Pics are OK

Artwork… I suspect they wouldn’t mind if we used it, but it’s a little more personal, I’d want to hear from them first.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Jun 27, 2008 3:32 PM EDT up 0 recs

Excellent interview

Their typical snark worked wonders with getting Levi to open up and talk about things that we all want to know about.

by PopUp Rolen on Jun 27, 2008 3:08 PM EDT 0 recs

Vuelta

That’s good news that Levi is going to the Vuelta. I thought I had read that he wasn’t.

by ursula on Jun 27, 2008 3:15 PM EDT 0 recs

Good find Hons. Appreciate it.

"Hey, hey, settle down boys and girls or Krusty will have to bring out his old friend Corporal Punishment again."

by Drew... on Jun 27, 2008 4:00 PM EDT 0 recs

I'm guessing this has been discussed to death around here, but...

Since I’m pretty new to this blog, I’ll ask anyway – does the decision not to invite Astana to the Tour seem more than a little lame? I realize there’s no love lost between ASO and Johan, but politics and spite?
Levi from the interview…

And I think secondly it’s convenient for them because they never really liked Lance, basically because he won the race, and the French don’t like winners. You look back at Fignon, for example. He won the Tour twice, at a very young age, and he wasn’t very popular in France until he lost the Tour to Lemond, and then he was a hero. So they had a history of really rooting for the loser, so to speak.

Ridiculous.

by cavortingEagle on Jun 27, 2008 6:11 PM EDT 0 recs

Plenty of spite

First, welcome!

Also, yeah, nobody thinks ASO is doing this to prevent doping at the Tour. Levi’s painting with a pretty broad brush regarding the French, but his criticism of ASO is pretty hard to argue with. I get the hitting back at Astana for last year, but the fact that they didn’t hit back at T-Mobile or Rabobank suggests a far less defensible grudge.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Jun 27, 2008 6:29 PM EDT up 0 recs

I'll argue with it

Well, I’ll argue with Levi’s criticism of ASO.

His xenophobic stereotyping of the French as “not liking winners” speaks for its own idiocy, so I’ll move on to the doping issue. Unlike Rabobank and Cofidis, Astana was given the benefit of the doubt and a second chance last year, after the team was excluded from the 2006 Tour for having five riders on the OP list. Last year, just like this year, Astana assured ASO that the team was completely different, and should not be blamed for past mistakes. ASO took their word for it, and was rewarded with Vino’s positive for blood doping after he had just won the time trial stage.

I think the refusal of Bruyneel, and now Leipheimer, to acknowledge that there could be any legitimacy to ASO’s concerns after what happened the past two years is disingenous, and the attempt to blame the team’s exclusion exclusively on personal animosity or steretyped “French” characteristics is distasteful.

by Tifosa on Jun 27, 2008 7:26 PM EDT up 2 recs

+1

"I won! I won! I don't have to go to school anymore." -- Eddy Merckx, after winning his first bike race

by ELVISGOAT on Jun 27, 2008 7:41 PM EDT up 0 recs

Good point.

I yield the remainder of my time to the Senator from… Tifosa.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris... on Jun 27, 2008 8:07 PM EDT up 0 recs

I'm not a fan of splitting the difference, but

I think I’m going to take a view from the middle, here.

First, I think there is more spite than anything else weighing in on ASO’s side in the Astana exclusion. Further, I think that Astana was more reasonable in talking about it when it first happened (and somewhat acknowledging the history of the team), but now that it’s clear they’re not in, I can imagine being less concerned about being respectful and thoughtful in talking about it.

But you’re dead on in the jackassery that is the French bashing. That is beyond old, and I think it speaks to LL’s character that he went pretty heavily with it. We all love the occasional joke, but that seemed a pretty sincere theme on his part.

by Sui Juris on Jun 27, 2008 8:20 PM EDT up 0 recs

+1

Thinking hard - really hard - of something witty to say....

by Cyclingrush on Jun 27, 2008 10:07 PM EDT up 0 recs

In defense of Levi - Also remember

this is an interview on paper and not video so we do not know what exactly Levi said. I don’t trust written media. Who really knows what Levi’s tone or context was when he said that or if that’s exactly what he said. (Except the interviewer that is.) I work for a politician and see all the time the way media changes something the interviewee said just a tad to get a little more oomph from an interview. Granted, I have no love for politicians either but it goes both ways.

Just here for the view

by ZoeRochelle on Jun 28, 2008 12:14 PM EDT up 0 recs

what she said.

molto bene!

by gavia on Jun 27, 2008 9:14 PM EDT up 0 recs

brava

by lyne on Jun 27, 2008 10:01 PM EDT up 0 recs

Hummm...

I hadn’t really picked up on any xenophobia in that interview on my first reading, but it’s certainly there – we sure as hell don’t need that.

Who is the interviewer? Schmalz? Once Levi broke out with generalizations about French cycling fans, Schmalz really seemed to push it and that part of the interview morphed from (IMO) justified criticism of ASO to general criticism of the French…

Regarding Bruyneel’s refusal – I would argue that the management group of Astana during the past 2 years are no longer part of the team. So, should the repercussions for the “sins of the father” be visited upon Bruyneel and Co? Especially when T-Mobile and Rabobank are good to go…

by cavortingEagle on Jun 27, 2008 10:51 PM EDT up 0 recs

I can't agree with your argument.

Astana is not remotely like the past two editions. Bruyneel is the team manager where as last year he was with the tour winner Discovery as the DS and there has been significant changes in who is running the program and how it’s run . Astana now has adopted the highly regarded Damsgaard system for checking on it’s own riders use of banned substances, that was not the case last year with the team known as Astana.

It can be argued that Rabobank should be banned this year because they haven’t made any significant changes in their management nor do they test their own athletes. I believe they knew that they were sending an untested ~:> to the tour. They are in the same position that Astana were in last year and they are invited to the party, ASO would be in a better position to demand that Rabobank make some changes based on their past experiences with that teams management.

There is, IMHO, no sound reason for ASO to single out Astana. What they are doing in effect is punishing a sponsor, There is no sense in that at all. That said it doesn’t necessarily mean that Levi or anybody else should blame the people of France for their predicament. He’s probably been asked so many times at this point that he can only come up with lame answers to the question, he’s paid to ride a bike first and foremost, interviews are not his forte.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. - G. Marx

by flying dog on Jun 28, 2008 12:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

The argument that makes th most sense to me

Is one that you mentioned in your last paragraph….they are punishing the sponsor. This perspective has been very well laid out at the team chef’s blog, The virtual Musette.

by Hons on Jun 28, 2008 3:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

Ridiculous indeed!

Is there any other sport(s), where the defending champ/team is not allowed to defend his/it’s title?

Sastre says:
“If Contador & Astana were allowed to race, the race would probably be very different, and an asterix remains on the winner since Contador is not there, BUT (and I agree with this one completely) the one who comes to Paris “fastest” deserves the victory. “

Just too bad that the best teams and riders are left out….

by Bruce Suomi on Jun 27, 2008 6:55 PM EDT up 0 recs

Regardless

of ASO and their motives they made it pretty clear when they bought into the Vuelta that they think of it as a one year punishment for Astana, so I’m copasetic in letting this arguement go and next year we’ll have two defending champions for even more intrigue.

by ursula on Jun 27, 2008 9:01 PM EDT 0 recs

The Unthinkable

Of course the most fun next year could happen if Landis were found innocent and he joined a Tour team: THREE defending champs! One can dream even if I can’t imagine ASO allowing it.

by ursula on Jun 27, 2008 9:04 PM EDT up 0 recs

Somethings bugging me

And that’s the whole “There will be an asterix beside the 2008 results because the defending champ wasn’t there” argument. It’s kind of bullshit.

Every year the lineup at any particular year will be different. And as a result, every year, the race will have a different flavour. When Lance didn’t return to the tour in 2006 did they put an astrix beside ~~Landis~~ Pereiro’s name (bad example)....what about the 2008 LBL when DiLuca wasn’t there. Should there be an astrix beside Valv.piti? What about Paris-Nice…astrix? 2005/2007 Vuelta? Oooh, even better…should we alter how we think about the 2008 Giro because Cunego wasn’t there? I know, everyone love a grunge rematch, but we’re not talking about cage wrestling here.

Will the Tour be different because Bert n Levi aren’t there (you have no idea how badly I wanted to write ‘ernie’ there). Yes, absolutely. But should that change how we think about the results…no. Personally, I’m looking forward to it. I think it might turn into a very exciting race.

And no, I’m not receiving a pennie from ASO.

by Hons on Jun 27, 2008 9:41 PM EDT 2 recs

If Albert is Bert and Levi is Ernie,

who is Kloeden? The Cookie Monster? Oscar the Grouch? Big Bird?

Thinking hard - really hard - of something witty to say....

by Cyclingrush on Jun 27, 2008 10:08 PM EDT up 1 recs

i'll go with big bird

the height thing, you know

by gavia on Jun 27, 2008 10:11 PM EDT up 1 recs

Oh snap!

And a nickname is born!

by ursula on Jun 27, 2008 10:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

lol

i’m going to need a cheat sheet to keep track…

by gavia on Jun 27, 2008 11:52 PM EDT up 0 recs

Personally

I think he deserves Oscar the Grouch due to his surly disposition.

by Hons on Jun 27, 2008 10:28 PM EDT up 0 recs

yesss

i was really torn over that. but he just looks like big bird, dontcha think?

by gavia on Jun 27, 2008 11:52 PM EDT up 0 recs

Plus

its so silly in a mocking way. Big Bird is truly a weird nickname for Klodi. I remember when I was little there was a baseball player for my Baltimore Orioles who was nicknamed “Death to flying things”. Big Bird isn’t quite as good but its still odd.

by ursula on Jun 28, 2008 12:33 AM EDT up 0 recs

can we have both the accountant and the count?

because…see for yourself.

(No hip little beard, though. Guess he’ll have to grow one.)

by JFS_PGH on Jun 28, 2008 12:36 AM EDT up 0 recs

lol

by lyne on Jun 28, 2008 12:44 AM EDT up 0 recs

Bizarre Interview

It’s nice that many non-French noted the nasty generalizations. In the USA at least, there is a free pass for French bashing usually.

The middle of the interview was pretty bizarre. Were they briefly discussing 2009 Tour de France strategy?

by cyclingchallenge on Jun 28, 2008 11:12 AM EDT 0 recs

This is a written interview. No video proof here.

...asked a number of interesting questions that usually get avoided.

The middle of the interview was pretty bizarre. Were they briefly discussing 2009 Tour de France strategy?

I agree. That’s why I am giving it very little credit. Yes, I am a Levi fan and will defend him if I feel it is needed. This interview does not match his personality or character as I have seen it up til now, too much of it doesn’t sit right. I am not saying he didn’t or did say it exactly as reported but I reserve any judgement.

Just here for the view

by ZoeRochelle on Jun 28, 2008 12:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

I agree

The written word can contain so many different connotations it’s often hard to ascertain what was actually meant.

Take for instance the colloquialism: Holy Shit!
as in:
Holy shit! Did you see what Floyd did on stage 17?

Depending upon when that question is asked there are two totally different connotations for the introductory exclamation – amazed or disappointed.

Writing well and getting a clear message across are challenging indeed.

by cavortingEagle on Jun 28, 2008 2:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

transcription

Hey guys, this is Andy Shen. I draw and co-write the Toto cartoons, I also transcribed the Levi interview for Schmalz, mainly because I type fast. Schmalz sent me the entire mp3 file of the phone interview, and I typed it out almost verbatim, only eliminating excessive ‘um’s’ and ‘you know’s’, as well as some crosstalk. Granted, you can’t hear the tone of his voice, but rest assured that the words are faithful. I suppose Schmalz could give up the mp3 file to prove it, assuming that he has it saved.

by andys on Jun 28, 2008 7:24 PM EDT 1 recs

Who was the guest collaborator

in the strip with Marv Albert and Kobe? Great job with As The Toto Turns. It’s genius.

by kalais on Jun 28, 2008 9:15 PM EDT up 1 recs

collaborator

Thanks for the kind words. That Toto was from Zabriskie, during another Schmalz interview:

http://www.velocitynation.com/article.aspx?ID=2245&CID=58

by andys on Jun 29, 2008 10:10 AM EDT up 0 recs

Love the As The Toto Turns

you guys do! The DZ ones were awesome. Not sure if you typed up the Meatball one but I enjoyed that interview as well.
Thanks!

"The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed."

by nikki on Jun 28, 2008 9:29 PM EDT up 0 recs

grazie!

i was hoping one of you would drop by with that sort of information. not that i had any reason to doubt that the interview was accurate. you kids know your stuff.

so heart the toto :-)

by gavia on Jun 29, 2008 12:04 AM EDT up 0 recs