December 28, 1972 
We’ve been getting a lot of dumbheads whining about Eddy Merckx’s price for the 1973 VDS season, and Chris & ursula are making me tell you all where to get off so they can go out and play in the snow and stuff (boys! they think they rule the world but I bet we'll have at least 2 women presidents by the time I'm 30). Anyway, 75 points for Eddy is MORE THAN FAIR!!!! Like, he got over 6200 6400 points last year! MSR, Lombardia, LBL, Fleche Wallonne, Brabantse Pijl, l’Escaut [2010 edit: Scheldeprijs], 6 stages plus the overall AND the maillot vert in the Tour!!!, 4 stages plus overall in the Giro, too!!!
You’d have to be, like, a total bonehead not to see that the Cannibal, as they like to call him, is easily worth half your VDS points. He might not get 6000+ again next year, but this was at least the third season he’s gone over 5000, and it’s a fair bet that he’ll get at least that again next year. A just about guaranteed 5000 points for only 75???? That’s a bargain and you know it. Add a couple of solid guys like Gimondi and De Vlaeminck and you’re already at 7000-8000 with just three riders. So jeezum-chreezum, folks—grab Merckx while you can, before ursula gets all, like, nyah nyah, and decides he should really be 80 points!!!!
Just to remind you, below the fold are Eddy’s points for 1972 (source: VeloPalmares):
(photo source: Nationaal Archief which is allowing unrestricted use, see section Flickr the Commons at link)
Milan-San Remo 350
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 350
Tour de Lombardie 350
Flèche Wallonne 250
Flèche Brabançonne (Brabantse Pijl) 150
Grand Prix de l'Escaut (Scheldeprijs) 150
Tour d'Emilie 250
Tour du Piemont 100
Tour d'Italie 600
Tour de France 600
Six étapes du Tour de France 480
Quatre étapes du Tour d'Italie 320
Trois étapes de Paris-Nice 120
Maillot Vert du Tour de France 120
2ème du Grand Prix de Frankfort 125
2ème du Grand Prix E3 200
2ème de Paris-Nice 180
3ème de Gand-Wevelgem 180
3ème du Het Volk 180
4ème du Championnat du Monde 250
days in yellow at tour: 15 300
days in green at tour: 10 100
days in pink at giro: 14 280
Tour stage placings: 3x2nd, 1x3rd, 1x4th, 2x5th 225
Giro stage placings: 3x2nd, 1x3rd, 2x4th, 1x5th = 235
Total: 6210 6445
This does not include edit: now includes Giro stage placings, which I couldn't find, edit: but irishpeloton could or for any of the non-VDS palmares below. Some, like 2nd in the Belgian national championships, definitely wouldn’t have scored points. Others, like the Grand Prix Union and A travers Lausanne probably would have been VDS. It’s not impossible that Eddy’s 1972 season could have ended up between 6500-7000 points. In contrast, the best rider of the past few years hasn’t quite reached 3000.
Merckx 1972 non-scoring palmares (maybe for the fun of it ursula or Chris could decide which races they think would have been included, under which categories?):
Mendrisio
Grand Prix Union
Trophée Baracchi
Escalade de Montjuich
A travers Lausanne
Deux étapes d'A travers Lausanne
Deux étapes de l'Escalade de Montjuich
Magne-Ayeneux
Castelfranco
Zomergem
Tienen
Quiberon
Brustem
Zingem
Plélan-le-Petit
Voghera
Ougrée
Maldegem
Beernem
Sallanches
Momignies
Renaix
Rummen
Woluwe-St Lambert
Boulogne/Mer
2ème du Championnat de Belgique
2ème du Championnat des Flandres
2ème de Putte-Kapellen
2ème du Trophée Laigueglia