TheBikeRacer

Please use this link and send a message (or copy the one below) to ESPN about this: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?id=2826900

This week, ESPN columnist Michael Smith used his twitter account to mock two cyclists who were the victim of a horrific crash in the Tour de France. The riders, Juan Antonio Flecha and Johnny Hoogerland, were struck by a vehicle from the race caravan that was attempting to overtake their group. Flecha was thrown to the ground and Hoogerland was catapulted in to a barbed wire fence at high speed. Both received very serious injuries, and Hoogerland in particular was lucky to escape from the crash with no broken bones. These are four of the tweets that Smith made on the subject:

"For real, am I wrong for laughing at that Tour de France crash? Can't get over the driver speeding off as if he didn't know he hit someone!"

"I'm sorry that crash is hilarious. Every. Time."

"It had far been too long since I'd angered an entire community. Today I've managed offend cyclists everywhere. Guess what? It's still funny."

"i'd like to apologize to cyclists, people who ride bikes, people who know people who ride bikes, and even paperboys. Happy? I miss anybody?"

While I understand that ESPN does not control its employee's twitter accounts, I think that Michael Smith's behaviour in first describing a very serious and nearly fatal accident as 'hilarious', then mocking those who were outraged by his statements, was unprofessional and deeply inappropriate. ESPN should hold its staff to a higher standard, and require them to treat serious incidents like this with respect. I was deeply offended by Michael's comments, and I would like to see both an apology from him and an assurance from ESPN that professional athletes from ALL sports will be treated with the respect they deserve, especially when they have been in life-threatening incidents.