Today's stage finish up L'Alpe D'Huez was definitely the one to watch. And not just on TV. There were an estimated 1 million spectators lining the 21 turns up the mountain. However, American commentator Bob Roll has a different name for the crazy cycling fans who have been camping on the side of the road for several days, waiting for the fleeting moments of the riders passing by: schloog. Sometimes it's spelled like the german schlug, which comes from german slang for being drunk. The past tense for schlagen (to beat, strike, hit), is schlug, so there you go. Now, if the schloogs get surly and become abusive to the cyclists, Roll calls them schmenges. I have no idea what the etymology of this one is. This year, though, I didn't see any German schmenges spitting on the riders, unlike 2004, when Lance Armstrong was aiming for his sixth win. Not only did he win the stage up L'Alpe D'Huez, but he won the next stage as well. As Armstrong explained his motivation for winning two alpine stages in a row, he claimed "it was just one loogie too many."
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