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CNN Live At Daybreak

Interview with Chris Cotter

Aired August 02, 2002 - 06:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to turn our attention now to sports. Joining us to talk about the Tour de France, cycle champ Lance Armstrong and baseball trades, the deadline was Wednesday afternoon by the way, is Chris Cotter of 790 The Zone right here in Atlanta.

Thanks for being with us -- Chris.

CHRIS COTTER, 790 THE ZONE: Oh, it's always a pleasure.

COSTELLO: Yes.

COTTER: Glad to be back.

COSTELLO: Yes. Well the trade deadline in baseball, pretty boring.

COTTER: Came and went without a whimper hardly. A lot of big names staying pat and a lot -- a lot of teams standing pat and not making a whole lot of moves. So you know a lot of us thought, well if there aren't a whole lot of big moves made, maybe that means that the GMs and the ownership of these teams, maybe now they really feel like the teams are going to go on strike. Because if you make a move and you trade away your young players -- or vice versa, if you trade away a lot of good young products for a good big-time player that's going to help you this year, well if there is no this year, then you've traded away part of your future for nothing. So a lot of them want to kind of hold back a little bit and wait to see.

COSTELLO: So you have an inside scoop on that baseball strike thing?

COTTER: I don't have any more of an inside scoop than anybody else, because every day you have one story that says they're setting a date, everybody pay attention. Another day you have another story that says no date is set, players will come out and say nothing has -- nothing's been set yet so.

COSTELLO: If they set a strike deadline and go on strike, they're absolutely, completely nuts.

COTTER: Well now the big thing is in the news lately is September 11 and what are they going to do about September 11. Are they going to strike before, are they going to strike after, what type of an impact is that date going to have on them setting their strike date so.

COSTELLO: Oh yes, I never thought of that.

COTTER: Yes, because last year it was such a big deal to have baseball there as the American pastime for people to be able to go to as somewhat of an outlet. And now the players are actually considering that when they're talking about their strike date as to whether they're going to set it before, after, how that's going to have impact on it.

COSTELLO: Got you.

Let's talk Lance Armstrong because what an incredible athlete.

COTTER: What an unbelievable story (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I mean he goes over to Europe, he wins the Tour de France for the fourth straight time, which is something that's only been done a handful of times in the 100-year history of the event. And this is an event that until the mid-'80s was completely dominated by Europeans. Americans didn't even compete in the event.

Now, Lance Armstrong, not only is he winning the event, but he has turned it into an American sport where you have three Americans finishing in the top 15 in the Tour de France, you have team leaders now on European teams that are Americans. And he's coming back to America to race in one of the post-Tour de France criteriums in -- actually in Lower Manhattan, which is going to be a big deal. They're expecting 250,000 people to show up for this thing...

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Wow!

COTTER: ... down in Lower Manhattan to see Lance Armstrong.

COSTELLO: Two hundred and fifty thousand, gees.

COTTER: Cycling's come a long way in this country.

COOPER: Where's our race? Is it all around Manhattan or?

COTTER: It's going to be around a couple of city blocks. I think it's about -- it's about a kilometer long track.

COOPER: Oh OK.

COTTER: It would (ph) be 100 kilometers in length, which is about 62.5 miles, and just a good opportunity to showcase your skills. Lance Armstrong is going to be out there, and it'll give people in this country a chance...

COSTELLO: Is it just Lance Armstrong? Is there anything else, anyone else in the race?

COTTER: Well you know there will be about 70 other cyclists in the race. But as far as everybody is concerned, really, it's just Lance Armstrong. It's one of these things Tour de France champions throughout the years what they do is after the tour, they'll go and do these what they call criteriums. And they are basically showcase events for them to be able to showcase their yellow jersey that they won in the tour and their teammates and things like that. So for Lance to be able to come to the States and do it, it's a big deal. And I think people if you're not planning on going out there and you're in the, you know, the New York area, you should definitely go out there and see him.

COOPER: Is that this weekend?

COTTER: Yes, it's Sunday. Be Sunday...

COSTELLO: Interested, yes.

COOPER: Well very...

COSTELLO: Yes.

COOPER: We've (ph) both gone up there.

COSTELLO: Something for us to do.

Chris Cotter, thanks for joining us.

COTTER: You're very welcome.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it, and we'll see you next Friday, right?

COTTER: Absolutely, yes.

COSTELLO: Great.

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