Bicycle stage racing is similar IMHO - to the uneducated viewer it can be an incredibly boring sport to watch except for the occasional sprint finish or mountain climbing attack. But there's an incredible amount of overall strategy and moment by moment tactics that, once you understand, make for a hell of an interesting viewing experience. Not to mention all of the incredible scenery in the Tour de France and Giro de Italia! And if you ride, you appreciate just how insanely fast they're going. It doesn't always look like it on TV, but if you've ever ridden with high level amateur racers (who couldn't hang with the pros for long at all), you realize that trying to keep up with these guys on their "easy" days would put most of us in the hospital after about 10 minutes...
Great photos too - they really convey the action of the sport, even if we don't have a clue what that action is about...
-Ray