America Loves a Winner....or how I learned to stop worrying and embrace the failed breakaway

Cycling & Soccer, both huge in Europe, are somewhat tepidly embraced by the U.S. sporting public- and that's only if an American/American team is doing well in them. Something in those sports doesn't translate to the U.S. viewing audience.

From my own experience- I started watching Le Tour for Lance and only then realized that he was taking an american approach to the race - while those europeans embraced their tragic losers & fallen heros.

What is it that gets lost in translation? One would think sport is sport and it transcends culture. But those europeans love their scoreless ties in soccer, their Jan Ullrichs', Carlos Sastres', tragic, beautiful, futile breakaways spilling guts down the road.

Maybe it's because we are the world's only superpower, we only respect #1, the winners, the champions. It seems to be a healthier attitude to embrace the humanity in sport, the failure, the loser, the trying & not succeeding. Life is full of much more trying & failing than winning going away.

At least that's my half glass analysis (truthfully, 3.5 beer analysis) - Lil

Tour de France - Stage 20

Bradley Wiggins, you have made all of Britain so proud. Phil & Paul could hardly contain themselves.
I kind of thought that the climb would switch things up a little more then just switching 5th & 6th place. It looked like Frank Schleck had a bad day, which kept him from jumping over Wiggo & Lance.
It is good to see Little Al being a good teammate.....it only took 20 stages, but still he learned.
Chill the champagne, it's on to Paris. -Star

Must be that titanium plate blocks the empathy & strategy part of his brain.

Way to go Wiggo - 4 seconds is 4 seconds. - Lil

US Open Series - Indianapolis

There were seats a-plenty for the match between the two highest seeds - #3 Sam Querry vs #7 Marc Gicquil*. Not exactly a marquee matchup. But with Andy R nursing a bad hip, Rafa with the knees, and Rogerer with two new babies, (WHAT!?!?) it looks like the best they can do.
Glad we didn't get tickets to go out and watch. But watching tennis made my run a little easier. - boo

*In case you are curious about the Gicguil picture, he had just taken a 208KPH serve to the technicals.

Tour de France - the ugly underbelly

Alberto Contador is the next Lance Armstrong. Yes, that statement has been said before and some think that AC will win a lot of Tours de France to come.....but that's not the reason AC will be the next LA. Every race AC wins will have a doping cloud handing over it. For those unfamiliar with the back story, in 2006 several riders were excluded from the Tour because of Operacion Puerto, which was a lab in Spain that was doping athletes. AC and several of his teammates were implicated, but AC was later cleared. But these accusations are going to haunt AC everywhere he races. And on days like today especially. Seriously, taking 3 seconds out of the best time trialist in the world??? There was a rider that beat Fabian last year in the Time Trials, but you won't find he name there any more because Stefan Schumacher got caught doping. His unusually large head should have given him away. I can remember last year Fabian questioning Schumachers ability & rightly so. And I think Fabian is questioning more then just the leading motorbikes in front of AC today. If I was Fabian, I would need to drink more beer.

And it's not just AC that's frustrating.....Frank Schleck also has a black cloud. Which implicates Andy since they are not only brothers but claim to be best friends.

Andreas Kloden doesn't have sunny sky's over him either.

Counting Lance, that is 5 of the current top 6 riders in the Tour de France have been accused of doping. I know Lance claimed that the '08 tour was a "joke", maybe that was because the fans didn't have to hang around with syringe pitchforks. By the way where are last years podium finishers......Carlos Sastre (14th), Cadel Evens (29nd), and Denis Menchov (43rd)???

I'm waiting for those days following the end of the Tour to find out how many riders were caught doping (thanks Floyd Landis). But in some cases is will take longer then that. It looks like this years Giro d'Italia podium will be changing do to a rider getting caught doping.

Thanks for listening it would have been a much rosier post, but after seeing the result of today it broke the collective back of my tolerance. -Annie Oakley

Tour de France - The Queen Stage

We'll start out with the important happenings of today's stage:
-John Elway is a cycling fan. Check out the VS coverage with 114 K to go.
-Everyones favorite Lanterne Rouge, Robert Kenny van Hummel crashed out of the stage with a cut on his knee. I know he didn't land on his face at 70 kpm, but he also isn't !Jens!.
-Thor the God of Thunder is a rockstar. I would like to see Cav solo in front of the peloton up a couple of cat. 1 climbs. Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen.
-Note to any future teammates of Little Al: don't be any good, because if you get close to him in the GC of a major race he will attack and drop you. So don't even offer a raincoat on a climb to him, he may think it has rocks in its pockets and throw it back at you.
-I don't know if it was the fact that VS has a pair of Brits as commentators (I heart Phil & Paul), but they were swearing that Astana and Saxo Bank were very worried about the fact that Bradley Wiggins had been able to hang with the big climbers so far this tour. They believe that Wiggo will be able to kill the ITT tomorrow. I know Phil doesn't always call riders by the correct name, but I believe him.
-Dream scenario: Both of the Schlecks pull a Rassmussen on the ITT. hehehe -Star
I am not sure why I harbor this intense dislike of the Schlecks. They seem like nice enough kids. I think it stems back from Frank making that ridiculous tough face and flexing his non-existent muscles when he won that stage two years ago. Creeped me out, and I can't get past it.
I know Lil is a non-Lance fan, but he really is having a surprising Tour. He is remarkably resilient and I do hope for a podium finish for him. But even if he puts a couple minutes back into the Schlecks, they will take him back out on Mont Ventoux.
And is Nibaldi that tiny, or is LA just that much bigger? He looked like a giant on the run in into the finish. -boo (Is Jock alive?!?!? I'm getting worried...)

Frank Schleck went to "Kobe & Pau's Lamest Faux-Tough Faces School" - he got an A+ - Lil

Oooo yeah, that's the one. *** shudder, skin crawling***

Get better soon ¡Jens!

That's exactily how the conversation went. Then I laughed. - Star

Tour de France - Stage 16

Ok - I was looking on YouTube for Jens' crash. (I haven't watched the stage yet.) But I came upon one super funny video about the top 3 bike fights. You got to check it out. Never mind that it is in Flemish. You get the drift when they mention in English about the "Rumble in the Jungle"! Sorry I know I'm off task, but it was distracting.... - boo

Oh, just saw the crash.... OUCHIE.... Hope he's ok. Between the 70KPH faceplant and the sparks coming off the bike... That kind of made me a little sick to my stomach.



Oh Jens, I was going to post this pic when he won a stage this year. But alas, maybe next year. Get well soon Jens!!!
Good, Bad and Ugly of the stage today:
Good: Dave Z keeping within reach of the GC group, the bombing it down the last decent
Bad: Frank Schleck getting dropped when Jens, his own teammate, is putting in the tempo on the last climb
Ugly: Jens crash - I guess he won't finish 2nd this year Lil
And another Tip of the Hat to Kenny Robert van Hummel. Get this, he lost 34 min today, 7 more then the last group on the road. He is now 3:35 behind Little Al, 45 min behind his closest competitor for the Lanterne Rouge. -Star

As not-a-lance-fan, I have to give him his due. He saw the podium riding away and went after it. In the process he managed to confuse Andy enough that VdV, Dave Z & Gang made it back. Thanks Lance!

¡Jens! - that was too scary-don't do that again. Get better soon. Here's a link to a great Jens article. Sample quote: "The grass is always greener on the other side. Unless Jens Voigt has been riding on the other side in which case it’s white with the salty, dried tears of all the riders whose souls he has crushed." - Lil

Lilly, that article brought me to tears I was laughing so much. -Star

OMG, I know. Laugh out loud funny. Don't read at work.

Another favorite is: Jens Voigt doesn’t have a shadow because he dropped it repeatedly until it retired, climbing into the CSC team car and claiming a stomach ailment.

- Lil

Oh Happy Day... :)

Finally, word this morning that Steve signed a 2 year extension (on top next year's contract)- that's right, 3 years of Can-Jez! Happy Day!

I wasn't ready to break up with him, see how happy he looks with me?

Rest Day - British Open

So, Star, you really think this race is going to go into the time trial undecided? I think it is over right now. The only person who could even "kind of" go with Alberto was Andy Schleck, and he couldn't even come close. I think that, barring someone (read: Little Al) falling off the side of the mountain, young Mr. Contador might have this thing wrapped up.

Also, Jock, let's hear your take on the 59 year old Tom Watson almost taking the British Open. I watched that last putt live, and it almost broke my heart. He is one classy guy, though. It would have been an unbelievable story. - boo

Yep boo, I still don't think the winner will be decided before the ITT. You see there are 2 mountain stages before that. I know Alberto can climb like an angel, but there are a lot of riders that have nothing to lose sitting behind him. And I don't think Alberto trusts his teammates (Lance & Kloden) to chase down other riders since they are both sitting so high up in the GC. So Little Al may try to chase down riders himself, wasting energy.
The ITT is long and flat, yes Little Al is the champion of Spain in the TT, but that's like being the 'most athletic' of our family.*
Oh, and did anyone else notice all the Czech flags on Verbier? How cool is that? -Star

*extra bonus point Star! u so funny.

-dreaming- the entire Astana team falls off the podium and dissolves into a giant hair-pulling cat fight. Which Popo wins, easily.

Wiggins wins the TdF and drinks pint after pint during jersey ceremony, horrifying the french crowd. !Jens! gets second. Vdv ties Levi & GG for third. Dave Z "accidently-on-purpose" sets Jonathon V's sideburns on fire with blowtorch. Most perfect TdF ever......

Tour de France - Boom, Boom and out go the lights!

Ok, Alberto is serious about stopping people from asking 'who is the leader of Astana'. Seriously. Do you want him to ride away really fast uphill again? There are 3 more mountain stages left and he's not afraid of riding alone.
Oh, and he got a really cool prize at the finish, a St Bernard! The dog probably weighs as much as him.
Bradley "Bloody" Wiggins, wow, he can ride uphill really well. Right now he's the only thing keeping Astana from having the top 3 spots. -Star
Little Al was pretty defiant on the podium. As if to say... "that all you got, old man??.." And apparently it was. LA looked a little teary in his interview, as it he just got a giant kick in the pants. But he really could hang onto a podium finish. He still climbs pretty good for being away for as long as he was.
And according to Wikipedia, a full grown St. Bernard weighs 160-250#. Way more than Alberto. - boo
I have to give a 'well done' to Kenny Robert van Hemmel who by losing 45 min today solidified himself as the Lanton Rouge (last place rider). The closest rider is over 40 min ahead.
Well done David Millar, we know how hard it is to write a humorous blog.-Star

I'm a little late on this - surprised, but not really, but kinda with how easy Al rode away. Its his tour now. Will be interesting to see Lance ride for him, it will be frustrating & annoying listening to the american press try to figure it out. If Astana gets all the podium places I'm gonna throw up. yuck.

Oh, and Fab Fabian is a stud. again.-Lil