East Coast Bias

Tour de France: Stage 7

brienc@gmail.com (Brien) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:09:00 +0000

The mountains! We’re finally into the mountains! The Tour climbed out of Barcelona today to pay a visit to its second principality: Andorra.

As expected, Astana paced the peloton for most of the day, but unexpectedly, they allowed a breakaway to put more than 12 minutes between them at the start of the stage. The lead group of the peloton narrowed the gap, but allowed them to finish just far enough ahead to put relative unknown Rinaldo Nocentini in yellow.

Judging from the way his Wikipedia page looked prior to yesterday (the last edit was on April 23), no one had much to say about Nocentini. Now he’ll have his 15 minutes of fame before handing over the maillot jaune to one of the overall contenders tomorrow.

Behind Nocentini and the rest of the breakaway, the big names of the Tour were battling for position. Early in the big climb to the finish, previous leader Fabian Cancellara was unceremoniously dropped off the back of the peloton. Several other contenders tried to break off the front of the pack, but none succeeded until Alberto Contador absolutely spanked the rest of the field and crossed the finish line 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the leaders.

None of the big names lost too much ground, and it’s still anyone’s race, but Contador definitely made people take notice. He’s only 6 seconds behind Nocentini, but also only 2 seconds ahead of Lance Armstrong. The battle for the lead of Team Astana is far from over.

Rider of the Day

All due respect to Nocentini and shocking stage winner Brice Feillu, but this was Contador’s day. He made his mark on this year’s Tour and showed that he won’t be content to stalk Armstrong until the old man falters. He’s going to go out there and show that he’s a stronger climber than anyone else in the race.

Reasons I Love the Tour #7 – Surprise Yellow Jersey Holders

Every once in a while, someone comes out of nowhere to take the lead of the Tour de France. Normally it happens before the mountains, if a breakaway gets far enough ahead to put one of its members into the overall lead, but this year it happened on the first mountain stage. Nocentini has no illusions of winning the Tour de France, but for the rest of his career and the rest of his life, he’ll be known as a former yellow jersey holder. Even if he accomplishes nothing else in his career, no one can take that yellow jersey from him (well, except for tomorrow, when Alberto Contador does).

Tour de France: Stage 6

brienc@gmail.com (Brien) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:56:00 +0000

Well, that was to be expected. A flat stage on a rainy day right before the start of the Pyrenees was bound to attract a breakaway that the peloton would only half-assedly try to catch. In the end, the breakaway was caught on the slight uphill to the finish.

Barcelona looked beautiful, but the rain kind of dampened the scenery today. The wet streets also claimed many riders, with crashes around the turns in the final few kilometers.

The past week has all been prelude to tomorrow’s ride up to Andorra. Look for Contador to try to make his mark on the race and put Lance Armstrong in his place. Lance is likely to ride conservatively, content to ensure that he doesn’t concede too much time to any of the other big names. I think you’ll see one of the main contenders win tomorrow, and one or two others will concede a lot of time.

Rider of the Day

David Millar – he rode on his own for much of the last 25K, and he nearly pulled off another successful breakaway. While his breakaway partners gave up (even Amets Txrruka, which was surprising), Millar continued fighting through the streets of Barcelona, looking for a stage win.

Reasons I love the Tour #6 – Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen

I’m not sure I ever would have been able to get into the Tour de France if these two weren’t covering it. They make long stages where not a lot is happening still be really interesting. Phil and Paul have a real knack for making cycling accessible for newbies, while still teaching things to people who have been watching the Tour for years.

Tour de France: Stage 5

noreply@blogger.com (Russell) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:03:00 +0000

Another supposedly flat sprinters' stage and another unexpected result. Every flat stage, many of us watch and wonder why a few crazy riders get out there and work hard all day just to get caught by Brien's "beast", the peloton. But today's stage showed why they do it, as Thomas Voeckler and Mikhail Ignatiev edged the peloton at the line by the slimmest of margins. After leading all day in a breakaway of 6 riders, Voeckler had enough energy left to edge the peloton by 7 seconds. Ignatiev finished second in front of the sprinters, but it was so close that he received the same time as the entire peloton.

Can anyone out-sprint Mark Cavendish?

Today's results again force us to wonder about the strength (or the lack thereof) of this year's peloton. Two days ago in crosswinds, Columbia broke away en masse from the peloton and complained that no other teams have been pulling the sprinters' teams forward. In stage 5, the sprinters' teams were unable to reel the breakaway in for a sprint finish with a stage victory on the line. You could blame it on crosswinds and the splintering of the peloton at times, fatigue after the team time trial, or the weakness of the bottom half of the peloton. But the reality is that the teams of the major sprinters were rarely seen at the front and failed to do the job for their men most of the race. Astana and SaxoBank did the bulk of the work, and Cancellara was even seen pulling the peloton, a shockingly rare sight to see the yellow jersey leading the full pack over flat roads. Where are QuickStep, Cervelo Test Team, Milram, etc.? Anything truly is possible with this weak peloton. We'll have to watch each and every stage this year.

Rider of the Day
This has to go to Thomas Voeckler, winning the stage from the breakaway with a huge effort. It's always nice to see a Frenchman get a stage in his home country, mainly because few French riders or teams will figure in the rest of the race.

It's worth noting here that even though the sprint was not for the yellow jersey, Cavendish and Team Columbia again won it. His third place finish extended his lead with the green jersey and made Team Columbia 3 for 3 in sprints this year. Pretty impressive.

Reason to love the Tour #5: The Breakaway
Almost every stage, 5 or 10 riders spend all day out in front like rabbits for the peloton, hoping against hope that the peloton will screw up. Usually these are riders with no other chance at glory, workers frequently from lesser teams, nonames of the professional ranks. Each and every victory by one of these men is the highlight of their career. How often in sports does the last man on the roster even make it on the field or the slowest guy on the field get to score the winning point/goal/shot? If this happened during the Olympics, we would never hear the end of how heartwarming this longshot story is. (Granted, Voeckler is not that unheard of, but these comments are true for most breakaway members.)

IRL Street Series Race in Baltimore in 2011?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:25:00 +0000

So I am far from the resident contributor to ECB with any wealth of auto racing expertise. Hell, beyond what I gleaned from playing Al Unser's Turbo Racing for the old NES System, I have almost no auto racing knowledge.

That said, who needs to have auto racing knowledge to be excited about this news? The IndyCar Racing League (IRL) is looking at downtown Baltimore for the site of a new street race in the Indy Series, joining St. Petersburg, FL, and Long Beach, CA, as the only American cities to host a street race! Presently IRL would like to add Baltimore to its 2011 schedule.

Could this stretch of Pratt Street along the Harbor soon be home to cars going over 150mph?

The proposed course, much love to The Baltimore Sun

Presently, public sentiment seems to be strongly in favor of Baltimore hosting this race. According to a poll presently appearing on the Sun's webpage, just shy of 85% of the 1250+ voters are in favor of Baltimore hosting the IRL race.

What are the downsides? Obviously many, many, many streets would have to be closed down for such a race. But the race would take place on the weekend and traffic would be minimal. Further, most people could take public transit into the event. Another downside is that the Harbor area would essentially be shut down aside from the event. But if you have thousands of people coming to the Harbor especially for this event, I don't think that the merchants are going to worry about other tourists being kept away. Safety and noise are also concerns of Baltimore's elected officials (some of whom may or may not steal gift cards to Best Buy designed to go to poor kids). Let me tell you this... after living in Baltimore for three years, I actually think that the prospect of debris flying from cars going upwards of 150 mph in an IRL race is safer than strolling the streets of Baltimore on an average weeknight. And noise... we're talking daytime. It'll be loud though, no doubt.

What are the upsides? Many. You get to feature downtown Baltimore and its very picturesque waterfront and harbor in a very positive way (for as much shit as I do give Baltimore, and I do give it shit, everybody knows that I have much love for Otterbein, Mount Vernon, Federal Hill, Locust Point, Little Italy, and the Harbor). More importantly, with Preakness and Maryland's horce racing industry facing an uncertain future, you are able to host an event which will bring in up to an estimated $100 million dollars in tourism revenue over the four days that the city would host the leadup to the race and the race itself.

Finally, the IRL would have the ability to spread some love for auto racing into what is presently the abyss between Dover/Richmond Speedways and New Hampshire Speedway. New York, Pennsylvania, and the DC area comprise a 200-mile long mass of humanity, and probably less than 2% of the millions whom live there could name an IRL driver other than Helio Castroneves (Dancing with the Stars) and Danica Patrick (media saturation). Street courses are the most fun type of racing to watch, as you can see cars tearing down the streets that are normally reserved for dense downtown traffic. It's dangerous, it's fun, and it's a lot more visually appealing than watching cars circle tracks.

My advice - keep your mouth shut, Baltimore, and don't blow this one.

Tour de France: Stage 4

brienc@gmail.com (Brien) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:33:00 +0000

I’m really glad the Tour organizers decided to bring back the team time trial. I’m especially glad they planned it on such a difficult course. Bicycle crashes are awesome. People normally don’t get hurt too badly, but they look crazy. Today’s stage offered plenty of crashes amongst the hard riding throughout the stage.

The time trial allowed some real separation between the main competitors for the yellow jersey, even pushing some out of the picture (at least for now). So, my pre-tour pick of Denis Menchov isn’t looking too good. Let’s not speak of that again.

Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel seem unbeatable in the team time trial, winning the past four times the event has been contested. I’m not sure if they train better for it, or if they just have a stronger team, but no other team seems able to compete with them in the team time trial.

Now that Lance is in within a second of yellow, we’ll start to get even more speculation about who the leader of Astana is. It really won’t matter until Friday.

Now the Tour spends two flat days along the Mediterranean coast before climbing up to Andorra on Friday. That’s when you’ll start to see who has a chance to win the yellow jersey.

Rider of the Day

Team Garmin (OK, it’s a team not a rider, but this was a day for the teams) rode a very impressive race, intentionally dropping some of their sprinters to finish with only 5 riders at the lead (the time for the whole team is the time of the 5th place rider). They took a big risk in dropping riders early, but it really paid off as their strongest riders were able to keep up the pace throughout the course. In the end, they were the only team that could compete with Astana.

Reasons I Love the Tour #4 – Time Trial Helmets

You don’t often see serious athletes looking so silly in pursuit of performance. I understand the aero advantages of the “teardrop” helmets, but they look ridiculous. I can’t help but laugh when I see riders wearing them. It’s great for some comic relief. Road Bike Action has a too-serious roundup of time trial helmets.

My Take on the Latest Confederate Flag Flap

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:17:00 +0000

So since my theme of the week seems to be Atlantic Coast Conference news, I'll take this topic on. The Atlantic Coast Conference has moved the 2011, 2012, and 2013 ACC Baseball Championships out of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, because of South Carolina's refusal to take down a display of the confederate flag from the state capitol grounds. The tournament will be moved to various locations in North Carolina.

The article on Fox Sports is a fairly good read, giving much of the history of the dispute, the positions of the various parties, and the ACC's rationale for moving the baseball tournament.

Indulge me in a post where I will speak plainly about my feelings on this issue. I'm certain that many will disagree with my position, including possibly some of my co-contributors on ECB. That, my friends, is the beauty of the blog.

For our loyal six readers, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I am a member of The Tribe... the Chosen People, if you will (I'm Jewish for those of you who are really dense and don't get those references). I really don't consider myself an oppressed minority. There were no shortage of Jews in suburban DC where I grew up. Hell, now I'm a lawyer... I'm not exactly a minority in my profession. I've put up with my share of Jewish jokes in my life. And, in fact, most of them I find genuinely funny. I may have even told a few of them. I think on those occasions when I laugh when somebody tells me a Jewish joke, I know that they are doing it with no hatred in their heart, and no true ill will in telling the joke. Stereotypes exist, maybe they shouldn't, that's neither here nor there, but that doesn't mean that they're not fodder for some good chuckles every now and again.

Now, we reach the issue of the Confederate Flag. This is an issue that is entirely different to me. To some, the Confederate Flag is nothing more than a proud symbol of Southern identity. I understand that. However, there can be no disputing that to another segment of people, probably smaller, the Confederate flag represents something very different - hatred.

Let me digress and tell a very personal little story, which is rare for this blog. Growing up in Montgomery County, Maryland, I wasn't too far from a rural area of the county (yes, they did actually exist at one time and they exist to this date, even though they are fewer and more far in between now). On my way to the field where most of my Little League games were held, there was a huge house, set back across a large field. In front of that house, a large version of the Confederate Flag flew proudly in front. There was no American flag. It was also a fairly open secret that Klan meetings took place there. Not necessarily in full white hoods with cross burnings like Tennessee in 1925. But meetings, nonetheless. Every time I drove past there, as soon as I was old enough to understand the fairly open secret and who the Klan was and what they represented, I could feel a pit in my stomach when I passed there. It wasn't a worried feeling. It was more just a sad feeling that there were people in the world, people who lived just minutes from my house, people whose kids went to the same middle school as I did and who likely played in my same little league, who I knew hated me for nothing more than the religion that I happened to be born into. To this day, the Confederate Flag flies in front of that house. To this day, when I drive along that same road and I see that Flag on that property, I feel that same pit in my stomach. To this day, when I see a Confederate Flag bumper sticker, I can't help but feel that same pit in my stomach - I have no idea whether the Confederate Flag represents identity or hatred to that driver - but the fact that it may represent hatred is enough for all of us to feel sorrow. And please believe me... I think Brien, J-Red, and Russell can vouch for the fact that I'm about as far from joining the Anti-Defamation League as you will find.

Alone it's not much of a problem...

But for those of you who want us to lay off your Flag, because it's only about your Southern heritage, so long as these guys use your Flag for their own symbolism, it's a problem:

Like it or not, to those people to whom the Confederate Flag represents nothing more than pride in being from well south of the Mason-Dixon line, you need to understand that so long as there exists a minority of people who grasp onto the Confederate Flag as a symbol of bigotry and hatred, the Confederate Flag will continue to be spurned the same way it is by the ACC, the NCAA, and most other professional sports leagues. This was a move that I'm glad the ACC made.

Tour de France: Stage 3

brienc@gmail.com (Brien) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:17:00 +0000

I was writing this while watching Stage 3, and I had a whole post written about about how formulaic these flat stages can be, with an early breakaway caught close to the finish. Oops. This was about as exciting a flat stage as you’ll see.

The move by team Columbia was shocking. I expected all the teams to take it easy leading in to the team time trial, particularly Columbia, who did a lot of work in stage 2.

It’s great to see teams making aggressive moves early in the race trying to change the GC picture on a flat stage. This year’s Tour is wide open, with Lance Armstrong in great position.

The big question is how Astana reacts to Lance taking a 20 second lead on Contador. Does Johan Bruyneel see this as a fluke, or more reason to make Lance the team leader?

Cavendish won the sprint (again), and at this point he looks unbeatable when he’s in even decent position at the finish. I’d love to see the odds on him to end the Tour in the green jersey. They have to be asking 1/5.

Tomorrow brings the return of the team time trial for the first time since 2005. It’s an interesting stage, particularly because it’s so different from every other stage. We’re likely to see Astana dominate the field, with Saxo Bank and Columbia battling for second. I doubt Astana will gain the :40 on Saxo Bank necessary for Armstrong to take yellow away from Fabian Cancellara. I’ll be cheering for team Skil Shimano because I’m always happy when I recognize the sponsors of these foreign teams.

Rider of the Day

Lance Armstrong – The 37 year old former champ is back. Don’t underestimate the effect Armstrong’s accomplishment will have on the race as a whole. The battle for the lead of Astana was going to be decided (at least provisionally) early in the Tour. Lance just staked his claim, and Contador is going to have to try to respond in the Pyrenees, or end up supporting Lance through the Alps.

Reasons I Love the Tour #3 – The Peloton

The peloton is the hive mind of the Tour de France. No single rider or team can decide whether to allow a breakaway to get away, or to immediately reel it back in. Nor can any small group decide when to go after a break that has gotten away. The peloton seems to arrive at these decisions as a whole. And it’s fast. On flat stages, the peloton can easily outpace any smaller group of riders.

The scene as a breakaway is getting caught, when there are a few riders trying to hold on just seconds ahead of the thundering herd is breathtaking.

All of which makes it even more stunning when the peloton is beaten. When a breakaway succeeds, or when the peloton breaks into pieces on a mountain stage, you feel as though you’ve seen something mighty be conquered.

ACC Football Realignment in 2015?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeremy) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:03:00 +0000

Could ACC football alignment be in the works? For those who don't know, divisions are presently aligned as follows:
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ACC Atlantic:
Boston College
Clemson
Florida State
Maryland
NC State
Wake Forest
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ACC Coastal:
Duke
Georgia Tech
North Carolina
Miami
Virginia
Virginia Tech
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Presently, every season, each team plays each of their five intra-division teams once, plays one inter-division "traditional rival" (e.g. Maryland/Virginia ... FSU/Miami), and then the remaining two conference games are random inter-division games (e.g. Maryland/Virginia Tech).
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According to a very brief article appearing last month in The Orlando Sentinel, the head of the Florida State Seminoles booster club wrote to their athletic director urging him to lobby for realignment of the ACC Divisions in football. Now, to me, it seems that FSU has a lot more to worry about other than realignment. Like not forfeiting seasons' worth of victories. And the ACC made it be known that they can not realign until 2015 at the earliest, as football schedules are apparently set through that year.
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Here's the proposal from Florida State (and how it is of imminent interest to us here at ECB): Maryland be swapped with Georgia Tech - Maryland would move to the ACC Coastal Division and Georgia Tech would move to the ACC Atlantic Division.

You can never go wrong with a picture of J-Red's favorite Duke football player - Dan Erdeljac. Not an easy picture to find.

So how does this Terp fan feel about it? Well, about the only bad part of this is that I'd be sad to see Clemson off our calendar every year, I'd actually be all in favor of this move. The Terps will soon be playing West Virginia every season once again. Thus, if the Terps were in the Coastal Division, every season we would play all our border war games (Virginia, Virginia Tech, WVU). We'd draw UNC every year who is a traditional rival from the very beginnings of the ACC and who arouses much more of a sense of rivalry from Terp fans than Wake Forest. Our new "traditional rival" who we would play every year would likely become Georgia Tech, which isn't that great. We'd play Miami every year in football which I feel like before not too long is going to be a huge test again, and which gives the alumni the opportunity every two years to hit South Florida for a road game. And, of course, we'd get Duke on the schedule every year... easier than a 1-AA game.

Here's what it boils down to - I'd prefer to play Miami every year over FSU. I'd certainly prefer to play Virginia Tech every year over Boston College. I'd prefer to play UNC every year over NC State. I'd prefer Duke every year over Wake Forest because of the easy win aspect. Georgia Tech over Clemson every year is the drawback.

So we're still only about six years off. But hey, Seminoles, you want an ally in this? I think most Terp fans would be on board.

Rethinking Andy Roddick

brienc@gmail.com (Brien) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:41:00 +0000

Even though I always wanted him to win, I’ve often been harsh on Andy Roddick in the past, accusing him of not trying hard enough, and that he was more concerned with being a celebrity than a top-level tennis player. I was wrong.

Roddick proved that today, with a hard-fought loss to Federer in the Wimbledon final. Andy stretched the match as far as possible, when Federer broke his serve for the first time all match at 15-14 in the marathon fifth set.

Early in the match, I thought Roddick might prove me right, when he blew a 6-2 lead in the second set tiebreaker to throw away a chance to go up 2 sets to none. He kept his energy level up, though, even after he lost another tiebreaker in the third set. I’ve never seen him cover so much ground on the court and run after so many borderline balls. He left it all on the court, and at the end of the day, there’s no shame in losing a match like that to the greatest player ever.

Andy Roddick may never be the next great American tennis player, but today he proved to me that he has the heart of a champion. I’ll be cheering for him in the US Open.

Tour de France: Stage 2

brienc@gmail.com (Brien) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:45:00 +0000

Well, now we’re into the real stages of the Tour. It’s still early, so the GC contenders are holding back and just making sure they don’t lose any time. There weren’t any changes in the yellow jersey competition, as today was a day for the sprinters.

We saw the standard flat-stage breakaway, it never got farther than 5:00 ahead, and the peloton easily reeled it in, leaving a group sprint finish.

Mark Cavendish showed again that he’s the fastest sprinter in the world, winning easily over American Tyler Farrar. Hopefully this year he’ll make it all the way to Paris, rather than wussing out early.

The biggest surprise of the finish wasn’t that Cavendish won, but that other green jersey hopefuls like Tom Boonen and Thor Hushovd were nowhere to be seen at the finish (although Boonen was apparently sick).

As for Astana, we didn’t see any changes for them, and we likely won’t until the mountains, unless Kloden or Leipheimer make it into a big breakaway and throw a wrench into everything.

The flat stages are great, but I can’t wait until we finally make it into the mountains.

Rider of the Day

Obviously, Mark Cavendish. The question wasn’t whether or not he’d win a stage this year, but how many he would win. Today, he made a lot of people start speculating about how high that number could go. He got a perfect lead-out and breezed to the finish.

Cavendish seems to have a knack for finding the finish line first, like Robbie McEwen a few years ago.

Reasons I Love the #2 – Sprint Finishes

When I first started watching the Tour de France, I wasn’t a big fan of the sprint finishes. As I learned more about the tactics that go into leading a rider out for a finish, I began to like them more. It’s always exciting when there are only a few seconds left in the stage and you have no idea who is going to win.

I love watching someone begin a sprint to early, only to be caught before the finish line. In these early stages, hopefully we’ll see a lot more great sprint finishes.

Steve McNair and Companion Found Dead, McNair Apparently Murdered

noreply@blogger.com (J-Red) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:05:00 +0000

Former Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Steve McNair and a female companion were found shot to death at her condominium in Nashville, according to CNN. WBIR-10 in Knoxville originally reported a murder-suicide, but has since changed their post to say only that both are dead. The Nashville CityPaper is reporting that homicide detectives are unsure whether it is a murder-suicide or double homicide. Obviously, details are sketchy. The female's identity has not been released but it is not his wife, Mechelle Cartwright, who was in Mississippi.

Speculation is rampant, and I hate to add to it, but I have to point out that Don Aaron of the Nashville Metro Police Department conspicuously did not ask for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward. That would seem to point towards the police having a fairly good handle on what occurred.

McNair enjoyed great popularity throughout his career, especially for his durability and hard-nosed scrambles. He shared the 2003 MVP award with Peyton Manning. McNair remains popular in Nashville and Baltimore, especially for his impact on the community.

McNair had two non-violent run-ins with the law prior to his death. McNair was arrested in 2003 for DUI, and an illegal loaded firearm was found in his car. He was charged again in 2007 for "DUI by consent", after a vehicle he owned and was travelling in was pulled over for drunk driving.

Still, McNair has never been associated with unsavory characters throughout his career. His death at 36 years of age comes as a great shock.

UPDATE 9:20p et: McNair was shot multiple times according to The Tennessean and Nashville Metro Police. Whether the situation boils down to murder-suicide or a double homicide, it certainly does not appear that McNair committed suicide.

UPDATE 11:41p et: According to the Tennessean...McNair was shot multiple times and his female companion, Sahel Kazemi (20) had a single gunshot wound to the head. A pistol was next to Kazemi's body. As noted above, the police are not seeking any suspects, and are tentatively treating it as a murder-suicide.

Though I got a lot of heat for it in the comments, McNair's history of DUI charges appears to be directly relevant. Kazemi was cited for DUI in a car co-registered to Kazemi and McNair just two days ago. Though not in the police report, McNair was riding in the car. In 2007, McNair was charged with DUI by consent for allowing his brother-in-law to drive his vehicle, with McNair as a passenger, while under the influence of alcohol. McNair was apparently not going to be charged for the latest incident, probably because Kazemi was also a legal owner of the vehicle.

No matter what took place that led to the incident, McNair's premature death is a horrible, and apparently senseless, tragedy.

Tour de France: Stage 1

brienc@gmail.com (Brien) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:32:00 +0000

So here’s the plan: I’m going to try to post a recap/reaction every day during the Tour de France. I’d also ask you to keep spoilers for the next stage out of the comments. So, even though the Stage 2 post might not be up until Sunday night, please don’t comment on the results here. Thanks!

The first time trial/prologue normally doesn’t tell you much about the race, and today was no exception. It’s great to have the Tour underway, but we’re still a long way from having any idea of who’s going to wear yellow into Paris.

Lance Armstrong can’t be too happy with his performance, but in the long run it doesn’t really matter. He didn’t lose much time at all, and he still has plenty of time to make it up. As long as he’s still feeling good, he should be fine.

Astana as a team is looking unbelievably strong. It will be interesting to see how the team rivalries shake out, but there’s no doubt they’re the most talented team on the course.

As for Contador, he looked amazing, but how much energy did he expend today? Was he trying to make a statement and stomp Armstrong? He’ll have plenty of time to recover, if that’s the case, but it did seem that others were conserving energy rather than going for the win.

The Versus HD broadcast looks incredible. All sports benefit from high definition, and cycling is no exception. It’s easier to tell which rider you’re looking at, and the scenery looks even better than usual.

Rider of the Day

Fabian Cancellara – He’s a one trick pony, but that trick is really good. He’s a time trial specialist who seems unbeatable in the discipline. He won’t win the Tour, but he’s earned the yellow jersey for the first few stages.

Goat of the Day

Jan Ullrich – Even though he retired in 2007, Ullrich is still today’s goat. Versus had wall-to-wall Lance Armstrong hagiography leading up to today’s stage, and 90% of it showed Armstrong kicking Ullrich’s ass. He was a good rider, but also a cheater who always played second fiddle to the greatest rider ever. Sorry, Jan, but even in retirement you’re getting embarrassed by Lance

Reasons I love the Tour #1 – The Yellow Jersey

How cool is the yellow jersey? The idea that the guy leading the race gets to wear a special uniform should be extended to other sports. The car leading the NASCAR championship should get a special logo, or the team ranked #1 in college football should have a special helmet sticker. It still wouldn’t have the history of the maillot jaune, but it would be pretty cool.

Happy Birthday USA! Why No Marquee U.S. Sports?

noreply@blogger.com (J-Red) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:29:00 +0000

As we celebrate America's indepedence from that not-really-that-tyrannical British Empire, most of us have been blessed with the most American of traditions, the three-day weekend. Okay, this year some of us are in the midst of a 94-day weekend, but let's not get too depressing.

Surely, on this great patriotic holiday, we have developed a great stable of sporting events to watch as we prepare for afternoon grilling feasts and the bombs bursting in air this evening.

No, we get Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest at noon. That's the most American thing we could come up with, and Japanese competitive eating superstar Kobayashi even managed to win that six years in a row. Joey Chestnut won the past two years, but we'll see if we can continue to hold onto the title.

NASCAR, of course, has managed to fill the void. The Coke Zero 400 (formerly the Pepsi 400) runs at one of our two racing shrines, Daytona International Speedway. Brilliantly, the race fires up at 7:30 p.m. eastern time, meaning that it falls during fireworks for the eastern and central time zones. Over 77% of the U.S. population lives in those two time zones, and given that the vast majority of the other 23% is in California, you could definitely assume at least 90% of the NASCAR television audience will have to choose between racing and fireworks.

So what else is on? Wimbledon gives us the ladies and mens doubles finals. If you want to know how American that event is consider that they're officially called "The Championships at Wimbledon". Plus, they're over by the early afternoon. (To be fair, it's an all-Williams womens final, the Bryan brothers are in the mens doubles final, Andy Roddick is in the mens final, and the Williams sisters are in the womens doubles final).

Le Tour de France starts today. We're very friendly to the world's greatest bike race, but most Americans won't care.

Regular season baseball continues, though seven teams are already at least nine games out...from the wild card. The Nationals, not exactly America's Team, are a full 20 games out in the NL wild card race.

At 3:30 p.m., NBC will be showing Motocross. Then they switch to beach volleyball.

Also, the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders and British Columbia Lions go at it at 3 p.m.

The PGA gives us Tiger Woods and the AT&T National this afternoon, which is a strong entry. Much stronger than the LPGA's Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.

World's Strongest Man. US Wrestling Championships.

Forget all that noise. If we cannot come up with a marquee Independence Day sporting event, I'm going to watch the most brutal, physically demanding, sport on television. Sydney is at Adelaide in Aussie Rules action at 5p.

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A glance at the TV schedule today makes that proposal to stretch out the Triple Crown and put the Belmont on July 4th seem much more logical. It won't always fall on Saturday, but most people will be off work whereever it falls.

2009 Tour de France Preview: Part 3 – Predictions

brienc@gmail.com (Brien) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:46:00 +0000

With the Tour starting on Saturday, this will conclude our three-part preview of the 2009 Tour de France. You can also read Part 1 – The Route and Part 2 – The Field.

In the previous installment of our preview, we looked at some of the favorites to win the Tour de France. Today, I’ll make some predictions about who will actually win it.

I’ll answer the biggest question up front: Lance Armstrong will not win the Tour de France this year. He’s in great shape, and he certainly won’t embarrass himself, but he’s not going to win.

The favorites for the Tour, according to oddschecker, are Contador (1:1), Armstrong (5:1), Andy Schleck (7:1), and Cadel Evans (11:1).

First, let’s address the insanity of those Contador odds. The Tour de France is a three week slog through 2,141 miles. Anything can happen during those three weeks. I wouldn’t bet on Lance Armstrong in his prime at even money.

Beyond that, the Astana team dynamics worry me, as I mentioned in Part 2 of the preview. Contador seems to have issues with someone else being the team leader, and in fairness, he’s earned the title of leader. I’m just not sure how he’ll respond to three weeks of the Lance Armstrong media circus with the 7-time winner breathing down his neck. It’s a tough position to be in, and while Contador is an incredibly gifted rider, I’m not sure how he’ll handle that pressure.

As for Armstrong, he has always been the sole focus of his team, and benefited greatly from having a well-trained team of domestiques riding out in the wind in front of him except on a few select mountain stages. He always rode the most perfectly organized races, almost like a horse in the Kentucky Derby getting a perfect trip from the post. He seemed to have an uncanny knack for avoiding trouble and only exerting himself when it would have the optimal payout. As either a co-leader or a supporting rider (depending on whom you believe) this year, Armstrong won’t be able to conserve his energy for most of the Tour and rely on an entire team supporting him. He seems to be physically ready for the Tour, but I’m not sure he still has that extra gear that allowed him to accelerate up a mountain while everyone else looked exhausted.

So who does that leave? Andy Schleck? Denis Menchov? Levi Leipheimer? Carlos Sastre? Roman Kreuziger?

Leipheimer won’t get any support from his team (Contador and Armstrong will be fighting over it), Sastre won in a perfect storm, and Kreuziger is still probably a couple years away.

That leaves Denis Menchov, who finished fourth last year and won the Giro d’Italia this year. He’s a great climber who should do well in a year that de-emphasized the time trial. I also like Schleck to finish second, under the assumption that he’s in better condition than last year. For third, it’s a toss-up between Armstrong and Contador. I think experience triumphs over youth, so I’ll say Armstrong.

For a long-shot pick, I like American Christian Vandevelde (100:1) who looked good last year and should be improved.

For the green sprinters jersey, I like Mark Cavendish, who shone last year. I think Schleck will take the King of the Mountains classification, especially if he’s not contending for the Yellow Jersey. Kreuziger should take the white jersey for the best young rider.

As for the other question on everyone’s mind (Who will be the biggest rider caught doping?), I’m going to be optimistic and say that this will be the year we don’t see a major doping scandal.

Only 2 more days until Monaco!

2009 Tour de France Preview: Part 2 – The Field

brienc@gmail.com (Brien) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:02:00 +0000

Continuing our preview of the 2009 Tour de France, we’ll take a look at the field of riders and let you know whom you should watch.

You may recognize this guy. He’s actually kind of famous, and now he’s back in the Tour de France. Obviously the big story of this year’s Tour is the return of Lance Armstrong. There are tons of questions surrounding his return, not the least of which is “Does he still have anything left?”

Armstrong has competed in a few events since his return to cycling, but hasn’t won anything. This isn’t surprising as Armstrong’s modus operandi was always to build up to the Tour de France, and he never won many of the preparation races.

After three consecutive Tours without a former champion in the field (other than Oscar Pereiro, eventual winner of the Floyd Landis scandal-plagued 2006 Tour), this year there are 4 former champions competing (Armstrong, Carlos Sastre, Alberto Contador, and Pereiro), with two of them on the same team.

The dynamics of the Astana team will be very interesting to watch this year. It features two past winners in Armstrong and Contador, as well as a past podium finishers Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden. Who is the leader of that team? Obviously Armstrong is the biggest name, but Contador is a young superstar and Leipheimer has always been on the cusp of greatness. Will Contador and Leipheimer be willing to put in work to help the old man get to the top of the mountain one last time? Will Armstrong be willing to take a supporting role? Astana claims Contador is the leader, and Armstrong is happy with it, but we’ll see how things look on the slopes of the Pyrenees. Astana may be an All-Star team and place 3 riders in the top 10, or it could self-destruct from internal conflict. With Johan Bruyneel at the helm, I’d bet on the former.

Other favorites include Giro winner Denis Menchov (a good climber) and perennial bridesmaid Cadel Evans (great time trial rider). The late mountain stage should bode well for the climbers, but I’ll give you my picks in the final installment of ECB’s Tour de France Preview

2009 Tour de France Preview: Part 1 – The Route

brienc@gmail.com (Brien) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:27:00 +0000

I know we’ve been slacking on the posts lately, but I have plans for quite a lot of Tour de France coverage when it starts next Saturday (you’re welcome).

We’ll kick things off with a three part preview of this year’s Tour, starting today with a look at the 2009 Tour route.

The Beginning

Race director Christian Prudhomme always does a fantastic job making each year’s Tour a bit unique. Often, much of this uniqueness comes from an exciting start. A few years ago, that meant the Tour’s first visit to Great Britain. This year, the race returns to Monaco for the first time in 45 years, and makes the principality the host of the Tour’s “Grand Start.”

If you’ve ever been to Monaco, watched a Formula 1 race there, or played Gran Turismo 3, you know that the scenery is second to none. The Tour prologue (now it’s just an individual time trial) is often fairly boring because no one wants to burn themselves out on the first day. That’s where the scenery comes into play. I think I could watch 2 hours of stock photography of Monaco without getting bored. Add a bike race, and I’m hooked.

This year also marks the return of the team time trial in stage 4. The team trial is always interesting just because it’s so different from the other stages and it really highlights the team nature of the sport. This year, it will probably just give Team Astana a :30 head start on the rest of the field.

The Middle

This year is a Pyrenees-first route, and features three huge mountain stages to kick off the second week. The first one features a departure from sea-side Barcelona and the end of a week’s worth of Mediterranean scenery and a rise into the mountains with a finish atop Andorre Arcalis. That’s right, the Tour is making a stop in Andorra, yet another tiny European principality. Here’s what the last kilometer of that stage looks like:

That should be fun.

The third day in the Pyrenees features both the climbs up the Col d’Aspin and the Col du Tourmalet, two of the Tour’s great mountains.

The Alpine stages start out with another mountain finish, and the second day features a Switzerland->Italy->France stage that ends in a blistering descent out of the Petit-Saint-Bernard pass. If you like horrific bike crashes, this is the stage for you.

The End

The biggest change in this year’s tour route is the climb up Mont Ventoux just a day before the ride onto the Champs-Elysees. The Tour generally ends with a bunch of flat stages including an individual time trial. The climbers finish their work with a week left in the race and just try to survive the time trial. This year, the winner will be in doubt right up to the time the riders reach the top of Mont Ventoux. For anyone who cares about the Tour de France at all, this is the stage to watch.

Up next, we’ll take a look at the Tour field and which riders to watch this year.

The Real Reason Americans Hate Soccer

noreply@blogger.com (J-Red) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:16:00 +0000

Usually when a person dislikes a sport, they simply choose to ignore it. In America, soccer gets a different treatment. American men actively HATE soccer. They deride it as "wussy", "boring", "slow" and basically "European".

Why? Why must we make an effort to show how much we dislike soccer instead of just letting it exist like all of the other fringe sports?

I have a theory, but first I'll run through the established lesser theories.

5) We Didn't Invent It - This is the oft-cited explanation for why soccer has yet to take root in the U.S. The excuse is flawed though. Other than basketball, the sports we "created" are direct off-shoots of established European sports. Baseball is basically a form of cricket. Football is rugby with breaks. Golf is Scottish. Automobile racing is European. This cannot explain why we dislike soccer.

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blablblahblahblahThis is Abner Doubleday. We pretend he invented baseball.

4) There Isn't Enough Scoring - This doesn't really add up. A soccer telecast requires two hours to show 90 minutes of regulation play. A hockey telecast requires 2.5 hours to show 60 minutes of regulation play. A football telecast requires 3 hours and a little change to show 60 minutes of regulation. In 2006 World Cup group play, 2.44 goals per game were scored, or about a goal every 49 minutes of telecast time. In the NHL in 2008-09, 5.43 goals were scored per game in regulation, discounting empty net goals. That breaks down to a goal every 28 minutes. In the NFL in 2008, there were 4.38 touchdowns scored per game (including overtime TDs, which are rare), or a touchdown every 41 minutes. Lacrosse would destroy all three. Considering that soccer almost never stops, and hockey and football make you sit through endless commercials (during which scoring is literally impossible), scoring can't be the answer.

3) The Players Aren't Tough Enough - This one has some merit. It isn't that soccer players are not tough. They are in phenomenal shape, take cleats to the legs regularly, and smack heads while competing for balls that have traveled 50 yards in the air. The problem is that the game, like basketball and football, is filled with questionable calls that could go either way. In the NBA, there are stoppages. Players can immediately complain or lobby for a foul. In soccer, the game never stops. There is no time for a player to express that he feels a foul should have been called. Sometimes a player is legitimately hurting, and sometimes a player is showing up an official by indicating he was fouled. To American audiences, it looks like stereotypical whiny European behavior.

Coach K is taking notes.

2) There Isn't Enough Contact - I cannot refute this one. Americans love violence, and soccer doesn't provide the same level of constant violence and danger as our other popular sports.

To this point, we've seen four good commonly cited reasons why soccer is not popular in America. However, we've yet to explain why American men actively HATE soccer. That leads us to my theory.

1) Soccer Is Emasculating - Most of us were not born with the ability to look like NFL players. Most of us do not have the frame to be NBA players. Baseball and hockey uniforms are not flattering to the human form, so we aren't constantly reminded of our own shortcomings. Unfortunately, 95% of us COULD get into soccer shape. The average height on the U.S. Soccer roster is 5-11. The average weight is 172 pounds. Two of our most famous players, Landon Donovan and Ben Olsen are both 5-8 and weight 148 and 140 pounds respectively.

Simply put, they're in the shape we could be in. And our women know this, too. Ask your female and gay male friends. Consider that David Beckham is a sex symbol, and ask yourself why none of our athletes achieve that status. Seriously, Joe Namath?

Add in that Americans are generally less comfortable with their sexuality than many other sports fans in the rest of the world, and the pieces start to fall into place. Who wants to spend a couple hours feeling bad about themselves? With a tip of the hat to our friends at Tirico Suave, our entertainment is based on schadenfreude. "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!", "The Biggest Loser", "Jon and Kate", "Intervention", "Real Housewives", and most every reality show are all about making us feel better about ourselves. Or you could just look at Michael Jackson from 1993 to about four days ago.

Since soccer exposes our own insecurities, we choose to find reasons to mock it and even hate it.

Team USA Soccer Blows 2-0 Lead, Shot at Relevance

noreply@blogger.com (J-Red) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:41:00 +0000

For one half, Team USA continued to look like the team of destiny. Despite Brazil outplaying the Americans, the Yanks had built a 2-0 lead going into the break. Victory against the most talented team in the world was certainly not assured, but things had never looked brighter for American soccer.

One half and four Brazilian goals (three that officials counted) later and U.S. Soccer rejoined its place in line behind baseball, football, hockey, basketball, golf and NASCAR. Team USA needed this win to legitimize itself as a world contender. Instead, they're just a team that got extremely lucky (needing simulataneous 3-0 wins to even advance to the elimination rounds) and then played over their heads for a game and a half against Spain and Brazil.

In the soccer world, Brazil just put the Americans back in their place.

In the United States, international soccer will likely return to its "When is the next World Cup?" place.

ESPN had the rights to the Confederations Cup, and still felt the need to shit on the sport immediately after the game. The ESPN Radio weekend schmuck started bashing soccer as soon as the 3-2 loss to Brazil was official. If the network with a cash stake in the success of soccer as a spectator support in the United States can't pretend to care, why would we get excited?

In effect, the U.S. media is doing everything it can to make sure soccer is as popular in this country as the metric system. Until Team USA breaks through and people get excited, that damper will be enough to ensure it remains a fringe sport.

Ricky Rubio Considering Europe over NBA

noreply@blogger.com (J-Red) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:51:00 +0000

According to ESPN, Minnesota Timberwolves draft pick PG Ricky Rubio, taken fifth overall, is considering offers from teams in Spain and Turkey over the NBA. Rubio, 18, has played as a professional, for Spain's DKV Joventut, since he was just 14 years old.

Whether Rubio signs with the Timberwolves or not, that he would even consider a European team over the NBA is indicative of the failure of the NBA's policies. The age policy has made Europe a proving ground for international players and even Americans. The NBA's attempts to make basketball a world game have been somewhat successful, but the NBA underestimated the ability of European leagues to retain their own talent.

Frankly, can European and Asian fans relate to the typical NBA player? In the most individual of the team sports, relatability matters. Now overseas organizations are willing to make the cash investment to keep their own talent. If Rubio is the first high draft pick to hold out against the NBA, it may be a sign of things to come.

Pressure to reverse the NBA's age policy should start building momentarily.

U.S. Soccer Tries for First Major International Win

noreply@blogger.com (J-Red) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:07:00 +0000

Could the U.S. make the leap from international also-ran to champion? Why not? We are already planning for the new world order now that the we have lost Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and even pitchman Billy Mays all in a week.

In case you haven't been following the Confederations Cup in South Africa (and you haven't, because the U.S. Open, Wimbledon, regular season and the WNBA probably ate up all your time), the U.S. escaped group play last weekend with a miraculous combination of a 3-0 win over Egypt and a 3-0 win by Brazil over Italy. Then the Yanks took on world number one Spain and blanked them 2-0.

Now the Americans are in the final against perennial soccer powerhouse Brazil. No one can be sure what a win would mean for the sport's mainstream popularity - the ratings this afternoon will tell part of the story - but U.S. Soccer has struggled to earn some sense of legitimacy on the world stage. Victories over Spain and Brazil and a major international championship would surely help.

MJ's Son Shows Courage in Leaving Illinois Basketball

noreply@blogger.com (J-Red) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:57:00 +0000

ESPN reported today that Jeff Jordan, the son of Michael Jordan, has chosen to leave Illinois' basketball program. Jordan, originally a walk-on, was slated to receive more than the eight minutes a game he averaged in last season, his sophomore campaign.

Jeff Jordan faced enormous pressure playing basketball in the same state his father brought six NBA championships. Illinois had put him on scholarship after his freshman year, and the easy thing for Jeff would have been to take the (taxpayer) money and play out his college career.

Instead he chose to free up a scholarship and finish college as a student. Assuming there is nothing more to this story, I am impressed that Jeff had the courage to walk away despite the spotlight of his father's fame and the probably unrealistic expectations of casual fans.

I wish Jeff luck with all the tail the son of a half-billion-dollar-holding greatest-athlete-of-all-time can handle. Perhaps a transfer to USC, LSU or the College of Charleston would be best for your academic career.

College of Charleston topless coeds

Seriously, Jeff, don't sleep on College of Charleston.

Nats' Acta Still Manager, But GM Fails to Convince

noreply@blogger.com (J-Red) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:57:00 +0000

We've parsed front office statements in this space before, but today's Washington Post report on the future of Nationals' manager Manny Acta had holes big enough to accomodate a Metro train.

First, here's the report from the Post:

When a Fox Sports report on Saturday suggested that Acta's firing was imminent -- and already decided -- Acta spoke immediately thereafter with acting general manager Mike Rizzo and President Stan Kasten, who assured him that the report was inaccurate. But even that assurance does not solidify Acta's job, which now survives on a series-by-series basis.

"It's certainly uncomfortable with the speculation," Rizzo said. "Names are being bandied about of replacements and we haven't even discussed it with the current manager. He's still our manager. We support him. And all the reports that happened over the weekend, I don't know where those reports come from."

I'll ignore the part where Rizzo and Kasten told Manny the weekend report that Acta's firing is imminent was "inaccurate". That's not a direct quote.

Here are the quotes of importance.

"He's still our manager." Yes, Mr. Rizzo, that is correct.

"And all the reports that happened over the weekend, I don't know where those reports come from." What an odd way to say that. Did Rizzo mean "We're still trying to find the leak"? Why didn't he say something that directly refuted the Fox Sports report?

If they're really going to fire him, they need to do it. If they're not really going to fire him, try this out instead:

"Manny Acta will manage our team so long as he is making sound decisions on the field, helping our young players develop their talents and improve, and displaying the work ethic and attitude that we want to instill in our young franchise. He is meeting those expectations right now, and we will not remove him this season unless circumstances change. Consistency and continuity are important as we build a contending team around our nucleus of talent. Acta is an important part of that process."

You want fans? You want people to ride out this putrid team with you? Give them hope that you have a real plan. Replacing Acta for the sake of replacing Acta is not the answer, and in the long run will give the impression that the front office is flailing. Staying with him gives the impression that this season is just necessary pain on the way to playoff appearances.

Maybe the franchise will make its first wise decision since moving to D.C.

ESPN.com Is the TMZ of Sports

noreply@blogger.com (J-Red) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:05:00 +0000

Let me prepare the analogy. Variety covers the actual production of Hollywood entertainment. TMZ covers the people who work in that industry.

So who is actually covering sports now? See the snapshot below from 10 p.m. ET on Monday evening.

As you can see, there are three articles about legal matters (Burress, Stallworth, Phoenix Coyotes), five articles about player movement (Favre, Turkoglu, Shaq, Ellis, Meeks) and two articles, the 9th and 10th, about actual sporting events.

Why do I know more about Phil Mickelson's wife's breasts than I do about golf itself?

Nationals Prepare for New Act(a)

noreply@blogger.com (J-Red) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:26:00 +0000

Like everything else related to the Washington Nationals' front office, the situation with manager Manny Acta has been horribly mishandled.

CNNSI and other sources are reporting that Acta will be fired, "perhaps as early as Monday." Everyone who has ever been asked has had only positive things to say about Acta. All the compliments are probably code for "he's not the reason the guy next to me would struggle to crack the lineup of the Nashville Sounds."

Bill Parcells said he wanted to buy the groceries if he was to do the cooking. If we apply that analogy to the Nats' horrific front office management, Acta has been asked to cook five-star meals using only Spam, Velveeta, sweet gherkins and Triscuits.

At least Acta will be able to spend Fathers' Day with his two daughters, albeit unemployed.

This should come as no surprise as GM Mike Rizzo gave Acta the dreaded "vote of confidence" back in late April. The team, of course, has performed even more poorly since then. Badly enough, in fact, that players have vocalized support for Acta even without prompting.

The Nats are 16-43 this season under Acta and went 148-234 under his direction. Acta is the second manager in team history after Frank Robinson.

Penguins Hoist Cup, Proof God Hates Us

noreply@blogger.com (J-Red) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:21:00 +0000

The Pittsburgh Penguins came through on their second straight trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, bringing the most famous trophy in sports back to Pittsburgh. This means the Cup, the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and baseball's weird circle of pennants all reside in the shitacular state of Pennsylvania, with the NBA championship almost certainly heading to L.A.

Why hath thou forsaken us? Did God settle His eternity-long dispute with Satan and award the evil one dominion over sports?