Bouleversant, Ce Tour
It’s one thing for a major champion with an illustrious career to fall from his heights. The Jose Cansecos and Ben Johnsons of this world know that there is no sympathy for the wicked. We imagine them, bulky and pensive, sitting on their towers as the world spits bile on their names. But, it’s another thing for one of the little guys, an unknown, an extra, to be found guilty of doping and not put up a fight. Cristian Moreni, one of the Cofidis riders, was found to have abnormally high levels of testosterone in his urine sample from Stage 11 of this year’s Tour. He admitted use of the drug and was immediately taken away, while the rest of his team withdrew from the Tour de France.
While I had only shock at Vino’s drug use, shock and incredulity, the vilification of Moreni brings nothing but sadness. How pathetic can it be, for one of the riders at the bottom of the Tour, a real no name, to be caught for this? One can imagine the circumstance: a barely professional rider, who makes little money and has few prospects in the future, taking drugs just to stay in the Tour, to earn his bread and butter, before the desert years as an unemployed former-cyclist. It is an almost Dosteyoevskian context. That he came clean on his use so quickly, when he has everything to lose, is humbling. Morality aside, this is a sport which breaks grown men and women’s hearts.
(more…)July 16, 2007
Die Hard Chicken Mayo
I managed to climb three rocks yesterday. Three small insignificant greyish slabs with odd markings on them.
“The white arrow means it’s for children.”
“Good, I’ll try it.”
Not that I am a child, but when I’m halfway up a rock I always inveritably scream for my mother. Later, while watching the new Die Hard, I suddenly wondered if Bruce Willis could ever be scared by a rock in the forest with a white arrow on it. I guess rocks wouldn’t scare a man with a head like his.
So by the time I got home to see today’s stage in the Alps of the Tour de France, I was suitably primed for spectacular stunts of the superhuman order. Undisappointingly, the stage was won by Michael Rasmussen, a skeletal Danish rider who specializes in having no hair, followed by Iban Mayo. Rasmussen’s nickname is Chicken, which prompted Benoit’s unfailingly sharp wit to say… “ahhh, today it is a Chicken Mayo special.” BADA-BAM!
July 13, 2007
Le Tour avec Moi!
I will be on France Culture, next Thursday, commenting on a program on the Tour de France. Listen for a mild Birkin-style accent. I’m soooo excited! We will be recording this from a very chic hotel in Montpellier, and I have full access to the cyclist’s village the next day. So, stay tuned for more details, and funny interviews and autographs from my favourite riders, like David Zabriskie and others!
Une Semaine à Montpellier: Le Tour de France de Pascal D’Huez - Travaux Publics presenté par Jean LeBrun avec Pascal D’Huez, 18H30-19H30
June 14, 2007
Fed up with Fed love
Prevailing opinion would have it that Federer lost the French Open because he played a game that was below his abilities. This is not only false, it is insulting to another future legend: Rafael Nadal. Nobody ever plays a good game against Nadal because he forces players to make mistakes, to take chances, by neutralizing what would normally be a winner. So, when I hear professional sports pundits, people who get paid to write and think about sports, whine about how Federer will never win a French Open if he keeps making those kinds of unforced errors, I would like to remind everyone that this is what makes Nadal great. He forces the types of risks that create errors. It’s not a very spectacular tactic, like the Italian football defensive play, but it works. And it continues to work against the greatest player of all time.
Furthermore, it must be demoralizing for Federer, used to easy wins and control of play, to finally be flummoxed. Nadal has a steel will and in a Nietzschean sport such as tennis, this cannot be underestimated (Richard Gasquet needs a footnote here… the guy has the mental fortitude of a bagel left out in the rain).
And for those who cite Hambourg, let’s remember that the surface was more humid, thus denser and more compact. This reduces the spin and plays the court almost like a hard surface. This renders Nadal’s heavy topspin somewhat less lethal. And, it’s a best of three. If it had been a best of five, like the Rome final from 2006, I’m sure the result would be surprising.
June 13, 2007
But, honestly, what more can we ask for?
I can’t help but retain this for the Federer files.
“About 11/2 hours after leaving the court, Federer met up with his parents for consoling hugs and kisses on the cheek. The silver tray given to the runner-up was tucked under Mom’s arm, like a newspaper.
“You can’t win them all,” said Federer’s father, Robert. “But, honestly, what more can we ask for?”"
The last line is ambiguous. Is he really asking for more? Is it a compliment? Or is it just plain the most terrible thing you can inflict on yourself? It’s hard not to think about the one that got away, even when one should be grateful for all one has.
June 6, 2007
Rockem’ Sockem’ the Don Cherry way
I love hockey. I’m Canadian so there’s some kind of excuse for it but it’s one of the few sports where diving and cheating get checked, and I mean checked, by the players themselves. Hockey is one of those honourable sports where the accounts are settled on the ice and if you fake a dive, you can be damn sure someone’ll plaster you on the ice for real a couple of minutes later. Fighting in hockey is part of the game as much as physical aggression is part of any sport, whether it is transmuted or for real. What’s good about hockey is they let them fight it, man to man, until the account is settled. No cheap shots allowed.
Another great in hockey is Don Cherry. We’ve had him for years in Hockey Night in Canada, but, in what was probably a long overdue moment, NBC invited him on for the second intermission in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals this year.. What followed was classic rockem’ sockem’ Cherry Grapes. Gotta love how he owns Brett Hull on the jimmied foot in the crease goal. Granted, he’s not always politically correct and sometimes he does sound like a numbnut, but nobody else knows the true pulse of the great hockey spirit than Cherry, the voicebox for the average hockey maniac.
February 6, 2007
Purple Rain at the Superbowl
In case you missed it, the Purple One rocked his best song with a marching band. Glorious!
February 5, 2007
SUPERBOWL XLI - 2nd Half Commentary
Play by Play
3rd quarter - Score is at 16-14 for the Colts.
The game is running away from the Bears. The Colts rushing is wreaking havoc and even the Bears heavy defense can’t get a hand on the white shirts. Not just slippery balls but slippery shirts. For a great defense, the Colts are making the Bears look like they need to go back to school just to learn how to land a solid tackle. The Bears offensive line isn’t looking so hot either.
Two quick field goals from nice offensive field movement from the Colts. Suddenly its 22-14 for the Colts.
(more…)Half-Time Update
Ok… so the two big things to note so far is the rain and the non-choking of Peyton Manning. Obviously the win against the Patriots was pivotal to steadying the prodigy’s nerves. Manning and the Colts, with Tony Dungy (who I do love from the Bucaneer days), are the team to beat but we all knew that. Still, after the insta-legend Devin Hester touchdown in the opening seconds, the Colts were snorting fear. They trembled, then started to inch backwards. Hats off to the Bears who are clinging on, scrambling in the wretched weather but it looks like Rex Grossman is the one with the big case of butta-fingers. He should know better. Chicago players should be used to the crap weather. But, Grossman will never be a Montana, a Young, a Brady or even a Marino. Let’s see if the team holds tight. Big throws in slippery conditions, if the Colts can handle the slick they’ll skin the Bears. If not, look for the Bears hungry defense to chew into the Colts bit by bit.
Possible haunting moments for the Colts… the non-conversion of their first touchdown. Buttafingers 1. Vinateri missing the kick before half-time. When your Iron Man kicks wide, you pass beside the legend. However, the odds are still in favour of the Colts.
Possible haunting moments for the Bears… Rex’s buttafingers and lack of offensive drive.
GO BEARS!
Oh… and nice little show from Prince. He’s starting to look like he’s pulling pages from Little Richard’s look book but the man still knows how to rip it up on the guitar. Loved the crazy purple sign guitar moment during the guitar solo in Purple Rain. The phallic shadow was anything but subtle and just as sexual as any tit-showing, if Americans are still capable of that kind of perspicacity. Love to see you baby in the Purple Rain…
November 14, 2006
Flandis Fumbles… again
More ridiculous news from the cycling world. Floyd Landis came out this weekend with a tv special showing the cyclist, in his modest mansion, showing off his Tour de France shirt and blaming the lab for his doping results. Seriously, I find it unconvincing that his sole recourse is to blame an internationally reknowned lab which produced the same results, excessive testosterone, in BOTH blood samples.
Just to recap, Landis was found to have tested positive for testosterone during his infamous climb in the Morzine. The laboratory in question is the LNDD, le laboratoire national de dépistage du dopage, in Châtenay-Malabry, the same national laboratory which has tested all samples from the last few Tours de France. It is a internationally reknowned laboratory and is approved by both the Olympic and WADA. (World Anti-Doping Association) Landis, the Mormon, eeks Mennonnite, bike champion, was hailed briefly as a hero before being villified in both French and English press.
But, in yet another strange twist, the laboratory reported to the police last Tuesday that it had been victim to a hacking incident. Someone had hacked into their computer system and sent false emails to the major doping agencies in the world, the UCI, the WADA, the CIO, reporting that the laboratory had made a series of systematic errors. Apparently, the email was written in french and was riddled with both grammatical and spelling mistakes. The police have already tracked one of the perpertrators down and it turns out to be none other than someone close to (more…)
