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World Track and Field Championships

Thanks to Versus for broadcasting a full week of the World Championships. After a full week, here’s a list of people I’m looking forward to seeing in Beijing next year:

• Tyson Gay: “The Fastest Man in the World,” will obviously be one of the major draws next year. His top end speed is magnificent and his battles with Powell will make for great television
• Bernard Lagat: The naturalized American citizen who pulled off the 1500-5000 meter double in Osaka has a deadly finishing kick. that and the fact that he’s just so happy to be running for America. He’s a lot of fun to watch.
• Allyson Felix: She’s young and very, very good. If there’s a face for the women of US Track next year she’s a mighty fine candidate. And she might be that face in 2012 as well.
• Blanka Vlasic: this Croatian high jumper is really good (and I mean really good) and she did little dances after her successful jumps. Which made me laugh. I like laughing. Here’s (croatian?) video of her jump from the Championships:
  
• Heptathlete Carolina Klüft is another amazing competitor who really gets into her celebrations. She truly gets geeked out when she does well, which is way fun for me to watch. She’s very easy to root for. Check this Swedish video of her performance for examples of bother her talent and her exuberance
  

La Vuelta a Espana 2007

Bummer that Danielson crashed out so soon into the race. I have no idea who’s going to win this race this year. without a clear favorite all ll I really care about is that it’s competitive (especially in the sprints) and that there are no significant doping stories.

I’m lucky to be working from home this week, so I can follow some important stages more easily. They’ve front loaded the Vuelta with a lot of action in the first week, so it’s worked out perfectly.

Clay Buckholz and the Red Sox

I was lucky to catch most Buckholz’s no hitter. I was in the middle of dinner down on the Cape for the first couple of innings, but we finished just in time to catch the really dramatic moments live. What a way to break out of their mini-slump. A blowout no-hitter. It doesn’t get much better than that. Of course, in the grand scheme of things the next day was even better as the Yankees lost their second of three games against the Devil Rays and the Sox lead went back up to 6 (and their magic number went down to 20.) As I’ve said all year, if the Sox win the Division, the year is a success for me. Everything beyond that is gravy.

Congrats Levi/Dave Z

Leipheimer won U.S. pro road crown and Dave Zabriskie defended his US Time Trial crown this weekend..

Now if we can just find out who Levi will be riding for next year…

Baseball

If, by some stroke of luck, the Red Sox end up winning the division, Sunday’s dramatic, come from behind victory will be one of those landmark games that end up on the year-end wrap-up show. Scoring six runs in the bottom of the ninth? After being shut out on 3 hits for 8 and 1/3 innings? How unlikely was that victory? And what does it say about this team’s resiliency?

Winning games like that is what good teams do. This year’s Red Sox outfit could end up being a very good team.

Of course, there’s a long way to go, so I don’t want to let myself get too out of control here, but it’s still fun to point out these sort of things. If the game ends up being significant I can point to this post and say- “see, I’m a genius.”

Cycling

The Giro has been fun so far. The Team Time Trial is always a blast and the two sprints have gone basically according to plan with both McEwen and Alessandro Petacchi taking stages. It’ll be interesting to see who’s the last man standing in the Maglia Ciclamino jersey at the end of the month.

Can’t wait for Wednesday’s stage as it will start to tell the tale of who’s on form amongst the GC contenders. I’m especially interested to see how fit Popo is. The Giro was on his schedule from the start apparently, but not as the team leader, so it’s going to be interesting to see how he responds. He’s looked good all year- riding very aggressively in Milan San Remo and taking a great stage win in Paris Nice, but it’s one thing looking good in the spring and quite another looking good for the length of a grand tour. I’ll be pulling for him to podium as I like his style.

I’ll also be crossing fingers and toes that George Hincapie comes away with a stage win. That would be the best possible result for me, as a fan, from the whole race. I’d be completely stoked.

Misunderstanding or no misunderstanding, talk about blowing up the spot… If I were a pro athlete, I’d be scared to say anything to Thorne at this point. I mean, did Thorne not realize (a) what a shit storm he would cause and (b) how unfair that was to Mirabelli? I guess he didn’t, because he dropped it in such an off-the-cuff manner, but to my mind you’d have to have a head full of gravel to not know that was going to be a hornet’s nest.

Boston Red Sox - Hole uncovered in sock story - The Boston Globe

Baseball

I know it’s early, but I really like this year’s edition of the Boston Red Sox. The pitching staff has the possibility to be the best of my lifetime and the positional players seem like they could come together to be a real force. To my mind, the lynch pins are probably Coco Crisp and the health of JD Drew. If Crisp can be the player he was a couple of years ago (and he’s starting to show signs) and Drew can remain healthy I really like this team’s chances.

And I won’t even get started with Daisuke-mania

Speaking of early, is it just me or is the blisteringly hot start that Alex Rodriguez is having a complete microcosm of his career? He’s having the best start of anyone, ever and yet the Yankees are basically treading water. I know that the pitching staff has been bludgeoned about the face and chest by injuries, but still, it’s like Texas all over again.

Cycling

Discovery suspend Basso

This is one of those issues that just drives me nuts. Let’s explore why:

1. Basso is one of my favorite cyclists (and I’m obviously a fan of Discovery Channel) so I’d be doubly disappointed if he were found guilty- on the one hand I’d be disappointed in him doping and on the other I’d be seriously bummed to not be able to watch him go for the double.
2. I’m sick to death of hearing about Operacion Puerto, so anything that prolongs that agony is a bummer
3. With this uncertainty I can’t even speculate on the Giro or the Tour. Speculating on these events is half the fun and without knowing who the leader for Disco is at each event I’m seriously out of sorts. Considering I was just getting ramped up on the Giro, that’s a real kick in the nuts.

On the bright side if he is found guilty then Levi will get a shot at the Tour. With the way Disco have been riding (remember, they’ve got a bunch of hardware this year and none of it is from Basso) and with the way he’s looked so far this season (both fit and confident) I’d look for good things from him. It would also open the door a little wider for the most exciting GC rider of them all, Alexandre Vinokourov. That’s a double plus bonus.

Armstrong backs Landis in attacking French lab - Cycling

This is why I wish the B sample was tested by another lab. It doesn’t add any clarity if people believe in incompetence (or worse) from the French. Honestly, with what Armstrong went through nothing would surprise me in terms of conspiracy theories being proven true. I can see an easy scenario where Landis winning, and continuing the America streak, was the back breaking camel straw and sent some lab worker over the edge.

Of course, Occam’s Razor tells me that’s not likely, but because of the French lab doing the B sample test the door is still open for that sort of conjecture. An American lab would have been a better choice.

And on a non-doping note (and honestly it’s been a fun season minus the lingering doping stories), it was fun watching David Rebellin take the Fleche Wallonne today. That’s a cool race. cycling.tv rocks and will completely suck my time away from proper work during the Giro and La Vuelta this year…

Football

European football that is…

Who the hell is going to be the unlucky slob to follow Sir Alex Ferguson as manager of Manchester United? Obviously being the manager of one of the sport’s premier clubs is a good thing, but following Ferguson is going to be completely thankless.

This, of course, is spurred on by United’s excellent run this season. As of this writing they’re up 3-2 after a stunning first leg of their Champions League semi versus AC Milan, they’re leading the Premiership over a Chelsea team that looked poised to run away with another championship at the beginning of the season and they’re set to take on that same Chelsea squad in the FA Cup final in May. If they win out it will be the second treble of Ferguson’s career and, to my mind at least, a surprising result for a year where maybe not so much was expected from United (mostly owing to the perceived strength of Chelsea.)

(American) Football

I am absolutely jacked for the draft. I’ve never been so excited for a draft ever. Why? The Patriots have had such a great off-season already and with two 1st round picks they’ve got a chance to get even better. I can’t wait.

Paris-Roubaix, The “Hell of the North”, was run this weekend under hot, sunny conditions. The problem with that is, that particular race is known for its downright awful weather. Snow, rain, wind all combine to make the already difficult race even more insane. How insane? Imagine riding over a course that includes 50KM of cobblestones in the rain and mud for six hours against 200 other hell-bent maniacs out to win the most prestigious of the Spring Classics. Lots of carnage ensues. Which is just how people like it.

Contrast that to our annual rite of spring here in Boston- Patriots day. We have the Boston Marathon and the annual, early morning Boston Red Sox game (the game starts at 10:30 in order to get out before Kenmore square is overrun by Marathon spectators.) While the weather for Paris-Roubaix would have been a little hot for the runners, it would have been a lot of fun for the spectators at both the game and along the course. What we got instead was one of the nastiest spring storms I can remember. Rain, 50-60 MPH winds, and temperatures just above freezing. Completely miserable. If we only could have swapped we’d have happy campers lining the streets of Boston today and we would have had a mud encrusted Stuart O’Grady crossing the finish line yesterday…

And I’m about to bombarded with her during Red Sox season:

Dunkin’ Donuts signs Rachael Ray

Let me just say it right now- “that sucks.”

She drives me absolutely insane. Her and her ilk drove me away from the Food Network and now, since Dunkies advertises heavily on Red Sox coverage, I’m going to have to deal with her shrill, moronic, banshee-toned voice and enormous head popping up forty five times a game for the next several months. I’m honestly at a loss as to who might be more annoying to me as a shill during Red Sox games and I’m drawing a blank. From my perspective, she’s quite possibly the worst person they could have chosen.

I’m going to end up breaking my TV or watching every game on time delay so I can fast forward through the commercials. Which of course doesn’t help me with the radio- my primary Sox interface during the preparation and eating of dinner every night.

Not that I go there very often, but I’m fucking boycotting Dunkin Donuts until they stop polluting Red Sox coverage with that gigantic meloned harpy.

By the way, from the article linked above:

“In TV ads set to begin airing in April, TV host Rachael Ray will allow Dunkin’ Donuts to bask in the halo of her culinary artistry.”

Culinary artistry? Da fug? Who is she Joël Robuchon all of a sudden?

He’ll be missed around these parts and lord knows he’ll be missed by the female Red Sox fans…

Kapler to retire, become Class-A skipper - Extra Bases - Boston.com

Negro Leagues star Buck O’Neil dead at 94

Without a doubt some of my favorite moments in Ken Burn’s Baseball were the interviews with Buck O’Neil. His unbridled love for the game and his way around a story won me over almost immediately and my admiration for the man has only grown in the years since.

While I’m still not exactly over the Red Sox terrible collapse this year (and I’ll never get over the five game sweep), I can at least go fully into football season secure in the knowledge that the Yankees aren’t going to win any rings this year either.

Detroit rocks NY: Bonderman, Tigers eliminate Yanks

Spaceman: a Baseball Odyssey