Zingers

I am more often than one would expect astounded by the stupid things I hear on television. No arena of television provides more fodder for this than sports coverage, the result of the ubiquitous practice of employing former athletes as commentators, "analysts" or reporters. Some are serviceable, few are good and maybe Howie Long is the only exceptional example. Otherwise the morass is filled terrible anecdotes from the personal glory bygone days, cliche filled commentary straight from the "Bring your A game" handbook, culturally outdated or insensitive remarks and some flat out stupid shit. I just finished watching the British Open and Paul Azinger actually said "that bunker is full of sand" upon assessing the greenside hazards of the 15th hole. I'm not even going to comment on the rota of Sunday morning football shows. Even normally respectable ESPN keeps adding talking heads to that desk which is actually going to now cross over into a neighboring county. I can't imagine there's much of a future in professional sports broadcasting. If you want to cover the sports world apparently you had to have played in it beforehand regardless of your education, knowledge or familiarity with the English language. "Thunk" is for example, not a word. I can't only isolate the ex-athletes with this criticism, some of the "pros" out there are no better. You're too dependent on your little catch phrases (I'm talking to you Dick "oh my" Endberg). You gloss up the screen with so much over wrought fabricated sports drama Bob Costas, I have tried to make the connection but I'm sorry a baseball game is not a metaphor for life. I like my sports coverage accurate and concise. Tell me what I need to know and get out of the way.

Musings on Cycling, ing

Le Tour de France
Is actually in Spain right now. Today's rainy finish was up on the Montjuic hill in Barcelona right next to the Olympic stadium from 1992. The Big Norwegian Thor Hushvod won in a sprint finish. Tomorrow's foray into the Pyrenees should have ramifications on the general classification. Two more really tough days in the mountains after that will further solidify the real contenders in this year's edition. I can't imagine what's going on in the Team Astana strategy sessions. Lance is in a virtual tie for yellow right now and has looked strong over the first few stages. Contador sitting third at the moment, was predetermined to be the favorite after winning two years ago and his class should show in the mountains. Andres Kloden is 4th, and Levi Lepiheimer sits in 5th. Did I mention they all race for the same team. Oh yeah I've got to link to something involving that crazy dude dressed like the devil who chases these riders all over the place so here. Hilarious.

Ronde Van Zuid Dadelaand
I've gone a little bike crazy myself recently. Been riding down in South Dade with a few friends. The busway that runs parallel to U.S. 1 from dadeland southwards has a nice wide, clean bike path. There's a part where we break off at about 200th street and turn right onto the Black Creek Trail which takes us up to Larry and Penny Thompson park just adjacent to the Metro Zoo. Ok it's not the French countryside or Holland but it's a nice ride, there's very little traffic and the canal and park sections are wonderfully serene given the urban grit and biker unfriendly confines of my own neighborhood. Round trip from Dadeland south, which Jordan and I did once, it was 33 miles.

There's El Gordo hauling along the Black Creek.

There are a ton of trails down there and we are planning a ride down to Card Sound road before we lose a member of the group to Washington, D.C. at the end of the month.

Upcoming Events

Marlins Stadium groundbreaking ceremony- Saturday, July 18, 10:00 AM
First 1,000 fans get a free ballpark style lunch which I can only assume means a hot dog, soda and nacho chips (with the real nasty cheese dip the consistency of motor oil)-normal retail price $18.95. I might actually go and I might actually get my hands on a decent digital camera so's I can post the pics here.

British Open- I'll give my readers (all four of you) an exclusive preview next week of the third golf major of the year from Turnberry, Scotland.

My First Stupid List

Top 5 Sports Movies of all-time:

5. Victory!
Stallone, Michael Caine, Pele as POW's in a soccer match vs. the Nazi's...genius.

4. Bull Durham
Classic lines, still referenced frequently in sports and pop culture. And Susan Sarandon, oh Susan Sarandon.

3. Rocky IV
Ivan Drago is probably the single biggest badass on film. Also love the scenes of Rock training in the Siberia snow drifts.

2. Major League
I don't care what I'm doing, where I am, if Major League is on I'm watching it. Classic Beringer.

1. Chariots of Fire
I know it's old school but it's a great all around flick. Can't really argue with the Best Picture of 1982.


Honorable Mention:
Caddyshack
Breaking Away
Slapshot
Hoosiers
Step into the Liquid (Documentary)
Any Given Sunday
He Got Game

Totally Overrated:
Field of Dreams
Rudy
Seabiscuit
Ali
The Natural