TdF Stage 1 (spoiler free for stage 2)
 

Did you see Millar pop his chain on the Prologue, blowing a virtually guaranteed win?

And I was completely impressed on the first stage by Zabel's great finish after his mechanical problem slowed him down and he had to bust to catch back up to the field.

I thought Hamilton withdrew. He must be bullshit, as even Lance was saying that he had a serious shot at the podium this year.
It's been nice watching him come into his own.

And why was Petacchi saying the crash was the organizers' fault? Looked to me like the Kelme rider just popped his foot out of his pedal then slid out, inevitably taking out his row and sending the bodies behind him end-over-end; how could the course be to blame?

TdF Stage 1 (spoiler free for stage 2)
 

I was stunned by his lack of whining about it too. He handled himself beautifully. Four Cofidis riders had the same mechanical. I am guessing they have now fixed the front derailleur on their tt bikes.

Zabel rocks. It was an excellent finish for him, and Telekom looks on great form.

Since he has a compound fracture, it's stunning that he made the start, but he was there. As an aside, I have the cycleops fluid 2 trainer (from when I broke my arm), the training video features a very young Tyler Hamilton, who was the least famous person in the room.

Any time you have so many 90 degree turns on a sprint finish, it's incredibly dangerous. I think he is totally right. The crash might have happened since Guitterez pulled his foot out, but only he would have gone down. Had the riders behind been able to see the crash they could have avoided it. Since they were blinded by the turn, everyone just slammed into each other going 55 km.

Even(road racing junkie)Odds

TdF Stage 1 (spoiler free for stage 2)
 

A tight turn on a narrow course less than 500m from a sprint finish isn't the best course layout. But, true, if the rider doesn't lose it coming out of the turn, I doubt anyone would have said a thing about the layout.

TdF Stage 1 (spoiler free for stage 2)
 

The layout at the end was problematic and the chaos might have been minimized, you're right--but once he slid out and took most of riders to his side out, at least a row or two of bodies going over them was inevitable. Still, lousy for everyone.

Hincapie looks back in shape after being wiped out by that virus--hope he won't feel that drain in his training during the Tour.

TdF spoiler question
 

Should the Tyler injury update be in spoiler space, i.e., do you care to know who starts?

TdF Stage 1 (spoiler free for stage 2)
 

BTW, if you enjoyed watching that, OLN is clearly the place to be. Each night this week, they'll televise the running of the bulls from Pamplona. How they can stretch that 3 minutes (or so) to an hour I don't know, but the scene might be as action packed as a Tour sprint finish.

Unfortunately, they don't have podium girls. Although maybe Super Mario will be there, seing as he has nothing better to do for the next 3 weeks.

TdF spoiler question
 

No. At least I don't have a build-up of anticipation before learning the abandons.

Besides, I don't think OLN's coverage will televise the start, will it? They usually pick up with about 2 hours to go. Other than that it's just studio commentary.

The Fashion of Baby Names
 

Here is the SSA website which tracks baby names through the issuance of SSNs.

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

another celebrity death
 

Buddy Ebsen too -- http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/0....ap/index.html

On the radio this morning driving in to work (clear channel, admittedly), two different radio stations were freaking out about Buddy Ebsen's death (he was 95 for chrissakes!), and neither even mentioned the passing of Barry White. I think that is fucked up. Awww, yeah....

evil finger lickers
 

http://money.cnn.com/2003/07/07/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

[spree: An animal rights group said it plans to file a lawsuit Monday against fast-food chain KFC, accusing the company of making misleading statements on its Web site regarding how the chickens it sells are treated.]

In other news, Wonk was named in a class action suit by PETA for choking the chicken.

Thurgreed(bad. i know)Marshall

Trane?
 

Both what?

I'm confused and ketchup is confusing me even more...

Edited to add a Gilda Radner "nevermind" b/c I get it now...

for luv or $$
 

realityblurred --

The first season of For Love or Money ends Monday night, as Rob chooses either Paige or Erin, and Paige or Erin select either Rob or money. The money, however, isn't quite what it appears to be: Unlike lump-sum payment prizes offered by shows such as Survivor, producers will pay the $1 million out over 40 years. The New York Post reports that's about $25,000 a year before taxes; if one of the women takes the money, she can also choose a one-time payment of about $800,000, which is still $300,000 more than Big Brother's cheap-ass prize.


Glad to hear that the one-time payment option is available.

The Fashion of Baby Names
 

Leagl -- Consider the ramifications of having moderator TOS violators.

Penske -- It's time to up your retainer again. Call me.

Gatti(both sides)gap

The Fashion of Baby Names
 

The article is right, though, having distinct spellings listed separately is confusing. I discovered, though, that my spelling is the most popular spelling of my name, which baffles me because people ALWAYS try something different first.

Only one of my top 5 favorite girls names makes the top 1000 (but it is rising with a bullet - a faux-ethnic name, incidentally). Only one of my top 5 boys names seems to break the 300 mark, and all but one are declining.

Having suffered through having a diminuitive of my name that I despise forced on me by a confused teacher in charge of a class full of like-monikered rug-rats, I firmly, totally believe in naming kids fairly uniquely, even if it results in mispronunciations and misspellings. Fortunately, it seems I will be able to do that using traditional family names.

BR(Mareona! Ghriogair!)C

Math is hard.
 

Guess the new york post is content to ballpark it.