Check This Out:

I am sticking with the Grand Prix theme. Go check out my buddy's current blog posting here. It is a video of over 20 years of highlights from the Monaco Grand Prix set to Curtis Mayfield's Move on Up. A great way to get your groove on for the day and watch a cool vid.

Grand Prix

I am adding a new movie to my list of favorites: Grand Prix from 1966. I am sheepishly admitting to the fact that I had never even heard of this movie until I stumbled across it on Speedvision a few weeks ago (actually, my lady stumbled across it and told me I should watch it because she knew I would like it, that's 1 of the many reasons why my lady rules). I have watched it multiple times since then, all 3 hours plus commercials. If you have never seen this go watch it, do it now. The basic story follows 4 drivers through an entire Grand Prix season. The racing cinematography, filmed over 40 years ago is still great to watch. So look for it on Speedvision or put it on your Netflix list. Do it, you won't regret it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season.

PET MORTAL COMBAT ROUND 2: GO VOTE FOR ME OR I WILL UNLEASH SOME BUCKEYE JUSTICE ON YOU!!!

Go vote here.

I said, GO VOTE FOR ME!!!

SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU COME DO OUR CROSS RACE IN KITSAP COUNTY:

You get the silver medal at Nationals, that's what happens. Congratulations to Morgan Schmidt of the Haggens-Berman LLP team who got 2nd in the U23 race this past weekend.

"Jesse Anthony (Clif Bar) took his seventh-career national title by winning the men U23 crown ahead of Morgan Schmidt (Haggesn-Berman LLP) and Bjorn Selander (Alan). Anthony escaped with USGP U-23 series winner Jamey Driscoll on the second lap, then shed the Fiordifrutta rider. Driscoll suffered a massive explosion, and faded to fourth place. The win was sweet redemption for Anthony, who saw his efforts in 2005 derailed by a series of mechanical catastrophes. " -Velonews

Nice pic here.

NOT WEARING A HELMET IS SAFER, PART 2

"Both of you are retards, hope you feel good about contributing to rising healthcare costs because you "choose" not to wear 8 oz of prevention or light up a disgusting cancer stick. Do the rest of us a favor and put a DNR on file." -anonymous

Thanks to anonymous for calling me a retard on my blog and feeling so strongly about their opinion that he/ she decided to remain nameless. More importantly, thanks for opening a door that I am gladly going to walk through and that is the door to discussion of me"contributing to rising healthcare costs" because I choose not to wear a helmet.

First I will point out anonymous' inability to grasp an analogy drawn by a "Rocket" in the helmet discussion when they stated "Amen. I know how smokers feel, now". Now "anonymous", I don't think Rocket actually stated that they smoked, rather he was making a comparison to how smokers might feel ostracized the way that helmeted riders try to make helmetless riders feel. (Rocket, please correct me if I am wrong). This point digresses however from the one I really wanted to make and that is in regard to my contribution to the rising cost of health care.

This argument has been made in the past to me, in fact it was made in an editorial that was printed in the Kitsap Sun a few years ago when they came out in support of a helmet law that was being considered at the time for the town of Port Orchard (for the record, I live in Kitsap County, not King County so it is not a health code violation for me to not wear a helmet when I ride, and as far as I know, it is a health code violation to not wear a helmet when cycling in King County not an act that breaks any law, regardless, since I am at heart a Johnny Scoff Law, I still would not wear a helmet in King County) But I digress.

I would argue, "anonymous" that since I am riding my bicycle, I am actually doing my part to maintain a healthy lifestyle, I am combating heart disease and obesity so therefore, I am actually doing my part to keep the costs of health care down.

Furthermore, using your logic (in an admittedly convoluted way) and to take a shot at the "helmet laws" that seem to be in vogue lately, why are there no laws out there making smoking or being obese illegal (or at least a health code violation)? For I would argue that all the fat asses and smokers out there are doing much more to contribute to the rising costs of health care than I am as I ride along, minding my own business without my brain bucket on.

HA! I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG, HELMETS ARE MORE DANGEROUS!

To all of you out there that give me grief for not wearing a helmet when I ride, the proof is in and I am right...although it appears I might also be safer wearing a wig. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/5334208.stm

Here is even more proof that I have been right all along:

http://neptune.spacebears.com/opine/helmets.html

To paraphrase some of the above link:
"On a per-mile basis, the odds of being killed or sustaining a serious head injury while riding a bicycle are about the same as the odds of being killed or injured while out for a walk."
On a per-capita basis, the odds of being killed while riding a bicycle are nearly the same as the odds of being killed by a bolt of lightning. The odds of sustaining a serious head injury while riding a bicycle are about half the odds of sustaining a serious injury while out for a walk."

Bottom line, I won't tell you that studies have shown you could be safer not wearing a helmet, don't waste my time and yours telling me I should be wearing one.

Signed, Still Helmetless and Proud of It.

THE SYSTEM IS FLAWED

Take the time to read this link and related links from the LA Times about the flaws in the current anti-doping system employed by WADA:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-sp-doping10dec10,0,3464145.story?page=1&coll=la-headlines-california

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-doping11dec11,0,2817972.story?coll=la-headlines-california

Here is a sterling excerpt from one of my favorite open-minded witch-hunters, Dick Pound:

"WADA Chairman Richard W. Pound, 64, a Montreal lawyer, argues that the program must be so stringent and uncompromising to be effective against doping, which he calls "the biggest threat to sports.""The less discretion there is in the finding of a doping offense, the better it is," he told The Times in an interview.Pound, a former competitive swimmer who finished just out of medal contention at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, dismissed the notion that a significant number of doping cases are accidental or inadvertent; WADA policy states that every athlete is responsible for everything he or she ingests or applies to the body. In the case of adulterated supplements, he said, "If you didn't know what was in there, it's your own damn fault." In the rare cases that an athlete can be proved truly faultless, he added, the system is flexible enough to temper its penalties."If you're captured by a squad of Nazi frogmen and injected with a steroid, you're going to be found positive," he told The Times. "But it wouldn't be a two-year suspension."

"Captured by a squad of Nazi frogmen and injected with a steroid, you're going to be found positive. But it wouldn't be a two-year suspension."

Nice. So what, only 1 year but only because they were Nazi frogmen? This from the guy running the whole show. The biggest problem that I see with this comment is that, according to statements he makes in this article and in others, is that he is not interested in listening to an athlete trying to prove that they are faultless, in his mind they are all guilty no matter what the circumstance. Plus, the system makes it cost prohibitive if not impossible to prove their innocence.

I have said this before about race officials and I am going to say it now about WADA and their team of "officials": wise application and enforcement of rules intended to protect the athletes and their sports is not a black and white issue. There is grey, and the good officials are the ones with the knowledge, experience and wisdom who are able to rule in that grey area.

McCarthyism, The Hollywood Ten and The Puerto Affair

It is time. I have bit my tongue too long. I am opening the can of worms and going on the record. After reading in Velo News that the IPCT group on Friday voted to exclude The Discovery Cycling Team from its membership after Discovery signed Ivan Basso I can only say "WTF?!!!!!!!"

Now before I go any further I want it to be known that I am no "Discovery Team-ophile", I have no posters of Ivan Basso hanging over my bed, I have never signed a "I Believe Tyler" petition and I have no naive notions that professional (hell amateur for that matter) cyclists don't partake in banned, performing enhancing practices. Quite the contrary. I know of the stuff being taken and even personally know former suppliers and delivery men of EPO to members of the domestic peloton. (and before you even ask, "NO", I am not naming any names).

Is it possible that Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and every single rider implicated in the Puerto Affair took part in a very intricate and advanced program of blood doping, EPO, HGH and steroid use. Yes it is possible. But until there is any hard evidence out there, I say they are innocent until proven guilty and not the other way around and Dick Pound and WADA, Pat McQuaid and the UCI and now Patrick Lefevere and the IPCT can be lumped into the same category as Joseph McCarthy , HUAC and the Red Scare of the 1950's.

Now for the quick history lesson. Joseph McCarthy was a weasel Republican Senator from Wisconsin who probably would have slid into anonymity were it not for the fact that he discovered the power of communism, public fear and the tactic of "naming names".
To quote the Wikipedia definition of McCarthyism: "During this time people in a variety of situations were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies. Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence, and the level of threat posed by a person's real or supposed leftist associations or beliefs was often greatly exaggerated. Many people suffered loss of employment, destruction of their careers, and even imprisonment. Most of these punishments came about through trial verdicts that would later be overturned..." (emphasis added by me). So in short, it was the 1950's version of a witch hunt.

Another parallel can be drawn to the HUAC investigations of Hollywood back in the 1940's when the House Un-American Activities Committee called several people from the movie industry to testify about their own suspected involvement in the communist party and to name names. If they refused to answer questions and name names they were blacklisted in the industry and unable to find work. Over 300 names were put on that list (including Arthur Miller, Charlie Chaplin and Burl Ives....That's right, Burl Ives, the snowman narrator from Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, was apparently a commie who took part in Un-American Activities. Right. I guess that is where the RED nose came from).

That brings us to our own modern day witch/ pinko hunt: the fight against doping in cycling and more specifically the Puerto Affair, Ivan Basso and the Disco Cycling Team. The IPCT voted to exclude Discovery from its membership over its signing of Italian Ivan Basso, who is implicated in the Puerto inquiry. However, in October the Italian was acquitted by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and his national cycling federation, both of which concluded that there was insufficient evidence to warrant a suspension or to pursue further investigation. So even though, at this time, Basso has been acquitted, just because he was implicated (you know, because they found a name on Fuentes' list that could be translated as the same as Basso's dog) the IPCT, chaired by Quick Step's Belgian team manager Patrick Lefevere (you know Quick Step, a team whose previous forms had riders of such teflon clean images as Johann Museeuw, Frank Vandenbroucke and Richard Virenque) has decided that Discovery can't sit at their lunch table anymore. I say again, WTF?!

What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? And don't give me the "it's Europe where you are guilty until proven innocent" argument. It's BS as far as I am concerned. He was acquitted, let him get on and do his job. Same for Ullrich and everyone else who has been implicated but not actually found guilty of doing anything. DNA? What other job do you know of where you have to supply DNA to do? We are not talking drug tests here, we are talking about taking, and storing your DNA. They are athletes, not serial killers. A witch hunt, a commie hunt, a "doper" hunt, all the same if you ask me.

Give me your thoughts.

IT'S OFFICIALLY CHRISTMAS AT OUR HOUSE!

And it's a Buckeye Christmas at that.

Our biggest helper

TROY SMITH WINS THE HEISMAN IN A LANDSLIDE!!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/sports/ncaafootball/10heisman.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin

T-minus 29 days and counting for a perfect season: Heisman Trophy winner, undefeated and the National Championship.

Buckeyes Baby, Buckeyes!

COUNTDOWN TO THE HEISMAN

The names of the Heisman finalists were announced today and to no one's surprise they were Troy Smith of The Ohio State Buckeyes, Brady Quinn of Norte Dame and Darren McFadden of Arkansas. Look for Smith to be the sixth Buckeye to bring the award for college football's best player back to Ohio State (it would be the seventh total Heisman for OSU with Archie Griffin bringing home 2, still the only player to ever accomplish this feat).

I don't know anything about McFadden and I think Brady Quinn (and Norte Dame for that matter) to be completely over rated. Quinn was terrible against Michigan this year and only average against both Ohio State last year and against USC this year (he has never won against USC). Quite frankly, I don't see him as a big game player. Smith on the other hand is. He comes up big in the big game and is the undisputed leader on the field.

Smith and the Buckeyes: both #1.

Dan Osman Extrem Climbing 2

Take the time to check out this video. It plays at almost 11 minutes but I think you will enjoy it. Most of you who probably check out this blog know me from cycling but I have actually been making a living for the past 5 or so years through the climbing industry. This video is on Dan Osman, who burst onto the rock climbing scene back in the early nineties. Osman died in 1998 performing a controlled free-fall. Check it out.

WHO IS #2?

We know who is #1...THE Ohio State Buckeyes of course. But who gets the privilage of losing to them in the BCS Championship Game? http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylt=AvKK5CDZtSD7G4OyBjMtX8kcvrYF?slug=dw-secchampionship120206&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Give me your thoughts.

DRUG RUNNING, BINGO PLAYING GRANNY

Check it: http://my.earthlink.net/article/nat?guid=20061201/456fb6d0_3ca6_1552620061201-1935302976