Okay, strike me down now because this is a non-music-related topic. Anybody planning on tuning in to the Tour this year? Of course, all the Discovery/related channels are showing Lance features ad nauseum. One that I've found so far that is quite interesting is called "Chasing Lance" on FitTV. It's not really about Lance so much but more about the Discovery Team and their process for training.

Any bets on whether Lance will win this year? Maybe Jan? Maybe Ivan? Maybe Iban?

I'm getting excited!

MIGUEL INDURAIN

I usually tune into to at least some of the coverage; at the beginning just following the daily stories on SportsCenter and then watching actual races on OLN about the time it hits the mountains for real.

Not because I really like bike racing that much, but mainly because I am a sports junkie who needs his fix.

Pretty exciting though.

LIVESTRONG DUDE!!

<-------using livestrong bracelet to tie off for daily steroid injection.......

i like bicycling a little more than diving but a little less than arm wrestling.

[<3breakers]I GOTTA ONE TRACK MIND, BABY FOR YOU!!!!![<3breakers]

oh yeah - and Jan will never win. she keep driving into the garage

that guy is pretty bad ass - I think I saw him at Saturday market

Kraftwerk.

That is all.

This thread is now music-related, you can take off the 'NMR'.

If Armstrong loses, he should have to refund everyone's money for all those stupid bracelets.

My money's on the "I want my TWO DOLLARS!" paperboy from Better Off Dead.

I've never really been interested at all, although I do respect these guys as amazing athletes.

And yet, I was able to answer a pretty tough question on L. Armstrong the other day that stumped The Schwab

Steve

I'd like to put that Schwab bastard and Berman in one of those Missing In Action-style Vietnamese bamboo cages and starve them to death.....

Armstrong will be the favorite again but there are some others who could make a run at it.

I think I read somewhere than Jan Ulrich had odds of 4-1 to win it.

I think last year Lance really made it known that he wanted it and showed everyone he was ready by winning the Tour de Georgia by a lot.

This year he didn't win the the TDG and some said he was out of shape but I call bullshit. He's played possum like this in the past to make people think they could beat him and he then proceeded to smoke everyone.

It's his to lose IMO. BUT, he won't have Tyler Hamilton this year giving him help.

How about forcing them to reenact the russian roulette scene from The Deer Hunter with real bullets and Vietcong slapping them around?

Steve

YEAH!!!!

damn, just when you though it was safe, ol' Steve comes and drops some damn Nukeulur weapons.

Also, I'd like to see the rat-in-the-bag-tied-on-your-head scene in Missing In Action 2 reenacted on Stu Scott (even though the rat might choke on his glass eye and die)

Best Chances To Win IMHO

1. Laaaaaaaaaynce (said in retraded southern drawl)
2. Jan Ulrich
3. Floyd Landis
4. Ivan Basso
5. Cunego


Iban Mayo is garbage.

Lance's top notch drugs will get him the win.

...top-notch drugs and the fact that he runs his whole schedule each year to be peaking for the Tour, whereas the guys placing right behind him compete in lots more high-level races yearly, or so I've been told. Man knows what he wants, and what he wants is the Tour, not much else.

And for Stephen A. Smith, the wood-chipper from Fargo.

You're just jealous he's got one more testicle than you. Otherwise, I agree with your picks - I don't think they'll run in that order, but those folk'll be giving Armstrong the most heat. Throw in a Spaniard & Russian for good measure though.

I love this race and watch it every year. I do miss the over-the-top dramatic coverage ABC's WWoS used to provide in the 80s. It's what made me fall mad in love this race. Anyone else remember the 'Halloween' theme song constantly playing in the background. Nice touch. Terror In The Aisles.

hehe, i was going to say the same thing. even though i saw the NMR, i still thought this post was about kraftwerk. icoffee hasn't kicked in yet.

I do not know squat about high-class cycling, but I am curious to know if the French media puts as much of a premium on having a French contender for the title at the Tour as the British press does for a Briton contender for the title at Wimbledon?

I think, if not, it would go a slight ways toward showing that maybe the Gauls are not beyond hope in their nationalism.

As for the dishing on Lance, I think it might be peculiar to Franco-American relations. I do not recall the same manner of reporting when a Spaniard, the aforementioned Indurain, was winning a coupla titles consecutive, and the Germans and Italians seem to fare ok with the French, even for the known doping.

Maybe not the French, but the Belgians sure as hell do. If you win any of the spring classics and you're Belgian, you're pretty much guaranteed celebrity and free beer for the rest of your life.

As for all the Lance haters and your drug accusations, whatever. I'm not arguing that point anymore. Believe what you want, and I'll believe what I want.

btw, Derris, Tyler was already on team Phonak last year, so he didn't ride with Lance. Floyd Landis doesn't have a chance in hell of winning this. I also agree that Lance is playing possum right now. Bicycling Magazine had an interesting article on him in this month's issue, and they talked about how every year, Lance had a goal to achieve-- in 99, it was winning after cancer; in 2000, it was to prove it wasn't a fluke; in 2003, it was to match the 5 year record; in 2004, it was to break the 5 year record. This year, it will be Lance's last race ever, and he'll want to prove that he can go out on top.