Basso, Ullrich out of Tour de France

Anyone who knows anything about bicycle racing other than Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France knows that Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso are main favorites to win the famous race now that Armstrong is no longer racing. Well, they WERE the favorites:

Pre-race favourites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso are out of the Tour de France after both were named in an anti-doping investigation in Spain.
Ullrich, team-mate Oscar Sevilla and team manager Rudy Pevenage have all been suspended by the T-Mobile team.

Basso, who rides for the CSC team, was excluded by organisers of the Tour, which starts in Strasbourg on Saturday.

This dramatically changes the race, which starts tomorrow. I don’t think we really have any solid idea who is going to win, since the common wisdom held that “either Basso or Ullrich” would win. Not only has Armstrong been dominating, but Basso and Ullrich have also consistently been in second and third place throughout Armstrong’s run.

In related news, Armstrong wins a preliminary injunction for libel.

I find it incredibly ironic that they have been unable to prove Armstrong’s guilt for years, but have now found all his rivals were doping. However, as long as they can’t put solid proof behind it, I’m inclined to beliee Armstrong.

UPDATE:
ESPN is reporting that another big name, Francisco Mancebo, was also dropped from the race. This means that three of the top four finishers from last year’s tour are out on allegations of doping. Since Armstrong is retired, this means that the ENTIRE TOP FOUR from 2005 is not in this race. Whether they are guilty or not remains to be seen, but this is a truly significant development in either case. This year’s winner will probably be someone who few people have even heard of.

UPDATE II:

Via ESPN: Alexander Vinokourov, who finished fifth last year, wasn’t implicated, but lost his ride when the rest of his team was.

Ironically, this may pave the way for an all American sweep of the top three in the race.

And the repercussions are mighty. With Vinokourov, Mancebo, Ullrich, and Basso out of the Tour and possibly completely out of the sport, the biggest favorites, or the best doped athletes as the case may be, have unceremoniously exited stage left and the yellow jersey is again up for grabs. This leaves the race wide open for the handful of pre-race favorites remaining in the race not caught up in the scandal — Americans George Hincapie (Discovery), Floyd Landis (Phonak), and Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner).

Having an American finish at the top of the Tour de France again would probaby drive the some in the world absolutely beserk. There are many out there who were looking forward to Lance leaving so that they could take back the event they saw as “theirs”. This scandal diminishes the chances that will happen. Looks like they will just have to take solace that we still aren’t anywhere near the World Cup.

Another tidbit from the Fox Sports article: they mention the fact that unlike American sports, the Europeans take steroids seriously. They were unafraid to take out the top four (based on last year’s Tour de France finish) athletes in order to clean out their sport, something that few, if any, organized sports would do (the NCAA might do something on this scale, but none of the professional leagues have the guts to pull the trigger). Not only that, but they did it the night before the race.

Of course, there is a chance that this is a witchhunt, and that these racers are innocent and were taken out too early, before anything was proven. Time will tell us whether the cycling authority should be praised for its proactive anti-drug stance, or if they should be scorned for jumping to conclusions. Lance Armstrong would seem to benefit from these actions, though. If the authorities are so willing to jump on racers when they have proof, it would seem to follow that they never had this proof with Armstrong.

Pirates Reach Historic Lows

Pittsburgh Pirates put together worst losing streak in over 100 years.

While the Kansas City Royals have had the worst record in baseball (right now, they are tied with the Pirates), the Pirates just got swept by them. As the article says, they used to win. In 1979, the combination of the Pirates and the Steelers winning championships made Pittsburgh the “City of Champions”. While the Steelers have held up their end of the bargain, the Pirates continue to sink to lower and lower depths. It is sad to watch this franchise turn into a laughingstock – I think it is time to look at a way to make a change in ownership.

NHL Game May Be Played at Yankee Stadium

This is an NHL game I might go to.

“The House that Ruth Built” may be used to stage a hockey event.

Newsday reported on Wednesday that the NHL is looking at the possibility of having the New York Rangers play the New York Islanders in a regular season game at Yankee Stadium.

I love this idea. Playing a pro ice hockey game outdoors would add an interest angle to it, and its not like the temperature inside an NHL arena is warm enough to justify always having it inside. It would be only the second NHL game played outside, and holding it at a historic sports shrine like Yankee Stadium would be a great publicity boost for the game.

And You Thought Pete Rose Got Mad . . .

This temper tantrum has to be seen to be believed. Strangely enough, Roger Clemens’ son was at the center of this one – it was the call that went in favor of him that set this manager off.

Upset with umpire Andy Russell’s call in the fifth inning of Asheville’s 5-2 loss, Mikulik rushed onto the field. The manager of the Colorado Rockies’ Class A affiliate made a headfirst dive into second base and later pulled up the bag — taking a few tugs to get it done — before throwing it into right field.

By the time he got ejected, Mikulik was just getting warmed up. And by the time he was done, he had thrown a resin bag, several bats and blocked the umpires’ locker room.

He claims he never lost control, although it may have looked like it. Yeah, sure.

Listen closely to the music the PA announcer plays – its priceless. The Lexington guy in charge must have a sense of humor, as he plays “Lost that Lovin’ Feeling”, followed by “Hit the Road, Jack”. Simply unreal.

Larry Foote in Custody Battle

We had been lacking in any Steeler news for weeks . . . but when it rains, it pours.

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Larry Foote has asked a Michigan court to award him custody of a 10-year-old son he says he did not know existed until nearly two years ago.

Foote, 26, who has homes in Pittsburgh and the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield Township, made his request in a recent filing in Oakland County Circuit Court. A hearing is scheduled for July 5 before Judge Cheryl Matthews.

…

Trey-Veion’s mother, Khalila Shanese Hammond of Inkster, said she was surprised when she received the filing. She said she appreciates Foote’s actions on behalf of their son but says the boy is homesick and should not stay with Foote full-time.

“It’s not going to happen,” Hammond said. “I’m going to fight him.”

Strange story, really. But most of the stories coming out of Pittsburgh these days are strange. I’m not sure what to make of all of this, seeing as how the Steelers have remained largely trouble free until this year. At least Foote isn’t getting arrested, like some other Steelers teammates.

Big Ben Not Ready to Talk

Via KDKA TV.

It’s been more than two weeks since Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had emergency after he smashed his face into a car during a motorcycle accident.

And Big Ben’s agent, Ryan Tollner, says it will be a few more weeks before Roethlisberger speaks publicly about the accident.

Tollner told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that Roethlisberger has had requests from “every major media outlet, not just sports” to talk about the accident, but he’s not ready to do that.

Perfectly understandable, I think. I’m about his age, and I don’t think I’d be ready yet either.

Also, the article states that his face is looking pretty good, which is encouraging. I’d hate to have to get used to another face.

Steelers First Round Pick Facing Possible Suspension

So you’ve been drafted in the first round by the Super Bowl champions who have a decent shot at going to the playoffs again. You are playing a game you love playing, and everything is going well for you.

So why on earth do you keep doing stuff like this (KDKA TV)?

The Steelers’ No. 1 draft pick’s personal problems could be causing trouble for him on the field.

Our news partners at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report that Holmes may face suspension from the NFL for violating its personal conduct police, even though Holmes has not even signed his contract with the Steelers.

Holmes was arrested earlier this month, accused of choking the mother of one of his children.

He was also arrested last month in Florida for disorderly conduct.

Talk about throwing it all away. I hope this kid gets a wake up call, because I don’t want him playing for the Steelers if he does stuff like this all the time – he’s the first true thug I remember being in the team in a long time.

USA Plays Italy to a 1-1 Draw

Man, we were lucky to get away with that one.

I know nothing about soccer. So it was with some surprise that I found myself watching the USA vs. Italy today. However, it was a good match – the USA played EXTREMELY well compared to their effort before, and certainly rose to the challenge that faced us in this game.

The referees were much too eager to bring out the cards in this one. Very quickly in the second half, the US found themselves going from one man up to one man down thanks to two very quick uses of the red card (well, Eddie Pope was a quick use of a second yellow card). Playing almost the entire second half one man down, we were extremely fortunate to keep the Italians from scoring – no team with 9 men has ever scored in World Cup history, and we didn’t buck that trend. But the fact that we didn’t let Italy score either was an amazing effort on defense by our side.

In order to advance, the USA needs to beat Ghana (which may be tougher than it looks) and also needs to root for Italy when they play the Czechs. That would put Italy up on top with 7 points, the USA in second with 4, and the other two teams would have 3. We can’t tie with our current horrid goal differential, as we will probably lose that without scoring a huge number of goals against Ghana.

We have to wait until Thursday to discover our World Cup fate.

Baltimore Ravens Brawl

This gives offense vs. defense a whole new meaning.

Uppercuts, haymakers, headlocks, head-slaps, cursing and consequences defined the temperamental Baltimore Ravens’ minicamp practice. It wasn’t a Vince McMahon creation. It was a case of warring factions: offense versus defense.

A series of melees Wednesday eventually completely eroded Ravens coach Brian Billick’s tolerance for the unscripted, extracurricular activity, so he halted practice early. Billick ordered the entire football team to run ‘gassers,’ a demanding regimen of sideline-to-sideline sprints rarely seen in the NFL.

“Since you don’t want to practice and you don’t want to think, you’re going to run until I get [expletive] tired of seeing you run,” Billick bellowed. “Get your [butts] on the sideline!”

As promised, Billick kept blowing his whistle as the players ran at least eight sprints. Several hefty linemen were left bent over and gasping for air.

“If you can fight, you can run,” receiver Derrick Mason told his teammates while out in front of the pack of runners. “You’ve got to watch each other’s back.”

Words fail. Couldn’t happen to a better team.