The Wild World of Sports. . .

. . . and other stuff. Grandmaster Jay B weighs in

Today’s Hemingway is Jay Brinker. Nuf ced.

The Monday Line – 7/22/2024

How is everyone doing after a historic day?  As Vladimir Lenin said , “there are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happens.”  I suspect that with politics we are nowhere near the end game of interesting events, but with sports we saw a historic performance and definitive  statement yesterday.  

Tour de France.   Cycling has never been the lead topic in TML, but please indulge me as I decompress after 23 days of my favorite sport and event.  This year’s Tour is historic because it was the first to not have the traditional finish on the Champs Elysees in Paris.  Due to the Olympics, the finish was moved to Nice on the Mediterranean.  Because the organizers are masochists, they planned a time trial on the final day instead of the usual celebratory finale with the winners drinking a bit of champagne en route to the finish.  A time trial is called the “race of truth” because it involves the cyclist riding as hard as possible for 45-50 minutes with no assistance from teammates while his lungs burst and his thighs throb.  This finale was after two difficult mountain stages involving significant climbing.  Misery and torture for everyone.

Who are the key players?  Golf analogies are best.  

Tadej Pogacar won in 2020 and 2021 and finished second the next two years.   He is only 25 years old and is similar to Arnold Palmer in affability and popularity among fans and riders, but with the skills of Tiger Woods.  He convincingly won the 21 day Giro d’Italia in May.  No one had won the Giro and the Tour in the same year since 1998.   

Jonas Vingegaard is the two time defending champ.  Emotionless and laser beam focused like Jack Nicklaus in his prime.  He is also similar to Niki Lauda as portrayed in “Rush.”  He had a terrible crash in late April and spent twelve days hospitalized with punctured lungs and cracked ribs.  He was also riding without one of his key team members.  

Why should a non-cycling fan care?  The Tour is the most difficult sporting event in the world.  21 individual races with different skills – sprinting, climbing, time trialing.   2,100 miles give or take.   75,000 meters of vertical.  6,000 calories burned daily.  180 riders all looking for a moment of glory.  Worst part?  The winner only earns $500K which he shares with his team.  The highest paid cyclist, Pogacar, makes $6 million in salary for the hardest job in sports.  Backup NFL QBs make that and they have the easiest job in sports.  Just ask Don Strock, Jim Sorgi, or Brian Hoyer.

This weekend featured incredible racing.  Last week, Jonas broke a 25 year old record for climbing the Plateau de Beille by three minutes which had been set during the (supposed) height of doping in cycling.  Unfortunately for him, Pogacar beat him by a minute.   It was amazing to see Jonas, an incredible fighter ditch his last support teammate and go alone with six uphill miles remaining while Pogacar stayed on his wheel before breaking away three miles away from the finish.  The same thing happened on Saturday with Jonas making a dogged and valiant attempt to win with Pogacar on his wheel before Jonas waved him around.  Pogarcar then sprinted away.  

Yesterday, Jonas rode an incredible time trial yet only finished second to Pogacar who raced like he needed a great time while he only needed to not crash.  Pogacar finished first a minute faster than Jonas.  It was like Secretariat beating a very accomplished Sham by 26 lengths in the 1973 Belmont.   Overall, it was two men distancing themselves from their competition like Watson and Nicklaus at Turnberry in 1977 although the difference between Pogacar and Jonas was not as close as those two.  Historic.

The Open.  This is definitely the most interesting of the major championships due to the links courses and the unpredictable weather.   The rain and wind made for trying conditions on Saturday as will happen over there.   Kudos to Xander Schauffele for winning his second major of the year after being a perennial final round leaderboard guy for many years.  Nice that he might be distinguishing himself from the phonetically similar Scottie Scheffler.  It is very confusing for us guys who only tune in for the majors.  

US Men’s Olympics Hoops.  Anyone else concerned?  When the roster was announced several weeks ago, it was billed as the best since the Dream Team in 1992.  Instead, I saw 39 year old LeBron, 35 year old Kevin Durant, 36 year old Steph Curry,  and 33 year old oft injured with odd injuries and ailments, Kawhi Leonard.  Kawhi lived down to my expectations and was replaced due to injury by Derrick White.  Derrick who?  He now plays for the Celtics and averages 12 ppg in his career.  Somehow, he is supposed to be one of the 12 pieces to mesh together to win gold?    

I was concerned about this elderly roster.  Heck, I was worried about the Dream Team with 35 year old Larry Bird and 32 year old AIDs infected Magic Johson, but then I am a worrier at heart.  That was  before they almost lost to South Sudan, with no NBA players on its team, on Saturday.  Fingers crossed that they right the ship and continue USA dominance in hoops.  

Cool fact.  Three of the team members played at  K.  Canada has two former UK players.  Cal should have won more than one title with that level of talent.  

Bengals Ring of Honor Redux.  Doc saluted Tim Krumrie and Corey Dillon for their induction.  So, whom do you have next?  Nominees were Jim Breech, James Brooks, Cris Collinsworth, David Fulcher, Dave Lapham, Max Montoya, Lemar Parrish, Bob Trumpy and Reggie Williams.  I vote for on field performance and do not care about post career activities.  Therefore, I exclude Breech, Lap, and Reggie Williams.  They have zero Pro Bowls between them.  I am definitely in the Brooks and Parrish camp.  After that, I prefer Andrew Whitworth.  

Bengals Backup QB.  SI is of the opinion that Jake Browning is the best backup QB in the NFL.  I guess that brings me some comfort although I would prefer he not see much meaningful action this season.

Speed Round.  Before Stick to Sports, thoughts on the following:

Who wins their next major first:  Jordan Spieth or Rory McIllroy?  Or neither wins again?

Does Tiger make the cut at another major?

Does Novak win another major?

Do you prefer Tee Higgins at $21 million/year as WR2 or Tyler Boyd in the slot at $4.5 million/year? 

Corey Dillon.  NFL Hall of Fame or not?  Paul Dehner Jr thinks his case is better for the NFL Hall than for the Bengals Ring of Honor.  

Who is more interesting musically in 2024 – Paul McCartney or Daryl Hall?

Stick to Sports.  

Treading lightly at first.  Robert Kennedy Jr. has requested Secret Service protection for almost a year.  After all, his father and uncle were both assassinated.  The Biden Administration had the discretion to provide security, but denied it.  Cynics like me realize that every dollar spent on security is a dollar less spent on campaigning and advertising against Biden.  

After the assassination attempt on Trump, the good news for RFK is that the government will provide security for RFK.   The bad news is that the security will be provided by the Secret Service.  

Diving in.  Yesterday was history that few of us have seen or remember.  The last time a President withdrew from running for re-election was in 1968 when LBJ withdrew due to the anti-war winds in his party.  

As I have posted in the comments previously, I am thrilled that we can finally acknowledge that Biden is cognitively impaired and should not be campaigning for four more years.  The party whose mantra is that democracy is at risk should not be offering a cognitively impaired 81 year old as its candidate.  Anyone with eyes saw his blank stares, stiff gait, odd whispering, occasional shouting, falling asleep during meetings with world leaders, and general inability to conduct himself as head of state and knew there were issues.  

The election is about Trump and Not Trump.  If the Democrats run anyone other than Biden as their Not Trump person, they have to have a better chance than with Biden.  I doubt that is Kamala, but she could be the candidate.  I still offer Polis, Whitmer, Beshear, Shapiro, and Pritzker as alternatives.   

Bigger question is if Biden cannot campaign why is he still serving?  I do not feel good about that.  

Galapagos Island Trip Report.  Janice and I spent 8 days on a boat in the Galapagos last month.  Nice trip, but somewhat underwhelming.  It is nice to see animals that we do not usually see – marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, a blue footed booby (Beavis and Butthead snicker), albatrosses, and Galapagos tortoises that live 200 years.  Still, it was like eating chicken wings – a lot of effort for not much reward.  I am not interested in volcanoes and do not care much about different types of finches.  

Surprisingly, the weather was chilly.  I packed too many polo shirts and not enough sweatshirts.  We all think the Equator is hot.  Well, temps were mid 70s but with a breeze.  Mix in a moving boat and it was chilly.  Actually, it was refreshing while Cincinnati was experiencing a heat dome for several days.  

The Galapagos are part of Ecuador, which means Equator in Spanish.  We spent three nights in Quito, the capital.  The photo of us is on the Equator – me in the Southern Hemisphere and Janice in the Norther.  Nice allegory for our relationship – we seem close, but we are actually in different hemispheres.  That might also explain most couples.  

Song of the Day.  Our daughter is getting married in October.  I am perplexed how this song is not every couple’s first dance.    For the music loving and forever romantic Mobster, Kate.  Into My Arms by Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer.  Phenomenal lyrics are here.  

Thanks for reading.  Thanks for the cycling indulgence.  Thanks to Doc for letting me write.  I hope he is enjoying ocean breezes, Coronas, cigars, and vacation time  with family and in-laws.