(Get) A Sporting Life

Spain wins Euro2008, Alejandro Valverde wins the opening stage of the Tour de France and Raphael Nadal takes the Wimbledon men's title. Not a bad week. Add paella and the fact that the women of Barcelona are among the most gorgeous, stylish creatures in the world and you have an embarrassment of riches. Since Valverde is one of the favorites (4.5 to 1, I believe), I guess I wouldn't be betting against him standing on the podium in Paris on July 27th. In the meantime, I might also put a few bucks on Sergio García to win his first major at Royal Birkdale next Sunday.

But between the farts and halitosis the layman could never tell the difference. I couldn't be less inspired on the sporting front. It's especially depressing given that I have just entered the 21st Century and have a new 40 inch LCD flat panel TV on which to watch all of the god awful shit that has passed for sport the past few weeks. For Christ's sake, Miss Marple and Simon Schama's Power of Art Series on PBS have been the highlight of my summer. The only good news is that I have yet to watch a Barry Bonds AB this season (or probably since 2005) and in the last 24 hours the Tour de France has melted down into a total doping fiasco. These two drug fueled comedies have been fun to watch. Sadly, Friday's Stage 18 passes through Domme, La Roque Gageac, St. Cyprien and Le Bugue. These are beautiful places I know very well and I had been looking forward to watching a real race pass through there. Oh well. On the plus side, in a few short weeks, the Illini football team w...