Swap Blog

Well Christian Vandevelde lost his chance to WIN the 2008 TDF yesterday, yet he still thinks he can get on the podium- story here - though Jonathan Vaughters (Garmin Chipotle’s team manager / owner) thinks a top five is more reasonable.

I think Vaughters is closer to right then Vandevelde, but I hope I am wrong. I would love to see CDV on the podium, but he is going to have to really put a hurting on the big men of the tour today as he can not make up 3 minutes (2 minutes maybe) on most of them in the TT to get a top 3. No way you are passing Evans by 3+ minutes in the next few stages short of a the worst three rides of Evans life and ALOT of mechanical issues.

Kim Kirchen of Team Columbia being top 7 this late in the race is a surprise to me. He has ridden well in the past and won some big races, but I never thought he could hang with the top riders over the big climbs. Take his mechanical problems out of the first Alpine climb and this guy would be top 5 (maybe top 3) at this point easy right now. I think he could wind up top 5 as well which would be a real boon for USA cycling - two US teams with top 5 riders in Paris. Even if it winds up two USA teams with top 10 riders in Paris it is a great result for them.

I heard Above The Golden State’s Sound Of Your Name for the first time about a week ago on XM32 The Message. It really blew me away being so beautiful and simple. Though it is not my normal style of music (it is far softer then what I typically listen too), I really like it. Above The Golden State’s first CD - which is self titled - dropped on the 22nd (yesterday). If you are into CCM I would recommend you give them / it a listen and see if it will fit into your library.

Not sure how I missed this, but I did. Back on July 12th the Knoxville News Sentential had a story about a Kentucky pastor (whose church handles snakes) who was arrested for having illegal snakes. In my view, the best line in the story is from Zoo Director Jim Harrison -

“You can purchase anything off the Internet except common sense,” Harrison said. “A venomous snake isn’t a pet. You don’t play with it. If you do, you’re an idiot.”

Story here

Sony responded today to Microsoft’s temporary drop in XBOX pricing by permanently cutting PS3 prices. Story at TG Daily here.

We made the move to Wordpress 2.6 last night. It went smoothly, no problems, and the database did fry itself all AM so we will call this a smooth and effective upgrade.

Ted Frank writing at Overlawyered has a interesting post that discusses the cost of binding arbitrator clauses vs court fees and how Knology (who happens to be my personal ISP) has a nasty little addition to their contract that requires all to visit Atlanta (i.e. Fulton County) if they owe Knology money and want to not use arbitration. Good to know and even more reason for me to continue paying my Knology bill on time. Post Here

I am rarely one that finds the LA Times a source of thoughtful writing but James Rainey of the LA Times yesterday correctly evaluates the current flap over the controversial New Yorker cover cartoon which betrays the Obama’s in the White House. Full Story Here

Well my pick for the 2008 Tour De France - Cadel Evans - got in yellow yesterday for the first time. He did this the day after having a terrible crash (including splitting his helmet) and looking a bit rough at the finish. Evans took the yellow from Kim Kirchen of Luxembourg riding for USA based Team Columbia (formerly Highroad, formerly T-Mobile, formerly Deutsche Telecom …) who I never thought had a overall chance but did do honor to his team, nation and self while in yellow.

Honestly, I liked seeing a US team in yellow, even if the rider is from the Grand Duchy, but based on what Columbia and Garmin both have done in the first 10 days of the 2008 Tour US cycling has ALOT to be proud of can could call the 2008 TDF a success for the New Worlders even if they both teams completely dropped out tomorrow.

Today (July 15th) is a rest / travel day in the Tour, but come Wednesday the riders will go back into the mountains. I think Evans will have to work much harder to keep yellow on Wednesday (as he only has it by 1 second) and the three rider (Sastre, Schlek, and Schlek) CSC mountain goat team who have Voigt and Cancellara pacing them will be hard to handle.

Team Garmin Chipotle’s Christain VanDeVelde, or VDV as we Matt White of his team calling him yesterday, is DEFINITELY DEFINITELY DEFINITELY the surprise of this tour. No one thought he would be in a top 3 position after the first big mountains. IF he can just stay with the CSC / Lotto train then he will definitely get top 5 in Paris.

CSC has a problem, but it is a good one, they are going to have to pick which rider Carlos Sastre or Frank Schlek they are going to try to put on the top step in Paris. Schlek looked strong the first day in the mountains, but I think Sastre still has more to show. Time will tell though. Viogt has been waiting all race to pace these guys and it showed yesterday.