The 3rd Annual Tour of California and the 80th Annual Academy Awards ended yesterday within a few hours and few miles of each other. These two, seemingly unrelated events, have more in common than might appear from a first, casual glance. Both events are vying to recover from hard times - Pro Tour bicycle racing from what has amounted to about 4 straight years of doping scandals and the movie industry from the 4-month long Writers Guild of America strike. Just as there were signs yesterday that things are slowly being righted in both industries, there were also lingering signs of the confusion that exists among die-hard fans of mobbing enthusiasm.
Although as expected, Levi Leipheimer, the pre-race favorite ended up Sunday in the yellow jersey and at the top of the podium, and his team Astana was workman-like in their defense of the jersey for much of the race, riders from Sliptream-Chilpolte who herald themselves, like their flagship burrito as drug- and synthetic,hormone- free, placed 2nd, 3rd, and 6th in the overall general classification and won the team competition. However, unless Amaury Sports Organisation, the governing body for a number of the big European races, most notable being the biggest race of all, Le Tour de France, have refused to allow Astana to ride in ASO races this year.
This means, Alberto Contador, the defending Tour champion, won't be allowed to race, which is about like barring the Super Bowl NY Giants from competing in next year's NFL season. This will really hurt the sport this year. Americans, who don't usually pay attention in the Grand Tour events unless an America is doing well (i.e. Lemond, Lance, Flance, Leipheimer) likely won't tune in this year unless they have a competitive team. The newbie Sliptream-Chilpolte, despite having world-class riders, has yet to earn the right to even race in Le Tour.
Depending upon which side of the fence you sit, you either view the Oscars as a vastly entertaining, important cultural event for 80 million people or a blase, self-rightegous night of blather by pretentious stars. Folks more erudite than I have discussed this in detail (see below) so you can decide for yourself what it means. Moi? Actually, I'm a centrist when not busy being trying to pound you into submission with my feeble opinions, and on this issue I'm a fence straddler. I love films AND aliens; so movie stars, being from another planet would appear to fit both categories. I do believe celebrities should have their own set of laws. But I also think John Tierney is onto something with the notion that just because a lot of people agree that something is a good idea doesn't mean it's bad, but it's decent working hypothesis.
elsewhere:
david versus goliath audiomp3 audio
or read david
or read goliath