Sharpie66

A few seasons ago, Paul was handing out handshakes willy-nilly, so I think he has been very parsimonious with them since.

You can freeze heavy cream in ice cube trays.

Just finished today’s finale. One fewer persons on the podium—Sam Bennett is both the green jersey winner and the stage winner! Everything else was as I previewed. At least NBCSN has finally realized that we want to see the awards ceremony. A few years ago, they just briefly showed the three top GC people on the podium. Roglic’s son was freakin’ adorable in his daddy’s arms on that podium.

Bunga Bunga is halfway through now, and it is just as good as I had thought it would be. Not just informative, but entertaining and even funny (the host’s reaction to a Let’s Sing Praises to Berlusconi video is hilarious—basically, “I have never seen so many big breasts in my life!”). Mostly, though, it is infuriating to hear the level of corruption around the man for decades.

Finally got caught up on yesterday’s individual time trial that ended the GC competition. I have never seen a final day like that! Pogacar had the perfect ride and Roglic just could not keep up. All of the commentators were blown away by how amazing it was that the entire Tour came down to that final hill climb. Pogacar tales home the white, polka dot, and yellow jerseys—today’s podium will be the stage winner, Sam Bennett in green, I think Movistar as the winning team, and then just Pogacar.

I just saw that NBC thought the concussion discussion from yesterday needed to be posted on their YouTube channel, which, yes! Yes, it was.

I was visiting my dad today, so I didn’t get a chance to watch this morning’s stage until tonight. Sad to see Quintana get dropped (he’s still my favorite racer since he was the first one I noticed when I first got hooked on the race), and shocked to see Bernal get dropped even more—seven plus minutes behind! Van Aart was amazing on the climb, especially considering he is such a good sprinter. He led that Jumbo Visma team for kilometers before dropping back. But Pogacar was able to beat out Roglic to the line—when he took off, .i yelled, “Go kid, go!” even though I like both of them.

Yesterday, Romain Bardet suffered a small hemorrhage after getting a concussion during a crash, but he hopped back on his bike and finished the stage. Apparently, his team missed the severity of his injury until the day was done. This led to a really fascinating discussion by Phil, Bob, Christian, and Chris about concussion protocol and stories of Brain Injuries I Have Suffered While Racing. I love it when they can take the time for these deep dives into stuff about the sport as a whole. A few years ago, Christian spoke frankly about the fact that he doped when he first started racing, just because everybody else was doing it.

A new limited series for those who liked Rachel Maddow’s Bag Man, or other stories of political corruption—Bunga Bunga, about Silvio Berlusconi’s rise and fall. So far, I’ve only listened to the intro and just the beginning of ep 1, but I am here for all 8 episodes. I like most of the stuff that Wondery releases; their podcasts are very professionally produced, and are very entertaining (even the history ones like Tides of History). Another of theirs that I just started is Murder in Hollywoodland, about the murder of director William Desmond Taylor in the early 1920s.

Caleb Evan slips and slides his way through the sprinters to take the win! Very exciting. Sad to hear about Anthony Perez breaking his collarbone right after he had sealed the polka dot jersey for the stage. Today’s scenery was stunning. Soooo gorgeous. Cannot wait for the first big day in the mountains tomorrow.

We’re baaaaack!!! i cannot tell you how much I needed this race at this time (I am getting the COVID heave-ho at my company after nearly 28 years—ugh). A nearly daily distraction is sooo welcome. Nice to see a name from the past on the podium—I almost forgot about Kristoff. A great finale to such a treacherous day on the road. As for the NBC crew, too bad they couldn’t be in France. And no crew on site, other than the substitute guy on the motorcycle (who also did the post-race interviews), means no Jensy—I miss him! The lack of comraderie that comes from all being on the road together is already being felt by me. Bt at least they are racing, for now. Keeping my fingers crossed that no teams will be DQ’d from two positive test results.

Those marble races reminds me of snowboard cross, which I fell in love with during the 2014 Olympics. Of course, people are better than round balls, so no competition there, but I do get the appeal.

Pandemic expert compares Contagion to Covid19:

The Republicans have wanted to privatize the US mail for decades. What I don’t understand is why the vote for that bill was bipartisan. I ordered my sheet of stamps just for the And Now..A Stamp one.

Hello! Finally got caught up. Totals: 2,3,4,3*,3,4*