the tour. that's what.
enthusiastic reports forthcoming, but for now, we have the following handy distillation of the difference between american professional sports and european professional sports.
shaquille o'neal has been traded to miami because he can't coexist with his teammate, kobe bryant. the lakers were left with the task of choosing from one of two brats.
the current race leader, thomas voeckler (a french rider for the superbly-sponsored brioches la boulangerre team), was struggling to hammer up the race's first serious climb. he kept falling back, then racing back to catch the peloton. then he'd sort of give up. then he'd lay into the climb. well, richard virenque (also french, riding for quick step - davitamon), who's wearing the king of the mountain jersey (he's a legendary climber), drops back to encourage voeckler. i suppose they have nationalism in common, but these guys are on different teams. they have mutually exclusive goals, really. yet the elder virenque slows down to offer a sort of patrimony to voeckler.
no doubt there are brats in professional cycling. no doubt o'neal and bryant aren't entirely representative. these are the two stories of sports that get my attention this week, though.
allez!