What an effort by Andy. And this will make him want it even more. I hope starting that new team with Frank will not be a mistake.

As for this year's Tour, well, think of me as a UT fan in this year's College football championship game. Waited 4 long years to be there again, the team is awesome & THEN, my quarterback gets hit & is OUT OF THE GAME within the 1st 2 MINUTES. Consequently, we lose. So, did I LIKE the game? Uh, NO!

I guess our opinions differ on yesterday's stage too. I could barely see the riders for most of that final 10K & then all we really got to sorta-see was AC wheelsucking his way up the mt. I'm not blaming him really, as that was all he had to do, but I found it far from scintilating. I do have to give Andy props for TRYING to get rid of him though. And would it have killed the director to do a split-screen?! So we could watch at least SOME of the other riders battle each other, the nutso fans, & the fog up the Tourmalet?

My favorite moment of the entire stage came about 3K from the top. The crowds were at the most intense & closed-in on the road. They were nuts. Flags were waving of countries I don't think even had riders IN the race. The entire scene was total chaos enveloped by fog, which made things even MORE chaotic. (BTW, can somebody just smack some of those stupid runners?!) Anyway, on the right side of the road/screen were 3 guys in identical brown t-shirts & Viking helmets, running along side Andy & AC. Phil says "Well, the Vikings have landed. It's taken them 100 years to reach the Tourmalet, but here they are". Without missing a single beat, he then continues calling the action of AC & Andy. I've actually been increasingly irritated with Phil this year, but that just killed me. It was perfect.

And thanks for the radio link. Great to hear what you've been thinking. And maybe one only hears what they want to hear, but I'm thinking you have NOT experienced your last Tour in person. My fingers are crossed. :)

Alberto *appears* to be trying to grow up a little bit, but I don't trust him enough to give him full credit for him. If he hadn't lied about attacking after Schleck's mechanical I might have disagreed with his tactic but at least respected him for telling the truth...but to say he didn't know Andy was in trouble was a bald-faced lie, and he then later contradicted himself brazenly.

I you don't get your dad, or your son, or Austin to write it (all good ideas), here were my ideas (originally via Twitter):

Young Guns Who Can Run And Write --> Ryan Hall or Josh Cox
Icons --> Frank or Bill
Icons/Feminine Side --> Joanie or Grete
KENNY MOORE.

I'm available too ... but that is not a sales-intensive strategy.

Finish strong,
Stan