Tick's Blick, 30.12.03

 

Good grief, late Tuesday afternoon again and I have to write my column and get it online.... did anything happen this week in cycling? "What? No, you've watched enough tv today. X-Box? OK, but keep the volume down, I'm trying to write." Didn't Millar say something recently? Oh, right, he wants to win lots of gold medals at the Olympics. Well, who doesn't, and besides, he's already said that a dozen times, why can't he come up with something new?

 

"Turn it down, ok?" What else is there, Kelme announced its Tour team -- don't make me laugh! Like maybe they should wait for their GS-I license first? And then maybe wait until the end of June to see who's healthy and in form? Gimme a break....

 

Oh great, it's dinner time. Didn't I pull anything out of the freezer this morning? Doesn't look like it. Well, hamburgers then, they're fast. Do cyclists eat hamburgers? Lance probably doesn't .... but those Belgians have to have their fries, don't they? What was that great line from Marcel Wüst a couple of years ago, when the Tour went through Belgium: "Ah, beer and fries for breakfast, you know you're in Belgium!"

 

Hey, doesn't the Tour go through Belgium again in 2004? We popped over and saw it last time they were there. And isn't there a stage finish or something in Luttiche? Liege? (And why does eery city have to have two names? Don't they know how easily confused I am?) I'll just take a quick peek in the internet and see what the schedule is -- but if it's too early for Kelme to announce its team, then it's too early for me to start making plans. And this is not getting dinner made or my column written.....

 

"Huh? No, Dad's not home yet and I don't know when he'll be here. If he's not home by 6, we'll eat without him." What else? Oh yeah, the licenses. So USPS couldn't get its act together, that's no suprise to us Americans, we've been suffreing from their mail delivery for years. But still, it does make the team look pretty stupid. And Kelme? After the Coast debacle last year, the UCI hat to at least act like it's really double checking everybody.

 

Speaking of USPS, Lance's love life is sure making lots of headlines. It seems like the media is trying to give the impression that he is so besotten with Sheryl Crowe that he is totally neglecting his training -- at least that is how the Ullrich, Beloki, Hamilton, etc. fans are gleefully interpreting it. "Sheryl Crowe, she's a singer. No, I didn't get her cd for Christmas, I got Cher and Trace Adkins. And no, I don't think she sings on your Yu-Gi-Oh cd either...."

 

French fries, I just mentioned French fries, gotta have something to eat with those hamburgers. Are they in the freezer here in the kitchen? Of course not, I have to run down to the basement. I wonder who the French athlete of the year is? It was Petacchi in Italy, Ullrich in Germany, Armstrong in the US....lots of surprises there.....

 

There's the doorbell. "You get it, it's probably for you anyway. But don't let anyone else in, it's almost dinnertime." Which friend is it this time? The one he got in a fight with last week? These 10-year-olds fight about as seriously as the cyclists did -- throwing water bottles is more what I expect from little boys rather than adults. And didn't the UCI actually say that the whole incident was worse because Cipo was wearing the world championship jersey at the time? That's right, he should have taken the jersey off, it would have made a lot of female fans happy.....

 

Well, it looks like everything is finally coming together. My husband is home, dinner is on the table, my son's friends are going out the front door. That'll have to do it for Tick's Blick this week, hope I didn't miss any of the week's news, but I haven't got any more time now.......