Leavening

Hmmm...reality came to my fantasy bike racing world today  all the way from Europe.

125 meters from the field sprint finish of today's Stage 7 of the Vuelta a España, a crash in the front of the peloton took out Team CorduroyPlanet's sprinter Tyler Farrar and GC contender (and defending 2010 Vuelta Champion) Vincenzo Nibali, along with contenders Joaquím Rodríguez (Team Katusha) and Michele Scarponi (Team Lampre-ISD) All riders appear to be OK except Team Garmin-Cervélo/Team CorduroyPlanet's Tyler Farrar who couldn't put weight on his leg, and went straight to the hospital.

“The first X-rays seem to indicate that nothing is broken, but there is a lot of muscular and tissue damage. We are still waiting to hear what the doctors have to say.” Garmin-Cervélo sport director Bingen Fernández told VeloNews by telephone." 

As I write, I'm monitoring Twitter for up-to-the-second intel on Farrar's condition, while taking in the LIVE coverage of Stage 4 of the US Pro Cycling Challenge from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. If as is likely, Tyler can't continue Saturday, Team CorduroyPlanet will have lost both sprinters...I'm cellar-dwelling already after coming out of the blocks tied for second for a couple of days.

I'm getting used to my cellar-dweller pallor...no sunlight can penetrate the depths to which Team CorduroyPlanet has descended this season.


While not yet descended to the cellar, my SF Giants continued their slide Thursday evening, losing to the lowly Houston Astros, 3-1. It probably seemed worse than it actually was because I listened to the game on the radio...everything gets more dramatic when the listener's brain provides the pictures!


While I'm in Truckee, I'll be taking in a Triple-A ballgame. The Fresno Grizzlies, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants play the Reno Aces, the Arizona Diamondbacks Triple-A farm club Monday evening. 

SF Giants' Shortstop Brandon Crawford is starting for Fresno after being sent down in late July. Giants' Center Fielder Andres Torres is with Fresno to rehab a lower leg contusion. I expect both players to be back with the Giants come September 1st when the MLB rosters expand from 25 man to 40 man.


Also playing for Fresno until the roster expansion allows them to move up the San Francisco club, are infielders Emmanuel Burriss and Conor Gillespie, and RH Pitcher Waldis Joaquin.


I never have attended a AAA game, but I'm told the Reno Aces' new ballpark is a beauty. 

You can't beat the Old-Timey ticket price...I just bought my ticket online for $16+$2.50 service charge...though I'm not sure that I got the service...I printed my ticket on my printer in the DaveCave...maybe I got "the business", not service, but it's nothing compared to the Big League Business (er Service Charge that the SF Giants ticket website charges...how much was that BajaBabe?)

Looking forward to Monday night's game leavened my troubled mind a little...as I chronicle my CorduroyPlanet daily, injuries to many of the Pro Athletes I enjoy continue to mount.

The SF Giants Injured Reserve List looks like an All-Star Roster. Just 3-6 weeks ago, the Tour de France turned into a La Niña-Lubricated Meat Grinder, and today's crash-marred sprint in reminded me of the perilous nature of cycle racing. Formula One returns this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian GP, and both of Friday's Free Practices were rainy. Sunday's forecast is Partly Cloudy, though anything can happen high in the Ardennes Forest.



Cool! Twitter delivers: @Vaughters: "Tyler seems to be doing better. He wants to start tomorrow. We'll see what the Doctors say in the AM."


I'm afraid I'm gonna need all the Niche Sports (plus Giants' baseball) I can stand to drown out the 24/7 buzz concerning Hurricane Irene. Even though the storm has calmed back down to a Cat 2 hurricane, when one of these messes with the Eastern Seabord DC/NYC Media/Government Axis, the caterwauling will be deafening!

I don't suppose the denizens of the Old Coast will ever get over their own damn selves. If we Westerners flooded both the Legacy Media and the New Media after a puny magnitude 5.8 earthquake the way the "highly nuanced" Eastern Crowd did, we'd never hear the end of it!

Oh, I put a lid on the Spam Musubi experiment for now...today's lunch? Bakesale Betty's Fried Chicken Sandwiches, Baby!