Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

The Tour de France started today, and I’m pretty excited. This event totally fits into my random caring about sports.

I realize that this is somewhat controversial as I’m absolutely against steroid use. I consider steroid use a cheating on mankind because it distorts what we are already amazingly capable of.

Personally, I think any Olympic athlete who tests positive should be banned for life, and his/her name goes on a permanent List of Shame. The same should apply to the US pro league athletes.

But since I have no say on these things, I suppose if you are going to dope, you may as well do it in:

• a sport that calls upon you to ride up mountains for hundreds of miles a day for several weeks in a row.
• a sport within which smaller genitalia could possibly give you a competitive advantage.
• and a sport where ‘roid rage could result in major road burn with a total loss of skin or perhaps even with the flipping off the side of a mountain.
  Note: Not that this crash was his fault. I’m just pointing out that falling off a mountainside (and crashes in general) happen with regularity here already. One does not need to be further distracted.

Still, the Tour doesn’t need all that. It’s an extended event where we get to know the players. There’s teamwork, strategies, grueling breakaways, and always the timed chase for the yellow jersey (color worn by the race leader). Over the weeks, we learn who is the team leader, who are the vital supporting team members, and who are the specialists.

There’s this British sprint specialist, Mark Cavendish, who is absolutely amazing. He’s a contentious figure because he is so cocky and aggressive. All the riders of the Tour of Switzerland just mass protested him.

For a casual viewer like me though, the guy isn’t arrogant because he delivers on everything he promises. If you win when you say you will, it’s not boasting. It’s just the truth. At the sprint finale, the sprint specialist has to ride the entire leg of the race (150-250 kms) and be close enough to the front at the end of the race for his team to form the slipstream that will whip him into the final dash. It’s an insanely entertaining and chaotic build-up into an intense finish.

Then, Cav takes over and blows everyone away. He’s amazing. If he’s in place to make the effort, he’ll win it. And one of his closest rivals is Thor Hushovd. Come on! Thor! Hushovd!

If an everything-to-prove Lance Armstrong and the cutie contender Andy Schleck do not interest you, how about guys named Thor and Jurgen and teams named Liquigas?

Tags: Life, Uncategorized by Ms. SP
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Chicago has been pretty Blackhawks crazy these last two weeks. Their Stanley Cup winning game drew massive numbers. Yesterday, the Cubs and the Sox played each other, and as I went by Wrigley Field, I had a moment of confusion when I wondered if I had been mistaken. Was the game Cubs v Cardinals? There’s so much red.

Nope. It was all the Hawks sweaters and t-shirts around. Contrary to stereotypes, I saw several African-American Chicagoans sporting the hockey paraphernalia as well.

I imagine this display was helped by the victory parade that took place earlier in the day. What a mad house. Two million people! After forty-nine years, the Hawks gave their fans, both long-suffering and newly-hatched, a championship.

Ya hear that, Cubbies!?!

Unlike most of Chicago, I didn’t watch one playoff game. I was excited and didn’t want to avoid the coverage, but I just don’t normally watch hockey. It seems like a lot of commitment to spend hours with it now.

And yet, I will be watching two completely non-local events in the near future. I have no idea what the status of the soccer (football) world is, but I usually find myself watching extended stretches of random World Cup games if the time zones work out.

I’m actually typing this as I wait for the USA/England game to start.

I’m fascinated that there are many countries out there that live yesterday’s Blackhawks mania for a whole month. Life stops, and communities gather around the broadcasts. I can feel that energy when the teams play. The games feel significant even though the significance is not mine.

Have you seen this Nike commercial? Even though I don’t know who most of the people are, it’s 3:04 worth of awesome.

And later in July, I’m really looking forward to the Tour de France. But more on that later.

Tags: Chicago, Life, Uncategorized by Ms. SP
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Can you believe a portable cassette player costs $30 these days?

I couldn’t either but I got one anyway. It’s been a well-used and valued companion ever since.

First, I suppose I should explain why I wanted a cassette player.

I can’t read while on moving transportation. I get motion sick on trains, buses, cars, airplanes, etc. if I try to read text. In order to get my “reading” in, I rely on audiobooks.

I find that digital files and CDs are extremely unreliable and hard to use. Each recording is broken up into hundreds of tracks, and I can never remember where I’ve left off. I waste a lot of time skipping forwards and backwards to find my place and often spoil myself as I hear things that I shouldn’t have gotten to yet.

And since I depend on the library for my book fixes, the quality of CDs is often problematic. It’s so frustrating to get into a book only to find the fourth CD scratched beyond playing. Now I’m stuck in the middle of an unfinished story.

A cassette is so much simpler. Push Stop. That’s where I’ve left off. Push Play and I’m back to where I should be. The cassette tape goes right in my bag, and I don’t have to think about protecting it.

And thanks to the Chicago Public Library, I haven’t run out of books on tape yet.

Ok, back to the product.

This player feels cheap and flimsy. For $30, I was certainly expecting a lot more. But, it has been going for more than a year without any problems.

One of the best things about it is that it uses only one AA battery, which goes for hours and hours. I often have two hour commutes during a workday, and I change the battery about once every three months or so on this machine. That’s really economical.

The radio tuner is pretty weak, and I have no idea what to do with the weather tuner. Sometimes there is interference (buzzing or ringing) when I go by banks, and that probably has something to do with it.

It’s funny what comes back to you at times. For example, the first time I hit the end of a tape, I had to take it out and turn it over. “What!,” I thought, “I don’t even get automatic reverse?” I don’t even know when the last time was that I even thought about automatic reverse. Plus, the protective case comes with a Velcro closure. There’s nothing like unleashing that classic Velcro rip during a deathly quiet morning bus commute.

Great, now I’m missing my jelly shoes.

Other than these issues, I’m really getting the worth out of this thing. Everyone else on the trains and buses has his/her smart phones and iDooDads, but I’m still chugging along with my (official name now) Sony Walkman Digital Tuning Weather FM/AM Stereo Cassette Player.

Yeah, that’s right. Don’t forget it’s FM/AM and in stereo. Make fun of me at your peril.

Tags: Books, Uncategorized by Ms. SP
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