Thursday, February 19, 2009

Requiem for a Sprinter

Professional field sprints are getting boring. Mark Cavendish wins everything. Today's stage of the AToC was almost sad, watching Boonen - the ex-golden boy - fade before the line like MC Hammer's hairdo. I'll bet ol' Tommeke is crying his eyes out right now in a bed full of naked Californian supermodels. That thought is especially sad considering that it's probably tough to get your nose full of Bolivian marching powder when it's running with snot. Just take a look at this photo, in which Cavendish is clearly giving Tom the international sign for "suck it" as he crosses the line:


Anyways, after watching Cav stomp the competition (and listening to Craig Hummer's word vomit for a couple of hours) I headed out to an acupuncturist. With the ECCC season drawing near and my Achilles tendons still not at 100%, the situation is getting pretty desperate. So yes, I went and had some dude stick needles into my feet. This being my first run-in with an acupuncturist I was a little bit concerned, but it wasn't nearly as creepy as I thought it would be. The acupuncturist just flicked the needles as they went in and I could barely even feel them. Two went into each Achilles with electrical pulses running through them, and four went into my neck. Then the guy abandoned me there for half an hour while I lay face down, bristling with acupuncture needles like a hedgehog.

It's hard to say whether it was effective just yet. My neck feels a bit looser than it did before, but the jury's still out on the Achilles'. Since I know you guys are all waiting with baited breath to hear the status of my lil' tendons, I'll post an update soon.

In any case, when I got home and flicked on the TV, whose voice immediately began assaulting my eardrums but that of Versus' newest word jockey, Craig Hummer? The voice was immediately familiar but the context was very different, since this time Craigy wasn't dabbling in cycling, but was announcing a sport with a far longer and richer history: World Extreme Cagefighting. I didn't stick around long enough to really get a feel for his deathmatch announcing style, but I assume he brings the same level of professionalism, detailed knowledge, and insight to the bare-knuckle ass whooping arena as he does to the cycling arena. That level of professionalism, knowledge, and insight, incidentally, is a big 10 (on the usual scale of -4 to 684,007).

Oh, and Valverde is totally effed (and balding):

1 comment:

Talula said...

If the acupuncture works, I'm definitely trying it! And that guy Craig should be punished for his douchery.