So Much To Say...

As I take the responsibility of delivering mind shattering insight into completely marginalized topics very seriously there are days where I just can't decide what is going to serve my readership the best. Today is one of those days.

There are a few stories that jumped out at me that I could write much longer responses to but instead, I'll mention each and then do my best to keep it brief.

Former Duke PG Greg Paulus to play QB at Syracuse.

I, like most of America, and probably even a lot of Duke fans if you pressed them, think this kid is a punk. Anybody remember in 2007 when Paulus had no response to Eric Maynor of VCU in the opening round of the NCAA tournament so he did what any punk does in that scenario? He got in Maynor's face, blocking his way to the bench during a time out, trying to insite a reaction to get Maynor in trouble. This is memory of Paulus sums up everything I can remember from this kid's career at Duke.

Apparently he was a good quarterback in high school so he's going to go give that a shot again. My hope is that he either uses the same tactics on the football field and some linebacker does what Eric Maynor and the rest of Division 1 basketball no doubt wanted to do, rip his head off. The difference being that in Division 1 football that makes a highlight real for bowl season as opposed to an ejection in basketball. Let's keep our fingers crossed he makes the starting lineup to increase the odds of his getting pummeled.

Andreas Kloden is now "Implicated" in some doping findings.

Of course he is! He's from that era of cycling and was the teammate of guys who have been found to be dopers. He rode on the same T-Mobile team as Ulrich, Vino and Eric Zable who has admitted to being doped up during one of his green jersey wins at the Tour de France. Nobody should be surprised. What I find surprising is that it's taken this long to link his name to some dirty doctor. But, should we care?

At this point what does it matter? It was a long time ago and a different age in the sport. I honestly think cycling is cleaning up and if he's passing the drug tests now, then he should be considered a clean rider. I think that the UCI, WADA or who ever else keeps going after these guys for past discretion is actually hurting the sports chance at moving forward. We all know what cycling was like back then, but the question should be is it going to be like five years from now. In a regular legal system there is a statute of limitations on how far back you can go and still convict someone of a crime. I think we need something similar in cycling, especially considering that doping in 2006 doesn't do a thing for your 2009 results.

Michael Vick wants a second chance.

And he should get one. If there is an NFL team that would like Michael Vick as their quarterback, then I'm sure he'll get hired. I think the Lions could do worse! He did his time and that should be enough. That's what our correctional facilities are there for, to rehabilitate our criminals. In most cases do I think it's an effective system? No. But do I think Michael Vick's running a dog ring should keep him out of the NFL? No. I'm not Michael Vick fan, but with his talent I don't think he needs Tony Dungy to get back into the league. I do think their cooperative effort to try and get criminals jobs after prison by using Vick as a high profile example is an interesting cause. I'm all for that!

Armstrong's Astana team will change kits?

I tried to keep this post to a bike geek minimum but I mean, I am the one writing here. Astana is under financial problems and apparently hasn't been paying some of their riders. They've been handed the ultimatum to solve this by May 31st or the entire team will be suspended. There have been rumors that the Lance Armstrong Foundation was going to swoop in and take over as title sponsor, but there was a press release from the LAF that while it was an exciting prospect they couldn't swing it financially. The latest bit of news in this drama is that Astana would be outfitted in new kits to indicate some kind of change by the end of the week. These new kits are going to continue to include all the same sponsors as the current Astana kits but will be some different color, or something.

Basic knowledge of how money works tells me that outfitting an entire team in new kits is the opposite of saving money, which it seems to me a team struggling financially would be trying to do. But who knows, maybe new colors that don't make them look like smurfs (Levi is really short) will bring in new sponsors and save everything. I hope they go with Hi-Vis Yellow and reflective piping

Clemens denies steroid use on the radio?

I have to admit I didn't click the link to read the rest of this story but isn't it too late for Clemens to say he didn't use steroids? I thought he already admitted to it or they found it or something? All these steroid witch hunts are hard to follow. Who cares if he did use steroids? It's not like while on them he threw the ball harder than anybody ever in the history of the sport. And, if 'roid rage was a real thing, don't you think he'd have actually hit Mike Piazza with the wooden bat when "tossed" it towards the dug out? He'd have clearly used it as a weighted louisville spear!