It's just not the same

Back in 1997-98, I had a roommate, and we would check the TV listings for "Superman" to be on. As they played all of his home games on WGN, we watched a bunch of them. If they were on TV, we'd watch #23 do his thing in the 4th quarter, almost always leading his Bulls to a victory. Ever since he retired, the second time, the NBA just hasn't been the same for me. I've often tried to watch it, but i struggle through even just the 4th quarter. I'm definitely turning into my dad who would always tell me that there's no point in watching anything but the last 5 minutes of any NBA game. On top of that, if it's not a team i like, or players I like, good luck getting me to watch it. I didn't watch a single minute of this year's finals. I've never been a Boston Celtics fan, I don't dislike them, I just don't care for them, and, even though Kobe is a fantastic player, I still haven't really let go of the fact that he's a rapist that just paid his way to freedom.

Anyway, the point of this is not the NBA. It's actually the Tour de France. This year feel the same as the NBA. Even after Lance retired, I was glued to the TV watching Floyd win the tour, and then Alberto Contador last year. But this year, it's just not that exciting. I don't have any favorite, except maybe Carlos Sastre as I remember the story they did of him and his mom who died of cancer. But how can I get excited when I can't find any of the "A" players. Off the top of my head, here's a list of riders/people that I know are out this year:
Kloden
Landis
Hamilton
Contador
Levi Leipheimer
Lance
Vinokourov
Ullrich
Rassmussen
Mayo
Johan Bruneel (sure he's not a rider, but he's definitely missing)

...and from watching the first two sprints of the season, I even thought Robbie McEwen was missing, but I just searched for him on the official site, and he's on Silence/Lotto team. Who the hell is Silence/Lotto, and why the hell was he not even a factor in the first two sprints?

Finally to top it off, I came home on Saturday, ready to watch the Individual Time Trial / Prologue, but they even screwed that up, and the TT doesn't happen till tomorrow in Stage 4.

I'm lucky that I work from home now, and I can get work done while it's on as background noise, but to be honest, I've barely lifted my head up to see what's going on. Well, except Phil Liggett raised his voice because one of the Slipstream/Chipotle riders had a rain jacket get stuck in his back wheel. (Yes, Chipotle is a sponsor.)

At least Bob Rolle, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin are still around.
One last complaint... It's not even on high definition. Damn French TV being cheap, i guess.

I guess I'll root for Carlos Sastre, George Hincapie, Cadel Evans, and David Millar, but I seriously doubt anyone can hang with Valverde, I like winners, so I'll root for him too. Who are you rooting for? Actually, maybe i'll put up a poll.