88 Thoughts About 44 Vinos

* David Millar's second thoughts about Vino getting busted:

That is a surprise. I don't know what to say.

Well, other than the fact that we all heard about "The Men In Black" prior to the Tour, so it isn' all that surprising, that's a pretty good comment.

* David Millar's first thoughts about Vino getting busted:

Jesus Christ - there you go, that's my quote. What timing, huh? This is just f@#*ing great.

There you go, David. That sums it up pretty nicely. Wonder why only Pez reported that part of the discussion?

* My nuanced thought about Vino getting busted:

Damn.

A poll for you:



You want more? You can't handle the More. Okay, fine, here's teh more.

* Elden Nelson, the Fat Cyclist, springs into action. According to FCNS, the Tour is Now Clean! Our own regular commenter Big Mike has the prize comment on that post:

Having watched Vinokourov for years, I had decided that he was incredibly strong, but tactically stupid. Now it turns out he isn’t just tactically stupid, but completely stupid.

* Yesh, it's true. I have a picture of what Vinokourov looked like before he started a massive doping regime:





Yep, it's ugly.

* Good news roundup here. Reactions within the pro peloton range from "WTF?" to "WTFF?" to "JC, WTFF, ICFBTS." All expletives have been acronymized for your viewing protection.

* Maybe Tyler Hamilton's imaginary twin was responsible for the homologous blood transfusions. If I was Tyler's imaginary twin, I'd lay low for a while, maybe skip the illusory job for a couple weeks. The Kazakh "government," which sponsors Astana, isn't exactly known for its sense of humor. If possible, the Kazakh government is even slower on the uptake than Vino. Hard to believe, I know, but it appears to be true. I bet the entire Kazakh "Ministry of Dah Treasury" is out in force, lead pipes in hand, looking to test a little dope themselves.

* The bad-to-worse award goes to Andreas Kloden. Even if he is personally clean as the driven snow, even without the news that the po-lice are going through all the bags of trash off the Astana bus and searching the team vehicles, he's the very definition of the phrase, "shit out of luck." You want to talk about a guy who has made a series of tragic career choices.

* More Kloden - you have to wonder if his contract with Astana compels him to drag Vino back to Trashcanistan for trial. Why not - he dragged Vino everywhere else the last two weeks.

* You think Vino will try the Floyd defense? "We were out drinking after that awful time trial on Sunday. I drank a lot. Maybe somebody slipped some homologous blood in my Jack Daniels or something..."

* Maybe he needs to try the OJ defense, and go out searching for the "real dopers." Or perhaps he could resurrect the ghost of Johnny Cochrane, to wave around a pair of Marco Pantani's old bib tights from his junior team, and say, "if the bibs don't fit, you must acquit!" It's a longshot - some defendants are too filthy evil for even Johnny Cochrane's ghost to defend.

And that's all I got. I feel exhausted by this Vino thing, like pro cycling is in an abusive relationship with us, and we're the abuse-ees. No, I'm not angry. Just disappointed, as usual.