T.D.

Z-list infomercial "celebrity" gets his schlong bitten by hooker...

Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether Edgar Allan Poe Alan Parsons Project

Well, the World Champion (Anand Viswanathan) hung his Queen on the 25th move of one of today's blindfold games, which should give hope to us mere mortals ...Unfortunately, even with sight of the board against a blindfold Anand, I'd probably have gotten into a totally lost position by that time.

Oh yeah. Definitely.

Off topic, but I saw an article about a college pitcher who throws 103 mph, and was disappointed that the author made no mention of the legendary Baltimore farmhand Steve Dalkowski.

Al, as much as I dislike JJ (and have never liked the Cowboys in any case), he has a long way to go to match the unspeakable Davis's achievements in running a once-proud franchise into the ground. I'd love to see him do it, though. Talk about Schadenfreude... Thanks for alerting me to the ironic Turkey Day matchup. I'll make a point not to watch. TV images of Davis and Jones tend to nauseate me, and the effects (imagine a split-screen shot) would surely be worse on a Thanksgiving full stomach.

Uh, guys, the issue's been out for at least a month. I subscribe, and it seems to arrive in mid-February every year.

I agree, what I'm referring to is what I read about Parker dates and Parker being pissed about Jordan not being a reader and sometimes playing unfitting stuff (in Parker's opinion). I think that's what I read in the liner notes to the Savoy 5LP box (those notes are reprinted in the Savoy/Dial 8CD set).... In addition, Miles Davis's autobiography had some highly (I mean, really harsh) uncomplimentary remarks re. Jordan and his time with Parker. Didn't help the reputation at all. Jordan was really bitter about it (there's a retaliatory remark by him on Miles buried in some old threads here).

More from Saint Petersburg: WGM Cherednichenko, Svetlana UKR 2367 WIM Majdan, Joanna POL 2351 IM Khurtsidze, Nino GEO 2421

RIP. This is really horrible. Reading between the lines, the family may have faced a decision re. turning off the respirator. Not sure if we'll ever find out exactly what happens. I don't really know, but think that the family would have to request an autopsy and then disseminate the results. From wire service accounts, the original fall sounded so minor that no one may have taken particular note of it.

I always follow and enjoy Amber. The occasional hung pieces (including a couple of Queens so far this year) in the blindfold games can be off-putting, but some "blind" games are incredibly good. [Added] After 4 rounds, Kramnik's leads the combined by only 1/2 point due to his 3.5/4 in the blindfold, in which he's the perennial favorite. He's 50% in the rapids.

Funny pic of Ernesto "Che" Inarkiev wearing a wristband picturing his namesake:

Holy crap, colossal upset in the "World Baseball Classic": Outsider Netherlands beats the fancied Dominican Republic twice, advancing to the second round and eliminating the D.R.

Usain Bolt Michael Johnson Pietro Mennea

Linda Lampanelli Leona Helmsley Trouble

Carol Doda Dodo Marmarosa Gregg Marmalard

Talk of 1 year, $6.5 MM. Don't know about incentives. Could get interesting. Bills already have the ultra-talented (IMO) Lee Evans, but their QBs haven't been able to consistently get the ball to him the past few seasons. Might T.O. end up unhappy?

Yeah, 35 years old and a head case, in a wide receiver market that hasn't been very strong (see Houshmanzadeh {sp?}, L. Coles). Inclined to agree that nothing'll happen until training camp. Do the Pats need a WR? They already have Welker and Moss, no? Maybe the Jints will bite if Burress gets sent to the big house, but I have trouble imagining TO playing for Coughlin and that organization. Colts just let Harrison go...

Eldridge Cleaver David Soul Vanilla Ice

If using testosterone in an effort to combat testicular cancer is "doping" then we two have glaringly different definitions for the term. Uh, where did I say "doping"? I was in fact quoting Armstrong, who has said many times when interviewed by cycling journalists, "I have never used banned substances." Plonk.

Some funny recent cycling dope items. I've copied/pasted rather than give links, because they're buried in longer pages. It appears that doping has been rampant in pro cycling. But of course we know that LANCE never used banned substances! 1) From cyclingnews.com today (Tuesday): Vandenbroucke fought with equal dirty weapons Frank Vandenbroucke said he only took the same stuff as the second placed rider... Photo ©: Roberto Bettini (Click for larger image) Frank Vandenbroucke said that he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1999 "honestly", because he and all the other top riders were all using the same doping preparations. In an interview with the Belgian men's magazine Che, he said, he won the race "in an honest manner. Because I am 100 percent certain that I had taken nothing differently that day than the second, the third, the fourth and the fifth place finishers. Everyone rode with the same thing in himself, we fought with equal weapons. "Therefore it was an honest race, with an honest result. That day, or rather that year, I was the best of all. Everybody in the peloton knew it." The 34-year-old said that new drugs were introduced into the peloton by "pioneers". According to HLN.be, which reported the interview, he said that the Italian team Gewiss "was the EPO pioneer, everyone knew that. Furlan, Berzin, Argentin ... there is a reason why at a certain moment some men are riding 10 kilometre per hour faster than the others." Vandenbroucke, who will ride this season for the Belgian-Australian Continental team Fuga-Down Under, regretted never having "had the chance to be a pioneer, to try out new doping products first." He said that if he had had the chance, he "would have done it without doubt. .... Everyone would have seized that chance. Nobody should be hypocritical about that!" Some of his major victories did come while he was not doped, Vandenbroucke insisted. In 1994 he won the Queen Stage of the Tour Méditerranéen, ahead of riders "with a hematocrit of 60. Mine was 42!" Vandenbroucke ranked that mountaintop finish as greater than his later win in L-B-L. "Because I fought them with unequal resource. They had been prepared by their doping doctors Michele Ferrari and Luigi Cecchini. Whereas I ... I rode, so to speak, on bread and water."(SW) 2) From cyclingnews.com Monday: Jaksche allegedly named big names By Susan Westemeyer Jörg Jaksche allegedly named some names during his 2007 interrogation Photo ©: Luc Claessen (Click for larger image) Jörg Jaksche is said to have named names in his interrogation by the German Bundeskriminalamt (federal police) in July 2007, names which include individuals still active in cycling, such as Rudy Pevenage and Bjarne Riis. In July 2007, Jaksche confessed to having been a customer of Operación Puerto's Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. According to the German tabloid Bild am Sonntag, the German rider was interrogated on July 25 and 26, 2007, for ten hours each day. This weekend, the publication claimed to have received a copy of the transcript of the interrogations. He is said to have named his former team manger at then-Team CSC, Bjarne Riis, former Telekom team manager Rudy Pevenage (now with Rock Racing), former Telekom team doctors Andreas Schmid and Lothar Heinrich, and Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, among others. In addition, Jaksche apparently claimed that he paid Pevenage for doping products in the Vuelta a España 1999. According to Bild, Pevenage gave him EPO every two days. In addition, Pevenage and Heinrich allegedly told him to ride the Tour de Suisse that year without any doping, as police investigations were expected. The tabloid claims that while at Telekom, Jaksche used EPO, growth hormones, Synachten and cortisone. Jaksche rode for Riis and Team CSC in 2004. During this time, according to Bild, Riis decided who should take how much of what product, with Jaksche saying how he was helped to avoid a positive doping control. Team Saxo Bank did not have a comment on the story. He also is alleged to have claimed that Claudio Sprenger, who was team doctor at Team Polti for Jaksche's first two pro years, 1997 and 1998, injected him with insulin. Sprenger, who is now team doctor for Team Milram, denied the claim. "It's one man's word against the other. Dr. Sprenger tells us that there is nothing to these charges. We are looking into it," Milram spokesman Max Biermann told cyclingnews. Jaksche would neither confirm nor deny the statements, telling the dpa press agency that he had not released the information, and that any subsequent investigations had already been closed.

Not all the Armstrong dope talk is Euro in origin... Here's a funny photo montage of LANCE and a fat dope heckler at the Tour of Cali. Or is the snowy fattie a French tourist?

H. A. Rey Travis the Chimp Sean Delonas (New York Post racist cartoonist)

Bob Brookmeyer Alejandro Valverde Dr. Eufemio Fuentes