I just found out about the horror that is the bombing at the Boston Marathon.

To fully understand the horror it’s important to understand some stuff about Marathon’s in general.

The Boston Marathon requires that the competitor quality. For a 40 year old male, like yours truly, I would have needed to finish another marathon in less than 3 hours and 15 minutes. Doing the Boston Marathon means working really hard to get really good and doing two marathons in a year.

If you’ve ever attended a marathon, the pro’s or elite’s finish in less than 3 hours. Most of the press and the spectators at the finish line are there to see those folks cross the line. At the four hour mark the only people left over are volunteers, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, best friends and cousins coming to see their loved one’s cross the line.

And, of course, volunteers who are sitting there cheering each person as they cross the line.

So it’s going to be a deadly mix of 40+ year old finishers who probably have families with small children crossing the line then. You’ve got the 40 year olds who finished and are trying to recover, and the 50-60 years old who are crossing the line.

If your goal was to create maximum tragedy and you wanted to place a bomb, the four hour mark would be just perfect.

A massacre of innocents to move some asinine ideology forward.

 Today on Mont Ventoux, Lance Armstrong was able to hold on to his 3rd place finish.

Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador were clearly the best two riders of the tour, but Lance was very much the third best guy on the road.

The real fun, though, was listening to today’s broadcast because Bradley Wiggins of the UK was trying to desperately hold on to fourth.

Phil Liggett was practically jumping up and down cheering for Wiggins. Telling him to stay in there, push harder, and came up with the best phrase:

He’s holding on to 4th by the skin of his bike shorts!

Wiggins benefited from the fact that Frank Schleck didn’t have the legs, whereas Frank benefited from the fact that his brother was too far behind Alberto Contador to be able to mount a realistic challenge for the overall lead. So with Alberto and Andy stuck in first and second, it was a battle for the 3-4-5 positions of the overall lead. Andy tried to create attacks that Frank would follow but the magical legs that Frank had two days ago had disappeared. Instead after every attack Andy would have to stop and wait for his brother.

Furthermore, Frank was not going to benefit from the tactical screw up of the other day on stage 17 that lead to a surprising stage win:

What had happened was that  Lance was following Wiggins all day. On the climb to the Col de Romme, Andy attacked and Alberto and Kloden followed. Lance realizing that he wasn’t going to challenge for the overall GC and that Alberto had a team mate let that attack go. A few seconds later when the attack had not yet consolidated, the group behind the leaders more or less stopped. Lance looked behind him, watching both Wiggins and Frank. He didn’t want to be pacing his challengers for the podium. When Frank attacked, Lance was at too much of a dead stop to catch up. Making the tactical decision that he could limit the damage Frank could create on his overall lead, and believing in his performance in the time-trial, Lance let Frank go, deciding to keep his eyes on Wiggins. Lance, correctly, surmised, that the multi-minute gap was simply too big for Frank.

But today with only 30 or so seconds separating Lance and Frank, there was to be no such screw up. And indeed there was not.

At the end of the tour, when Versus finally caught up with the Texan, he looked pleased with himself. Like anyone who comes in third, and realizes there was no chance for first, he was happy with his accomplishment, and said:

Not bad for an old fart like me.

First let me congratulate the Chinese people on throwing a fantastic party, and for winning 51 gold medals. Truly an outstanding performance!

Now, let me offer my condolences to every athlete who had aspirations to any of the 119 gold medals that the Chinese government has targeted. Now it’s obvious some of the gold’s are in high-profile events, but some are not so high profile. And I am really talking about the less high-profile sports. Where people with few resources who had talent could compete on the global stage.

It’s almost comically unfair. You have obscure sports, that by the nature of their obscurity, have marginal amounts of money, are labors of love, and don’t immediately attract the best athletes.

These sports exist on the fringes of the Olympics. Some people care about them passionately, but for the rest of us, they don’t exist. And in many ways, I believe those sports represent the best part of the Olympics.

Unfortunately, the Chinese government has decided that they want those medals. And the Chinese government will apply the full power of their resources to get as many of those medals as they can.

And you have to believe that although it will take time, they will win those medals. China has the people, the money and the determination to win those medals. And that the amateurs, who did this as  a labor of love, who could aspire to a medal will be consigned to even more obscurity. Yes talent counts for something, but so does training, preparation and coaching.

So I feel sad, because on the fringes of the Olympics were sports where the true amateur spirit of the Olympics lived, free from the over-the-top professionalism and over-the-top-jingoism and now China’s Project 119 will make those sports just as professional and jingoistic as the rest of the Olympics…

How could I have missed this beautiful exchange:

Robinson, commenting about the imposing look of a Russian diver who had shaved his head: "I feel like I’ve seen this guy in a James Bond movie."

Potter: "I think I’ve seen him in some other kinds of movies."

Robinson, stunned into awkward silence: "  …  "

Potter, as replay of the Russian’s dive rolls: "Those other movies were about violence, not anything else."

Maybe this woman is a credit to her profession, and maybe diving fans love her, but oh-my-God, she needs some help with her color commentary ….