A 24-year-old rider and a survivor of serious brain surgery wins a 104-year-old, 2,200 mile race against nearly 200 older, more experienced competitors by a mere 23 seconds.

In the end, after fearlessly fighting off attacks for the race’s last four days, Spaniard Alberto Contador took both the famed yellow jersey, as well as the white jersey given to the best young rider, in this year’s Tour de France. Contador was the youngest and newest winner in 10 years.

And, if that were all there was to the story as we finished up the race this weekend, it would have to be considered one of the more satisfying Tour de France victories in memory.

But, unfortunately, Contador and the rest of the vast majority of riders who gutted it through the world’s most famous and grueling race without chemical or medical enhancement are not the story this year. The story this year is how a handful of over zealous riders put themselves above the rules of the sport and tarnished the beauty of this race yet again.

So what does the Tour de France do now?

What anyone does when they hit rock bottom? It’s time for the Tour de France and the cycling community together to take a long hard look at how they got there. Then, they must make some changes. Pick up the pieces. Dust themselves off. And start over again.

RED

Get Red exclusively in Pocket Express - just go to Sports and look for Red’s new commentary under Tour de France!

They’re dropping like flies, these Tour de Francers.

Last week I reported on the T-Mobile team’s lovable loserness, as they went swerving off the road and out of the race, sending old men, poodles and mobile-phone executives flying all over the place.

At that point it looked like pre-race favorite Alexander Vinokourov’s tour was done too. He was sliding further and further back in the pack thanks to bloodied knees he sustained in a crash on the race’s third leg. A week ago, he cried for reporters after another dismal day.

Then he started winning again, taking the 15th stage in bold fashion. An amazing recovery! Alexander is back!

Nope - dope. A blood transfusion to be exact. A week later and his race really is over. His team, Astana, has pulled out over the controversy.

Then it was revealed that Italian rider Cristian Moreni had wayyyyy too much testosterone. While this is prevalent at monster truck rallies and Hooters Restaurants across the U.S.A., it’s not welcome in the Tour de France. Moreni and his team, Cofidis, are out of the race.

And now, the yellow jersey has been ripped off the back of Michael Rasmussen. His team, Rabobank, pulled him after it was revealed he skipped some pre-race blood tests. It’s only the second time in the race’s 100+ years that the leader has been booted.

It may be difficult to tell from the headlines, but in the midst of all this, clean, un-doped riders are hauling ass across the French countryside in an amazing display of guts, grace, skill and stamina.

Hopefully some of them will make it to the finish line on Sunday.

RED

Get Red exclusively in Pocket Express - just go to Sports and look for Red’s new commentary under Tour de France!

As we careen headlong into the second half of the 2007 MLB season, every true baseball fan has questions searing their grey matter. Will my team make a move? Will they fold like grandma’s hide-a-bed? Why do those garlic fries at the stadium have to smell so dang good?

So, in the spirit of pondering the inevitable and the obvious, here are a couple of questions about baseball’s second half that have been giving me a headache over the past few days.

The inevitable - Barry Bonds, of course. When will it happen? What will the league do? Which pitcher will become immortalized for his dismayed look on television replays across the globe for the rest of his natural life and beyond? All this and more will be revealed in the very near future.

The obvious - Will anyone be able to trade for decent pitching? The best names out there are a real who’s who of “You traded for who??” Lohse, Elarton, Traschel, Contreras. The price of pitching these days is just too high. To get a frontline guy, a team would have to take a major hit. I’m going to take a total stab at this one and say…no.

As for my other burning baseball questions…where’s that Magic 8-Ball again?

RED

Get Red exclusively in Pocket Express - just go to Sports and look for Red’s new commentary under Play Ball!

In recapping this weekend’s British Open, I really wanted to write how Sergio Garcia had finally broken through at the age of 27 to play four brilliant rounds of golf and capture his first career major.

But alas, after rolling to nine under in his first three rounds and leading by three strokes, Sergio coughed up a hairball on Sunday with a two over 73.

It was a heckuva day to be watching golf though, with Garcia, Irishman Padraig Harrington and Argentina’s Andres Romero all vying for the Claret Jug.

Romero double-bogeyed 17, then bogeyed 18 and fell out. Harrington hit two balls into the drink and doubled 18, giving Sergio a one-stroke lead and a chance to win it outright with a par.

But he had to wait 15 minutes on the fairway, after which he promptly dumped his ball into a bunker. Then he missed a 10-footer for the win - his putt dancing out of the hole like Barry Gibb in polyester slacks, mocking him, taunting him, and forcing a four-hole playoff with Harrington.

Afterwards, while Harrington kissed the cup and called on tournament officials to schedule an Open in his homeland, Garcia took the woe is me approach, complaining of the delay on 18, and how he just couldn’t get any breaks.

I guess life is pretty tough when you’re Sergio Garcia.

RED

Get Red exclusively in Pocket Express - just go to Sports and look for Red’s new commentary under British Open!

Well, the happy news is that Robert Hunter of South Africa won the Tour de France’s 11th stage Thursday. It was the first Tour victory of his career and the first stage ever won by a South African.

But for every heartwarming story in the Tour de France, there are miles of heartache.

As Dane Michael Rasmussen charged uphill to take the lead Monday, the T-Mobile team not only lost its yellow jersey, but its team leader as well. Michael Rogers hit a guard rail going downhill and banged himself up pretty good. He tried to press on but couldn’t continue, sobbing over his handlebars.

After the race, another T-Mobile rider, 26-year-old German Patrik Sinkewitz, slammed into a 78-year-old spectator as he was heading to the team hotel. The man was hospitalized in critical condition, and Sinkewitz’ race was over as he suffered a broken nose and jaw.

But T-Mobile’s week wasn’t over yet, as Sinkewitz tested positive for too much testosterone, sparking doping concerns. The doping test was a surprise, occurring June 8, a month before the race. After he gets out of the hospital, he now faces the prospect of losing his job and forfeiting his salary.

Then, adding insult to injury on stage nine, T-Mobile support rider Marcus Burghardt hit a dog.

At the end of the Thursday’s stage 11, Rasmussen retained the overall lead he captured in the Alps on stage eight, now standing at two minutes 35 seconds ahead of Alejandro Valverde and another four seconds in front of Iban Mayo.

RED

A great player, past his prime, accepts a monumental contract as an ambassador for his sport on foreign shores.

Endorsements. Fanfare. Confetti and trumpets. Glitterati and ankle tape.

It is said that David Beckham could earn as much as $250 million on American soil, between his salary, endorsements and product sales. Already Adidas has shipped 250,000 No. 23 jerseys, which sell for $80-100 apiece.

His first scheduled game Saturday against Chelsea of the English Premier League is a sellout.

Questions about how he will change the American game can be found in newspapers and sports columns around the country. A Google search on Beckham stories over the past week returns more than 10,000 hits.

Can this be for real? Can arcing corner kicks and a blessed right foot really bring credibility to a AAA league in futbol’s wasteland? Can any one player possibly live up to this stratospheric hype?

Does Beckham’s impact reflect America’s budding love affair with soccer - or with celebrity?

If I had to guess, I’d say that Beckham’s influence on an already evolving American game will fall somewhat short of the Himalayan expectations foisted upon him by our national media. He’s just one player after all, and it’s hard to imagine another player, even a great player, generating the kind of buzz that Beckham has.

But the fact that a soccer player can generate $250 million, a star-studded reception and miles of sports-column space around the country has to mean something.

Whether or not Beckham brings it across the Atlantic in his suitcase, it seems futbol is arriving in the U.S.A.

RED

Get Red exclusively in Pocket Express - just go to Sports and look for Red’s new commentary under Soccer!

American soccer has been perpetually stuck in the mud for as long as anyone can remember, but are the wheels finally starting to turn?

Many see David Beckham’s arrival and five-year contract as that turning point. Can Beckham’s fame and game bring a new generation of fans to American stadiums?

A few decades ago, another transcendent soccer talent came the U.S. to play in hopes of igniting this country’s passion for “futbol.” What was his name?

Oh yeah…Pele. Maybe you’ve heard of him.

That didn’t work out so well, and although he was heralded as the salvation of American soccer, it can be argued that he pretty much wasn’t.

But his presence certainly didn’t hurt. In the three decades since Pele’s heyday, American youth soccer programs have steadily grown. Interest in the sport has been high enough that average attendance at MLS games has surpassed 15,000, rivaling the NHL.

Unlike the old North American Soccer League, today’s MLS has a solid business model too. Purpose-built soccer arenas. Revenue sharing.

And because of those things, teams also have some cash to throw at big stars. Beckham and Hollywood will go hand in hand. But how about Chicago’s signing of Cuauhtemoc Blanco, the great Mexican player whose name I cannot possibly pronounce?

Beckham is 32. Blanco is 34. Pele, when he played for the NASL’s New York Cosmos, was 35.

Is this the beginning of a new beginning, or another way for over-the-hill international stars to cash in?

Thursday we’ll take a closer look at Beckham’s arrival, and what it might actually mean for the state of one of the world’s great sports on American soil.

RED

Get Red exclusively in Pocket Express - just go to Sports and look for Red’s new commentary under Soccer!

The first week of the 2007 Tour de France has been hairy. Even when everyone stays on their bikes, the week has seen some thrilling descents and lots of 50+ kilometer-per-hour paces.

Day one brought a surprise finish from Australian Robbie McEwen, who broke from the pack and took the first stage in the last 50 meters after having been downed by a crash just a few minutes earlier.

On day two, with about a mile left, a ghastly 20-bike pile-up left several riders with tender limbs. About 20 riders broke away from the mess and teammates Tom Boonen and Geert Steegmans of Quick Step ended up with a one-two finish.

Days three and four were more conventional, with a lollygagging stage three going to the overall leader Fabian Cancellara, and Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd bursting ahead to capture day four.

But Thursday was again a wild ride. With eight climbs, hairpin turns and a nutty descent at the finish, bikes were flying off the road all over the place. It was a tough day for Alexandre Vinokourov, an early favorite who fell hard, gamely took to his bike with bloody knees and slipped from No. 12 overall to No. 81. In the end it was Filipo Pozzato’s day as he squeaked out the stage win.

As of Thursday, Cancellara, who also won the Tour’s prologue time trial last Saturday, has held the yellow jersey each of the first six days. That could change this weekend, however, as the peloton moves into the Alps. There are nine other riders within a minute of the pace.

RED

Get Red exclusively in Pocket Express - just go to Sports and look for Red’s new commentary under Tour de France!

During the 78th annual Major League All Star Game Tuesday night, San Francisco’s AT&T Park seemed to make as many plays as the players themselves.

Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki came up with the All Star Game’s first-ever inside-the-park home run, due largely to the AT&T’s strange right field wall. Ken Griffey Jr. went after Ichiro’s liner, but the outfield dimensions and the ball’s odd carom off the wall gave Ichiro enough time to stretch the erstwhile double into a homer.

It’s a pitcher’s park though, and the AL’s 5-4 victory belies the near meltdown they experienced as the AL’s two best closers - Seattle’s J.J. Putz and Anaheim’s Francisco Rodriguez - combined to give up two runs and load the bases with two outs before Rodriguez got the Phillies’ Aaron Rowand to fly out for the save.

The win gives the American League a 10-0-1 record over the NL in the last 11 games. Boston’s Josh Beckett gets the win, Rodriguez gets the save, and Ichiro was later named the game’s MVP on the strength of his 3-3 night that included the crazy homer.

But Ichiro’s ball wasn’t the only crazy play Tuesday, as the walls, the wind and the parks dimensions helped make 2007 one of the more memorable All Star Games in recent memory.

RED

Get Red exclusively in Pocket Express - just go to Sports and look for Red’s new commentary under Play Ball!

Five sets. Two tiebreakers. Three hours, forty-something minutes. A four-time champion against a relentless young challenger. It was the third-longest Wimbledon men’s finals ever, and this one was a classic.

In the end, Roger Federer won his fifth straight Wimbledon over Rafael Nadal in front of the only other man to have accomplished the feat in the modern era, his countryman Bjorn Borg.

Borg sat in the royal box and said after the match, “records are meant to be beaten.” Next year, Federer will have that chance. As it is, he hasn’t lost in 34 matches at Wimbledon, with 54 straight victories on grass courts.

The Queen of Grass was also crowned Sunday, as Venus Williams easily schooled Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli, a surprise finals contestant in her own right.

Venus came into the tournament seeded 23rd, and squeaked out her early matches despite numerous errors. As the tournament went on, however, she looked more and more dominant, finally earning her fourth Wimbledon championship.

With the victory, the Williams sisters have now won six of the past eight Wimbledons, with Serena beating her older sister in 2002 and 2003. Venus has only lost to Serena in Wimbledon finals appearances.

RED