Bike-y Free Bike-Y Friday...

I've decided to take it easy on all of you (and myself) by having a rather bike-y free bike-y Friday. But, there are still many things to go over this week, so let's get on with this week's headlines.

Kim mentioned something about her schoolkids last week, so when I saw these links I thought of you. First off, last week's SI had a great article on a 12year old competitive inline skater who got put on steroids, hgh, etc by his father. Kinda makes the crazy hockey dads in Alberta seem much tamer. The dad ended up going to jail (surprise) but this gets into the whole parents-living-thru-their-kids argument. A good read.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/magazine/01/15/sins.of.a.father0121/

On a really related note, here's a story where the Texas high schools are going to start testing for steroids. I read somewhere that 500 thousand US teenagers take steroids! That’s an insane amount. Anyhow, Texas is going test 40-50000 students this school year. Pretty good start.
http://www.tsn.ca/headlines/news_story/?ID=227919

In the interest of being fair and balanced, I wanted to touch on everyone's fave actor, Mr Sylvester Stallone. Apparently, when you're 61 and trying to be an action star (Rambo 4 just came out), you need some help. So he has become a loud advocate for HGH to get into shape. He even says that "it increases the quality of life" and "in 10 years, it will be over the counter". I will update his predictions in January 2018.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=4194709

I can't even describe this story, but I feel like I should pass it on. The only amazing thing is that it didn’t happen in the US.
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/29/wtf-of-the-day-driver-kills-cyclist-sues-victims-family-for-d/

Okay, a couple more quick hitters on sports. First off, Jon Browne, who we found out in November was going to run for Canada (reminder:he's twice been 4th in the Olympic Marathon). Now its official. And he's planning on getting the 'A" qualifier. Sweet.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080122/sports/track_iaaf_brown

Speaking of Canadian running, there is a new magazine coming out that is completely committed to the Canadian running community. It is by the same group that publishes the very good Canadian Triathlon Magazine. It hits newsstands on Feb 15th. Although the website is not up yet, here's the teaser. Looks promising.
http://runningmagazine.ca/

I promised to discuss the Super Bowl - and while I'll be no one at my house on Sunday is allowed to cheer for the Patriots, I am looking forward to the game. It will be either history-making or a historic upset. Degenerate betters like Hooper have agreed that Giants plus the points (12) is the way to go. Anyhow, for those of us who don’t care about the game, but watch for the event of it, perhaps these wagers would be more your style. The Super Bowl is the biggest betting day of the year, and prop (non-sporting) bets are a big part of it. Perhaps you could bet how long you think it will take Jordin Sparks (American Idol) to sing the National Anthem (plus/minus 1m42s) or what color the Gatorade will be during the winning-coach-takes-a-Gatorade-shower. Unbelievable. Gamblers will bet on anything. http://vegaswatch.net/2008/01/most-ridiculous-super-bowl-xlii-props.html

Okay, that’s enough for now (I guess I did end up with one bike reference) so I promise lots more next week. Enjoy the game!!