'Don't ch'all go kissin' no hawgs now, ya hear?'

Who knew that you needed to warn pro cyclists to stay away from the other white meat? And yet, here it is: Hincapie's riding partner is out for this weekend's Greenville race because he's come down with H1N1. (The previous link will hopefully be the only time that we'll be pointing you toward the CDC website.) Looks like Lewis needs a big cup of Big George's HTFU.

No word yet if this will affect Hincapie's rumored jump to Team The Shack. El Lanceadora has added a few more riders, though, and it seems like the team is shaping up quite nicely. Just keep 'em away from the pig, big guy.

Bad news for The Shack

CyclingNews is reporting that George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer are in talks to form a BMC team. It looks like Team Shack (seriously, we need to get this name thing sorted out) won't be the American superpower for which many have hoped.

On the other hand, it does mean that there will be at least two and probably three teams with a strong American presence in the Tour next year, assuming things continue as planned. Of course, the chances of their not being major shakeups -- drug positives, injuries, retirements, or team spats -- between now and next July are slim to nil.

Even better: A Shack Attack!

(Or "Shaq Attack": I'm not sure how we'll be spelling it.)

It looks like it's official: Radio Shack is going to use their racing team as a central part of rebranding their company. Here's a quote from Radio Shack's chief marketing officer about the role that Lance and company will play in the rehabilitation of their image: "Having Lance on our team will no doubt accelerate our brand’s evolution" (from the VeloNews article).

Hum. I suppose. Hell, what do I know about marketing?

Still I think they should bring back this campaign:

Ah, yes, the TRS-80: like the Commodore 64, except actually useful. (Meaning that you could do things other than play Ghostbusters or Spyhunter on it.)

If we're looking to compare, that means that Isaac Asimov : Lance Armstrong :: Tandy : _____. Cell phones? I dunno. Put that in your GRE testbook and smoke it.

Either way I hope it means that Lance is going to grow some supafly sideburns.

That will be 'The Shack,' thank you very much!

So first Radio Shack forms a team, grabs LA as their team leader, then the company changes its name from "Radio Shack" to "The Shack." Dunno what this means for the team, as their website indicates no name change, but it does mean that you'll now be buying your electronic doodads from a place named after a domicile most often noted for lacking electricity. No entiendo.

Here's the list of the riders that TRS -- er, 'Team Shack' -- has signed so far:

• Johan Bruyneel, director sportif
• Lance Armstrong
• Jani Brajkovic
• Levi Leipheimer
• Jesus Hernandez
• Chris Horner
• Yaroslav Popovych
• Gregory Rast

The story also reports that Andy Schleck won't jump the Shack -- er, to the Shack -- and that there are rumors that Lance might try to tempt Cavendish to join him as well. This last news is particularly interesting, as it's hard for me to imagine a team led by Bruyneel and Armstrong contesting sprints as well as going for a GC win in one of the Grand Tours. Not to say that they couldn't do it, but I don't remember them ever having done so in the past.

Who else will join them? Hincapie? Floyd? B-Swad? Guess we'll have to wait a few months to find out. May the silly season commence!

Team Radio Shack

Sounds like Lance's new team has a title sponsor....Radio Shack. No word yet on a related story that the Energizer Bunny is rumored to be replacing Alberto Contador and joining the Armstrong/Bruyneel Camp in 2010.



Get the story here.

and here.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/even_ceo_cant_figure_out_how