Oneradtec comes close to what I'm thinking...It takes a superhuman effort to maintain focus on something like the Tour for one year...waking up early, eating the same food, going on a training ride that's been computer-generated, in the cold, in the rain, in the heat... What? You'd like to take the day off? Hey! We're talking the Tour here! Get on your bike and quit your bellyaching!Your legs hurt? Poor baby! Maybe you'd rather watch the Tour on OLN and listen to Phil mangle the French language! That's it! Get those cranks turning!!! Then multiply that by 5. As Bob Roll would say, "those guys are living like animals."

But a couple of weekends ago, I saw a living legend still performing with the same buon gusto he had back in 1954. This one's for Rael: My wife and I went to the Italian American Social Club in my part of San Francisco to catch Sam Butera and The Wildest! Sam is as exciting now as when I first heard him back in 1954 playing sax to Louie Prima's trumpet. Back then, Sam's group was called "Sam Butero and the Witnesses!" Featuring sam on sax, he had accompanying him a trumpet, trombone, drums, bass, and piano. They put out a hot brew of thumping, New Orleans-flavored rhythms, combined with what I assumed was Italian, but I can't translate it. An example is the medley of "Angelina-Zooma Zooma!" in which Louie would sing "Hey goombah, zooma zooma baccala!" Translation please, somebody! Sam and Louie were from New Orleans and had this crazy sense of humor that is still effective today as more of the young clubbers seek this American music form. Sam is almost 80 now, but still closes his act with a 3 man shuffle through the tables of tifosi, extending his hand to every one there, who reached back, reminding me of the crowds in Italy, wanting to touch the Pope. Sam returns in October and I'll be there...