I saw this on one of the cycling lists I’m on, and thought it was a cool idea, and wanted to get the word out there. A new restaurant in downtown Durham is doing some Tour de France viewing parties that can educate those new to professional stage-racing and us old pro’s.

Starting this Saturday, Bull City Burger and Brewery in Durham is hosting viewing parties for four stages of the Tour de France. It should be a great opportunity for viewers of all levels and backgrounds to have a beer and burger and enjoy the race together.

Check it out! Details follow:

This July, Bull City Burger and Brewery* will hold weekly Tour de France viewing parties. The events will be hosted by Rusty Miller, cycling coach and former professional racer, and Peter Hymas, production editor at Cyclingnews.com, the world’s biggest cycling website. Rusty and Peter will provide inside color commentary to supplement television coverage and provide topical mini-clinics and Q&A sessions during commercial breaks. The viewing parties are meant to be inclusive of cycling fans from the hard-core passionate to the merely curious. They will follow a No Spoilers format so that those who have not watched the live morning broadcast will be able to enjoy the suspense of the stage finish.

Selected stages and times are:

Saturday July 2nd at 7:30pm: A Tour Primer for the Casual Observer. 8:00pm: Stage 1, Passage du Gois to Mont du Alouettes. Today’s stage winner will earn the first yellow jersey of the race.

Friday July 8th at 8:00pm: Stage 7, Le Mans to Chateauroux. A classic sprinter’s stage with finishing speeds near 40 mph.

Thursday July 14th at 8:00pm: Stage 12, Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden. The long-awaited first mountaintop finish will reveal who is and isn’t capable of taking the yellow jersey to Paris. And, it’s Bastille Day.

Friday July 22nd at 8:00pm: Stage 19, Modane to Alpe d’Huez. Perhaps the most storied mountain in the history of the race.

*BCBB is a new restaurant in downtown Durham featuring local pasture-raised beef and seven beers brewed on-site. With the exception of the Locopops, soda fountain, and Heinz ketchup, every item and condiment on the menu (from buns to mustard to pickles) is made fresh in-house. 107 East Parrish Street. www.bullcityburgerandbrewery.com

I don’t know what to believe anymore.

Hamilton says he saw Armstrong use EPO

Then the Armstrong camp retort:

Facts for Lance

Man, you never like to hear about fatal accidents like this. If nothing else, use this as a reminder to always be safe out there on the roads and trails.

Leopard-Trek’s Wouter Weylandt was fatally injured today in a crash on the third stage of the Giro d’Italia. The 26-year-old went down on the Passo del Bocco and was unconscious at the scene.

Paramedics worked to revive the Belgian, doing CPR for an extended period of time before airlifting him to a nearby hospital. Doctors were unable to revive Weylandt.

Weylandt Dies in Giro d’Italia Crash

So just a few weeks after Time Warner Cable launched their app that allows you to watch TV on your iOS device, ESPN followed suit with a similar app. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to use the TWC app as their signup process doesn’t recognize our TW account. ESPN’s app allows you to sample a bit before signing in/authenticating, so I checked out a few seconds of the Masters just now — nice quality. Unfortunately, I’ll eventually need to have that app authenticate through my cable provider as well. Need to make a phone call to get my account up and running.

ESPN Launches ‘Watch ESPN’ App That Lets You Do Exactly That

As the Super Bowl gets ready to start here in a little bit, thought it was appropriate to post this today, though I really don’t see this happening anytime soon. You’re talking about talking a durable little book and replacing it with a $499+ fragile piece of hardware. Sure, it would offer up some cool applications, sharing and networking stuff, but so many head coaches are antiquated dinosaurs. I just don’t see it happening, nor really the need.

NFL Could Replace Play Books with iPads

Gimmicky, but definitely unique — the concept would be to play a double-header set of NCAA basketball games: one with two service teams (Air Force Vs. Navy or the like), and then a game like Carolina versus Michigan State. But wait, would that be in lieu of the ACC/Big 10 Challenge?

It seems frivolous on a level that makes all the sporting event aircraft flybys look like nothing, but it would be a cool gesture for all those who are good enough to serve the United States in our armed forces.

Get Ready for UNC Vs. Michigan State on an Aircraft Carrier

The biggest race in American cycling these days is the Tour of California, with a lot of big teams showing up annually. Next year’s host cities were just announced. The link below has the announcement video.

2011 Amgen Tour of California Cities Announced

The Versus Tour de France commentary was sprinkled over and over with the fact that Sunday’s stage 8 — the first with any sizable climbing would not necessarily win the 2010 Tour for any rider, but it certainly could lose it for any given rider. I just would have never thought it was Lance Armstrong.

I didn’t get to see the entire stage yesterday, but it sounds like after being tangled up in three crashes on the first stage (and narrowly missing one just a few km into the beginning of the stage) in the Alps, Armstrong was a beaten man. In a way, it is sort of refreshing. Despite the fact that the guy possesses physical traits to make him the perfect candidate for a professional cycling career (which he’s shown 7 times over), such as lungs that are more efficient at higher altitudes and a body that processes lactic acid with ease, he’s still human. Like every other human being, age and life take its toll on the body, mind and soul.

While I, like so many else out there were really really pulling for the guy to have an epic battle with former teammate Alberto Contador, but looks like it’s time to focus on a much younger rider to do battle for the rest of the tour — Mr. Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank. Regardless, hope Armstrong is able to complete and enjoy the rest of the Tour, including a few stage wins.

A Legendary Collapse

I didn’t even think about the repercussions of Lance crashing out around the midway point of the 2010 Amegen Tour of California. No one was expecting him to complete the Tour of California victorious, but for him, it was a big training tool for the 2010 Tour de France — nothing trains you for the next race like the current. Bicycling.com points out that Lance missed out on a few big stages of climbing that would help him in his conditioning. If anyone can fasttrack the training (without the over-training), it’s super human Lance Armstrong. But, even Lance isn’t impervious to aging. We shall see in July how he fares.

Lance Running Out of Time to Get Fit for Tour de France

This was rumored to be true yesterday. Now it’s official. Back in 2004, the NHL Entry Draft was held at the RBC Center, but now the NHL has announced that Raleigh will host the NHL All-Star game in January 2011. Pretty cool. I just hope everyone coming into town for the game can figure out where to go to eat, as the area around the RBC is a wasteland — removed from downtown Raleigh and requiring a vehicle to get to just about any entertainment and grub outside of the RBC Center itself.

Bettman fulfills All-Star Game promise