Pete's World Cycling Rankings

The inaugural ProTour cycling season is coming to an end with just three one-day fall classics remaining on the first three weekends of October. Besides the official retirement of Lance Armstrong, the two big events since the Tour de France have been the re-crowning of a true Spanish champion with Roberto Heras's record-breaking fourth victory at the Vuelta, and the crowning of a new world champion in Belgian superstar Tom Boonen. These results, along with a few others during the last two months, have only mildly altered my rankings. Selecting a top-10 is pretty easy, but ordering this Top 10 is extremely difficult given the high level of event specialization that dominates the sport. What, after all, is one to make of Roberto Heras, who is so dominant on the roads of Spain in September but so pathetic in France in July? While the ProTour is a welcome idea, if its goal is to promote consistent year-long competition among all the top riders, then it is failing miserably. Pete's World Cycling Rankings (September 26, 2005) 1. Danilo Di Luca (current Pro Tour standing = 1 / final 2004 UCI ranking = 27) 2. Tom Boonen (2/10) 3. Alexandre Vinokourov (5/38) 4. Ivan Basso (20/11) 5. Bobby Julich (7/30) 6. Alessandro Petacchi (9/9) 7. Paolo Salvodelli (18/404) 8. Roberto Heras (15/17) 9. Paolo Bettini ( 54/2) 10. Levi Leipheimer (6/87) Honorable mention: Jan Ullrich (3/15) George Hincapie (8/48) Davide Rebellin (10/6) Denis Menchov (11/26) Cadel Evans (14/87) Santiago Botero (16/454) Alejandro Valverde (19/4) Gilberto Simoni (25/23) Oscar Pereiro (28/92) Damiano Cunego (35/1) Robbie McEwen (89/16)

More on possible futures for New Orleans

Several weeks and one major hurricane later, Katrina's destruction of the old New Orleans continues to dominate our national attention. In the last week, I've run across three published opinions that in one way or another are worth extended consideration.

• First, fellow geographer Jason Henderson provides a stongly argued assessment that much of New Orleans should not be rebuilt because it was the foolish product of misguided public policy rather than environmentally sound planning; the displaced homes and businesses should instead be rebuilt along a densified corridor stetching upriver to Baton Rouge, Louisiana's new biggest city. And because national public policy is to blame more than "nature" or "God", then national taxpayers should foot the bill through a 50-cent gasoline tax.
• Second, Gregory Rodriguez argues that "La Nueva Orleans" is destined to be a much more Hispanic place, as the bulk of the rebuilding efforts will be performed by laborers and small entrepreneurs from Mexico and Central America.
• Third, Jacob Wagner presented last week some of the most balanced and thoughtful comments I've read to date regarding the prospects for post-Katrina New Orleans. They strongly echo Henderson's comments, but they're not so provocatively wrapped in specific rebuilding plans that include a sizable new tax on the American public. Moreover, Wagner reminds us that rebuilding New Orleans is far more than an exercise in rationally driven transportation and land-use planning and civil engineering, but it also incorpates a heavy dose of humanistic, historical concerns.

A Katrina follow-up

It already looks like cynicism will rule the day in the rebuilding of post-Katrina New Orleans. To nobody's surprise, reports already are coming in of wealthy speculators and developers purchasing abandoned and devastated properties on the cheap in order to make a sweet profit as land values rise in the future. Unless very proactive government forces intervene, it seems almost certain that the rebuilding of New Orleans will largely be the gentrification of New Orleans.

What will New Orleans become?

Needless to say, the devastation to southern Louisiana and Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has become the year's dominant story. And once the extended period of rescue and recovery can mercifully come to an end, we will be faced with the daunting task--and question--of rebuilding. While post-disaster rebuilding is often a question of "when?" rather than "if?", the very predictability and unnaturalness of this disaster, particularly the flooding of New Orleans, has led many to question whether New Orleans should be rebuilt at all. Maybe this was simply Mother Nature reminding us that we've just been living on borrowed time, with our elaborate and expensive engineering works vainly trying to keep the river's and the ocean's waters at bay? Of couse, such a viewpoint is extremely distant, analytical, technical, perhaps even inhuman in a "Spock" kind of way. No doubt, as very human beings, we will struggle mightily to balance our cool-headed rational environmental assessments with our more romantic, place-embedded selves. That is, to what lengths and to what expense should we go in order to protect or rebuild a beloved place--e.g., Venice, La Conchita, the WTC--no matter how foolishly it might be situated? What, after all, is the "price" of place? This question is hard enough to answer at the scale of the individual, let alone all of the concerns about equity, fairness, justice, etc. that come into play at the societal (local, regional, national, global) level. Clearly, New Orleans will get substantially rebuilt; the city means too much to its (former) inhabitants and the rest of humanity to be simply abandoned as the world's largest ghost town. But the questions above loom large, as do the many questions of how to rebuild that always loom behind--in a planning and architectural sense--major urban renewal/redevelopment efforts. LA Times architectural critic Christopher Hawthorne has recently provided a very good review of what some of these questions might be--the kind of rebuilding we might collectively hope for, the kind we might instead dread and more cynically expect. (Many of the same issues are also discussed, but not in the same singled-voiced way, in a recent New York Times piece.) Finally, if you're like me and not particularly familiar with the local geography of New Orleans, you might find it very helpful as you read Hawthorne's article to follow along using the resources at Google Maps. The links below will help get you pointed in the right direction; then simply toggle between the "satellite" and "Katrina" views to see the same bit of the city both before and after the storm.

• the Lakeview neighborhood and City Park (plus Elysian Fields Ave. a little to the east), where some of the worst flooding occurred
• the flood-ravaged and more deeply impoverished 9th Ward
• the more-or-less dry French Quarter (Bourbon Street, Jackson Square, etc.)
• adjacent Faubourg Marigny
• the stately Garden District
• Uptown, with Tulane and Loyola Universities
• The Superdome and adjacent CBD

Finally, the following websites provide a detailed view of pre-Katrina New Orleans--albeit largely from a tourist's eye view:

• INETours.com
• TourNewOrleans.com
• BigEasy.com
• Map of New Orleans wards
• Map of Louisiana parishes
• Wikipedia entry on New Orleans

The Road to Germany 2006: World Cup qualifying

For most Americans, the soccer World Cup--if it registers at all--is a one-month curiosity that comes around just once every four years. The reality, though, is that the 32-team "finals" tournament is but the final chapter of a saga that extends over two whole years and literally covers the entire globe. That lengthy prelude to next summer's WC finals is now almost over, and several countries have already punched their ticket to Germany 2006--including the USA for the fifth straight time! Nonetheless, with just one or two qualifying games left for most countries, as many as 20 spots remain open. For soccer fans around the world, a thrilling, anxiety-inducing climax thus awaits when qualifying play resumes the second weekend of October. Here's a quick summary, region by region, of where things now stand: Note: countries in blue have already qualified; countries in purple are on the verge; countries in red are still in the hunt. Africa All five African places remain undetermined with just one climactic weekend (October 7-9) looming ahead. Traditional soccer power Ghana are virtually assured of what would be, remarkably, its first-ever appearance in a World Cup finals; with South Africa already eliminated from contention, only Congo clings to the slimmest of chances of derailing the "Black Stars" train to Germany. Surprising Togo also is close to sealing its spot, but it might need a tie or victory on the road in Brazzaville to hold off still-threatening Senegal. The other three qualifying groups are more finely balanced. WC finals veterans Cameroon holds a one-point advantage over Cote d'Ivoire, but the "Indomitable Lions" probably will need to win at home against potential spoiler Egypt to secure their spot. Similarly, surprise Angola probably needs to win their last match at Rwanda in order to hold off the group favorite "Super Eagles" of Nigeria. Finally, North African rivals Tunisia and Morocco square off October 8 in a winner-take-all match in Tunis, with a tie being just as good as a win for the home side. Asia In contrast to Africa, qualifying in Asia is all but finally determined. Four teams have already clinched their spots in Germany--a very unsurprising list that includes regional powerhouses Japan, Iran, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia. Uzbekistan and Bahrain are the only other Asian countries still clinging to hope; the winner of their two-game home-and-home playoff on October 8 and 12, will then face the fourth-place team from North and Central America (probably Guatemala or Trinidad and Tobago) in a similar playoff to claim one of the final two spots available. North and Central America (including the Caribbean) After the pivotal matches of early September, the situation has become pretty clear in northern America. As expected, the region's two giants, Mexico and the United States, have already claimed their spots in Germany. Also of no surprise, Costa Rica now looks almost certain to claim the region's third spot. That leaves only the tight battle for fourth place and the chance to play-off against Asia's #5 team (Uzbekistan or Bahrain) for a ticket to Germany. Thanks to a big come-from-behind home victory over Guatemala on September 3, Trinidad and Tobago remains very much alive. Guatemala continues to hold a one-point lead with two games to play, but T&T may actually have the edge given its remaining games are against last-place Panama and then a potentially unmotivated Mexico at home in Port of Spain. Guatemala, in contrast, still must play in Mexico City before closing out the campaign at home to the always-strong Ticos of Costa Rica. South America (and Oceania) South America’s marathon tournament has just two rounds left, but much remains to be determined. Giants Argentina and Brazil have already qualified, while surprising Ecuador and Paraguay are both just one good result away from joining them in Germany. Behind them, though, are three teams still mathematically alive to sneak into the top four--Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile. These three WC finals veterans, however, separated by just a single point, are most likely battling it out for the fifth-place team's invitation to a playoff series against Oceania champion Australia. Key matches to watch are Colombia-Chile and Ecuador-Uruguay on October 8, and Paraguay-Colombia and Chile-Ecuador on October 12. Europe Besides the automatically-qualified host Germany, only Ukraine has officially secured one of the 14 spots on offer to Europe. Several others, though, are close to sealing their place with just two games left to play. These probable qualifiers include traditional powers the Netherlands, Portugal, and Italy. Thanks to a recent shock defeat to Northern Ireland, favorite England must now win its final two games at home against Austria and Poland to confirm its place in Germany. Either Switzerland or France will likely earn another of Europe’s spots, while the battle is also close between Serbia-Montenegro and Spain, and between Sweden and Croatia. Europe’s remaining five places will come from the eight second-place teams in their respective groups. Besides the losers of the two-team battles noted above, these second-chance combatants will likely include the Czechs or the Romanians, the Turks or the Greeks (or perhaps the Danes), the Slovakians or the Russians, Norway or Slovenia (or possibly Scotland), and Croatia or Sweden. Israel, Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Belgium also can still cling to hope. In short, there's a lot of soccer still to be played, and a number of big names are keeping their fans very much on edge (most notably England, Spain, and France). Pivotal matches to come include Denmark-Greece, Switzerland-France, Belgium-Spain, England-Austria, and Croatia-Sweden on October 8, and England-Poland, Slovakia-Russia, Ireland-Switzerland, Slovenia-Scotland, and Serbia-Bosnia on October 12. Let the fun begin!