What would a victory do to the accusations of drug use? Does it confirm the accusations because only someone one drugs could win this race eight times, and at the age of 37? Or does it vindicate him because he couldn’t possibly be using something given the scrutiny?

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Three Dallas Cowboy offensive lineman have signed a deal to put out a heavy metal album. Good think the ‘Boys got rid of T.O. and all of those distractions!!

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Clearly this is going to be an issue that Twitter has to deal with. Todd Zolecki, who covers the Phillies for MLB.com, wrote about a golfer named John Raser who claimed he was going to conduct a “Twitterview” with Phils second baseman Chase Utley. The problem is, Utley isn’t on Twitter. There’s a fake Utley but there are only three legit Phillies Twitter accounts: the team’s own, as well as those of Chad Durbin and Jamie Moyer’s Moyer Foundation charity. This so-called interview was supposed to be about “marketing, branding, the power of social media and obviously some baseball talk.” Ummm, no. As Zolecki pointed out, “If you’ve ever interviewed Utley, you know it’s like pulling teeth.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer has joined other media outlets discussing Twitter in the sports world, and published a list of players and coaches using Twitter, according to AthleteTweets.com, a site that tracks athletes’ Twitter usage. (I’ve been using a similar site called WeFollow.com, which tracks people in various categories, including sports.)

On to this week’s goodies. San Francisco Giants pitcher Barry Zito, he of the $126 million contract and the 23-36 record since signing said contract, needed to get something off his chest and took two Tweets to do it:

Twitter gives a chance for all the small minded, insignificant, s–t talkers to feel significant for 2 seconds, just check my inbox…
To the other 95 percent of you guys, I love reading your responses and appreciate the support. Go Giants!

Meanwhile, in the midst of his comeback attempt, Lance Armstrong took time to announce the birth of his son on Thursday:

Wassup, world? My name is Max Armstrong and I just arrived. My Mommy is healthy and so am I!

Armstrong also got a challenge from the sports world’s most popular Twitter user, Shaquille O’Neal:

@lancearmstrong wht about our race whn and were, flat lands or mts and do I get a head start! If I get a head start, u will nva catch up

The big question is, will Shaq wear those spandex biker shorts? Those baggy NBA uniforms won’t cut it on a bike.

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Cavaliers blow big first-quarter lead, then LeBron takes over in the second half.

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As one of the best of the best, the cream of the crop, you are probably a finely tuned machine both physically and mentally. You are focused on the job at hand — so much so that there’s only one thing on your mind when there’s a break in the action: grabbing your mobile phone to post a message (consisting of no more than 140 characters) to family, friends and strangers alike on a website.

You may have noticed that sports and Twitter are becoming increasingly intertwined. Sports leagues, teams, individual athletes, media outlets (including Outsports — blatant plug alert!), all are establishing themselves on the popular social networking site. Lance Armstrong posted updates on his broken collarbone and subsequent surgery. Shaquille O’Neal posts often, even going so far as to give tickets away to the first Twitter follower to find him out and about in Phoenix.

But Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva took it to a new level. For Charlie, halftime isn’t just a time to rest up and prepare for the second half. It’s a time to feed the Twitter beast, as he did a couple of weeks ago: “In da locker room, snuck to post my twitt. We’re playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up.”

Uh, yeah. Head coach Scott Skiles told Villanueva, and the rest of the team, that in-game Tweets would not be tolerated. (Tweets are what they call Twitter posts for some reason; shouldn’t they be called Twits? Seems more appropriate to me.) On the next game day, Villanueva posted again, but well before that night’s game: “About to take my nap, but I’m looking for some answers here, what’s the difference between halftime twitting and halftime interview?”

FYI, Charlie: one is officially part of your job. The other is something you do on your own time.

Anyway, Shaq responded by Tweeting that he’d also Tweet at halftime: “Attention all twitterers I’m a tweet at halftime and not get fined like vill a new wave a whteva his name is.” And during the Suns’ March 21 game, a solitary word appeared on his Twitter page: “Shhhhhhh.”

I guess Suns coach Alvin Gentry isn’t as concerned as Skiles, but maybe he should be: the Suns are 4 games out of the last Western Conference playoff spot.

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Radar has this tidbit of Michael Phelps at a Vegas strip club:

Radar Staff Writer Neel Shah spent the evening in Las Vegas and was kind enough to send along these fine photos of Olympic hero Michael Phelps “massively skeeving on girls at the Playboy Club” in that city’s Palms Casino. Neel notes that the Olympian was accompanied by an entourage of striped-shirted schmucks, one of whose sole duties appeared to be pointing a flashlight at anyone attempting to photograph the swimmer during his efforts to obtain a gold medal in ass-grabbing. (“It was unreal,” says Neel. “Within moments of entering the club he summoned two girls over… I’ve never seen such an aggressive grip.”)

Comment: Phelps is 23, single, filthy rich and just won eight gold medals, so I guess he was just out having some fun. Wonder if he out-touched the Slovenian swimmer to grab the stripper?

From Huffington Post via Deadspin is this nugget from a Portfolio profile on Lance Amstrong:

Sex is something he enjoys, because he didn’t get much of it on the [cycling] Tour. “I had sex if I had the energy. I wasn’t one of those guys who believed in the myths about the guy losing his chi,” says Armstrong. “But the fact is that if you are riding your bike five, six, seven hours a day, you are not a sex champion. You’re just not. You have fatigue, low testosterone, and a lower libido.” He grins. “But you know, I never got any complaints.”

A painting hangs over a stainless-steel bathtub in his bathroom. “Girls love that tub,” he says, “They’re always splashing around in it, and I’ve gotta be like, ‘Hey, quit splashing the art!”

Comment: Not sexy; I’ll take Phelps any day.

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