Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

BP Oil Spill - Day 79:

The cleanup crew at the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is pulling out all the stops. A giant blimp arrived yesterday to help spot wildlife threatened by spreading oil and to direct skimming ships.
   The Navy blimp can carry a team of 10 and is more desirable than helicopter patrols because it has lower fuel costs and can stay aloft longer.
   Meanwhile, the Coast Guard is still testing A Whale, billed by its billionaire Taiwanese owner as the world's largest skimmer. The Taiwanese shipbuilder had the oil tanker converted. It's 3.5 football fields long, and will be able to skim between up to 50-thousand barrels of oil out of the water every day. (Maiman)

Trash talk and satellite dish:

Want a six-pack like MIKE "The Situation" SORRENTINO? He's got just the thing for 'ya! The NY Post's Page Six gossip column reports the hard-bodied reality stud is launching a line of vitamin supplements called NoX Edge. Friends say he's hoping to be a millionaire by the end of the year and fans can look forward to the product being prominently featured on the next season of "Jersey Shore." (Lee)

Grace notes:

THE WHO will tour again in 2011. ROGER DALTREY told Billboard.com that it will be an entirely new show, or a re-tooling of "Quadrophenia." He also said that PETE TOWNSHEND's hearing problems may get in the way, but it's just a matter of working out the on stage monitoring system. Pete has severe tinnitus and Roger said that the guitarist is fine, until he decided to crank his amps up to 11. The Who did "Quadrophenia" in March at a Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert, but in order to take it back on the road, Roger said the production has to be fixed... but he knows how to do it. (Marino)

Tour de Lance:

Seven-time Tour de France winner LANCE ARMSTRONG is now in 18th place on the leader board and it's only Day Four. That's good news, really, since Lance usually doesn't pour it on until the mountains in the later stages of the race. Or maybe it's bad news, since Lance has dropped two minutes and 30 seconds behind the leader because of a flat tire during the race yesterday.
   In first place at the end of yesterday's jaunt through Belgium, FABIAN CANCELLARA of Switzerland. Canadian rider RYDER HESJEDAL (yes, Ryder is his first name) is in fourth place. Other Americans in the front of the pack: LEVI LEIPHEIMER is 24th and CHRISTOPHER HORNER (both on the Radio Shack team, along with Lance) is 44th. The next American would be GEORGE HINCAPIE, back in 111th place.
   Today's stage 4 is a 153 km (95 mile) ride along the plains from Cambrai to Reims. It's the first entirely French stage of this year's Tour.

Running with the Bulls:

It's time once again for the annual Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. The festival actually began Tuesday night, but the first running was this morning.
   During this morning's run there were no gorings and only one runner slightly bruised as the bulls from Peñajara went by harmlessly (according to my rudimentary Spanish). With that in mind, here's today's Running of the Bulls "GoreBoard":
   Jul 07: 1 person injured, 0 gored; 2 min, 54 sec.
   "GoreBoard" Total: 1 injured, 0 gored.
   FYI: The Festival runs through Jul 14. Thanks to WOGL-FM News Director Bill Zimpfer for the use of the term, "GoreBoard" (trademark pending).