Dancing With The Stars New Cast

ABC announced the new Dancing with the Stars cast today. If you've been living under a rock the past few years, the announcement of the new DWTS cast is now given all of the gravitas as the naming of a new Pope. Like everyone else I think the most interesting name on the list is Tom Delay. Though I would have gone with Dan Quayle.

Quck thoughts: My first reaction was of course these celebs are doing Dancing with the Stars. But I actually think that this show is better than most reality or reality competition shows. At least it's mostly for fun and the stars don't have delusions of stardom. We knew Donny Osmond was going to be on the show. I think he and Marie have some intense competition thing going on.

Sports stars are well represented (Michael Irvin, Natalie Coughlin), and Joanna Krupa is now making a career of being on reality shows. I think the secret front runner here might be Mark Dacascos. Just look at those moves he makes on Iron Chef America.Always fun to see the definition of “the Stars” in “Dancing with the Stars.” Three of those names, I am convinced I have never seen in my life.

Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell is going to be on season 9 of "Dancing With the Stars," which begins Sept. 21 on ABC. Now we've got two reality competition shows to follow in September, "The Ultimate Fighter" being the other (Sept. 16). This is going to be interesting. Let's hope Liddell last a few weeks because I want to hear the outrageous comments from the judges.

"The Iceman," arguably the most popular fighter in MMA history, will be joined by fellow athletes Michael Irvin, Natalie Coughlin (swimming) and Louie Vito (snowboarding), singers Macy Gray and Aaron Carter, actors Melissa Joan Hart, Debi Mazar and Ashley Hamilton, models Joanna Krupa (she of the T.O. "Superstars" fame) and Kathy Ireland, and Donnie Osmond, Kelly Osbourne, Mark Dacascos and Tom DeLay.

Chuck Liddell says he hasn't decided whether he's retiring from the UFC, but the former light heavyweight champion has found a slightly less strenuous outlet for his energy than MMA: He'll appear on the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars. Liddell doesn't have the best footwork in all of MMA, but from a quick look at the cast, at least based on the little I know about them, I'd say the only people in the group who are more nimble on their feet are former Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin and (maybe) snowboarder Louie Vito.

Evelyn Stevens

Evelyn Stevens was working 50 hour weeks on Wall Street, trying to stay in shape by running when she could squeeze it in. On Sunday, August 9th, the 26-year-old former college tennis player began the Route de France, a six-day race that draws some of the world's top female cyclists. And here's the part nobody, not even Stevens, could have imagined just a few months ago: She might just win!

I suspect that Evelyn Stevens is blessed with a high VO2 max, that determining factor in how well her lungs and heart work to get oxygen to her working muscles. Being a virtual newcomer she hasn’t been submitted to a lot of testing but the ones she has done show she has an unusual amount of leg power for someone so small(120 pounds) and so inexperienced.Her light weight and high power output allow her to climb uphill faster than anyone she's faced so far.

She has been involved in athletics for some time. After playing college tennis at Dartmouth and landing a job at investment bank Lehman Brothers in New York, Stevens says she was content to leave sports behind. Her exhausting schedule left her with barely enough time for that occasional run. But in November of 2007 her sister and brother-in-law persuaded her to try a cyclocross race, an muddy hybrid between mountain and road biking.