Idiot

Rock Racing team owner Michael Ball is a passionate and polarizing idiot of epic proportions. The jackass, CEO and head designer of the premium denim fashion line Rock & Republic rubs elbows with supermodels and rock stars, has made headlines for his moronic public statements...

He carpet-bombs conversations with the F-word, embraced heavily tattooed riders Kayle Leogrande and David Clinger, and has told his riders, "You either win or you're fired."

Ball has made clear his intentions of building his domestic squad into a Tour de France-caliber team, telling VeloNews earlier this year, "I want a yellow jersey on my wall." And though he failed to sign Chris Horner and unsuccessfully tried to bring Mario Cipollini out of retirement for 2008, Ball did sign three-time U.S. national champ Freddie Rodriguez; Michael Creed, Doug Ollerenshaw and Cesar Grajales; and a pair of Colombian veterans, Victor Hugo Peña and 2002 world time trial champion Santiago Botero. Phonak benched Botero in 2006 amid allegations that he was involved in the Operación Puerto doping scandal, but he was later cleared by the Colombian federation and spent 2007 with the Colombian team UNE Orbitel.

Read the rest of Neal Rogers interview with this dickhead here: Michael Ball: Rock Racing's fiery team owner sounds off