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Memorable
Memorial The conclusion of the Indy 500 will be an instant classic. It appeared that rookie JR Hildebrand was in the process of picking up his first cold jug of milk, as the Indy 500 champ....but his unexpected wreck in the final turn of the race opened the door for Dan Wheldon to zoom by and claim his second win at the Brickyard. It was an amazing finish. What was more surprising was that ABC didn't cut away from the final lap to give us the 43rd replay of Danica Patrick's lame GoDaddy commercial...you know, the one in which she wears her Daisy Dukes while leaning over the car pretending the know the difference between a spark plug and a carburetor. It's the same spot in which we see her soon to be dressed up in a bikini. It's the same old BS with Danica Patrick....can't find Victory Lane...so let's pretend she's hot. I could tell you that she's now participated in 103 Indy car races during her career, and she has a victory in Japan to her credit.....but, who cares? She's going to wear a leather mini, or a thong bikini in a future commercial, so let's pretend that's impressive. It's not. As a joke, maybe the next bikini or leather skirt can have a checkered flag pattern; that way, she thinks she's actually won something. I still contend that she is the most overhyped sports figure on the planet. What is scary about Danica is that she is really thinking about leaving the Indy circuit to join NASCAR full-time. Oh, my...I guess she's figured there's not much left to accomplish with the open-wheeled fellas.....I mean, they are still talking about that win in Japan from a few years ago....and she did lead the Indy 500 with a dozen laps to go until some French bread guy, I think his name was Baguette, passed her like she was standing still. The CEO of GoDaddy, Bob Parsons, had an interesting quote about sponsoring her potential venture to race with the good-old boys. Parsons said, "As long as I can stroke the check...she doesn't exactly work for minimum wage. But I'd sponsor her if she started ice skating." I doubt she'd win on the ice, either.....plus, she would have to wear too much clothing. After watching the Indy 500 be determined at the final turn of the race, I didn't figure the Coca-Cola 600 would reciprocate. But Dale, Jr. looked like he was about to end a Danica-type winless streak (104 races since his last win), until he ran out of gas with the lead heading into the fourth turn of the final lap. I can only imagine the crowd reaction when they realized Junior was out of gas....it looked too good to be true, and as it turned out.....it was. What a wacky day of auto racing...but it was high drama, no matter what your taste in racing. Amazingly, both Danica and Dale had their chances down the stretch, but neither one could close the deal. I was impressed with the way Junior talked about the disappointing finish. I think he truly understands the big picture, and I still expect him to find Victory Lane before the season is over. The NBA Finals start this week and the team everybody loves to hate, the Miami Heat, have played themselves into the big series. Heat-Mavs should be entertaining. The NBA Playoffs have been fun to watch, and I suspect we should get more of the same in the Finals. Perhaps the most meaningless stat of the post-season will be shoved down our throats in the meantime.....and that stat is that Miami has lost 14 consecutive regular season games to Dallas. That's seven consecutive years of being swept, home and away.....I thought only the Charlotte Bobcats couldn't beat Dallas. I was mistaken. The regular season doesn't mean squat, to post-season play. The Heat has home court advantage and that could be a factor, considering the 2-3-2 format. But one thing is certain: one of the great players in the game is finally going to have a NBA championship to his credit.....will it be LeBron or Dirk? You gotta lean towards the team that has home court....plus, the Heat has played incredible defense. I'd still love to see Dallas win it.....plus, there's something intriguing about Mark Cuban winning a title while Jerry Jones watches. My San Francisco Giants suffered a terrible setback last week, when catcher Buster Posey was lost for the season in a gruesome collision at the plate. Many folks believe the rule of blocking the plate should be changed to protect a defenseless catcher, but I'm not sure about that position. Everybody knows how much I love the Giants, and there's no doubt that the injury has put the team's title defense in serious jeopardy...but it was a good, hard, clean play. It's just a shame that a terrific player got hurt in the process. The Giants were 1-5 last week...and their struggling offense has been dealt a terrible blow, with the loss of Posey. I wish I could do something about it.....but changing the rule is wrong. Baseball has been played that way since dirt. Kyle Busch's 128 mph showcase last week on a public street still goes down as one of the dumbest things I've seen an athlete do in a long, long time. It's apparent that NASCAR isn't going to sanction or penalize the guy. And based on the comments of classy Joe Gibbs last week in his press conference, it doesn't appear that anything major is going to come from JGR. I really like Kyle Busch.....he's brash, a helluva driver and he doesn't mind stirring the pot. But how he's not punished for that act of stupidity is beyond me. I hope the judge takes note.....there's no place in society for that kind of nonsense. As I'm writing this blog entry, Novak Djokovic has won 43 consecutive tennis matches, including a tidy 41-0 in 2011. That's amazing stuff. He's still rocking in Paris at the French Open, and there is a chance he can see Roger Federer in the Semi's, before a potential showdown with the master of the red clay, Rafa Nadal. You don't have to be a tennis fan to understand the awesome run that Djokovic is on, in men's tennis. My wife and I happened to see him defeat Federer last September in the US Open, and it was one of the three best sporting events I saw in-person in 2010. The guy is a bad-ass...and he's red-hot. Keep your eye on the Paris Open results this week....it will be well worth it. If he keeps this up, Danica Patrick will start doing commercials wearing a flimsy tennis skirt and flaunting what little she has to show. I spent a couple of days last week hosting the "College Football Playbook" on Sirius/XM. It was a blast talking college football with former Texas Tech coach and co-host, Mike Leach. I'm so ready for the season to get cranked up....but the off-season has been loaded with juicy stories: USC gets their official penalty from the NCAA.....The Buckeyes are loaded with headaches.....and even the Tar Heels can't seem to get out of the way of another NCAA inquiry. Eventually this stuff will sort its way out....but we're just around 100 days until kick-off, and I'm ready to enjoy it. Of course, this year, I'd like to get some of my life back and be in my newly completed house before we get to the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Either way, it was fun talking college football with Coach Leach. I'll let everyone know via twitter or the blog when I'll be back on the show. During the "College Football Playbook" show with Coach Leach, the Ohio State situation was a huge topic of discussion. I always get a kick out of Buckeye Nation.....they are a passionate group, but they lose a sense of reality at times. Based on the emails that I have received since the shows last week, many Buckeye fans thought I was nuts to suggest that Jim Tressel's job and status was in danger. Most thought Ray Small's claims were bogus and he had an axe to grind with the coach and the school. I tried to explain on the air and in emails that the biggest problem surrounding the Ohio State case involved their leader. It wasn't a case of heresay or conspiracy theories to claim that the coach flat-out lied to his bosses and the NCAA. Everybody follolwing the case and the story knows for a fact that Tressel got caught lying. It's a mistake that you can't make as a head coach. You can deny and claim "I don't know" like Butch Davis at UNC....but in this particualr case, the "Vest" got caught committing the cardinal sin. On Monday morning, he resigned as The head coach of The Ohio State University. I'm sure it was a difficult time for the coach and the OSU administrators.....but it was the right call. |
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