Madden

Yesterday I played Madden '12 on the Xbox with my buddy, Ziggy. This isn't the first time & certainly wouldn't be the last, but I yesterday I learned something about myself that those other times kept from me. I suck. I suck hard at Madden. I throw seven interceptions and lost 30-24, I don't think it was that close. When did I become a bad Madden player? I used to play two-three games a day after school on my archaic Playstation. I was pretty good then. The computer was sent to All-Madden. I beat the computer plenty. I beat my friends plenty, too. When did the switch turn? Ziggy's got my number. Fact. I think I defeated him once . . . this year. Maybe, we should go back to playing Mortal Kombat . . . where's he's crushed me . . . I hate video games.

NASCAR Week! What a First Chapter

The 54th edition of the Daytona 500 seems like it was written by Homer & directed by Peter Jackson. It was a true odyssey, both in time &  action. It all began with the Sunday rain delay that carried over to Monday afternoon. The race's start time was moved twice, but I heard no one complain about dropping the green flag at prime time. When the cars did run, the racing was intense. Hell, it took only two laps for a multi-car wreck to happen. A crash that took out the Villain (Kurt Busch), the Young Gun (Trevor Bayne), old 5-Time (Jimmie Johnson), & the Sensation (Danica Patrick). Then throw into the crazy pot Juan Pablo Montoya's bizarre accident involving a jet dryer that engendered a wild fire on turn three. Absolute insanity! Does anyone remember Matt Kenseth winning the thing? This is why I watch racing! For the things you never think will happen. Thank you NASCAR for three days of craziness.

NASCAR Week! Rain Delay

One of the worst things about watching racing is the threat of rain. If it rains, your plans after the race are shot. Rain parks the cars, slicks the track to un-drivable conditions, & the process to dry the asphalt surface takes hours. That's what happened Sunday at Daytona, Florida. I watched four hours of driver interviews (which all sound the same after the fifteenth one) & analysts discussing things like which driver has the best golf game. A friend asked me how the analysts could keep talking for so long & I couldn't answer her. Rain is racing is hell. It does teach you patience, but doesn't let you see a field of race cars thunder down the backstretch. I think I'd rather have the latter.   

NASCAR Week! Dale Jr.

Ask ten NASCAR fans whom their favorite driver is. I bet you a sack of donuts that at least eight of them say Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Jr is, of course, the son of the legendary Dale Earnhardt & NASCAR's meal ticket. He has won the Most Popular Driver of the Year Award nine straight years (despite not winning a race in  five years) & his merchendise is always a top seller. If you ever go to a NASCAR track, you'll witness a ocean of mixed red number 8s & blue/green number 88s (depending on how old & stubborn the fan is). The flagpoles in the infield will feature the Stars & Strips above a image of Dale Jr's car. Go to Talladega & watch the fans as he marches toward the front. When he takes the leads . . . your ears will bled. Dale Jr was Linsanity before Jeremy played college ball.

The reason for this? For all the love from NASCAR Country? The easy answer is his last name. When Dale's dad died in 2001, many of his fans turned into Jr. fans. That's a pill which is a little too easy for me to swallow. I think its is good ol'e boy personaility. He mutters & mumbles during interviews. He still hangs out with his friends from high school. He's level headed & easy going, like the leading man in a country song. Dale Jr is massive in the racing universe. Hell, just watch the Dyatona 500 & see for yourselves.

NASCAR Week! Who Watches Racing?

*sniff sniff* Can you smell it? Can you smell that awesome mixture of burnt rubber, BBQ sauce, gas fumes, smoke, & cheap beer? Can you hear the thunderous roar of forty-three engines, the snap of wind breaking, & thousands of fans chanting 'Junior, Junior, Junior!'? Can you feel it?

I can. It's time for the Daytona 500. It's time for NASCAR.

In honor of NASCAR season kicking off this Sunday with the prestigious 'Great American Race', I'll have themed stock car racing topics til Friday. A ton of yins will not like this, but maybe we can open your minds to racing, huh? NASCAR has the most diverse fan base of any sporting league. I've been to several tracks & have seen all demographics; men, women, whites, blacks, Hispanics, business people, rednecks (admittedly predominately), & once (at Richmond) a gay couple who held hands the entire four hundred laps (no one bothered them). At work (Sheetz), the regulars who know of my fandom share theirs with me. When I see them on Tuesday, we have a flash conservation about what happened Sunday.

NASCAR is for everybody . . . maybe even you. Why not give it a chance?