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February 28, 2005
Bombshell: Padres GM Says He Kept Quiet About Steroid Use
Towers: "I Feel Somewhat Guilty" Note: Only ESPN Insider members can read the full text.
In the above article, which will be published in ESPN: The Magazine next week, Padres General Manager Kevin Towers tells Buster Olney that he strongly suspected steroid use by some of his players, Ken Caminiti in particlar and did nothing because the results of steroid use boosted his club's bottom line. Furthermore, he states that he has no doubt that every other GM in the game has also had similar suspicions and have also done nothing. The reason of course is that when 'roided up players hit home runs they helped his team win and of course that meant more fans came to games, therefore the team made more money.
Of course none of this is a surprise in the least. Despite their denials, I don't see any way that teams don't strongly suspect, if not actually know, that certain players use performance enhancers. Fans hear all the rumors and see the sudden changes in certain player's physical appearances so the teams absolutely have to be aware of this stuff too, particularly about the players in their clubhouses Keeping quiet benefits them so they bury their heads in the sand for as long as possible until they are forced to address it. Balco forced MLB and the teams to address the problem but if not for this scandal everyone would have gone on their merry way pretending that this problem didn't exist.
Towers feels some guilt about not saying anything given that Caminiti passed away at an early age. No one will ever know exactly how much of a role steroid use might have played in his death, especially since he was using illegal drugs, but it might have contributed. So after going to Caminiti's funeral it appears that he is speaking out publically for the first time because of that guilt. I wonder how many other GMs will have to make similar guilt-ridden confessions in the future?
Posted by silverdsl at 10:02 PM | Comments (0)
Klapisch: Tino Has Star Power (So Does Steve Park)
Today's column by Bob Klapisch in the Bergen Record is all about Tino Martinez, how well-loved he is by the fans and how happy he is to be back in pinstripes. This is what Tino says about being at Spring Training with the Yankees: "I love being here, I can't even describe how much I love it," Martinez said. "I usually hate going to spring training, but this year, I love that, too. That tells me something." That is a player who gets it, who understands not to take anything for granted and to cherish the opportunities that present themselves to him. Being a Yankee really means something to him and as such Tino would like to work in the Yankees front office after he retires in a year or two. What's amusing to me is that there were some fans who thought when Tino wasn't re-signed the Yankees front office would neither want him back nor would Tino want to come back. Well, not only is he back and everyone is thrilled about it but Tino may end up being a part of the Yankees organization for years to come.
When I read this article I couldn't help but think of Steve Park. Tino isn't a superstar; he doesn't put up the best stats in the game and he struggled the past few years to produce, particularly when he was with the Cardinals. Yet he is still a huge fan favorite. The reason of course is not only was he a winner with the '96-'01 Yankees so he represented that time period but he's also got a great attitude. He plays the game right, plays hard, never gives up and is a tremendous influence in the clubhouse. Steve Park also isn't among the elite drivers in Nascar in that he's not a Jeff Gordon or a Tony Stewart and he's struggled the past few years though it was mostly through no fault of his own. Yet Steve enjoys a tremendous amount of popularity both among his fans and with his peers. The reason among other things is his outstanding attitude. Not only is Steve a tremendously nice person like Tino but he also approaches racing the right way. He races hard just as Tino plays hard and he also never gives up. Steve is also a winner just like Tino. Aside from Steve's two Cup wins, he just won Friday night in the truck series. Hopefully Tino will also be a winner this season - a World Series winner.
It's interesting to me sometimes how some of the Nascar drivers who are my favorites parallel some of the baseball players who are my favorites. Steve Park is similar in personality to Tino Martinez in some ways. Michael Waltrip is similar to David Cone in some ways, probably even more similar to Curt Schilling, though I don't count Curt among my favorites. Perhaps there are parallels between Kevin Harvick and Jason Giambi. Now who Mike Mussina parallels among my favorites in Nascar - that one I can't figure out! Moose truly is unique! Or Paul O'Neill - how about Jeff Gordon? There's an intensity about Gordon sometimes and that was surely present with Paulie.
Now I've gone and mentioned all my favorite Yankees from the magic years of '96-'01. How I miss those guys. I'm really glad that Tino is back with the team. Mike Stanton and Joe Girardi too. There's no way to recapture the past and I wouldn't want the Yankees to try and do that anyway since the guys from that team wouldn't be able to do what they did then in 2005, but it sure does make me smile thinking about those World Series wins and all the great moments from those years, like Coney's perfect game. Just like it makes me smile when I think about Steve's win on Friday or Michael's Daytona 500 wins. I hope there are many more magic moments in the future for both the Yankees and for my favorite Nascar drivers!
Posted by silverdsl at 03:00 PM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2005
Photo of the Day - Yellow Tulips
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, May, 2004. It's been a while since I've used a flower photo as the Photo of the Day. In fact it's been so long that I can't remember if I ever used this one before or not! I really should keep track somewhere of which photos I put up here. In any event, looking at this photo of some tulips at Hofstra really makes me think of spring, which isn't too far away. Too bad we have a big snowstorm to get through first which is due to hit this area tomorrow afternoon and last through Tuesday morning. I can't wait until we're done with the snow and some flowers start making their appearance!
Posted by silverdsl at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)
"It's Going to Be Hard To Keep My Job at This Rate"
So says Michael Waltrip as he blows an engine for the second race in a row. He was doing fairly well in this race too hanging around 15th-17th place. At one point he was up to 4th position after a pit stop but had to come in for a drive-through penalty because he was caught speeding off of pit road. But Michael fought back after that only to see all his hard work go up in smoke once again.
The one positive today was that it sounded like the communication between Michael and Tony Eury, Jr., as well as the rest of the team was really good today. Michael even said so himself. I really hope that continues. Because they're going to need to make sure that everything goes 100% right for them in the next few weeks to make up the ground lost with two DNFs in a row.
It's not impossible to get past two bad races to start the season but it sure make it tough for Michael. This is exactly how he started 2004 and I had hoped 2005 would be a different story. I can't imagine how disheartening this must be for him. But hopefully the next race in Las Vegas in two weeks will bring a better result for him.
Posted by silverdsl at 06:10 PM | Comments (0)
Steinbrenner Rips Matsui, Giambi's Agent
George Steinbrenner has been known to do perplexing things and this is one of them. Totally without provocation, Steinbrenner went off on Arn Tellum, the agent for Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui and possibly still Mike Mussina. Apparently the big issue for Steinbrenner with Tellum is that he told Giambi to keep his mouth shut and not give details as it relates to steroids in his press conference. So Steinbrenner says that he just doesn't like Tellum and then proceeds to use an obscenity to refer to him.
I don't get what Steinbrenner expected from Giambi or from Tellum for that matter. The Yankees made it clear that they wanted to do anything they could to terminate Giambi's contract but thus far they don't have the ammunition necessary to do that. So if Giambi were to talk details in his press conference it might have given the Yankees what they need to get rid of him. No agent is going to advise his client to do anything that might be harmful to his career, especially when it comes to a contract that has $82 million remaining on it.
The biggest problem with Steinbrenner's comments is that right now Tellum is negotiating with Yankees GM Brian Cashman for an extension for Hideki Matsui. Now Matsui has indicated that he wants nothing more than to remain with the Yankees so more than likely an extension will get worked out. However, Tellum can't feel great about getting ripped by Steinbrenner, so it's possible that he could make things difficult for the Yankees in the negotiation process. At the very least I doubt he's going to want to do any favors for the Yankees. I just don't get why Steinbrenner would make those kinds of remarks even though he said he wants to re-sign Matsui and might need to deal with Tellum in relation to the other players he represents who are Yankees.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:50 PM | Comments (0)
February 26, 2005
Photo of the Day - Steve Park in Victory Lane!
What other possible photo of the day could there be? Here's Steve Park in Victory Lane with three fingers up to signify that he is in select company, one of only ten or eleven drivers to have won races in all three series in Nascar. Just outstanding!
This is off of Nascar.com but I suspect it's a screen capture from the Speed TV broadcast. I can't wait to see some great photos of Steve celebrating in Victory Lane!
Posted by silverdsl at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2005
Steve Park Wins the Truck Race at Fontana!!!!!!
This is just so awesome! Tonight at Fontana Steve Park won his first truck race! Exactly four years to the day of his last win which came at Rockingham on February 25, 2001, Steve won again. And it had to feel so good! I'm unbelievably happy that he won and so happy for him! There were so many who continued to doubt his ability, doubted that he had fully recoved from his head injury in 2001. Well, this shows them all. In fact one of the first things that Steve made reference to when he got out of the truck was that injury. Steve looked like he was on the verge of tears as he did his interview in Victory Lane and I can't even begin to imagine the depth of the emotions he was feeling at that moment.
I didn't even get to see the whole race as we were out with Jim's father and his wife. So we got home about 30 laps from the end and at that point Steve was in 4th place. Before I knew it he was in 2nd and then Mike Bliss ran out of gas with about 5 laps to go. When Steve took the lead I thought I was going to pass out. It was just such an amazing sight. I knew he would win a race eventually but he's had so much bad luck that I almost was expecting something else to happen. But it didn't and he won!!!!!!!
What a sight it was to see him in Victory Lane - that smile when he first got out of the truck. How overwhelmed he was with emotion. I'm sure he was thinking of so much - the horrible wreck that set his career back so much, the doubters, all that he's had to deal with, that Dale Earnhardt wasn't there to see him win again. So much. But above all elation and happiness that he was in Victory Lane. Where he belongs and where he will be again.
It's like it was fate that he should win tonight. Someone else pointed out that it was in a yellow truck (he used to drive the yellow #1 for DEI that he had much success in), four years to when he last won and Michael Waltrip, another DEI driver was in the booth calling the race for Speed. I would add that he qualified 25th on the 25th day of February in 2005. 2+5=7, 2+5=7, 2+0+0+5=7. 777 is 3 sevens which is lucky. 7+7+7=21 which is also lucky. 2+1=3 which was Dale Earnhardt's number. 5-2=3. His truck number 62, if you divide 6 by 2 it's also 3. He's also now won in all three Nascar series. Now normally I don't put much into stuff like that but it's just weird how many 3s and lucky numbers there are tonight.
I can't help but go back to how happy I am for him. When I saw him in Las Vegas he talked about how much he wanted to win. For the fans he said. Well, I say that this victory is much more important for Steve Park the person than for his fans or even to prove something to his doubters. He is a strong person who knew that he was capable of winning and so he kept on racing. But as much as he always knew he could do it, this has to give him such a huge boost of confidence and make him feel like he can do anything. In Las Vegas it seemed almost like he felt that he was letting people down in a variety of ways - well, I hope being in Victory Lane will erase a lot of those feelings.
Steve is now in 6th place in the points and that has to feel great too. If this team continues to have strong runs they will clearly be able to make a run at the truck series championship and that is just so awesome. I can't stop saying it - I'm just so happy, excited, and thrilled beyond belief for Steve. I don't care about shoving it in the face of those that doubted him - they will still find ways to doubt him. I don't care about anything other than that someone who has had some incredibly hard things to overcome in the form of not just one but two injuries that could have been career ending, struggling through being with two substandard cup teams when he came back from his second injury and a run of bad luck last season, finally has gotten what he so much deserves and what was so long overdue - a trip to Victory Lane.
I hope it is the first of many truck victories for Steve and the #62 team. The entire Orleans Racing organization should feel great about themselves tonight!
Posted by silverdsl at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)
MGM-Mirage Mandalay Deal Creates Largest Casino Company in the World...
...for now. The $7.9 billion, yes, billion dollar deal by MGM-Mirage to buy the Mandalay Bay Resort Group has created the largest casino company in the world. However, that might soon be outdone by a possible deal in which Harrah's Entertainment would purchase Ceasar's Entertainment. The dollar amount which is being discussed in these deal is staggering. Billions of dollars. Billions! It shows how much of a money maker the casino business really is. Amazing.
Posted by silverdsl at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)
An Ad Disguished as an Article on Nascar.com
So this week due to back surgery, Michael "Fatback" McSwain, Ricky Rudd's crew chief won't be able to be at the race in California. So an assortment of people thought up a way that he could crew chief from home using technology from Racing Radios, Nextel and Trackpass. Essentially Fatback will follow along in real time using Trackpass, presumably with help from the TV broadcast, and then communciate with the team via the radios.
What gets me is that this article isn't much more than a thinly veiled ad for Trackpass. Buy Trackpass! If Fatback can use it to crew chief a race from home every fan should have it too! Of course it's a promotional piece for Racing Radios and Nextel too. There is a legitamite story here about how these companies made this all possible but this article is way too much of a sales pitch than I think is necessary. Trackpass actually is a great tool for following along with a race and I love using it to listen to Michael Waltrip's radio communication with his team. But I think most fans can come to the conclusion about it's benefits without it getting shoved down their throats in a promotional piece disguished as a news article.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)
Giambi Calls Bonds a Friend
Yesterday Jason Giambi was asked about Barry Bonds defiant press conference and as one might imagine Giambi didn't say much but he did call Bonds a "friend." Which amuses me because I get the feeling that Giambi would call just about anyone a friend, even if they wronged him. The Yankees looked for every possible way to sever ties with Giambi during the off-season and Giambi still called Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman a friend. Even after Gary Sheffield just about called him a crybaby, Giambi still had kind words for him and probably would call him a friend too if pressed. Giambi truly wants to be liked by everyone and I get the feeling that being disliked pains him, especially when it comes to his peers.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2005
Photo of the Day - Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam. January, 2005. Here's a view of the Hoover Dam from above, taken from the helicopter on our way to the Grand Canyon. It was really tough to get any shots of the Hoover Dam because as soon I composed the shot and focused, the helicopter was changing direction. It was really cool to see it from above after we had visited and walked on it a couple of days earlier.
The tan ring that is visible over the water marks how low the water level in Lake Mead has dropped.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
Michael Waltrip Risks Not Finishing the Season in the #15
Here it is for the first time in print, Michael Waltrip acknowledging that if he doesn't race well to start this season he could be out of the #15 before the season is over. That's just heart-breaking to read the comment, especially considering what happened on Sunday. Michael says, "If I'm 20th after 10 races and we're not seeing any hope of performing better, than I probably won't be [with this team]." I can't even imagine DEI replacing him after ten races - that just seems outrageous to do to him, particularly since many of his poor finishes often have to do with stuff out of his hands like being caught in other people's wrecks and mechanical problems. What's really unfortunate is that the engine blowing up on Sunday means that Michael sits 36th in points so he already has a pretty big hole to climb out of. With how early it is a few strong finishes and he'll be in good shape but he really can't afford too much more bad luck. A big streak of early bad luck was what sunk him last season so hopefully this season will go much differently for him.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)
Palmeiro May Sue Canseco
Rafael Palmeiro, upset at being named as a steroid user in Jose Canseco's new book says that he may hire his team owner's law firm to take legal action against Canseco. I've got to say that I'll believe it when I see it. First of all, even if Canseco isn't telling the complete truth in his book, libel and defamation is very hard to prove to begin with. Then if Palmeiro has been up to no good in any way, it could come out in a trial and I highly doubt he'd want that. So I'm a bit skeptical that Palmeiro will do more than make noise about filing suit against Canseco. I think it's particularly interesting that he made those comments about having Peter Angelos and his law firm represent him but didn't even specify what he was going to sue for. Does Palmeiro really intend on suing or were his comments just for show? I guess time will tell.
If there's a rash of players who were named in the book filing suit against Canseco it's a sure sign that the book is full of lies. If none of them file suit, while the book may still be full of lies or exaggerations, it indicates that it's possible that there's some truth in there. It's too bad that there are these credibility issues when it comes to Canseco because it makes it impossible to know how much of what he wrote is truth and how much is fiction.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
Underwater Hotel Planned in the Bahamas
A $40 million dollar hotel, planned off the coast of Eleuthera, located in the Bahamas, will be completely underwater. Guests won't have to scuba to get there though. Instead there will be two tunnels and an escalator, which will take them beneath the water where there will be 20 luxury suites, a restaurant and a bar. The suites will have transparent walls facing coral gardens, which will be lit up at night so those that stay there can see exactly what is swimming around them. The only hitch is the cost. $1,500 a night seems steep but there are other luxury hotels that charge that much so I guess there is a market for it. It may even attract those that normally don't spend that much per night on a hotel who just want to do something different or those that love the ocean and sealife.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)
Photos From Recovered Digital Camera Show Tsunami
The camera belonging to a Canadian couple who perished in the tsunami in Thailand was found recently and somehow while the camera was ruined the memory stick inside was not destroyed. On that memory stick was photos that the couple had taken which show the water receeding just prior to the tsunami hitting and then the wave itself actually crashing to shore. It's pretty incredible to see the series of shots, how calm the water seems and then suddenly it's churning as angry, brown waves crash to shore.
Their son doesn't know why they stood there taking pictures and didn't run. My guess is that perhaps they didn't know the danger of what was going on. If one doesn't know that water rushing out is a sign of a possible tsunami strike they might have just thought it was some sort of some crazy natural phenomenon that was common to the area. And then once the waves started coming in they might not have realized just how powerful they were. But it's pretty sad to think that one minute they were standing there in the sun taking photos and the next they had been swept away.
But it is an interesting series of photos to see in spite of the tragic backstory that goes with them.
Posted by silverdsl at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)
Peter Jennings to Host Special on UFOs
Several newspapers are asking today why Peter Jennings is hosting a two-hour special news special tonight on UFOs and I ask the same. Of course in some ways the answer is obvious. There is a large segment of people who believe in UFOs or are intrigued by the possiblity that they exist and they are much more interested in a two-hour special on that topic than a two-hour special on any topic with actual newsworthiness. I can understand why ABC might do a show like this, after all they have American Idol, the O.C. and a whole host of other shows to compete with for ratings. But to have Peter Jennings host it that doesn't sit quite right. Especially since the show apparently isn't as much a news program, since there is no fresh news or evidence about the existance of UFOs, but simply a recounting of some UFO incidents with some interviews with scientists and others thrown in. It just seems like there is a better use for Peter Jennings' time and that of the entire News Department, than doing a show like this. Like maybe tackling some investigative reporting or putting together pieces on real news.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)
February 23, 2005
Photo of the Day - Barbed Wire
Paulinskill Viaduct, Knowlton, New Jersey, 2004. I have no idea what this barbed wire was used for. But what's neat about it is imagining how old it might be and what it might have been used for. The viaduct was built from 1908-1910 but there were various structures built underneath the viaduct over the years since there were tracks that ran underneath along with a train stop there. I would guess that perhaps the barbed wire was used to keep people from climbing the hill up to the top of the viaduct when the tracks up there were still active.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)
Speed Week Violations Bring Penalities to 11
Wednesday is almost always the day that Nascar announces any fines or other penalties related to infractions during the previous race weekend and as expected they announced a whole host of them for various infractions during Speed Weeks. Robby Gordon and his team and Ricky Rudd and his team were hit the worst.
If anyone's interested in the specifics the above link has the gory details of who was fined what. But I really feel sorry for Ricky Rudd. He loses 25 driver points meaning that he drops from 24th in the standings to 33rd. His crew chief and team owner were also penalized. What's so ridiculous is that this infraction was discovered in the pre-race inspection for the Gatorade Duels. So presumably Nascar made them correct the problem before the car even hit the track. And this race was a race to determine the lineup for the Daytona 500, not a points race. So it doesn't make sense to me that they were hit so hard even though this car wasn't on the track with the unapproved spoiler adjustment.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)
New MLB Drug Testing Policy Not in Place Yet
In the above article about how Major League Baseball and the Player's Union came to an agreement about World Cup Testing it's mentioned that MLB and the Union still haven't finalized the much publicized new drug testing policy. A couple of months ago it was announced with much fanfare about how much stricter the testing would be and how the players who test positive would become public knowledge. At the time it was said that it would be completely in place by the start of spring training. Well, now that article says that they "hope" to have it in place by March 1, the mandatory reporting date for all players.
I'm wondering what the hold up is. If MLB and the Union fully agreed on all aspects of the new policy why isn't it finalized yet? Perhaps there are some legal angles or simple paperwork to figure out and none of that is a big deal. But that it's not a done deal yet makes me wonder if it really is going to happen. In spite of both sides claiming to be on the same page with everything, I wonder if they really are. I would say that they have no choice but to get this signed, sealed and delivered, sooner rather than later, otherwise it would be a major public relations nightmare. But it does strike me as odd that it's not in place yet.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:06 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2005
Megapixel Myths
Don't Need All Those Extra Megapixels
The Photo Marketing Association International Trade Show is this week in Orlando, Florida and it's where all the camera manufacturers and associated companies announce many of their new products. I would definitely love to go to that show! At any rate, one of the trends that is apparent is that many companies are announcing five, six and seven megapixel consumer cameras. The thing is do consumers really need the extra megapixels and will they notice a difference in the photos they take?
In most case the answer is no. Yes, there is a difference between a photo taken with a one or two megapixel camera and one taken with a seven megapixel camera. But there's not going to be much noticable difference in image quality between a four megapixel camera and a five or a six megapixel camera. The only advantage with more megapixels is that it's possible to print larger and larger prints but most people aren't printing photos larger than a 4x6 or 5x7. Another plus about camera with more megapixels is also the ability to blow up sections of photos to print but again I would suspect that there aren't that many people who routinely do stuff like that. So really consumers could save themselves some money by buying an older four megapixel camera instead of getting a new five, six or seven megapixel camera unless there are other improved features on the new models.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)
Looks Like I'll Be Switching to Sirius Satellite Radio in 2007
From Jayski's: Sirius Satellite Radio takes over NASCAR Broadcasts in 2007: Sirius Satellite Radio on Tuesday announced a five-year agreement to give Sirius North American satellite radio rights to broadcast NASCAR racing and events that will bring unprecedented programming and marketing opportunities to NASCAR fans. Beginning in 2007, Sirius will broadcast all Nextel Cup Series, Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series races live on a specially created, 24/7 NASCAR channel, and Sirius will be the only place on satellite radio to listen to NASCAR.
One of the main reasons that I got XM satellite radio is because they have a 24 hour Nascar channel and cover all the truck, Busch and Cup races. Well, starting in 2007 all of that will be moving over to Sirius. I've heard talk that Sirius and XM may merge, which I'm skeptical about, but I most sincerely hope that happens because I really don't want to have to get all new equipment and switch over to Sirius.
I really love XM. Not just for the Nascar coverage but because the music channels are awesome. Sirius has similar channels but the one thing that they don't have that XM does is the baseball coverage. XM is going to be broadcasting all the baseball games and has just started a 24 hour baseball channel. I can get the baseball coverage elsewhere but I can't say the same for the Nascar coverage since no radio stations up here carry anything Nascar related. Since I have XM in my car I might have to go with both in that I'll pay for XM for the car but not any other XM devices and then get a portable device for Sirius that I can use at home, at work or anywhere else. I just hate to have to pay for both so I might just have to cancel the XM completely but I guess I can figure it out when 2007 rolls around.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:20 PM | Comments (0)
Top 100 Gadgets of All Time
Top 100 Gadgets According to Moble PC Magazine
Mobile PC Magazine has put together a list of what they think are the best gadgets of all time. Their only rules were that it had to have electronic or moving parts, has to be self-contained and not part of something else and has to be small and mobile. So for example the Dustbuster is included on the list but not the vacuum cleaner; a flashlight but not a lightblub; and scissors but not a knife.
One of the most interesting things about this list is the information about when these gadgets were first developed. I had no idea that technology for staplers dated back to the 1700's. Or how recent some techonology is. Like pocket size GPS devices with navagation software only go back to 1997 or the first DVD player was only sold in 1996. Even the first CD player was only sold in 1983. Some things seem like they've been around forever but in reality they haven't been.
Tops on the list is Apple's Powerbook but I think that a lot of people would think that #2 is more significant and that's the TV remote control which was developed in 1956. It's only natural that in a magazine called Mobile PC they would think that a gadget that turned notebook PCs into something for mainstream America is the top gadget of all time but I think the TV remote control is probably used by even more people than a laptop. Every TV made has a remote control and TVs are in almost every household. Yet while portable computers are extremely common not every household has one.
The one entry on the list that made me laugh was the bedazzler, beloved tool of all those who love rhinestones. I would never have thought that would make a list of top 100 gadgets of all time!
Posted by silverdsl at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)
Photo of the Day - Desert
Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas, NV. Not much to say about this one other than it was really, really awesome taking photos in Red Rock Canyon and the surronding area. As I think I've mentioned more than a time or two in this blog!
Posted by silverdsl at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2005
Jeter's Silence Speaks Volumes
A hot topic lately has been the perceived lack of support that A-Rod has received from his Yankees teammates, especially captain Derek Jeter, in light of numerous critical comments about A-Rod by members of the Red Sox. Jeter is notoriously closed mouthed with the media to begin with, often giving the uninteresting answers that reveal as little as possible in interviews. But he really dropped the ball in his handling of this situation. Instead of giving one of his typical bland responses, Jeter refused to comment at all, bascially saying that A-Rod was on his own to deal with the comments being lobbed at him by the Red Sox.
Which might be fine if the Red Sox weren't questioning whether A-Rod fits in on the team or if he's a "true" Yankee. But instead of saying something along the lines of "A-Rod is our teammate, a valuable part of the team and we look forward to having him play a big role in our quest to win the World Series in 2005," Jeter has choosen to say nothing which I think speaks to the continued strained relationship between A-Rod and Jeter, no matter how much they try to deny that. Jeter doesn't have to address the Red Sox comments directly, doesn't have to mention the Red Sox, doesn't even have to go in depth. He simply has to show support for his teammate, who is an important part of the team.
Jeter and the rest of the Yankees, Gary Sheffield excepted, have no problem throwing their support behind Jason Giambi, the Balco poster-boy. I like Giambi a great deal and I'm glad that his teammates are supportive. However, if there's one issue that the players should be soundly against and unsupportive of, it's the use of performance enhancers. One would think they would want to distance themselves, at least publically, from Giambi. But they embrace him. Meanwhile, A-Rod who works extremely hard to be the best player he possibly can, presumably without the use of performance enhancers, and gives 100% on the field always, gets almost no support from his teammates.
As team captain Jeter just needs to suck it up and say something. He can casually call over a reporter or work it into an inteview but it has to happen. Otherwise, the comments from the Red Sox and the focus by the media on why he's not supporting A-Rod will only continue. Of course even if he does say something it's quite possible it will only be because someone tells him to but it's the wise thing to so. David Cone was never an official captain but he did many things that a captain would do. He knew exactly how to handle situations with teammates and what to say to the media. Jeter is also always prepared when he speaks to the media... prepared to say nothing. This time I wish he would actually say something and quell some of the controversy.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:26 PM | Comments (0)
Giambi Gets Warm Welcome in Spring Training
Today Jason Giambi reported to spring training for the Yankees and instead of the boos that one might expect him to receive as the poster boy for the steroids scandal in baseball he was cheered by fans. Granted many of them wanted his autograph and he obliged them and took photos with fans as well. But it shows that many fans are willing to forgive players on their favorite teams who use performance enhancers.
Of course it will be a different story once the games that matter start. If Giambi doesn't produce he will be booed and the fans will want the Yankees to get rid of him. And there is no doubt that Giambi will take heat from opposing team's fans who are sure to boo and heckle him. But I think that there are probably a lot of players who are paying close attention to the reaction that Giambi gets now and in the future. Because if it turns out that the fan reaction isn't quite as bad as they expect, that might be a factor in the choices some of them make as it relates to performance enhancers. That's really the biggest deterrent that players who test positive for steroids will have their names made public. But if fans don't freak out about it and are quick to forgive, it might not be as big of a deterrent as one might expect.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2005
Photo of the Day - Mandalay Bay
Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV. Jan. 2005. I wish I could have done justice to how cool the reflection off the Manadalay Bay Casino looked but by the time we drove by up close it was getting pretty cloudy out. But even without a lot of sun this casino still looked cool. Every casino does such a great job of making their buildings look impressive both up close and from far away.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:48 PM | Comments (0)
Brendan Gaughan Bets on Himself?
The Gaughan family has long been very successfully involved with the casino business in Las Vegas. So naturally for Brendan Gaughan gambling and betting has been a way of life his entire life. So in the article discussing his return to the truck series, the issue of betting on himself is mentioned. From the article: "...In truth, he often said he only bet on himself when driving for his family's team in the truck series... While NASCAR never had a problem with his claims, his major sponsor last year, Kodak, wanted no links between its driver and gambling."
So I ask - does this mean that now that Brendan is back in the truck series as both a driver and Orleans Racing General Manager/son of the owner he bets on himself or potentially Steve Park, since Steve now drives for his family's team? Every other sport has strict rules about gambling and players are not allowed to bet on themselves or their team. It's for obvious reasons - even if it's just an innocent bet it just doesn't look right. With that in mind when Brendan was a Cup driver, as the article notes, Kodak didn't want him to be gambling, presumably at least on himself.
The issue is that while Brendan is just doing what he's grown up around it opens up lots of questions. Such as is he betting on himself (or Steve) to win? Or to lose? And if he bets on himself to lose would he do something to cause himself to lose, such as not race as hard, to win his bet? If he bets on himself to win, would he do something to Steve's truck, such as give the #62 a lesser engine than what goes in the #77, to cause himself to win? Now from everything I've gathered about Brendan he is an outstanding, honest and wonderful person who would never do anything inappropriate. The problem is that to people who don't know him, betting on himself (or his teammate) just doesn't seem like the right thing to do. It opens up all these sticky questions. Particularly if there is a lot of money involved, that could get people's attention if it comes to light. And it may be hard to definitively show that everything is not suspect.
Some probably can't understand why anyone would even think twice about someone gambling on their own sport. Then you look at Pete Rose and see the trouble he got into with gambling and the black eye that brought to baseball and to a great player. You look at college sports and the strict rules they have about the players gambling. The other sports that have rules about gambling have those rules for a reason and it's to protect the integrity of the game.
I wonder if one day Nascar will have similar rules as well. I would guess not as long as there are casinos sponsoring cars there won't be. They can't have teams accepting money from casinos and then turn around and tell their competitors that they can't gamble or at the very least that they can't bet on themselves.
Since Nascar has never made an issue of this to my knowledge I assume no one else will either. But you never know what kind of a situation may present itself in the future. I would think that as General Manager Brendan wouldn't want to put himself, his team or Steve in a sticky position where they have hard questions to answer, some of which may be difficult to answer to everyone's satisfaction. So hopefully he keeps his betting on himself and his teammate to a minimum.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)
Nevada Topo Map
I haven't talked much about maps in this blog but I love them! So after we got back from Las Vegas I was really anxious to get my hands on map that showed the topography of the area surrounding Las Vegas. I was really curious to see a good map which named all the mountains and little towns and everything else. So when I got back from Jim's my Nevada map, as well as a Utah map, were waiting for me.
Just a quick look show so much neat stuff. All sorts of little towns, mines, mountains, natural features all sorts of stuff to look up on the internet and find out more about. It's really intriguing to me to find out more about all the cool areas we drove through around Las Vegas as well as flew over in the helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon. Like the Blue Diamond Mine between Red Rock Canyon and Las Vegas which is a turquoise mine.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
Jeff Gordon Wins the Daytona 500!
So as disappointed as I am about Michael Waltrip's engine blowing up 40 laps from the end of the race, I'm pretty happy that Jeff Gordon won the Daytona 500! I'm a fan of Jeff's so it was great to see him win this race for the third time. While I'm not as big of a fan of Jeff as I am of Michael, if anyone else had to win I think I wanted Jeff to win.
And what a finish it was. Lead changes. Lots of wrecking. Cautions. Extra laps. Cars in the air. Beating and banging. Hot tempers. You name it. Throughout the entire race Jeff was really pushing, trying every which way to get to the front. Finally in the last laps he was able to pass Junior and get the lead. Just really great to see him get this win.
There was also a late tangle between Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart which led to some angry words and a trip to the Nascar hauler for all involved parties. I found it a little hard to sort out exactly what happened but I think Tony took exception with Jimmie blocking and then they both started beating and banging off each other. Then Chad Knaus jumped in. After meeting with Nascar everyone was all smiles so personally I think it was just one of those racing things and not really as much of a big deal as a lot of fans are making it into. If down the road they start trying to wreck each other then maybe it was something to really get upset about but I think they were both just trying to do what they had to do to get the best finish possible and each felt the other guy was getting in their way.
Another item of note is that Kevin LePage finished 9th. This is an extremely underfunded team who raced their way in via one of the 150s on Thursday. Some were upset that LePage seemed to boot Robby Gordon out of the way to advance his position and get in but LePage was unapologetic about that on Trackside last week. He said that he did what he had to do and I have no doubt that many other drivers in his position would have done the same thing. And it really paid off for him today because he was able to stay out of trouble and finish 9th. It's just too bad that as far as I noticed he still got zero attention for that but hopefully a few folks in the media will pick up on how well he did and give him a little publicity.
Unfortunately the other drivers I like a lot - Kevin Harvick, Ken Schrader and Martin Truex, Jr. didn't finish too well. I mentioned Truex's engine blowing up in the entry prior and I have no idea what happened to Ken because they never bothered to mention him at all at least as far as I could tell. But Kevin just had a rough time all race. There were some early mechanical problems which kept him in the back for much of the race. Finally he had worked himself up towards the front and then he got caught up in one of the later wrecks and ended up finishing 28th. I suspect he's pretty happy to be leaving Daytona.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:44 PM | Comments (0)
Great Run For Michael Waltrip... Until He Blew Up
So on Friday I was bemoaning Steve Park's lack of good luck, today it was Michael Waltrip's turn for horrendously bad luck. Michael had an outstanding car today and was running up front all day in the Daytona 500. He had even led 42 laps, more than any other driver besides Tony Stewart. Then disaster struck about 40 laps from the end when the motor blew up on the #15. Talk about disappointment!
I can't even put into words how horrible I felt when I saw the smoke coming out of the #15. Here's a guy who had a great car, had won one of the 150s earlier in the week, was supremely confident about his chances of three-peating the Daytona 500, and he's at one of his best tracks doing great and it all goes down the drain. His interview after getting out of the car was just heart-breaking because you could see how upset he was. He really had a good shot of winning today's race and to see it go up in smoke, literally, has to be the worst feeling in the world. There was absolutely nothing he could have done differently either. Michael raced a great race and put himself in position all race to win and then totally out of his control, the engine goes. He must feel so awful right now and I feel terrible for him.
DEI doesn't lose a lot of engines but three DEI engines went during this race - Michael's, Kenny Wallace's in Michael's #00 and the #1 of Martin Truex, Jr. who was racing well himself until his engine blew. After poor qualifying runs on Sunday, Richie Gilmore and others at DEI went back to North Carolina to work on some ways to find more horsepower. Which they clearly did as they cars were much better on Thursday and Michael certainly benefited from that. However, it appears that while whatever they did definitely paid dividends for a while, it's possible that they overdid things just a bit. Dale, Jr. is probably lucky that his engine held on long enough for him to finish 3rd.
Just like Steve Park, Michael could really have used a strong start to the season. He really suffered through a rough season in 2004 and DEI has pretty much told him that he must finish in the top ten or he's out the door in 2006. I was really thinking that he'd be able to get a great finish today, which on top of winning that 150 on Thursday would really have made a statement not to count him out. Instead he leaves one of his best tracks with a 36th place finish. It's not the end of the world as the team can put together a string of great finishes over the next few weeks and it won't matter but it still has to feel disheartening to start out this way.
At least in this year's Daytona 500 Michael finished the race on all four wheels instead of last year when he flipped and ended up trapped upside down in the car for a while before the rescue workers got him out. It's true that it was a real messy end to the race so there's no telling what might have happened to him with everyone wrecking all over the place. But if not for that engine I'm pretty sure Michael would have been right there racing for the win at the end. I'm just so stunned by how this race finished for him. Hopefully next week in California there will be a much different result.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:24 PM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2005
Photo of the Day - Camden Harbor
Camden, Maine, 2002. Camden, Maine has a very well-known harbor which as one might imagine is the center of virtually everything in town. There are lots of great restaurants around the harbor area and a bunch of neat stores too. Many boats of all shapes and sizes, from all over the place make stops in Camden as one can tell from the photo. When I was up in Camden with my parents we took a ride on a sail boat our of the Camden harbor and up the coast which was fun and very relaxing. It's very cold here right now and I'm sure it's even colder up in Maine but looking at this photo of Camden in the summer makes me feel just a bit warmer.
One neat thing, at least to me, is that there is a webcam of the Camden harbor that I find interesting to take a peek at periodically. It can be found here: http://www.villagesoup.com/webcams/CamdenHarborCam.cfm. Probably not much going on in the Winter though!
Posted by silverdsl at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)
Love of Japanese Pop Culture
Apparently there is a huge interest in anything and everything in Japanese pop culture by American youth. Anime, Japanese animation and manga, Japanese comics are especially popular but so is stuff like "Hello, Kitty" merchandise. A Con in Texas attracted 9,000 attendees and Cons in other parts of the country have attracted more tha 25,000 people. Just like at other kinds of Cons, people dress up as their favorite characters too.
I can remember when anime was something only those on the fringe knew of. Now it's very mainstream and I see references to this stuff everywhere. Even stores like Best Buy carry anime. As pointed out in the article though some wonder if the interest in all things Japanese will soon peak and die. Just like any fad that is probably likely sooner or later with those who skip from trend to trend. But based on how long it's been around I would say there will always be fans, especially since a lot of it is very well done.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:15 PM | Comments (0)
February 18, 2005
Terrible Truck Race
I'm sure there are a lot of fans who loved tonight's truck race in Daytona for all the wrecks and excitement. Well, I hated it. And I would have hated it regardless of whether Steve's engine blew up or not - that was the least of the things that bothered me tonight despite my rant of the prior entry. Two trucks flying through the air. Many, many great trucks wrecked in big wrecks. A mess of a final lap. Confusion about who won the race to the point where Jimmy Spencer goes to Victory Lane but then they have to roll him out because it turned out Bobby Hamilton won instead. Then Spencer and Hamilton threatening to get each other because they were upset with the way each other were driving.
There's always going to be wrecks, usually big ones, at Daytona. That's just a fact of life at tracks like this. I expect it. But what I don't expect to see are so many trucks taken out in so many wrecks. I don't expect to see wrecks involving the leaders either but that's what happens when you have a situation in which trucks are a lap down are in front of the leaders on a re-start and then try to race the leaders to stay in front of them and get their laps back And I certainly don't expect to see two trucks in the air. I am so glad that both of those trucks landed on their wheels.
Then the Victory Lane debacle was just embarassing. If there's any question about who won then no truck should be allowed in VL until tapes are reviewed and everything is sorted out. And celebratory speeches in VL should not include threats directed towards other drivers. Both Spencer and Hamilton should be ashamed of themselves. I understand they were unhappy with each other. But if they really feel the need to express that do it in a way that doesn't involve threats to retaliate against each other in the future. Not when they're in Victory Lane.
I should mention in the midst of all this complaining that I'm doing that at least two drivers that I liked finished well by some miracle. Ricky Craven in only his second start in the truck series finished 4th, which is outstanding. I think he's going to have a really big year. Then Johnny Benson, who I thought was involved in the Brendan Gaughan wreck, somehow finished 10th. That's very good for him. Somehow since Benson has started running the trucks that's his M.O. You don't hear much from him and then suddenly he's in the top ten or even the top five at the end of the race.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
I Can't Stand This! More Bad Luck For Steve Park!
This overall race really bothered me and I'll discuss it in a separate entry when everything gets sorted out but poor Steve. I figured after the problem in practice with Kerry Earnhardt that forced him to a back-up truck surely that he would have a good race tonight. Steve even joined a bunch of other veterans in hanging in the back, way back from the main pack of trucks to try and stay out of trouble until the end of the race. Well, that plan didn't even work out for him. Granted things could have been much worse in this race for Steve but it just seems like every time I think he's due for a great race and things are going well suddenly it all falls apart for him.
Ironically it was Steve's teammate and GM/son of the owner that led to his demise in this race. Brendan was racing to stay ahead of the leaders to try and get his lap back when he got loose. Way loose. It led to a huge wreck which took out many good trucks. At first I thought Steve got through since he was so far back but somehow he got into the back of another truck, most likely when someone checked up, though I don't know for sure because Speed never showed it. Apparently there was major damage to the nose and eventually the engine overheated and blew up.
Steve did an interview for radio and apparently he was extremely upset and disappointed as one might imagine. He thinks he's playing it safe and doing the right thing to stay out of trouble until the end when he can race his way up front and things still go bad for him. He said that he wanted fans to send him suggestions for ways to turn his luck around... to his website. Poor Steve must not know that the Visitor's Log on his website is disabled now so fans can't even send him messages that way.
I just feel terrible for Steve. He'll probably connect this all back to the practice wreck and back to what he was saying about making a bad choice about who to draft with. But nothing that has happened to him is in any way his fault. He was racing smart tonight with a very good plan. Bobby Hamilton did the same thing and ended up winning. Granted I don't know 100% what happened to cause him to get the nose of the truck damaged but it was most likely just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. No way was he at fault for the engine blowing either, stuff like that is completely out of his control.
It occurs to me that winning this race would have had extra meaning to Steve. It's the four year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death at this very track. So today Steve was probably feeling bad to begin with. A win would really have been something special today. Talk about a way to replace bad memories with good ones. But it was not to be unfortunately.
I had really, really hoped to see Steve start out this season on a great note like Michael Waltrip did yesterday. If not a win, a top ten or a top five would have been awesome. He ended up finishing 23rd which isn't terrible. Considering what else happened in this race it could have been much worse. But still it's not great either and I know it has to be very disappointing for Steve, who surely was hoping he had left all his back luck behind him.
It seems like I'm always saying this and I hate that I'm starting out 2005 like this too. I hate having to always say "poor Steve" and feel bad for him, feel bad for his team, feel disappointed with the way the race turned out for him. I really hope the next race goes differently for Steve. A top ten or a top five would be great a win even better of course. He could really use that win. Not just for the fans, not just for his team, but for himself. Most importantly for himself. I think that will be the best feeling in the world for him when he gets back to Victory Lane - and he will get there, hopefully soon.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
David Wells Mouths Off
I never liked David Wells. Oh, he pitched some great games as a Yankee, none greater than his perfect game in 1998. But Boomer also had a tendency to mouth off, not take good care of his body and get himself into all sorts of trouble. Now Boomer has signed with the Red Sox and on day one of Spring Training he couldn't stop himself from commenting on the Yankees. No doubt it won't be the last time that he opens his big mouth either.
During the off-season Wells called Yankees GM Brian Cashman to see if there would be any interest in having him come back for a third tour of duty. Wells said, "I told him if there was any interest I'd love to come back to New York and play, and Brian told me that, 'We'd love to have you but the Boss (George Steinbrenner) is looking in another direction. We're going to go with youth this year.' Then they turn around and sign Randy." As someone on NYYFans said, Cashman was just politely saying that they had no interest in a fat, 42-year old, with a bad back who came up lame in a huge playoff game, didn't get along with his manager or pitching coach, rubbed his teammates the wrong way, wrote a tell-all book no one liked, was resistant to keeping himself in shape and found trouble off the field among other issues.
Wells also said, "Maybe I did wear out my welcome there." Yeah, I'd say you did Boomer! Considering the way he talks about how lousy his relationship with Joe Torre and Mel Stottlemyre was it's a wonder that the Yankees wanted him to come back a second time. It's very obvious that Wells wishes the Yankees would have re-signed him again but I don't think that will ever happen. Especially since they did have a hand-shake deal with him to re-sign for 2004 but at the last minute he backed out to sign with the Padres because he didn't like it that the Yankees wanted to put a weight clause in his contract.
I don't boo players. But if there's one player I'd be tempted to boo in his return to Yankee Stadium it would be Boomer.
Posted by silverdsl at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)
Leeanne Tweeden
Leeanne Tweeden has modeled and worked for a number of years in sports broadcasting. Currently she is a correspondant for "The Best Damn Sports Show." Aside from the fact that she is a beautiful woman, I've got to wonder how she gets jobs covering sports. The reason being is that she hangs out with and has even dated some of the athletes that she covers. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one in particular but there have been others, possibly many others. One of the first rules about good journalism is that you have to keep your objectivity and you can't get to close to the people that you cover. There are always some exceptions but it seems like Tweeden crosses any number of lines. Which may explain why she is a correspondent for BDSS and not for ESPN.
According to what was posted on one racing board she did a radio interview this morning and it's incredible to me that she has no shame in saying some of the things that she says. At the very least if she's going to hang out with these folks she should learn to use some discretion and keep stuff to herself! What's even more incredible is that in spite of the fact that she will spill stuff about the drivers (and presumably other athletes she's been involved with) none of them seem to think twice about hanging out with her. One of her gems from this morning was about how that even though she "bumped uglies" with Junior she has no problems in getting or doing interviews with him. Then she told a story about how the other night she and a friend went out drinking and to a strip club with Hermie and Elliott Sadler, along with Dale Jarrett. Hello, Hermie and Jarrett are married - maybe it's not the wisest idea to talk about that kind of night out on the radio. Not to mention that perhaps going out drinking and to strip clubs with these guys isn't the best way to be taken seriously, though I suspect she doesn't care about that.
In the interview it was said that she is going to be doing a piece on Michael Waltrip today or tonight. Gee, do you think Brooke Hondros, Michael's PR woman, is going to be paying close attention to that one? Though with how careful Michael is about public perception I highly doubt he would let himself get into any kind of a situation with her on or off camera that might end up biting him in the ass down the road.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
Harvick to Replace Wallace in the #2?
From Jayski's: UPDATE 2: Kevin Harvick is rumored to be under consideration for a ride with Roger Penske next season, possibly now the driver to take Rusty Wallace's ride. But Harvick's contract with car owner Richard Childress is reported to run through the end of 2006.(Winston Salem Journal)(2-18-2005)
What's interesting to me about that is that Rusty Wallace was also involved in yesterday's mess and will also have to go to a back-up car for Sunday. Yet he was the only driver who didn't rip Harvick a new one. He was disappointed and upset I'm sure but he didn't call Harvick any names and Wallace sure hasn't shied away from doing that in the past. But just like Jaimie McMurray, who Wallace supossedly wants to take his place who is still under contract after 2005, Harvick isn't going anywhere if he's still signed with RCR through 2006.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)
Tsunami Uncovers Ancient City in India
The tsumani ravaged and dramatically changed the coastlines of many countries. But it also uncovered parts of an ancient city and temple off the coast of India. What was uncovered includes six-foot structures featuring elaborate carvings of animals which appear to be part of a temple wall. It is thought that they date back to the seventh century. Apparently some of what has been uncovered is underwater so scientists from a government run archeological agency and some Navy divers are undertaking an expedition of sorts to find out exactly what is down there. Not surprisingly, they expect to discover the tsunami will have uncovered more ancient ruins elsewhere. I just thought it was pretty interesting how these ruins have been buried under all this sand and underwater for so long without anyone knowing until the force of the tsunami uncovered it.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
February 17, 2005
Lack of Non-Sports Entries
For some reason this week I'm having a hard time finding a lot to blog about that doesn't relate to sports. Of course one reason for that is because both of my two favorite sports got started again this week. Spring Training opened for the Yankees and it's Speedweeks down in Daytona for Nascar. But usually there's a little more that catches my interest that doesn't relate to sports, yet I'm not finding as much as I would like. And I don't want to just blog about anything just to fill space. I'd just like to keep this blog multi-dimensional rather than just focus on sports.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)
Photo of the Day - Michael Waltrip
Dover Int'l Raceway, Dover, Del. September, 2004. In honor of Michael Waltrip's win today, which I am still giddy about, I'm going to post my favorite photo of Michael that I took at Dover. For those who might be reading this and have no idea what I'm talking about, I won an auction to raise money for Michael's Operation Marathon charity drive which supports the Victory Junction Gang Camp, a camp for terminally and chronically ill children. So Jim and I got to be Michael's guest at a race and we got to see and do all sorts of awesome things. Riding around the track in a truck with Michael during the pre-race, when I took this photos, was a definite highlight for sure!
I doubt I'll ever be lucky enough to do anything like this again but it was definitely one of the coolest experiences that I've ever had! Seeing what happens on race day was so interesting and every single person we met was incredibly nice. Just a fun, fun day. And another time when I had a great time taking lots and lots of photos!
Posted by silverdsl at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)
Hurricanes Put Florida at Increased Risk for Wildfires
Aside from the lasting damage to countless houses and buildings in Florida, another effect of the hurricanes that hit Florida is that there is now an increased risk of wildfires. The reason is that there are still many piles of trees and brush around. That in combination with how dry it's been in Florida could spell bad news this Spring. Some of the effects of the hurricanes are obvious and will be obvious in some areas for a long time to come but that's definitely something I never thought of.
I remember back in 1998 I think it was there were some very severe wildfires in Florida. That summer I was going to Walt Disney World and for a while I had no idea if I'd be able to make it down there. I ended up going but compared to what I was expecting the parks were pretty empty because apparently a lot of people had cancelled their trips because of the fires. Hopefully Florida won't experience any wildfires first and foremost because you don't want to see any damage to people and property. But it would also be a big blow to the tourist economy which is probably still suffering in some areas from the hurricanes.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:13 PM | Comments (0)
Sweet Sight - Michael Waltrip in Victory Lane
So great to see Michael Waltrip in Victory Lane! I really hope to see a repeat of this on Sunday. If he three-peated winning the Daytona 500 that would really be something special!
Posted by silverdsl at 04:33 PM | Comments (0)
Kevin Harvick Starts The Big One in the Second Gatorade 150
There is no way of sugar-coating it. Kevin Harvick, in spite of his denials, appears to have attempted to bump draft Jimmie Johnson in a place on the track where he had no business doing so and ended up wrecking him. And wrecked himself, Rusty Wallace, Joe Nemechek, Mark Martin, and Dave Blaney (his teammate). Did I mention that those were all the leaders? And worse that other than Johnson they will probably all have to go to back-up cars and start the race from the back of the field for the 500 on Sunday.
I have no idea what Harvick was thinking there - no idea. Part of me almost thinks he was deliberately trying to be overaggresive and he didn't care if he wrecked Johnson to get by him since there is bad blood between them. But I'd hate to think that Harvick would do something like that. It just looked so bad.
Of course the other drivers involved were pissed. Johnson called Harvick an "idiot" and said that he hoped that Richard Childress would fire him or Nascar would park him. Mark Martin was also highly critical and said that the car that got wrecked could have won the 500 but now he has no chance at all. Of course Martin is prone to negativity but he is probably correct that this is a major blow to any hope he had of winning.
Joe Nemechek also had some choice and harsh words for Harvick. Which uncomfortably came as Harvick was standing near by waiting for his turn to be interviewed as they were all coming out of the in-field care center at the same time. Someone threw a water bottle and it might have been Nemechek at Harvick but it was hard to tell exactly what happened. Harvick claimed that Johnson checked up and he (Harvick) had no place to go but I don't really believe him. He made a mistake and I don't think he's able to admit it. Delana, his wife, was nearby and she wasn't even looking at him during the interview and she had quite some expression on her face - I can't even imagine what she was thinking.
I like Harvick. When I met him in Dover last fall he was one of the nicest people that we met. I've heard many, many stories about how fan-friendly he is. In addition, there is no doubt that he is a very talented racer. But he also is prone to losing his head on the race track. He will sometimes be overly aggressive and he will also let his emotions get the best of him. And when something happens often something big happens like it did today. As much as I like Harvick I just can't stand when he does things like that. For all the great things he's done on the track I can't help but wonder how much more success he would be having if not for getting himself into trouble.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)
Ty Norris Spots for Robby Gordon?
In the second Gatorade 150, that's what they just said that Ty Norris, once a big-wig at DEI and now in charge of Nascar's new Fan Member's Club, is Robby Gordon's spotter. I don't know if this is a full season thing or just for this race but the mind boggles.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:13 PM | Comments (0)
Some NHL Players May Have Played Their Last Games
Any number of players who are age 40 and over could end up being forced into retirement by the NHL having no choice but to cancel the 2005 season. For all they know there might not even be a season in 2006 either. For me the most significant name in that bunch, which includes Mario Lemieux, Chris Chelios, Brett Hull and Steve Yzerman, is Mark Messier. I've always been a Rangers fan and of course Messier was key to the Rangers Stanley Cup victory.
Messier is definitely not the same player that he was in his prime. He's fought injuries and various issues but my impression was that he had been hoping to play one more season for the Rangers or another team. After a full year off and maybe longer I don't see how he'll be able to come back. That's kind of sad that he's not going to be able to go out on his own terms but instead be forced to retire because of a labor dispute.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:50 PM | Comments (0)
Michael Waltrip Wins!
I am bouncing up and down with happiness right now - Michael Waltrip just won the first Gatorade 150 duel! He led a lot of this race and then was a little ways back after a pit stop during a caution. Well, Michael made his way up to the front along with Junior and literally in the last few seconds of the race side drafted off of Junior and took the lead. I couldn't believe it. In fact FOX didn't even catch it at first and the only way that I knew was because Michael's brother, Darrell in the booth went nuts. Whoooo-hoooooooo! This is so awesome!
The other awesome thing is that Kenny Wallace raced his way into the 500 in a car that Michael owns also during the last few seconds of the race. Things looked pretty bleak for Kenny as they had tire problems mid-race but he didn't give up and kept fighting. It paid off because now he's in! So on Sunday there will be three Wallace brothers, Mike, Kenny and Rusty racing in the 500.
I can't even begin to describe how happy I am for Michael right now. In a lot of ways he had a really lousy season in 2004 with only a few highlights. Now he starts 2005 in the best way possible - with a win. Sure it's not a points race but it sets the tone for the rest of the season and makes a statement that he can get the job done! Now I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do on Sunday! I don't know if Michael can three-peat on Sunday because everything has to fall into place for him perfectly but I have a really good feeling about the race for him. Great job not only by Michael but also by his crew!
Posted by silverdsl at 02:42 PM | Comments (0)
February 16, 2005
Photo of the Day - Desert and Mountains
On the road to Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas, NV. I made Jim pull over so I could take a couple of photos as we approached Red Rock Canyon. I was just so amazed by everything I was seeing that I had to take some pictures. There just aren't any views like that in New York or New Jersey!
All those clouds came rolling in gradually as we made our way to Red Rock Canyon and then as we drove through. It made for some interesting pictures. At times the clouds just swallowed up the mountains. But when it was sunny that bi-colored mountain just looked so cool!
All this time I've been saying that I had never been in the desert before yet I completely forgot that I was in Israel and was very definitely in the desert there. It was so long ago, when I was in high school, that it's easy to forget. Everything was so rushed on that trip too so it was hard to take a lot of things in. Oh, how I wish I had a good camera when I was there!
Posted by silverdsl at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)
Arrested Development May Bite the Dust
So Fox has told "Arrested Development" to stop production after they filmed just 18 of 22 episodes for this season. The reason? Because as of April 22, they want to put the animated show, "American Dad" in it's timeslot. When it premiered after the Super Bowl "American Dad" had an audience of 15 million people watching which must have really thrilled Fox since "Arrested Development" averages only 6 million viewers.
I love "Arrested Development." I love that there's no laugh track, that it's wacky, that the family is so off-the-wall and imperfect, that the humor is not always obvious. Of course all the things that I love about "Arrested Development" are exactly why there are only 6 million viewers. Most people just don't want to have to think when they watch TV and they don't really like shows that are unique either. It's pretty sad that "The Simple Life" gets better ratings than "Arrested Development," a show that has won an Emmy.
Fox hasn't made it official that they are cancelling "Arrested Development" but it sure doesn't look good now. I hope that somehow the show gets saved or moves over to cable. Both the writing and acting are great on that show and I'd love to see it continue.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
Some Airport Towers May Close
So the FAA's plan is to close some airport towers during the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. to save money. Granted, the airports that will have the towers closed during those hours don't have a ton of traffic but apparently there are still planes that land. Nothing like putting safety first. I can't help but think of the Hendricks plane crash a few months ago. There was no tower at that airport. They might have crashed anyway but I can't help but think of what might have been different if there had been someone in a tower to help guide them in.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:55 PM | Comments (0)
What Would Brendan Do?
Well apparently as General Manager of Orleans Racing Brendan wasn't too thrilled with seeing one of his trucks wrecked. So the answer appears to be do a little name-calling. I just read on one of the boards that he called Kerry Earnhardt a "knucklehead." Just like Gary Sheffield and his ill-advised comments about Jason Giambi or Trot Nixon's comments about Alex Rodriguez, sometimes I think it's best to keep some thoughts out of the media, especially when it comes to calling people names or otherwise insulting them. These guys have to race against each other and it's only going to create more ill-will to be calling each other names. Save those kinds of comments for inside the hauler or in the motorcoach. Express your displease all you want - Steve sure did, though even he was a bit harsh. But name-calling? At least save it for when something happens in a race!
I can only imagine how Brendan would go off if he was the one who got wrecked.
Posted by silverdsl at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)
Bad Luck Strikes Steve Park Yet Again
How many times do I say some version of the above? Steve couldn't even get to the first race of the season before he got hit by the bad luck bug. Today during practice he was drafting with Kerry Earnhardt and Kerry ended up sending both of them into the wall. Kerry then spun out down the track and collected Todd Kluever which caused Sean Murphy to get into Deborah Renshaw. I really hate when wrecks like this happen in practice. Mistakes are always going to happen but a five-car wreck is a pretty big mistake. Especially since both Steve and Deborah will have to go to back-up trucks. That's especially bad for Deborah whose back-up truck apparently has no laps on it.
Steve was tremendously upset after the wreck and had some heated words for Kerry, which is pretty unusual for him to lash out like that. He said (in part): “It’s just ignorance. I don’t know. I’ve been racing here a long time, and we’re out there just getting drafting practice. There’s a couple guys I didn’t want to draft with, and I obviously chose the wrong person to draft with again. It’s just ignorance. The Orleans Dodge Ram is torn up. I’m pretty disappointed." Those that saw his Speed interview said that Steve was beside himself and looked like he was about ready to cry. I just feel so bad for him that the season has already started off on the wrong foot for him just like it did last year.
In no way should Steve be placing any amount of blame on himself for choosing to draft with Kerry. The drivers have to be able to trust that the other guys on the track with them know what they're doing out there. Yes, there will always be mistakes made but for the most part they have to assume that whoever they are racing against the majority of the time isn't going to wreck them. So considering the family that Kerry comes from are masters of plate tracks and that he has been racing for a long time, Steve shouldn't have had to worry that something was going to go wrong drafting with Kerry. In his interview on truckseries.com Steve said that he specifically didn't draft with others and was trying to be careful to stay out of trouble and just log laps. Then he takes a chance on drafting with someone that he trusted and it goes bad. But much like a lot of Steve's problems last season this wreck was completely out of his control.
Apparently Kerry went over to Steve afterwards and apologized but I suspect that Steve won't be too trusting of drafting with Kerry for a while longer. The knock on Kerry has always been that he's not a very good driver and only got the rides that he's gotten because he's an Earnhardt. I have no idea how much truth there is to that. I would like to think if a guy doesn't have the talent necessary to race at this level that teams wouldn't give him a ride, no matter what his last name was. But it's probably true that his last name helps to get him rides. It will be interesting to see what happens with him in the race on Friday and beyond. Because if he keeps causing big wrecks, his last name isn't going to keep the other drivers from getting angry at him.
Good thing for Kerry that he didn't wreck Brendan Gaughan who is driving his favorite truck, Lonestar. No telling what Brendan might have done if his favorite truck got wrecked!
Posted by silverdsl at 07:46 PM | Comments (0)
How do Things Like This Happen?
A 16-year old girl is stabbed to death by the 29-year old father of her 5-month old baby, while the baby is in her arms. That's bad enough. Then it turns out that this guy had been deported after being convicted of statutory rape for having sex with the girl when she was 15. Now it turns out that this man used to date the girl's 43-year old mother. And used to be violent towards her. Yet on Valentine's Day the girl's mother drove herself, her daughter and her grandchild over to this nut's house, despite the fact that they had an order of protection against him. Once there everything is fine for a while but then he picks up the girl's cell phone, scrolls through the numbers on it and sees one that he thinks is for a new lover. So he kills her in a jealous rage.
This story is just insane to me. On every level. I can't understand how people do these things to each other. I feel very sorry for that poor baby.
Posted by silverdsl at 01:40 PM | Comments (0)
Big Spider Really Big Sea Scorpion
There's this famous 300-million year old fossil of what was thought to be a huge spider which was nicknamed "Big Meg." Casts of the fossil are in display in any number of musuems and collectors can purchase copies for themselves online. Well, it turns out that the experts were mistaken in thinking that "Big Meg" was a spider. In reality the fossil is of a sea scorpion, making it much less exotic. I have to admire one of the researchers coming forward with this because he was part of the original team that discovered this fossil. It takes some courage to be part of a project which indicates that this isn't at all what people orginially thought it was.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)
Gary Sheffield - What is He Thinking?
Ridiculous Comments By Sheffield
Gary Sheffield is outspoken and that is a good thing. However, it becomes a bad thing when he decides that he's going to rip his own teammate. And even worse when it's in relation to the Balco mess.
First Sheffield says, ""I never admitted to nothing, I get tired of people twisting my words." Well, Sheffield said he used steroids unknowingly. Sure, he says he didn't know what he was using but the fact remains that he admitted to using them. Saying that he had no idea that the cream he was rubbing on himself, the pills he was popping or the liquid he was ingesting was full of steroids doesn't mean that his steroid use magically goes away. And if you're as skeptical as I am of his claims that he had no idea what he was using, nor does him repeatedly saying it mean that he should be automatically be let off the hook.
Even worse was what Sheffield says about Giambi. "I said I didn't know I took steroids, the bottom line was I thought it was rubbing cream on my legs. I am not like Jason Giambi sitting here crying and say it's unfair, that the attacks are unfair. I have been attacked my whole career. I have been accused of a lot of things." I'd like to know when did Giambi ever cry or say that what was happening was unfair? Giambi's only public comments on this mess came via his press conference last week and at no time did he seem to indicate that he thought that anything that was happening was unfair. How could he? Giambi did something wrong and he had to stand up and deal with the consequences, as hard as it may be. And it appears that is exactly what he is doing. Giambi told the grand jury that he took steroids. He isn't denying anything or shirking responsibility.
Unlike Sheffield who seems to be trying to deflect all of the steriod mess back onto Giambi. "I'm not like him!" Sheffield seems to be saying. Well, I hope that the media and the fans don't let him off the hook so easily. Hard questions need to be asked to both Sheffield and Giambi. Not that either one will be particularly forthcoming but I don't think that should mean that they should be given a pass either. Sheffield is an admitted steroid user whether he wants to acknowledge that or not. If he didn't knowingly use steroids at the very least he is guilty of not asking enough questions about what was going in his own body, not to mention making a poor choice when it came to who he associated with.
People who are outspoken also have to know when it's the right time to state their opinions and when it isn't. They also have to understand what are appropriate comments and which aren't. Ripping the Red Sox during the playoffs like he did last season was out of line and ripping a teammate like he does to Giambi here is also way out of line.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)
Wait 12 Hours for an Autograph? No Way!
Every year at this time Benny Parsons does his "Fast Talk" radio show live at the Volusia Mall in Daytona all week leading up to the big race weekend. He has any number of drivers as his guests all week so naturally that attracts a whole host of fans who want to see their favorites. Apparently it has become a yearly ritual for a group of fans to get to the mall each morning that Parsons show will be live at 5:30 a.m. so they can get exactly the spot they want for the show, which airs at 6 p.m. No, they don't get there that early so they can be front and center to see their favorite drivers do the show with Parsons. They get there that early so they can stake out the perfect spot to get the drivers autographs when they leave. In fact, these fans can't even see the show from where they are.
I understand this is a fun and social event for these fans and a hobby to get their memorablia signed. But there is no way that I will be trapped 12 hours in one place just to wait for someone's autograph. I always go to autograph signings a few hours early but if it comes to the point where I have to go 12 hours early to get someone's signature then it's just not worth it to me. I'd much rather be front and center while they do the show, get to listen in, maybe take a few photos too. Twelve hours these folks sit there for probably less than 30 seconds of interaction with the driver as they sign their stuff and then move on to the next person.
Of course the drivers love it though. Steve Park said in the article, "It makes me feel good. That's what it's all about. They wait for us." The funny thing is that for many of these fans they aren't even there to see Steve specifically. They don't even care who signs for them as long as someone does. So while it's great that it makes Steve feel good to see those fans waiting for him, he could be Ricky Rudd, Bobby Hamilton or Martin Truex, Jr. and most of the regulars would react the same, again, just as long as whoever it was stopped to sign. I guess it's just something that I can't relate to since as I've discussed here before autographs don't mean all that much to me. Getting random drivers autographs just because they are Nascar drivers just doesn't hold any interest to me. But I guess it's just one more thing that some people collect.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)
RCR Teams: Toned Down
When it comes to storylines about the Richard Childress Racing teams, besides their struggles last season, many are talking about how the dynamics of the teams are different this season due to the less emotional and more toned down personalities of two of the three RCR drivers. Kevin Harvick will never be considered a unemotional or calm driver but Jeff Burton and Dave Blaney most certainly are, which is in stark comparision to recent RCR drivers such as Jeff Green, Johnny Sauter and Robby Gordon.
The article says that "Childress always has had an affinity for feisty drivers, but the results were no longer worth the grief. The team's contentious relations hindered their attempts to improve, so Childress started making changes." Well, I can't say I agree with the feistiness of his drivers being the problem. Yes, Robby Gordon got himself into trouble on the track and that was not a good thing. But it seemed as if every time Robby had a good run going the car fell apart. And that Kevin Harvick complained about a lack of horsepower and wasn't a contender at all last season speaks volumes about what the real problems were at RCR.
Steve Park also says that much of the problems related to the lack of success with the #30 and #31 related to the emphasis placed on the #29 of Kevin Harvick. He says:
"The stream of information was non-existent," he said. "It was just a struggle. The 30 team couldn't get the people on the cars it needed and the 31 team, just from what I heard from Rob and stuff, they were sort of up against the same situation struggling for parts and people, too. It wasn't everyone on the same level. It was tiered and the 30 was on the bottom tier, unfortunately."
Though Park said he holds no malice toward Childress, he said the owner played favorites. "The 29 has been RCR's baby since it was the 3 car," he said.
This was obvious when Steve was in the #30. He would often say that they needed someone here or there to add to the crew to make things better and that never happened. Of course this isn't unusual in that most organizations have their #1 driver and then the teams are tiered down from there. That is just the reality that often resources are not spread around equally. But perhaps all of that ended up effecting the #29 team as well. If the teams aren't sharing information and there is no effort to try and improve the other two teams how can they really work together? And I think it is very important for teammates to work together and share information. Certainly at a plate race they need to work together but if the other two cars in the organization are junk that only hurts Harvick.
Hopefully that will all change in 2005 though. If Childress makes a committment to making all three of his cars as good as they can be I think it will go a long way towards helping Harvick and making RCR contenders again. Jeff Burton is an extremely intelligent man and a good racer so he should be able to give a lot of good input on a lot of things. Blaney is also a good racer too. They should be good additions. But if they find success I don't think it will be due to a lack of emotion but rather because they got the equipment and personnel they needed to succeed.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
Duct Tape: A Race Team's Most Valuable Tool
Loved for it's versatility, duct tape is one the most used tools out of any that race teams have available to them. It can be used to hold cars together, write notes, stop leaks, keep equipment from flapping in the wind, hold things in or down, the list goes on and on. I imagine more than a few teams have used duct tape to play practical jokes on each other too!
Bobby Hamilton says that one of his biggest complaints as an truck owner is how much duct tape his teams go through - something like $4,000-$5,000 worth of duct tape a season! But what would they do without it? The article mentions that duct tape first showed up in racing in the 60's so the teams have come to depend on it. So much so that as Elliott Sadler says, they can't imagine what the teams did in the days before duct tape.
But Rusty Wallace brings up the best point of all - why isn't there a duct tape company in the sport as a sponsor? It would seem like it would be a natural.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)
Photo of the Day - Disney Balloons
Walt Disney World, Florida. 1998. I feel like I might have posted this one once before but it's hard to remember. So if I don't remember it most likely no one else will either. And I figure I better post something other than Las Vegas photos once in a while otherwise it'll get boring!
In any event, one thing that has always caught my eye at Walt Disney World are the large groups of balloons that some cast members walk around with. Naturally they try to sell them to any and all but I've always thought those massive groups of balloons were pretty neat to look at. I guess I like the repeatative patterns they form, as my eye is always attracted to patterns. But what really got me in this photos is the way those two balloons are "looking" at each other.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:04 AM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2005
Photographers Upset With NFL Over Super Bowl Arrests
I meant to blog about this sooner but it got lost in the shuffle. At the Super Bowl two respected sports photographers, Mike Seger of Reuters and Robert Seale of The Sporting News, were arrested for being on the field after the game when they weren't supossed to be. At the last minute, literally, the NFL changed their policies about what photographers could be on the field for the post-game celebrations. For years the photographers working the sidelines had been allowed on the field to take photos of the players celebrating or walking away in dejection but just a few minutes before the game ended an annoucement was made that the NFL was no longer going to allow that. While I understand that the NFL wants to cut down on the number of extra people running around on the field after the game and getting in the way, the photographers have a job to do too and taking pictures of the post game celebration is part of it. Arresting photographers on the field seems a little extreme, especially since the rule change was announced only at the last minute.
What gets me is that while NFL security was having working photographers for major publications and organizations arrested, there were apparently any number of people sneaking into the Super Bowl who had no reason to be there other than to say that they beat security. There were two guys who forged press passes to get in and this guy who pretty much makes a hobby of sneaking into all sorts of sporting and entertainment events. Not just into the stadiums but onto the field or into the locker rooms. There is almost no way that security at any event will be 100% perfect but perhaps the NFL might want to take a look at cutting down on those people who are sneaking into the Superbowl rather than arresting people who belong there and are just doing their jobs.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
FBI Agent Says He Warned MLB Players Were Using Steroids Ten Years Ago
No wonder Bud Selig looked so unhappy yesterday when he was questioned about Jose Canseco's new book. According to a report in the New York Daily News, Greg Stejskal, a special agent in charge of the FBI's office in Ann Arbor, MI, told MLB's security officer, Kevin Hallinan, in the 90's that a FBI investigation had turned up evidence that Jose Canseco and other player were using illegial steroids and then did nothing about it. Of course MLB denies that Stejskal ever said anything to anyone associated with them about this because to admit that an FBI agent went so far as to name names really makes it look like they turned a blind eye to the problem until they were forced to take action. Personally I believe that's exactly what happened - MLB knew that players were using but didn't really want to have to take care of the problem so they tried to ignore it for as long as possible.
What's interesting about Stejskal's claims is that he says that some of the players who are named in Canseco's book are the same ones who turned up in the course of his investigation. I guess because those players were never charged with anything (the investigation targeted dealers and trafficers, not users) he doesn't want to say exactly who but I think it gives Canseco's claims a bit more weight if an FBI agent is also saying some of this stuff too. Of course Stejskal could have some sort of agenda of his own but I kind of doubt that an active agent would make all of this up out of thin air.
I would guess that the steriod/performance enhancer situation is only going to get messier.
Posted by silverdsl at 01:23 PM | Comments (0)
Teammates Support Giambi
Jeter, Martinez, Flaherty Support Giambi
Some of the Yankees who were in Tampa for early Spring Training workouts were asked about Jason Giambi and of course they said exactly the right things about how supportive they and all their teammates would be of Giambi. I didn't expect them to say anything different. No matter how they might feel about Giambi privately there is no way that they would truly express how they feel publically. Of course I also think that the use of performance enhancers also isn't as much of a big deal to the players as it is to the fans. I suspect Giambi's teammates are more concerned with the distractions that they will have to deal with because of all the steroid related questions that will follow the team around, as well as how Giambi will perform this season.
Interestingly enough the Daily News said that Jeter had talked to Giambi several times during the off-season and also met with him prior to Giambi's press conference last week. What's so interesting about that is that it was widely reported that Giambi had been out of touch with everyone even vaguely associated with the Yankees during the off-season and that no one had any clue how he was doing. Well, apparently Jeter had been talking to him so it's not like Giambi completely blew everyone off. Giambi was part of Jeter's circle to some degree and Jeter in fact called Giambi a friend, so I guess it makes sense that they would have talked.
Spring Training is definitely going to be a little more out-of-the-ordinary for the Yankees for sure when Giambi shows up. There is always a lot of attention paid to the Yankees and how the various players perform during spring training but no player will probably attract more attention than Giambi. Randy Johnson is probably pretty happy about that! But of course the media will make much more out of whatever Giambi does or doesn't do in spring training than it actually warrants. For veteran players who are assured of a spot on the team spring training often doesn't mean as much to them. The real test for Giambi is once the regular season starts.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)
Matt McLaughlin Responds
So this morning I get an email from Matt McLaughlin who some might remember I discussed here and here regarding his release from racingone.com. Apparently Patty Kay had contacted him regarding my questions about her article on Insider Racing News. And what you might be wondering did Matt have to say? Well, he cut and pasted into his email correspondance that he was asked to keep confidential. Given that I'm not going to say exactly what it was that Matt sent me other than it's very similar to what's been reported elsewhere.
I go back to what I say often - anyone can say anything on the internet. Even in real life it's very easy to spin something or make something look one way when in reality it's only one side of the story or something else actually happened. But on the internet it's even easier. So at this point in the face of Matt McLaughlin making certain claims, and R1 making certain claims, both of which contradict each other, I still haven't the foggiest clue what the real story is. And I'm starting not to care all that much. If these folks want to go after each other so be it. Hopefully McLaughlin will end up getting the money he says is owed to him by R1 and he will go on to write successfully for another site while R1 goes about their business of running their site and everyone will peacefully co-exist. What still bothers me is an apparent lack of followup on the part of most internet journalists in writing stories ripping R1 for firing McLaughlin without including comments or anything from both sides for balance and fairness.
In the end, eventually it will probably be revealed who actually bought R1. But as I've said before when it comes down to it, even if it was an ISC/Nascar/France family entity, I think it's probably not part of some big conspiracy.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:35 AM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2005
Nice Photo of Michael Waltrip
I'm not sure what it is but something about this photo of Michael that was taken during practice on Saturday really grabbed me. Maybe it's how the photographer framed his face, the use of the white space on the right or the look on Michael's face but something about it is really effective. Looks like something someone might use for an ad or a website. The photographer is Eric Gilbert but I can't say I've seen any of his shots previously, though maybe I have and just not realized it.
Posted by silverdsl at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)
Bobby Hamilton, Jr. Starts Complaining Already
I forgot to blog about this last night but Bobby Hamilton, Jr. was interviewed on Speed yesterday about his poor showing in qualifying and Hamilton complained and complained about how bad it was, how disheartening it was and how he couldn't wait to get away from Daytona and out of California. Now I admit, Hamilton, Jr. is one of the few drivers I dislike, but his whining and complaining really rubbed me the wrong way. Not that it's surprising that he would be acting like that since it's always seemed to be par for the course for him.
I understand that it's discouraging for a driver to have a bad car and feel frustrated when it doesn't get any better, even after offering input. Of course Hamilton is confident about his ability so he's going to feel like that car is the only thing holding him back. But what did he expect? He was in the car for some races in 2004 after Ricky Craven was released. And he must have been aware of how much Craven struggled in the car prior to his release. So it's a bit much for him to expect that the #32 is suddenly going to turn into a contender. I think it's possible that they could have some decent runs, but it's not surprising that they don't look too great on the speed charts right now because that was often the case last season too.
As for his comment about not being able to wait until he gets to California, I think that was the worst remark of all. What does it say when the driver has given up already and they haven't even run the Gatorade race on Thursday or more importantly the 500 on Sunday? Now perhaps he really hasn't truly given up but how is his team going to feel if they hear him say something like that publically and on Speed no less? A driver has to help motivate his team and remarks like that certainly won't do that. Hearing that he's already looking to California, I wouldn't be surprised if a few of his crew members give up on Daytona too.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:51 PM | Comments (0)
Steve Park Isn't Curt Schilling
Now isn't that a strange comparision - Steve Park to Curt Schilling? After all Steve is a racer in the Nascar truck series and Schilling is a major league baseball player. Perhaps not so strange when one considers that based on several references over the past few days, it's possible that Steve lurks over at SPC, a fan forum. Anyone from NYYFans knows that Schilling lurks with us all the time and on occassion has posted, which has led to a whole host of issues. And suddenly I can see why some things are the way they are if it's true that Steve does in fact lurk on a regular or semi-regular basis over on SPC.
Schilling has a very thick skin and there isn't much that fazes him when it comes to what fans say about him. In fact I think he feeds off of it, not just the positive remarks but the negative comments as well. On the other hand there's Steve who seems to be very eager to please everyone and doesn't like disappointing or upsetting anyone, particularly his fans. For someone like that, I would think that reading a fan forum might not be such a great idea. On one hand it probably feels great to read all the positive and wonderful things that fans say about him and it's certainly very cool for the fans to feel like their favorite driver cares enough to check out what they have to say. But there is always going to be some people who are critical or unhappy with certain things and if someone is the least bit sensitive, some of those comments might be given more weight than they should.
I always call things like I see them. I also very much see all the drivers and players that I like as human beings who will make mistakes and do things that I don't agree with from time to time. And I see nothing wrong with expressing that in a respectful way. I don't think any less of Steve or am any less of a fan of his because I don't like the way the Operation Marathon Getaway was handled or because I think there are times he's let his emotions get the best of him at times in races and that has hurt him. Those are just things that I might take issue with or think could be handled differently.
But do I really want Steve reading something that I say that might be interpreted as critical? Probably not. Granted, it's not my problem how a 37 or 38 year old adult who is a complete stranger to me takes what fans say about him. But on the other hand if I know that he may pay attention to this stuff, I don't really want to add any fuel to the fire either. Having suspected this might be the case for a while I've already been careful about what I say and how I say certain things - this was true even in relation to the whole Operation Marathon mess, though I know some would probably not believe that.
Which leaves me enjoying talking about Steve on that forum not quite as much as I used to. Our big issue on NYYFans is how the discussions are effected by Shilling's presence - they are and often not in a good way as users craft their posts as messages to him or try to bait him into getting into it with them. And as much as our users would love it if there were Yankee players on the site, we don't really want to see that happen because suddenly no one wants to express their opinions freely or say anything the slightest bit critical out of fear of what that player thinks. And in spite of the fact that I have no idea how true it is that Steve or others affilated with him might read that board or even how often that happens, I find myself not wanting to state my opinions as openly as I once did. I'm just going to have to get over it because not only don't I know how true it is, I just can't be worried about what someone else might think about what I have to say, especially since I know I'm not really saying anything wrong.
I just hope if he does go to that board that he's not big on clicking on random links because otherwise he or someone else affiliated with him might have made their way over to this blog. Given that one particular comment I guess that wouldn't surprise me but even if I continue to be careful over on the board, I have no intention of censoring myself here. The only things I keep to myself are those things that I wouldn't say to someone's face; that I would be afraid of offending or insulting someone about - not that I'm the type of person to be insulting or hurtful anyway. But commentary on Nascar, Steve Park or any of the other things I talk about here shouldn't be offensive to anyone anyway as they are only opinions which may or may not be correct.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
Barry Larkin Retires; Joins Nationals Front Office
After 19 years as a baseball player for the Cincinatti Reds, Barry Larkin has retired. One might expect that he would join the Reds front office but instead he has joined the front office for the Washington Nationals where there are some others who were formerly in the Reds Organization. Larkin had wanted to return to play for the Reds for a 20th year but the Reds wanted to go with a younger player and though there was some interest from other teams Larkin decided the time was right to retire. At one time he had wanted to be a part of the Reds organization after he retired but in 2003 the relationship between Larkin and the Reds deteriorated over contract issues. For the Reds fans' sake it's really a shame that Larkin and the Reds have pretty much severed their relationship with each other.
Though David Cone was only a Yankee for five or six years I can't help but think of him in relation to the situation with Larkin and the Reds. Cone had always wanted to be a part of the Yankees organization after he retired but Steinbrenner has apparently not yet forgiven him for pitching for the Mets instead of being a spring training instructor for the Yankees in 2003. Since Cone hasn't joined the front office of any other team thus far I get the feeling that he is hoping that Steinbrenner will eventually forgive him and offer him a job, like he's done with others that he's been angry at. Cone continues to appear at Yankee related charity events so it's clear that he is trying to maintain a connection there. Since I was always a huge Cone fan I hope that eventually he does join the Yankees front office in some capacity or another. He is a very intelligent guy and he'd be a real asset. Not to mention it would be nice to potentially be able to see him at the stadium again, even if it's just for Old Timer's Day.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2005
Photo of the Day - Cape May Lighthouse
Cape May, New Jersey, 2001. Just to break up all the Las Vegas photos, here's one of the Cape May Lighthouse. I remember climbing up there and since it was a hot day it was quite some walk up all those stairs. But it was a very nice view from the top and I'd like to go up there again. It would just have to be on a cooler day for sure!
The Cape May Lighthouse is one that had to be moved from it's original location due to erosion problems. And it's a good thing that was done as that spot is now under water.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)
Third Watch: Still Wondering Why I'm Watching
Seriously, why are Jim and I still watching this show? As I've discussed in this blog before we used to love the show, now definitely not so much. It's gotten to the point where we don't rush home to watch anymore like we used to on Friday nights; instead we record it to watch later. Next week is a cross-over with the show that usually follows it on Fridays, Medical Investigations, and I'm starting to wonder which cast's performances will be better. A while ago I would have thought TW for sure, now I think it might very well be MI.
What really gets me is the last scene in this past week's episode. Bosco, continuing his miraculous recovery in record time from a near-fatal head injury, asks Faith to shoot for him on the shooting test he needs to pass to be cleared to return to full duty as a police officer. She declines and he storms out in a huff. Let me get this straight - Faith cares about Bosco so deeply that she will murder the man that she blames for his injuries but then she refuses to cheat for him? I don't buy that. Seems to me that she's already morally corrupted herself on his behalf; what's the difference if she cheats for him too? And maybe I missed it but are Faith and Bosco ever going to talk about how she killed for him?
I also can't help but think this isn't doing justice to how truly difficult it is for someone to recover from a head injury as severe as the one Bosco supossedly suffered. I guess I have my doubts that he would be able to run around town, pushing himself at the shooting range and basically acting completely like himself so soon after being shot in the face so badly that his friends and family were told that he was most likely going to die and if he didn't he might not be able to do much of anything. They had him in a coma for a while too. I just don't see Bosco's doctors being down with the idea of him going back to work as a cop quite so soon.
I have no idea why Jason Wiles is actually leaving TW but I wonder if he's unhappy with the way his character was being written. I don't know who much of this storyline is dictated by him leaving or whether this was planned prior but I'm beginning to wish that he hadn't come back to the show this season. Before he was the center of the show, now he seems like his character isn't adding all that much. It's kind of a shame what they're doing to his character but then again it's a shame what they've doing with a lot of the characters.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:24 PM | Comments (0)
Project Runway
For the first time today I watched an episode of Project Runway, Bravo's reality show which features a group of aspiring fashion designers who are competing for the chance to break into the fashion industry. I had heard good things about it but never tuned before and now I wish that I had. Unfortunately this was one of the last episodes in the series but it was pretty interesting.
The designers have challenges that they have to complete relating to fashions that they have to design and create. They are then judged on their creations by a panel of experts in the industry. Each week one designer is eliminated until there are only three who present a full show of their works during fashion week in New York, which was last week. Then the person who presents the best show is declared the winner.
I guess because the show involves some creativity and unique personalities it kept my interest because it seemed different from the usual reality shows. Most of the cast members on a lot of reality shows are just carbon copies of each other but these cast members seemed to have fairly distinct personalities. And that the challenges involved some creativity and actual skill was great to see. I hope they have another season of it because I'd love to be able to watch from start to finish.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
Qualifying Not So Great for DEI Teams
Much to my disappointment when I got home tonight I discovered that Michael Waltrip had qualified pretty poorly today, as had all the DEI cars. On one hand today's qualifying doesn't really matter much expect for those drivers who qualify first and second, as well as for the drivers whose teams weren't in the top 35 in points last season. On the other hand to see every DEI car, as well as those cars with DEI motors so far down on the speed chart doesn't bode well. Martin Truex Jr. was the highest qualifier in 31st, Michael was 33rd, and Junior was 39th. Kenny Wallace in a Michael Waltrip Racing car with a DEI engine also qualified in the 30s and Robby Gordon who borrowed a DEI engine due to the issues with his own Menard engines qualified 39th.
I didn't expect every DEI car to be in the top ten, but to see them all towards the back speed wise isn't a good sign. During testing a lot of folks assumed they were sandbagging and holding something back so as to not give away all their cards but perhaps that isn't the case. I assume DEI will work on things between now and Thursday when the races are to set the field for the 500 on Sunday to improve things. And when it's most important on Sunday I can only hope that they will be even better.
A few theories come to mind as to what's going on here but I will reserve judgement for longer until Speedweeks are over to see how things fully shake out. A lot of folks are already the switch is at play here but I suspect the issue could be more than that, especially given that every car powered by DEI is struggling.
Posted by silverdsl at 06:09 PM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2005
Photo of the Day - Paris Las Vegas
Paris-Las Vegas Casino, Las Vegas, NV, January, 2005. Here's a shot of the Effiel Tower replica at Paris-Las Vegas Casino. It's a nice looking casino both inside and out and Jim and I spent one night there eating in a absolutely delicious restaurant, Ortanique which features Caribbean influenced food. From what we could tell it looked like there were a lot of great restaurants there including a few nice French ones. We also went up to the top of the Effiel Tower there at night and the view was amazing!
Posted by silverdsl at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)
Jimmie Johnson Wins Bud Shootout
So tonight was the Bud Shootout to kick off the 2005 Nascar season. And as excited as I was about the return of racing, I can't say this race was too thrilling for most of the race. I'm happy that Jimmie Johnson won as he's a driver I like and Jeff Gordon finished third so that was cool too. However, there weren't a heck of a lot of lead changes, maybe only four, and while there was obviously some passing and racing because there were guys moving back and forth through the pack, we didn't seem to see a lot of it on TV. I'm hoping that when the actual races that count start there's going to be more actual racing and lead changes. Otherwise, it may not be a very interesting season. Of course passing troubles were a constant factor last season at some tracks so I don't know why I expect anything different in 2005.
As for what this tells me about what might happen next Sunday in the 500, I haven't a clue. Junior had some early mechanical troubles but just after announcing that his car was "junk" rallied to race up to the front and ended up finishing seventh. Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon and at times Tony Stewart looked strong. I don't know what happened to Bill Elliott who seemed to run up front for the first half of the race but by the end was all the way in the back.
Poor Brian Vickers continued the trend of bad luck from last season by breaking an axle trying to get onto pit road and didn't finish the race. He really needs some good runs otherwise I have to wonder how long Hendrick will stick with him. Another young guy in the race, Kasey Kahne, finished ninth which is okay. I'm a little surprised he ended up finishing that good considering he didn't seem to be much of a factor at all for most of the race.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the events during speedweeks as they will actually count for something.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:45 PM | Comments (0)
Matt McLaughlin Revisited
So the furor over Matt McLaughlin's firing from Racingone continues with more accusations of a Nascar conspiracy with R-1 furiously denying all of this. What is bothering me about all of this is that this incident is being used as a basis for various internet journalists, as well as countless fans to make a case for how Nascar is trying to silence all their critics. Yet there has been no definitive proof what-so-ever presented anywhere to my knowledge that states for sure a)who bought R-1 b) that whoever did buy the site was a Nascar/ISC/France family entity c) and that their sole purpose for buying the site was to fire Matt, thus eliminating one of their critics.
Patty Kay wrote an article in which she referenced that R-1 was bought by ABC Promotions, a ISC entity. I assumed that she checked this information with her sources, as most journalists do. However, when I contacted her out of curiosity, she indicated that she was relying on an item on Jayski's. She suggested that I contact Jay from Jayski's and when I did he indicated he had put the item up based on what Matt told him and it was to save both of them from having to answer countless emails. Since Jay also said that whatever happened with R-1 and Matt was between them, the implication was that he never checked with his sources about what the story was either. So that means that all of this is on the basis of what one person is saying, someone who clearly has some major issues with the company that fired him. Matt may very well be telling the complete and total truth, as what he is saying isn't out of the realm of possibility, yet when it comes to making accusations about a conspiracy it would seem that some of the folks writing stories about this issue should be doing some fact-checking and research beyond what one person is saying.
That's especially true since SEC filings show no ISC entity called ABC Promotions. There is an ASC Promotions, the showcar division of Americrown, ISC's food and hospitality services division which services all the tracks, but thus far no one has clarified exactly who bought R-1. So there is no telling if someone is confused or mistyped or there is actually no ISC connection to who bought R-1. In addition, R-1 is sending out emails which state that ABC Promotions does not own the site and that the France family/Nascar/ISC has nothing to do with Matt getting fired. Of course that still leaves open the question of who bought the site as another ISC/Nascar entity not called ABC Promotions could have bought them but right now it's a case of he-said/he-said and there seems to be no way of really knowing what the story actually is, particularly since no one has to my knowledge actually looked into any of this before writing some very scathing articles about this.
Some are offering as proof of the new owners intent things that have gone on at the R-1 message board. They say that the most negative critics of Nascar get banned. Well, considering some of the remarks users on that board made were outright insulting of both Nascar and the drivers it's no surprise that some of them might have been banned. That board is barely moderated, has been a mess for a long time and the users who are complaining have no idea how much leniency they've had over there. What goes on there would not be tolerated in a lot of other places. Besides that, R-1, as owners of the board can do whatever they want with it and censor their users as much as they want. You hate to see that happen but they are perfectly within their rights to do so.
Part of the problem with all of this is that if Nascar's sole reason for buying R-1 was to silence Matt McLaughlin they didn't do a very good job. Matt will be in demand to write for any number of sites, he can start his own site or he can look for a job in the mainstream media, given that he is a good writer. Any number of those things could potentially garner him even more of an audience than the one he enjoyed at R-1. Not only that but there are countless others who write critically of Nascar all the time. One only needs to look through the links to articles Jayski posts to see that. Not to mention all the heat that Nascar takes on countless fan forums. So it would seem that they have a lot of work to do if they want to silence all their online critics, inluding this author who has never been shy about taking shots at the sanctioning body or the drivers if need be.
Undoubtably, Nascar does look to control the media and what they report on as much as possible, making sure that they are portrayed in the best light possible - every organization and individual does this. As one who worked in public relations, I know this extremely well. The larger the organization the more resources they have too. But the idea that they purchased R-1 for the sole reason of quieting one of their critics, well, I'm a little skeptical about that, especially in light of the fact that thus far no one is willing to step forward to clarify who actually bought the site. I can't help but return to my original feeling that regardless of who owned R-1, the style of Matt's writing had gotten too caustic and occassionally insulting, for R-1 to be able to tolerate any longer.
Oh, and for anyone who plans on sending me hate e-mails filled with nastyiness over this issue because I'm not automatically buying into the conspiracy theory, like has been done to others, save your bandwidth. I've heard it all before from those who feel that the appropriate response to disagreeing with someone's opinion is responding with insults. When someone has to respond to something they don't like with insults that's a reflection of the person making the insults, not the person with the unpopular opinion.
Posted by silverdsl at 01:27 PM | Comments (0)
Braun Racing to run Cup Races with Shane Hmiel
Braun Racing to Cup with Hmiel: Winfuel, is proud to announce its multi-year primary sponsorship of Braun Racing’s #32 Chevrolet in the 2005 NASCAR Busch Series and the #08 Chevrolet NASCAR Nextel Cup Series car for seven races. Shane Hmiel will be the driver in both NASCAR series. Braun Racing announced that Dale Earnhardt, Inc. will be providing the power plants under the hood of all Braun Racing’s Chevrolets.(Braun Racing via BGNRacing.com)(2-12-2005)
Shane Hmiel will be running some Cup races this season with DEI support, though the car he will be racing will be fielded by Braun Racing. DEI surely wants Hmiel to get some Cup experience for when they inevitably put him behind the wheel of a Cup car full-time. Most likely, unfortunately for Michael Waltrip, that will be the #15. I wonder how many of the Cup races Hmiel will run will be in the beginning of the season, just in case DEI decides to replace Michael before the season ends?
Posted by silverdsl at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
Dale Earnhardt Jr and DEI
From Jayski's (in part): Dale Jr. says he is staying at DEI: Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced Friday he is forming a lower-level race team, but the big news was a statement about his status at Dale Earnhardt Inc. "I'm never going to sever ties with DEI," Earnhardt said. "I'm always going to be a part of that organization." (Dallas Morning News)(2-12-2005)
For quite some time there have been rumors that Dale Earnhardt Jr. might eventually leave DEI to race for RCR in his father's old #3. So on Friday during a press conference Junior was asked if he would ever leave DEI to form his own race team and the above was his answer. Personally I don't think what he said excludes the possibility of him leaving DEI to race for another organization. Simply that he would always be involved with DEI, which only makes sense considering it is his family's company. I have no idea the way the company's assets are divided but I can only assume that Junior has a share of the company somewhere.
Right now it certainly wouldn't make sense to leave DEI since Junior is in a great situation there. Terrific sponsor who is happy to spend any amount of money on their sponsorship with him, he is the top dog at DEI and as such a lot of the resouces are probably a little more focused on him than the other cars and so far at least he has been very successful on the track. However, one never knows what might happen down the road when he gets older. The situation could change at DEI and perhaps another situation might present itself that is more attractive. So it's probably good if Junior leaves his options open a little.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2005
Arthur Miller Dead at 89
The author of one of my favorite plays, "The Crucible," has passed away at the age of 89 in Connecticut. Miller was probably better known for "Death of a Salesman" for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. Miller was also known for having been married to Marilyn Monroe for a time. I was fortunate to have been able to hear Miller speak once or twice.
Given how I feel about racism, prejudice and stereotypes, that is why "The Crucible" appealed to me so much. On the surface it was about the Salem Witch Trails but it was inspired by McCarthyism.
R.I.P. Arthur Miller.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2005
Photo of the Day - John Olerud
Yankees vs. A's, August, 2004. Jason Giambi surfacing for his press conference today is a reminder that spring training is right around the corner. Some players have already started showing up for early workouts. So in honor of the closeness of spring training here's a photo of former Yankees first baseman John Olerud from a game this past summer. Due to injury there hasn't been any interest in Olerud this off-season but hopefully he will fully recover and hook on somewhere. He's a good guy and it would be nice to see him play another year or two and then go out on his own terms.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)
Jon Mozo
Jon Mozo was a very talented photographer, who took amazing photos of waves and surfing. I was over at sportsshooter.com, a site for professional sports photograhers and on the message board there was a thread about him because he died today. It appears that he was caught by a wave while he was taking photos in Hawaii and drowned. His photography is just amazing and it's exactly the type of wave photos that I love. He truly was able to capture the power and beauty of the waves that he photographed.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:30 PM | Comments (0)
Ken Schrader Plans to Race Trucks Full-Time After 2006
This will probably go almost unnoticed but Ken Schrader apparently said today at Nascar media day that after 2006 when his current contract runs out with BAM Racing, he will race in the truck series. It was a very small item at the end of this article so I'm not sure but I think the implication is full-time. By that point the entire truck series will be made up of veteran former Cup racers. Schrader has fielded his own truck in the truck series for a while now but he will have plenty of company. A lot of veteran drivers are looking at the racing in the truck series and really liking what they see. The question is, will the racing stay that good and will the truck series keep the same qualities that the drivers like so much as it attracts more attention and the audience grows? In any event I'm glad to hear that Schrader will not be retiring any time soon.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)
Giambi Breaks His Silence, Meets With the Media
Surreal Giambi Press Conference
Today Jason Giambi held a press conference of a sort and spoke to members of the media for the first time since grand jury testimony from the Balco case in which he admitted to using steroids was released publically. Giambi apparently apologized multiple times but never specified what he was sorry for, citing legal difficulties. In fact he never really went into specifics about much of anything other than Jose Canseco's book which he called "delusional."
A few days ago on NYYFan.com I said that I expected Giambi to make a statement along the lines of: "I'm sorry for disappointing the greatest fans in baseball but most of I'm sorry to all my teammates and the Yankees. I'd like to put any problems of the past (without being specific as to what problems he's referring to) behind me and concentrate on baseball. I've been working out hard in the off-season, I'm completely healthy and I'm going to do whatever I can to get back to playing the game at the level I know I can. I have full confidence that 2005 will be a great season for me." That is very similar to what Giambi actually ended up saying. Some folks are very impressed by my ability to predict what Giambi would say but anyone who has worked in public relations or a similar field would probably have come up with the same thing. This press conference wasn't about informing, it was about putting on a show and pacifying people.
Every single part of this "press conference" was scripted and controlled from start to finish. From talking to print and TV/radio journalists seperately, to not allowing the press conference to be carried live, to limiting how many reporters from each media outlet could attend, to, I'm quite sure, planning out exactly what Giambi, Brian Cashman and Joe Torre were going to say. There wasn't a single thing spontaneous, or for that matter interesting, other than perhaps the Canseco comment, in the entire press conference.
Giambi cited legal reasons for not being able to go into details about anything or say what he was sorry for but it's more than that. The Yankees are still looking for cause to terminate his contract but they can't do that on the basis of leaked grand jury testimony. So if Giambi admits to using steroids outside of that testimony it could give the Yankees ammunition to get rid of him. Which put Brian Cashman (or Rick Cerrone, the Yankees Public Relations person, if he coached Cashman) in the awkward position of having to think of something to say in support of a player who he doesn't really want on the team anymore.
This press conference won't end things here for Giambi. The media will continue to hound him all season, unless he finds ways to hide from them, in every ball park he goes to. But as one might expect Giambi will most likely simply repeat the same things he did today "I'm sorry for letting down the fans, the Yankees and my teammates" and "I can't get into specifics." Which won't be very satisfying to a lot of people.
Posted by silverdsl at 07:57 PM | Comments (0)
Jasper Engines to Partner With Brendan Gaughan, Orleans Racing
As I expected based on some hints that Brendan Gaughan made previously Jasper Engines and Transmissions will sponsor Brendan's #77 truck for 18 races this season. In addition, Jasper and Orleans racing has formed a technological alliance, though details of exactly what that entails were not given. I wouldn't be surprised to see Brendan run the full truck season if nothing comes up for him on the Cup level and I imagine that Jasper would continue their sponsorship for those additional races too.
So the question is - will Steve Park, who is running the full season, have a sponsor this season? I'm thinking that would be a no considering we've heard nothing about it. Granted, Brendan had an already established relationship with Jasper through working with them on the Cup level last season so that made getting them on board as a sponsor probably not that hard, but why is getting a sponsor for the #62 so difficult? Steve's very popular with the fans, would represent any sponsor well and most importantly can and probably will win races this season. Overall the #62 is a good team. Yet so far it appears he won't have a primarly sponsor outside of The Orleans yet again. Is Orleans asking for more money than most sponsors want to pay? Are there still doubts about Steve and his chances for success? I just don't get it.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)
Most Celebrity Autographs Fake
In a not very stunning revelation, PSA/DNA Authentication Services, a company that authenticates autographs, had stated that the majority of autographs that are submitted to them for authentication are fakes. You just have to go look at Ebay to see how widespread fake autographs are. Sometimes the fake autographs don't even have the slightest resemblance to the celebrity's actual autograph, sometimes to a ridiculously obvious degree. Yet what amazes me is that there will still be plenty of bids for it. Sometimes in people's zeal for an autograph of their favorite athlete, particularly if it's cheap, they won't pay too much attention to whether it's real or not. Even autographs that look real and come with a certificate of authentication can be fake as well, since folks who make a living off of selling fake autographs can forge paperwork that looks like the real thing.
Really the only way to be sure that an autograph is real is if the person signs it right in front of you. Autographed cards that come out of packs of baseball cards or spending the extra money to buy from a company like Steiner Sports that has contracts with various athletes for autographed memorabilia is safer. But you still have no idea if the athlete really signed it if it's not done in your presence. You'd like to think that the cards and memorablia from companies in the business are all signed by the athletes or celebrities in question but I've heard that some celebrities have assistants who are really good at mimicing their signatures sign stuff for them.
Unfortunately autographs and memorabilia getting forged isn't going to go away anytime soon either. It's huge business and there are a lot of people making a lot of money on forgeries. So when dealing with buying anything that's autographed it's definitely buyer beware.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2005
Photo of the Day - Cactus
Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. January, 2005. When I was down in Las Vegas I was all excited to see cactus growing in the wild for the first time. Now I'm sure to some that's a silly thing to get excited about but we just don't have cactus up here in the Northeast outside of pots. So I took a few photos of some of the cactus I saw. Meanwhile to those who live in areas where cactus are common they are probably just big prickly weeds to them.
Posted by silverdsl at 08:37 PM | Comments (0)
Not Much To Say
Today is just one of those days where I haven't come across much to blog about. I could talk about Jose Canseco naming names in relation to who uses steroids but I think I want to wait until the book actually comes out, especially since it's been said that there are even bigger names mentioned. Maybe I'll come across something later on to talk about. I just don't really want to blog about something just to fill space.
Posted by silverdsl at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)
February 08, 2005
Clear Channel Signs Agreement With Aladdin Casino
Jim and I stayed at the Aladdin while we were in Las Vegas and were very impressed. The casino has apparently been purchased by Planet Hollywood and will be undergoing some changes, one of which will include a new showroom. So now Clear Channel has signed an agreement with the Aladdin to manage their existing theater facility, as well as the new showroom. Clear Channel may bring in a Broadway show as they did at The Venetian, but they will surely bring in some top musicians as well. Those type of big-name shows are what The Aladdin needs to rejuvenate itself a little. I'm not a fan of Clear Channel but this is a good thing for the Aladdin.
Posted by silverdsl at 04:45 PM | Comments (0)
Never Satisfied
So I'm randomly reading a fan forum for a driver, one who is generally known as a guy who is pretty fan-friendly and does plenty of appearances. And a fan from California was complaining that this particular driver never seems to do any appearances on the West Coast, in conjunction with races or otherwise and seems to run away from the fans when they try to approach for an autograph. In their next post they admit that they got to see this driver and three others up-close and personal at a fan Q&A as part of testing out in California last week. But that still didn't satisfy them because driver X didn't sign autographs and pose for pictures after the event for fans.
I don't think this person has any clue how lucky they are to even be able to see their driver at a fan event, where they do a Q&A and answer fan questions. Personally, I think that's a lot more exciting than getting an autograph. Yes, getting an autograph or a photo is more one-on-one but the reality is that it's normally less than a 30 second interaction with the driver or athlete who isn't likely to remember it a few weeks later. As much as I enjoy meeting these guys I think it's a lot more interesting to hear what they have to say. I live no where near a track and driver appearances up this way are few and far between so I'd love to have the opportunity to go to a fan Q&A and I would have no problem if the drivers all rushed out when it was over. After all, more than likely with how busy the drivers are they had other places to be immediately following.
Sometimes it amazes me how much fans expect. Appearances at the track aren't enough. A fan Q&A isn't enough. An autograph isn't enough. A photo isn't enough. They want hugs and long conversations and mega one-on-one time when it just isn't possible. There are plenty of drivers who will go out of their way to talk to their fans whenever possible but it's just not feasible all the time. Aside from how jam-packed these guys schedules are with stuff, they are also entitled to some time to themselves. But it seems that some fans feel like these drivers belong to them or something. That as soon as they're out in public they should do whatever the fan wants. And the more some of these drivers and athletes give, the more the fans want.
I guess it's different for me because autographs don't interest me too much. To other people it's all about getting an autograph from their favorite driver and that can become all-consuming. I like photos much better. It's always fun to have a photo with the driver or athlete but even more than that I enjoy taking photos of them at the appearance, or even better in action at the track or during a game. I'd love to be able to talk to these guys, have extended conversations with them and get to know them a little. However, I understand that's not going to happen. Even five seconds to just wave and take a quick photos with a lot of my favorite drivers and players will never happen. But unfortunately many fans seem to think differently that not only do they think it's a right to get an autograph and anything else they want from their favorite drivers or players, but it's a huge injustice and a reflection on that driver or player as a person if they don't.
If only some of these fans knew how draining it is on some drivers and players to do appearances and interact with hundreds of fans at a time and how some of them really don't enjoy it as much as it seems like they do. If they are insulted when a driver can't do as much for them as they would like I can only imagine the outrage if they found out that fan interaction is sometimes a chore to these folks, not something they look forward to. Which really is no surprise since these guys are human beings, not robots.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:49 PM | Comments (0)
Motley Crue - Red, White & Crue
Another recent new release is Motley Crue's Red, White & Crue, a best of 2-CD compliation with a couple of new songs on it. I've always been a huge Motley Crue fan since I was a teenager but I've got to say that listening to this collection, I think there are a lot of Crue songs that don't stand up to the test of time. Of course like the previously mentioned 3 Doors Down, Motley Crue will never be remembered as amazing musicians but unlike 3 Doors Down the Crue broke ground of a sort in the glam/hard rock/heavy metal scene. The Crue's earlier stuff is obviously better than their later work. So I enjoyed the first CD with material from their first album through Dr. Feelgood much better than the second CD filled with post-1991 material. I would say that my favorite Motley Crue songs are those off of the albums Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr. Feelgood with "Girls, Girls, Girls," "Wildside," and "Kickstart my Heart" being my favorite songs. "Home Sweet Home" is also another song that I also like a lot.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)
3 Doors Down - Seventeen Days
Today 3 Doors Down new album, Seventeen Days was released. So I've been listening to it via Rhapsody this afternoon. I happen to be a huge 3 Doors Down fan, even though it's not like they're groundbreaking musicians or anything. In fact, their new album is virtually a continuation of exactly what they did on their previous album, Away From the Sun. That's not a terrible thing as that was a good album and there are good songs on Seventeen Days. However, it's nice to have a new album from a band that doesn't sound like it's just CD two of the album that came before it. I'll have to listen to this album a few more times to figure out which songs I like the best but I'm sure there will be several big hits off of it on radio. So far the song that has stuck with me the most is the first track "Right Where I Belong."
I'll have to go pick up the actual CD after work.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)
Giambi to Speak This Week
According to various published reports Jason Giambi will break his months long silence and address the media this week when he arrives in Tampa in preparation for Spring Training. Many seem to expect Giambi to admit to everything and hope that he tearfully apologizes and begs for forgiveness. I don't think any of that is going to happen and a lot of people are going to be disappointed. I might be surprised but given how little Giambi has said on any of his problems since the beginning of 2004, right through the Balco revelations, I expect that anything he says will be pretty tame and well-rehearsed with his advisors.
It's well-known that the Yankees want to void his contract. So if Giambi says too much regarding specifics of the use of performance enhancers that may give them ammunition to do so. In addition, he could set himself up for legal troubles too. After all, the only outright admissions that we know about in relation to Giambi and the use of performance enhancers comes from what was supossed to be sealed grand jury testimony. So if Giambi goes on the record with certain things he could put himself in a sticky situation.
Furthermore, I think Giambi is in a no-win situation. No matter what he says it will be dissected and discussed. Many will debate if he is even sincere in what he says. He will forever be a poster boy for Balco, and in many people's eyes no matter what he says he will be unforgiven. So probably the less he says, particularly as it relates to the specifics of the use of performance enhancers and how they might or might not have effected him the better. I expect Giambi to apologize for letting down the fans and his teammates but leave out exactly what he's apologizing for. Then he will say that his focus is on baseball, that he is 100% healthy and that he looks forward to a very successful 2005. In essence, at least initially, I expect him to say a whole lot of nothing.
My only question is whether or not he will take questions. I suspect he will but I don't think that's a good idea because anything that deviates from prepared remarks could get him into trouble. Giambi isn't Derek Jeter or Alex Rodriquez who, in completely different ways, are masterful at dealing with the media. If he does take questions if he could deflect most of the non-baseball ones that would be best, though of course those are exactly the questions that peoople are interested in the answers to most.
Posted by silverdsl at 09:07 AM | Comments (0)
February 07, 2005
Photo of the Day - Hoover Dam Statue
Hoover Dam, January 2005. This statue is one of two on top of the Hooover Dam. Apparently there is a belief by some that if one rubs the toes of one of these statues that it will bring good luck. Perhaps I should have tried it! I was more concerned with keeping moving so I wouldn't get too wet in the rain!
Posted by silverdsl at 09:44 PM | Comments (0)
Must Resist
Must stop self from making obnoxious, inappropriate comment somewhere that will get self in trouble most severely. But would it sure would be highly amusing. Unfortunately I can't even say it here without potentially getting into trouble.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)
February 06, 2005
New England Patriots Win the Super Bowl
I can't say that I particularly cared all that much about who won the Super Bowl but I was pulling for the Eagles a little more than the Patriots because a lot of Jim's family are big Eagles fans. In fact one of Jim's uncles was at the game. But alas the Patriots won and I can't say I'm surprised as they are certainly a good team. I only paid half attention to the game so I can't give too much of an analysis but it definitely made the game more interesting that it was never a blowout. When the outcome is assured it really doesn't make for a very exciting game to watch.
Unlike most of America, I didn't even pay any attention to any of the commercials either.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:20 PM | Comments (0)
Magglio Ordonez Signs Five-Year Deal With Detroit Tigers
Scott Boras really is a magic man. Somehow he convinced the Detroit Tigers that it would be a good idea to sign outfielder Magglio Ordonez to a five-year, $75 million dollar deal in spite of the fact that Ordonez apparently has a pretty major problem with his knee that caused him to miss significant time last season and necessitated surgery this off-season. Yes, the contract does have a clause that states that the contract can be voided after the 2005 season if there is a reoccurance of the same knee injury that lands him on the DL for longer than 25 days. However, players will play through a tremendous amount of pain so Ordonez could play through his injury and not go on the DL, yet still have it effect his production severely.
I have no idea why the Tigers felt they had to give him such a big contract. In recent days the Cubs, Blue Jays and Rangers all back out of talks and the Mets said that they weren't about to rush into anything and wanted to examine Ordonez. That the other four teams backed off of signing Ordonez definitely says something. I've always liked Ordonez so I hope for the best for him but I just don't think he was a player that should have gotten a big-money deal. It's always risky to begin with to invest so much money in one player, but even more so with a player with a bad injury history.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)
Bang Racing Goes Boom!
Business Week has the most in-depth article yet on the collapse of Bang Racing and it sounds like Alex Meshkin was a real scam artist. What's amazing is that he was able to fool so many people who are far from new to the sport and conducting business in racing. Travis Kvapil and Mike Skinner had some measure of success with Bang so it wasn't all bad but it's a very good thing for both of them that other opportunities presented themselves to them both to allow them to get away from Bang. I only hope that the rest of the employees at Bang were that lucky too.
The sad thing is that this isn't the first time something like this has happened and this won't be the last time either. Especially since Nascar has no system in place to prevent this from happening. This was their comment on the Bang mess: "If a team shows up at the track with a licensed driver and a race car that passes inspection, they can race," the NASCAR spokesman said. "The bottom line is we don't get involved in what happens within teams or race shops." No other sports allows people to buy into the sport as team owners without going through an approval process. That is for the protection of everyone involved and that should be the case in Nascar as well. Yes, the nature of the sports and the way they operate is different but teams must follow Nascar's rules regarding everything else so should interested parties have to follow certain rules and go through an approval process before they can become Nascar team owners.
I always had a bad feeling about Meshkin and especially after he and Larry McReynolds parted ways. That he supossedly had all these millions of dollars that he made by selling a website that I had never heard of set off some warning bells. Yes, there are plenty of sites that I've never heard of but when it comes to someone as young as Meshkin was when this all went down and such a large amount of money, more than what other established websites have gone for, I would think I would have heard a little more about it before he came to Nascar. It's possible he really is 100% who he says he is but I suspect he's exaggerated a lot of things and that is really a shame.
ETA: In researching Meshkin's site, surfbuzz.com that he supossedly sold for big bucks. First of all, it was an auction-type site and few of those sites are very profitable because it's almost impossible for them to compete against Ebay. Second, the site was formed by Meshkin in November or December of 1999 but went bankrupt and closed it's doors in June of 2000. So in that short of a time-table, Meshkin was able to found the site, make it profitable enough that it was worth $24 million and then sell it? I don't think so. Granted all of this is from five years ago so it's hard to know now exactly what happened but it sure does lead one to question Meshkin's story.
I'm just stunned that I found this in a five minute Google search. Didn't any one check into his story before they signed on with him?
Posted by silverdsl at 09:19 PM | Comments (0)
IPower Dash Series for Sale on Ebay
This is definitely one of the more unusual racing related items for sale on Ebay. The entire IPower Dash Series, a series that was operated by Nascar until 2003, is up for auction. Unfortunately in IPower's first race, of seven in 2004, at Daytona, a track worker was killed by one of the Dash cars. Even more unfortunately, that was about all that attracted any attention for that series in 2004. Now due to insufficient funds, the series has suspended operations for 2005 and the entire series, including equipment, marks, website and everything else that goes along with it is for sale. The starting price is $100,000 (there are no bids as of yet) but an interested party could buy everything via "Buy It Now" for $650,000. It really shows how bleak things got for that series if the entire thing can be purchased for less than $1 million. Granted that's still a lot of money but for an entire racing series that doesn't seem like all that much.
Michael Waltrip and several other Nascar drivers raced in the Dash series way back when. It's kind of a shame to see it die since it's apparently been around since 1975 but it's another sign of how tough things can be financially in racing.
Posted by silverdsl at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2005
Caesar's 24/7
A&E has a reality show all about Caesar's Casino in Las Vegas called Caesar's 24/7. Jim and I caught a few episodes of it earlier today and I loved it! I'm not sure I would have been interested in watching had we not just been to Las Vegas but it was really pretty well done. The show follows a variety of different casino workers and customers around to show what they do each day. A lot of the show featured stories about high rollers because people throwing around big money is naturally more interesting than someone betting a few dollars. But there were also segments on the wedding planners at Caesar's trying to pull off 21 weddings in one day while navigating some problems, how the security team operates and a "shadow" dancer is also heavily featured. All in all they seem to do a really good job with the show, though I'm sure to get Caesar's to cooperate with the show they had to agree not to show anything too negative about the casino so like other reality shows this isn't truly reality. But it's really interesting to get a peek into the inner workings of the casino.
The high rollers are hard to understand though. I'll never have as much money as these folks that I can throw around cash like it's nothing. So I guess I really can't understand their lifestyle. One high roller was incredibly demanding and wanted the casino to fullfill his every need for free which they pretty much did; another had a girlfriend who's primary concern was spending all his money. As much as having more money would make a lot of things a lot easier, I'd rather be defined by who I am as a person rather than my bankroll and how much I spend somewhere. And I certainly don't need to spend a ton of money to have fun and be happy. But apparently in Las Vegas that attitude might put me in the minority.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)
Photo of the Day - From Valley of Fire State Park
Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, January, 2005. This is one of the rock formations I was especially fond of in VoF State Park. It's like a mini arch and it was pretty neat looking though this photos doesn't really do it justice. Unfortunately I saw it when we were short on time and couldn't spend too much time taking photos of it because we had to leave for the long drive back to Vegas. There aren't arches in VoF State Park like there are in Arches National Park but there are a few smaller ones and they are neat to see. It's pretty cool the way erosion has worked it magic on the rocks in VoF.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:13 PM | Comments (0)
Steve Park and the Un-Updated Website
So this (in part - I took out some info. about where to email for fan club applications) was what was on the message log on Steve Park's official site from Steve Park Motorsports: "As you all may have noticed steve-park.com has not been updated since December. We are in the process of designing and implementing a new website that we hope to have up and running by summer. We appreciate your patience while we make these changes. Once the new site is completed or even sooner, steve-park.com will be shut down, you will be redirected to the new site when it is up and running, so please check back and feel free to keep posting messages while the board is up."
They had to sue for the rights to stevepark.com since it was held by a cybersquatter and now that they won and got it I would assume this is all connected to that. However, what puzzles me is why steve-park.com is going to go updated until they unveil the new site which may not be until the summer. That's pretty unusual for an official site, particularly one that is used to disseminate information about races, appearances and fan club applications. No need to really update in the off-season but while races are going on that seems odd. I can only assume that there are legal issues or their deal with whoever it was who maintained the site expired. Still, as one who works on websites, including one for work, I know how important it is to use a website as a tool to disseminate information. Even when we don't update things right away at NYYFans, a fan site, we get heat for it.
Someone on SPC was pretty upset about that because she felt that it was a sign that Steve doesn't care about his fans because he didn't care about fans getting information about what he's up to. Of course the opposite is true - Steve cares very deeply about his fans and what they think. Which almost makes it even stranger that the site will go un-updated because her attitude is probably not unique and thus they will get some flack about it. Which will not be a good thing because the last thing Steve needs is another thing to feel like he's let people down about and then feel bad about.
That person on SPC, who does have a tendency to be very negative, was told that they can just get information from SPC, given that the Orleans Racing site isn't exactly a font of information a lot of times. The only problem with that is that SPC represents only a small segement of Steve Park fans. At times I think a lot of people feel that the only (good) Steve Park fans are those on that site but that is far from the case. Steve has way more than the 266 fans registered on the message board at SPC, many of whom have probably never heard of SPC and did depend on his official site for news and information.Particularly those folks who aren't that internet savvy and might not seek out sites beyond the official site. So I can understand why those folks might be a bit upset, particuarly those folks like the person complaining on SPC, who can't go to races, therefore can't go to appearances that Steve does, talk to him or cheer him on in person.
There are a large group of people on SPC who see Steve all the time at races, talk to him in-depth frequently and that allows them to really know what's going on all the time, which is very awesome and fun for them. But perhaps they take that for granted sometimes and don't realize that the majority of people aren't able to interact with Steve like that. The official site gives people who can't get to races and infrequently see Steve at appearances a way to know what's going on with Steve, as well as see photos and read race recaps. I can't go to races either and I often feel disconnected from what's going on but luckily I have other sources of information besides Steve's official site. Hopefully for the sake of those who depend on the official site for information the new site will get done sooner rather than later.
Posted by silverdsl at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2005
Golden Nugget Sold
Landry's Resturants, Inc., the company that owns The Rainforest Cafe chain of restaurants among other restaurants has bought the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas. The price of purchase is $140 million plus assuming $155 million in debt associated with the casino. The only reason this interests me is because when Jim and I drove through downtown Las Vegas we were struck by how worn down it looked. Yes, some of the charm is that there are plenty of elements of old-style Las Vegas there. However, a lot of the property there seemed to have seen much better days. So it will be interesting to see what Landry's does with the Golden Nugget and how what they do benefits (or doesn't) the rest of downtown. Perhaps they can breath a little new life into that area.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:49 PM | Comments (0)
Ken Powers was a reporter for The Worcester Telegram & Gazette who for the past five years covered the New England Patriots. But yesterday he was fired for plagiarizing material from a column by Sports Illustrated writer Peter King. Additionally, an investigation discovered that he has been stealing material from others since at least September of last year. So Powers was quoted as saying to a Boston TV station "I am disappointed that a 20-year spotless record doesn't mean anything," he said. "The termination is a terrible injustice to me."
I saw a comparision between Power's column and that of King and there is no question that he plagiarized significant portions of the column. It's incredibly blatant and I'm astonished that he didn't make more of an attempt to change things around. But if he had been stealing material for months without getting caught then perhaps he assumed he never would be. What he was doing was stealing from online columns which have less of a readership so it probably gave him a false sense of security.
His comments about his firing being an injustice just stuns me. What did he think was going to happen? He says he has a 20-year spotless career but who knows how many other pieces might have been stolen from someone else without anyone noticing? It's one thing if he made one error in judgment but once you find out he's been plagiarizing for months it's a pattern and you have a lot less sympathy for him.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
Olerud Determined to Keep Playing
I had no idea but apparently John Olerud's foot injury was much more serious than the Yankee let on last season. It caused him to miss the end of the post-season and in the off-season he had to have surgery on it. He's now rehabbing in the hopes that some team will be interested in him and will sign him for 2005. Unfortunately it sounds like it's a bit of a question mark as to what he will be capable of since he still can't run due to his foot. Hopefully the foot will completely heal soon and a decent team will show some interest in him.
Olerud always has been one of my favorite players and though he wasn't in pinstripes for long, I'm really happy that he was a Yankee for a while. He's a really good guy, an intelligent guy, great in the clubhouse and even better he's been a very good player throughout his career both offensively and defensively. Of course as his career has started to wind down he's lost a lot but I think he can still contribute if someone gives him a chance to show what he can do. I just don't know if anyone will be willing to take a risk on him, especially considering his age. Good luck John!
Posted by silverdsl at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2005
In a New Light
What's really stuck with me about this past weekend is how we got to see some of the drivers and those around them more like the human beings that they are rather than always being "on" like they are at the track. Sometimes this was good and sometimes this was bad. Of course they are still on guard and careful as they have to be around fans but there was no question that some folks were more relaxed and natural than they might be in other circumstances.
It's bad when you see things that you don't want to see but it's good when it gives you a little insight as to what that person is like as a human being in a tiny way. Of course I still don't know any of these people really but for a little while at least I got to see a different side of some folks. Really there weren't many suprises though I'm sure if I got to spend even more time around these guys in even closer proximity I would find out even more some of which probably would shock me. In some cases I'd probably rather not know.
Just strange circumstances to be in. But it makes you want to see these guys do well even more than before. I really, really hope that Steve gets to Victory Lane at least once if not more in 2005. Not just for the fans but for himself as well. And while last season was great for him in comparision to the prior two, I hope that some of the issues from last season won't be present this season and I hope nothing new crops up either. As for Michael I hope that he finds Victory Lane as well, particularly at a non-restrictor plate track to shut a few people up. With Operation Marathon he's done so much to help the kids of the Victory Junction Gang Camp so he really deserves a year filled with happiness and much success both personally and professionally.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)
Photo of the Day - Over Lake Mead
Lake Mead from the air. Jan, 2005. So as one might imagine a lot of the photos of the day for a while are going to be shots from our Las Vegas trip. I'll throw some other stuff in there to mix it up but I got to take a lot of photos that excited me so I'll be putting some up here in the blog.
This one was taken from the helicopter on the way to the Grand Canyon. It's of Lake Mead which is huge! I knew it was huge and it looked huge when we were at the Hoover Dam but from the air one can really see how big it actually is. It also made for some awesome photos. Those islands in the Lake? In a lot of cases those are actually mountain tops to mountains that were covered when the Lake was filled! Yeah, that's a lot of water!
Posted by silverdsl at 10:20 PM | Comments (0)
Matt McLaughlin Released from Racing One
From Jayski's: and Where is Matt McLaughlin? here is a message from Matt.....
Matt McLaoghlin was released from the Racing One site Monday at the behest of the new ownership, ABC Promotions, an entity owned by the International Speedway Corporation and the France family. I talked to Matt and as of now he is has nothing new lined up though he is actively looking for a new home and talking to anyone interested in hiring a writer.
Racing sites all across the web are in a tizzy because Matt McLaughlin who was a popular writer at Racing One, a site that covers racing with an emphasis on Nascar, was released this week. Most people think that this is grossly unfair and another sign of how Nascar is trying to shut up those who are criticizing them. Well, I think the issue with McLaughlin is much more than that regardless of how he'd like to spin things.
I used to love reading McLaughlin's article. He didn't hesitate to be outspoken in expressing his opinions on the state of the sport and I would look forward to reading his analysis of every race. But over time I stopped enjoying reading his articles. Part of the problem was that they were so overwhelmingly negative but more than that increasingly he was taking shots at some of the drivers, particularly those he didn't like, in a way that I thought was crossing the line at times into bashing. Not to mention sometimes it seemed like every article was filled with the same old harsh rants and negative predictions. It's fine to be negative but sometimes it's good to mix things up.
Of course I'm biased but if I read one more comment along the lines of how much Michael Waltrip sucks and he shouldn't even bother showing up at this track or another in a race preview I was going to scream. But it wasn't just Michael that he would take shots at. I believe Robby Gordon was another favorite victim of his. I have no problem with a writer being critical of the sport or the drivers and calling them out when they do something wrong, even if their target happens to be one of my favorites, but I think it needs to be done in an appropriate manner. When it comes to a media outlet, online or otherwise, opinion pieces are fine but there aren't many serious sites that are going to allow someone week after week a platform to go after all the folks they can't stand in such a harsh manner. And increasingly it seemed to me like that was what McLaughlin was doing with Nascar as a whole as his main target. So if it's true that a Nascar affiliated entity bought Racing One then it's no suprise that they got rid of him. I'm just suprised that it didn't happen sooner even under the old management.
McLaughlin is a good writer. However, his style of writing, especially as it's evolved now with his apparent dissatisfaction with the sport is more suited for a different kind of site.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:36 PM | Comments (0)
Steve Park in Vegas
So I'm feeling pretty bad about ripping Steve Park for pulling out of the Operation Marathon Getaway. Why? Because when we talked to him in Vegas at the Hootie and the Blowfish concert he couldn't have sounded like he could have felt any worse about what happened. Now Steve had no idea that he was saying all of this to the person that made a big fuss about it so I have no doubt that he was sincere in what he was saying.
It was actually pretty awkward because we were standing there with two women from the group who are close friends with the travel agent and he made a disparaging comment about how bad the travel agent made him look. I'm pretty sure they were not happy about that! Then he launches into this whole thing about how bad he feels about it and how he was supossed to have done the 5K and didn't. The longer he talked believe me the worse I felt because it was pretty clear that he felt like he had let people down with all of it and he was feeling guilty and/or bad about that. I would have liked to have reassured him that it was okay, that no one was angry with him, but his girlfriend came over to get him so I never got a chance to say anything.
Based on the entire conversation with him I will definitely have second thoughts about ever publically saying anything the slightest bit critical about him outside this blog because he really does seem to feel very bad whenever he feels like he's let someone down or did something wrong, even stuff that is pretty minor and clearly his PR person or whoever must fill him in on what's being said.
I still don't really know the particulars of what happened but I suspect that the travel agent talked big and exaggerated some things which led to a lot of this. I'm guessing they figured that with how rabid many of Steve's fan are for anything that has anything to do with him more people would sign up and when that didn't happen that left them scrambling and things fell apart from there. Even I might not have gone if not for the fact that this was in conjunction with Operation Marathon and I felt strongly about supporting Michael and the Victory Junction Gang Camp.
I'm not upset with Steve anymore having heard him say how bad he felt about not participating like he was supossed to but given the amount of money we spent on the trip I think I had the right to be upset earlier. I also still think that it's a shame that all of this happened with something in conjunction with a charity. Perhaps if the travel agent had handled things differently they would have found some compromise that would have made Steve felt like he wasn't letting people down but wouldn't have required as much of a committment as they had wanted from him previously. But he did make it to the Hootie and the Blowfish concert and I got to talk to him for a bit so I was very happy! Steve really does seem to be a great guy, very friendly and seems to very much care about pleasing the people around him.
ETA: Now I feel even worse having just been told something else. But there was no way for me to know that and it's not my issue anyway. But this encounter with Steve was definitely an eye opener and a lot of things make more sense now for sure.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:08 PM | Comments (0)
Fan Melee at Girl's Basketball Game
Apparently there was a huge brawl at a Girl's basketball game in Alabama yesterday. The reason was because of an earlier altercation between these two rival schools at a fast food restaurant. It just amazes me how seriously people take these things and how far it goes to the point where fans of both teams, probably half of whom weren't involved in the prior incident, were going after each other.
There was a brawl recently at a girl's basketball game out here on Long Island. I can't remember exactly what happened but I think it was because of someone taking offense to something that happened during the game. I understand people get frustrated and upset about a lot of things, especially in the heat of competition, but violence should never be happening, particularly at high school games. Considering there were adults involved in both of these incidents that is certainly not a good example for the kids.
Posted by silverdsl at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)
Lava Flow in Hawaii
Lava Flow at Volcanoes National Park
How cool must that be to see? Lava is flowing from Kilauea volcano into the ocean in two points in Volcanoes National Park and it's apparently quite a sight. When the lava enters the water it can explode and look pretty dramatic as the heat of the lava meets the cold of the water. I would love to see something like that someday! Of course I think of everything in terms of photography so it would be really neat to take pictures of the lava flow as it meets the water. Unfortunately Yahoo doesn't have many photos but the ones that they do have are pretty neat!
Posted by silverdsl at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2005
Jeremy Mayfield on Penske
From 1998-2001 Jeremy Mayfield drove for Penske Racing as a teammate to Rusty Wallace. At some point he must have been asked for his opinion on Rusty's current feud with his teammate Ryan Newman, given that Mayfield apparently also had a feud with Rusty when he was at Penske. So Mayfield was pretty outspoken and critical of Penske management saying that a lot of the blame lies there and that they do not encourage everyone there to operate as a team, which is much different from the way it is at Evernham Motorsports. He seemed to indicate that others at Penske stir up trouble between the teams and their drivers. Which wouldn't be surprising. There has to be more to the Rusty/Ryan feud than that incident on the track. Unfortunately if there are management issues at Penske which date back to when Mayfield was there, it's unlikely that they will be solved anytime in the near future.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)
Why Not More People?
What amazed me about the events for Operation Marathon was that as far as the autograph signing and Hootie and the Blowfish concert went there weren't as many people there as I thought there would be. The signing was free for anyone who participated in the 5K and $25 for anyone who didn't. But there only ended up being about 50 people there max. Which was incredible because anytime I've ever been to a signing or seen photos from a signing they've been jam-packed with hundreds of people. I guess a lot of folks might have felt that $25 was too expensive for a Michael Waltrip autograph despite the fact that all the proceeds go to charity.
Then with the concert there were several hundred people there but the place could have held far more. I guess that it was a Sunday night worked against them but in Vegas people always go out at night, regardless of what day of the week it is. $25 for a concert also isn't much these days. And again the proceeds went to Operation Marathon and then on to the Victory Junction Gang Camp. The thing is that people missed a really great show too. I'm not in the least a Hootie and the Blowfish fan, especially after Beth told me about her bad experience with Darius Rucker, and I thought they were awesome.
The problem is that unless it involves getting up close and personal with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. I guess most race fans don't want to pay to go to appearances and stuff. In a way it makes sense since these guys appear for free at the track all the time so no one wants to pay for Michael's autograph or to be at a concert where these guys will be but fans can't ask for autographs or anything. But I would think that people would want to support Operation Marathon since it benefits such a good cause.
Posted by silverdsl at 03:42 PM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2005
Still Busy!
I got back from Jim's house late this afternoon and I've been busy getting myself settled and doing stuff so I haven't had time to post much here even though there's lots that I want to blog about! I'll probably be busy tomorrow too since it's my first day back at work but hopefully I'll get a chance to blog a little at some point.
Then there's this which I really want to blog about as I was absolutely thrilled to have seen Steve Park in Las Vegas at the Hootie and the Blowfish concert. He did end up coming to support Michael and Operation Marathon after all and I got to talk to him for about 10-15 minutes since he knew two of the women I was with. I have plenty more to say about all of that but it will have to wait until I have more time.
Posted by silverdsl at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)
Las Vegas Day Seven
Well, we're back! We got back to New Jersey a few hours ago. I never got around to doing an entry yesterday because we were so busy doing all sorts of fun stuff so I figured I would throw something up now.
We started the day by going over to cheer on Michael Waltrip as he ran the marathon. The funny thing was that we almost didn't see him but all his hair blowing in the wind was how we knew it was him as he approached. Michael ended up finishing in just under four hours which was a personal best for him. He really should be proud of himself for how well he did! And to raise money for such a good cause too.
Then Jim and I decided to take a ride to Valley of Fire State Park. It was a bit of a long trip but I'm so glad that we went! It was yet another amazing place with all these neato, huge red rock formations. The ride there and back was filled with some pretty cool views too.
(photo by Jim) Then last night was the Hootie and the Blowfish concert. I really wasn't expecting much since I'm not a big Hootie fan but it was actually a really, really great concert! Something very unexpected happened at the concert also which I'll have to post about in the next few days. It was a really fun night for sure!
Posted by silverdsl at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)