One legged man in ass kicking contest

Well we've all heard the joke about what chance a one legged man would have in an ass kicking contest right?

Well this past weekend, that one legged man kicked every professional golfer's ass.

You may have heard of him, his name's Tiger.

Woods came back from knee surgery 2 months prior and won the US Open, his 14th major title. He had to do so by winning a 19 hole playoff on Monday. Pretty impressive.

But wait there's more.

Today it was announced that Woods would need to have season ending surgery to repair his ACL. His doctors told him not to play, yet he showed up and won. The doctors told him he needed 3 weeks on crutches, 3 weeks of inactivity and then rehab.

What did Tiger do? He put his shoes on, looked at the doctor and said "I'm going to play the US Open and win". And off to practice he went. Incredible. On top of that, we find out 2 weeks before the Open he was diagnosed with a double stress fracture in the same leg. So you got a guy walking 91 holes with a double stress fracture and a shredded ACL. Then came this from the UK paper the Guardian today:

Paul Casey today threw further light on the nature of the American's injury when he said that he spoke to Robert Karlsson's caddie, Gareth Lord, the day after the Swede partnered Woods at Torrey Pines. "He said there were actually noises coming from Tiger's knee and he was right there and clearly he was suffering," said Casey. "Noises from the knee doesn't sound particularly good to me. He said there was a moment, I think on the 18th, where he stepped up to hit his tee shot and backed off because of weird noises. They all chuckled and he said 'I shouldn't hit this one too hard'. He got it in play and made eagle. Amazing."

Are you freaking kidding me? If this past US Open win is not the gutsiest performance in all of sports, I have no idea what is. I used to think Michael Jordan's flu game in the NBA finals vs Utah was it, but Tiger just surpassed it.

Pocono thoughts

Has it really been since October? i sure need to update this thing more often.

Well. Another snoozer at Pocono. As David Poole pointed out after the All Star Race, if the way the cars run now is that the leader drives away from the field due solely to the clean air, then the racing is going to suffer. When Kahne got out front he drove away. Earlier in the race when Denny took the lead, he drove away.

If you think Pocono was bad, wait til Indy. Indy will be a disaster to watch. Same type of track. I thought the point of the COT was to make them LESS aero dependent and cut down on aero push (you cannot eliminate aero push, anyone that tells you that doesn't know racing)?

Secondly, they have to do something to get these cars cooler on the inside. Those guys looked like they were going to fall out after the race. Jr was so dehydrated he wasn't even sweating in his TV interview. Go back and look at it, he's bone dry in the face. That's because he's deyhdrated. Good look up the post race presser with Vickers and Hamlin. Hamlin looks terrible. They both said the new car is a lot hotter then the old cars.

Tony continues to have distractions and find a way to not get the finish they deserve. Nobody is talking about it but the 29 team is doing nothing this year. Just riding around hoping to make the chase and then turn it on? That doesn't work.

Elliott..which is your real team?!

You say you're a Virginia Tech season ticket holder, but you're also a UNC fan, then in this ad you're wearing a South Carolina football t-shirt. Make up your mind son.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5HdCJmolZw

It was not a lucky win...

The more I read last night after the Coke 600 the more I saw fans on message boards, and on the Jack Daniels Postrace show on Nascar.com refer to Casey Mears' first career win as "lucky".

Eh I don't think so. Mears ran in the top 15 all night. Same for JJ Yeley, Kyle Petty and Ricky Rudd. All of those cars ran in the top 15 or 20 all night.

Now, the reason we had such weird results is because too many teams are doing the one thing I dislike more then anything, they were points racing. Matt Kenseth, Dale Jr, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson all stopped to get gas. Mears, Yeley, Petty and Rudd stayed out and stretched their fuel to get the win.

It's very obvious why the first group didn't take that chance, they are all in Chase contention for the end of the season. But how many chances do you get to win the Coke 600? They told Tony he was 2 laps short, he couldn't do anything on the track while leading, ie slowing down, to save 2 laps of gas? For Stewart, Kenseth, Hamlin and Johnson, it's not like a 15-20th place finish would suddenly knock them out of Chase contention come September. All of us would be shocked if all 4 of those guys were not in. You have a chance to win the Coke 600. But you play it safe.

Races, especially in May are about winning, not points. If your team is good enough, one chance taken to win a race and run out of gas will not keep you out of the Chase after Richmond. Roll the dice crew chiefs!

Where was Ricky?

Oh I think the picture says it all.

Richmond race observations

Well after a long weekend at the track we finally got the 400 lapper in.

Several thoughts

I thought the COT was supposed to bring more parity and allow the smaller teams to compete? Hmmm funny thing hasn't worked out that way so far. But I'm sure they will catch up....riiigghhhhttt.

Evernham. These 3 teams are in trouble. The 19 was horrible all weekend. Driver? Crew chief? His teamates both qualified in the top 10 and he could barely break the top 40 before cars started wrecking out. Elliott...you have been lucky enough to upgrade your ride twice in your career. This is it, if you cannot show more in this car with this team, the next team you go to will be at best a lateral move. If that.

RYR. My goodness this is painful to see. At least the 88 qualified well. And then it was all downhill from there. The 88 got worse on every run. Either the driver has lost the ability, or the crew chief is not worth anything. At least I could see the 38 improving as the race went on. That's not saying much as the 38 was horrible at the beginning. The 88 never got better. Speaking of Rudd. Ummm Mr. Rudd, Mr. Helton requests your presence at the white trailer to explain your actions after your wreck. You are darn lucky the 1 didn't completely run you over while walking through the infield grass and then you decided to stroll across pit road with the 84 coming down to pit. Just get in the ambulance Ricky.

Penske. For a 2 car team they really have the COT figured out. Kurt really drives well when he is angry. His pit crew really let him down on his first stop.

Speaking of pit crews. DEI must have the 3 stooges pitting the 8 car. Their stops all day were bad.

Harvick. Not a fan of his but he had the car to beat hands down no questions asked. He was lapping cars like crazy. Too bad his crew chief and spotter were asleep at the wheel on his pit stop.

Jeff Green is a not so lean mean wrecking machine. Wow.

Why all the boos for Montoya at driver intro? What is up?

Nice showing of the VA drivers to present the check to Coach Beamer Saturday night. Oh wait...one of them decided to no show completely. Thank you Elliott, Jeff, Ward and Denny. Ricky?? And nice showing by the Hokie Nation at RIR this weekend. Many race fans left their driver attire at home to proudly wear the orange and maroon.

Where to begin...

4-16-07

Anyone connected in anyway with Virginia Tech will always have that date in their mind til the day they die. In our lexicon it's like 9/11 now.

If you have never been to Blacksburg, it is very small town America. Main St still looks like something from 20+ years ago. In the past 14 years they only had 5 murders. The students outnumber the town population. It was this small town appeal that drew me to Blacksburg in 1991. It reminded me so much of Chester, VA, my hometown.

With the news Monday of the shooting, and the loss of 32 students and faculty, I started to crave more information. Then it started to come out, 2 at West AJ, 30 in Norris on the 2nd floor. 2nd floor Norris. My mind started to wander, did I ever have a class there?

Then it hit me.

Summer 1993. I stayed in Blacksburg to attend summer classes because I was changing majors. I decided to take a Psychology class to fulfill a core cirriculum requirement. It was a class about the existence of God or something. I don't know I daydreamed through the class most days and still got an A. Anyways, that class was on the 2nd floor of Norris hall. It was at the front of the building, overlooking the Drillfield. There was about 12-15 of us in the class, I used to sit in the 3rd seat on the row that was against the wall as you came in the door. I could see it in my mind like I was just there yesterday. It was an 8 am class in July, and the hot summer sun would just be getting up to full peak, the humidity not yet kicking in totally for the day. If they had just cut the grass you could smell it through all of the open windows.

I tried to go to bed at midnight, but I wasn't tired. My mind was racing. I stared at the ceiling. 1 am. 2 am. All I could see was being in that room on the 2nd floor of Norris. These young kids and teachers, most of whom never had time to think about what to do.

This is the first part of a multi part blog I will be doing about the event on Monday. I hope you join me for this journey. I hope it is a cathartic one for me and others.