World Cup -- watched most while keeping an eye on the Red Sox v. White Sox marathon. It'd be a whole lot better game without the flopping and diving. Should you really decide a world championship on penalty kicks?
Note to Terry Francona: Never bring in Mike Timlin if it isn't at the beginning of an inning. As great as he's been for the Sox through the years, he almost always seems to get in trouble if brought in in the middle of an inning. Gotta give kudos to Tavarez and Seanez. Isn't that the best those guys have pitched all year. Trot, wake up, it's over!!! I know you're tired but did you have to sleep through 9 at bats? Since Youkilis has been so clutch, I won't give him a hard time about striking out with no one out and a runner at 2nd, but I want to. Oh, and Josh Beckett and his love of the gopher ball. It seems to me when he's in trouble or if he has a top hitter at the plate, he stops "pitching" and starts throwing, which makes his fastball have less movement and he gets the ball up in the strike zone. His stats against good teams are very bad indeed.
What do you think Jeff Gordon's reaction would've been had he been in first and Kenseth second and Kenseth spun him out in the same way? I can tell you. He would've said there were 3 laps to go, plenty of time for Kenseth to get around him clean since he was clearly faster. There was a car to the outside. So he wasn't going to be able to pass then anyway. If he had better car control, this wouldn't have happened, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah. But since it was Jeff doing the spinning, it's an unfortunate racing deal and he didn't mean to do it. Bullshit! I'm not saying he intended to spin Kenseth out, but Gordon is considered by most the driver with the best, maybe greatest ever, car control. Yet he somehow managed to run into him from the distance back that he did. His intent was to pull an Earnhardt -- get right up under the guy, get him loose and if you end up tapping him, "oh well, it's not like I meant to." Jeff's always complaining about other drivers' decision making. It's about time he held himself to the same standard. And Nascar needs to start taking a stronger stance on these late-race bump-and-runs for the win. At the very least you should have to try for a lap or 2 before doing it. And in this case the distance back was such that IMO Gordon had time to not hit Kenseth if he wanted to.
Finishes for my favs: Labonte in the 43, 12th; Kahne a very disappointing 23rd, and Kyle another day driving around in the back, 28th. My fantasy race pick, Denny Hamlin, 14th. Kudo of the race, Reed Sorenson, 7th.
Juan Pablo Montoya coming to race in Nascar after winning races in F1? Priceless!
World Cup Italy France penalty kicks diving Red Sox White Sox Francona Boston Nascar Kahne Labonte Montoya Chicago Gordon Kenseth Timlin Beckett
14 comments:
Nice blog, Zeb, good job!
You know what I think of Gordon's tactics, so I'm not even going there.
Needless to say, I blame NAZICAR as much as if not more than Gordon. If I knew I wasn't going to get penalized, I'd do it too. But you're right, when it happens to him, he's a big...spoiled...whiney...baby. And even Gordon fans cannot deny that.
Bad finish for Tony, too, that Gibbs team never gets the mileage other teams get.
See ya, and keep up the good work. Visit my blog, too!
Ol' Fireball
So Zeb have you heard about Danica Patrick moving to NASCAR as well?
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/5772590?FSO1&ATT=HMA
Wondering your thoughts on the wonder girl...
I did, Cuz. I don't think it's a good idea so soon after starting her open wheel career. If she has more success other than essentially one good race in two years, then maybe.
As I said elsewhere, it could be the team she's with; but I think it'd be in everyone's best interest if she made the switch after building a solid resume.
Wow...a Fireball sighting on Zebster!
In a nutshell, I can't stand Jeff Gordon.
19 innings? Don't ya hate it when you invest five hours or so in a game only to see your team lose. Arrrgh!
One more.....Hey Zeb, do Bruins fans hate Rangers as much as Sox hate Yankees? Don't look now, but Shanny is coming to NY from Detroit. SHAN-hattan as Mitch Albom puts it.
I never disliked the guy but I'm beginning to.
Coach, you're not thinking when you ask about the Bruins and Rangers, being the big-time hockey fan that I know you are.
The Bruins have an arch rival every bit as evil as the Yankees are to Sox fans, and it's not the Rangers. Come on, you hoser, I know you know this, eh...a team we beat a couple of times in the playoffs several years ago that was the first time we'd beaten them in the playoffs in forever.
BTW, like the Sweeney sweater?
From my Gordon fan's eye, Matt slowed and Jeff didn't back off to give Matt room. From my race fan's eye, Jeff should have waited at least one more lap before attempting to "get him loose". From my Gordon fan's eye, I was like nooooooo. From my race fan's eye, Matt should be really hot..and if it were the other way around, Jeff would still be beside himself today..From my Gordon fan's eye...I'm glad for the win and to be back in the top 10..
57 Chevy
That's why we like you, 57...you're the fairest Gordon fan of all! I think you're being as fair as you can be.
I've always concurred that 57 is the coolest and most fair JG fan I've ever come across.
Y'all know I don't like the bump and run no matter WHO does it, so it ain't the first time I've been upset at the outcome of a race, and it isn't always JG that pulls the move.
What I DON'T like about Gordon is his hypocrisy in his postrace quotes. Yes, he spun him. No, it wasn't payback. Yes, Bristol was on my mind. No, it wasn't revenge. Yes, now we're even.
Make up your damn mind, Jeffy. But again, I put a majority of the blame on NAZICAR...and I saw a great line today (Hinton, I think) who said if that move had happened 100 laps into a 160 lap Pepsi 400, then the penalry WOULD have been called and JG would have gone to the back of the pack. Always funny how NAZICAR doesn't see it that way in the CLOSING laps of a race.
Chicken-poop officials ignoring a chicken-poop way to pass a guy and letting him keep the win.
Typical NAZICAR.
Oh, and the blocking comments really perturbed me, too. The leader sets the line. Don't matter where he drives or what track it's on or what series it's in...the LEADER sets the line. Everybody else is supposed to figure out a way around him.
Now, if they were running 12th and 13th? Yeah, blocking is a problem. But the leader CANNOT block. Unwritten rule that probably SHOULD be written.
I think the leader can block to the extent we've seen leaders start to pick a line, drive with their mirrors and see where the faster guy behind them is going and then go there. But that aside, I agree.
I watched the marathon game too, but being a White Sox fan, I was obviously a bit more pleased with the outcome than you were! Manny and Ortiz were a combined 2-for-15 or something like that. It always helps when teams can shut down the big guns like that!
Yeah, I was going to mention and forgot that it looked to me like the BoSox hitters were trying to end the game with one swing and somewhat not into it.
Sorry I didn't put in my two cents earler on Jeff Gordon. I've got two opinions on this. Gordon was wrong in bumping Kenseth for the win. However, we've seen Kenseth do this to other drivers in the past (I remember him doing it to Tony Stewart at Bristol in the Busch Series when they weren't Cup drivers yet) and he's one of the most notorious "blockers" out on the track.
The way I see it, NASCAR needs to do something about blocking as well. Kenseth blocked Gordon on an earlier restart and I'm wondering if that might have played a role in what happened with four laps to go.
I agree with doing something about blocking, as long as it's not the leader.
The leader sets the line. Ask any short track driver in any bullring in America. There is one guy out there who is allowed to overly protect his position, and it's the leader.
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