Why does it always seem to involve Tony Stewart?

Because no one in the history of Nascar has been a better driver, a more courteous and knowledgeable driver than he...just ask him, he'll tell you. I've been sick of his act for some time, and now I'm getting sick of the Nascar reporter pool kneeling at his throne with reverence asking how drivers should drive.
His run-in with Ryan Newman at NHIS Sunday was no different. Don't get me wrong, Ryan comes from that same school as Tony and Kevin Harvick...they've never been wrong. In this instance, however, like so many others involving Tony Stewart, I see Stewart as the culprit. His arrogance gets him into more trouble than any other driver. If he drove with the respect he says he learned from the likes of Mark Martin, he'd have at least half as many DNF's in his career and probably one more championship. His arrogance makes him do things that are not smart.
In this instance Ryan Newman has fresh tires and is much faster than Stewart. Newman is completely along side Stewart going into the turn, and Tony decides to battle him by pinching him down into the turn. Not a smart move at move tracks, definitely not smart at a flat track like NHIS. Around goes Newman taking Stewart with him. If you'd have used your head, Tony, you wouldn't have ended up with like the 4th 30th or worse finish in the last 6 or 7 races.
Since I gave up my September NHIS tickets a couple of years ago and sold my July ones this year, this will be the first year in a long time that I haven't attended a race at NHIS, though I'm thinking I might go to the truck race in September. I love being there in person, of course, but I don't like the traffic. It was a nice change of pace to take this one in on the tube.
By the way, the race was won by Kyle Busch, known as the Shrub. Zebster's favorites didn't fair well, although Kasey Kahne hung in there for 8th. Bobby Labonte came home 23rd and Kyle, always in black at NHIS since the death of Adam there, came home 28th. Unfortunately in my fantasy league Under da Porch, I won't be in first place any longer as my pick for this race was the aforementioned Ryan Newman, who finished 39th! Kudo of the race goes to Dave Blaney in the 22 car, who finished 13th. It seems that's the best finish that car has had this year.
NHIS New Hampshire Stewart Newman Busch Blaney Nascar Kahne Labonte Petty

Samuel Adams Brewer Patriot Collection

Sitting here today on a sweltering and muggy Maine summer day watching the news and trying to understand what's going on in the Middle East, I thought this would be the perfect time to crack open the four-pack of Samuel Adams Brewer Patriot Collection. First let me say that this was difficult to find and on sale it cost 10 bucks for four bottles of beer; but as much as I like good craft beer, especially Samuel Adams, I figured I could treat myself and give it a try.
The four varieties in this pack are a Traditional Ginger Honey Ale, which I'm sampling first right now (very much worth the $2.50), based on a recipe used by Thomas Jefferson; a George Washington Porter; James Madison Dark Wheat Ale and 1790 Root Beer Brew.
The Ginger Honey Ale is fantastic. I hope this is just the tip of the iceberg and that the other three varieties are just as good. It goes down very smooth like any good ale should, no aftertaste at all. The hint of lemon peel fits perfectly. This is something you'll have to try for yourself because it is impossible for me to convince you given the ingredients just how good this is, because the ingredients would make you very skeptical that it could taste good. It tastes much better than good. Too bad it's hard to find and $2.50 a bottle. This is what it says about this brew on the bottle: "Ginger beer in the colonies can be traced back to the 1700's. Ginger beer ferments quickly, making it ideal for brewing in the colonists' kitchens. Thomas Jefferson and his wife brewed 15 gallons of beer every two weeks at their Monticello estate. Brewed with fresh lemons and sweetened with honey, ginger beer was perfect for dailing drinking." I concur. Again, nice and smooth...quaffable, as my brother would say. And as is the tradition with Sam Adams, the description around the neck of the bottle reads, "True to its colonial heritage, this effervescent golden brew remains unfiltered. The bright flavors of fresh ginger and lemon zest are balanced by a subtle maltiness and the floral sweetness of wildflower honey." I'm almost to the bottom of the bottle as I write this and wish I had another. This tastes like no other beer or ale I've ever had, yet it's so good it makes me think why didn't this last through the years; why isn't this something we're very familiar with. Perfect for a hot day. Later today, I'll do another.

I decided to try the 1790 Root Beer Brew next as I'm not big on root beer nor licorice. So I suspected I would like this one least, perhaps not like it at all, and didn't want to leave it til last. Well, it's complex to say the least. The first thing you taste is the sassafras, which is fine, but it's immediately overtaken by the licorice...thankfully not overpowering but I don't like licorice at all, and then vanilla. So this one for me is as odd as it sounds when you read the ingredients. On the back of the label it says, "Our forefathers were an innovative people. They quickly learned to brew from the local ingredients available to them. Root beer, for instance, comes from the root bark of the sassafras tree, which is native to Eastern North America. Originally added to tea, it was soon adapted for beer. Root beer was also brewed with wintergreen, another indigenous ingredient that is one of the main flavors in root beer today (I didn't know that). It's not hard to imagine Samuel Adams brewing with these ingredients himself and enjoying this rich beer after a long day of planning a revolution."
And from the words on the neck you'll see why I said this was complex, because it has a lot of ingredients we would find strange in combination. "The intensity of this unfiltered brew is immediately evident with spicy, herbal notes of sassafras, wintergreen and licorice. These are balanced with the sweetness of caramelized sugar, molasses and vanilla." Make no mistake, this is beer and alcoholic, not modern-day root beer. If you like root beer though, you may like this one. I don't much care for it but mostly because I don't like the ingredients.

beer Samuel Adams ale brewer Thomas Jefferson Brewer Patriot Collection Ginger Honey Ale

Zebster's baked bean recipe

Traditional New England baked beans, none of that crap with the soggy little beans in a tomato or bbq sauce. You can use a crock pot, do it in the oven inside a bean pot; you can even dig a hole in the ground and cook it in there for several days (hardcore and best, but I'm too lazy and impatient). So I use a crock pot. You'll only need about a half hour or so of prep time but you'll need to cook them all day.

Ingredients: One pound Jacobs Cattle beans, onion, 1/2 pound salt pork, 1/2 cup of BROWN sugar, 2/3 cup molasses, 1/4 cup of real maple syrup (honey works good too), 3 teaspoons dry mustard, salt and pepper to taste.

I think using the right beans is one of the keys. I prefer Jacobs Cattle or Yellow Eye or the like. You can use pinto beans, I suppose, but see above and don't tell me if you did...it saddens me deeply. Let me amend that. If you want real baked beans, then find the good dry beans I've mentioned. Don't cheat and use canned beans or whatever. If you want it to taste right, like it's supposed to, then you need to start with the right ingredients. There's no point in doing it, otherwise.

You should check the bag of beans because occasionally there's a pebble or a bad bean. Then put them in a large bowl of water and soak them overnight.

In the morning parboil the beans until you can blow the skin off one, about a half hour, which gives you time to get your ingredients together. You'll need some salt pork (no bacon...this isn't breakfast), which you'll need to cut through the rind side about a half inch in a waffle design so it'll fall apart nicely when everything's cooked. Quarter at least one onion and place it in the bottom of the pot. Then drain and add your parboiled beans. Place the salt pork on top. In one pint of boiling water add your molasses, syrup, dry mustard, sugar, salt and pepper. I like mine peppery. I've been known to use Montreal steak pepper. But at least 3 teaspoons of pepper. Pour this over the beans, adding more boiling water, if necessary, to cover the beans...usually an extra half pint to pint. Then cook on low in the crock pot or 300 degrees in the oven for at least 6 hours.

When at all possible serve with red casing hotdogs and brown bread, also often served in Maine with coleslaw. Since you're going to fart like crazy after eating them, plus the cabbage in the cole slaw, you might as well go all out and wash it down with a hearty ale. You won't have any trouble being left alone after that.

And by the way, if I find out that you put ketchup on my beans, I'll hunt you down and shoot you! Ketchup is for hamburgers, meatloaf and bad french fries.

beans baked beans Maine Jacobs Cattle Yellow Eye Zebster salt pork molasses maple syrup brown sugar fart

All Star Game ramblings

The American League wins again, thanks to a two-run triple by Michael Young in the top of the 9th inning. Young was named the game's MVP and did so without headbutting anyone. Zebster on Zidane I won't get tired of this American League domination of the Mid-Summer Classic because I remember watching us lose year after year after year. Click here and look at the results from the early '60's to mid '80's, and you'll see what I mean. Even after the Junior Circuit's current unbeaten streak of 10, the National League leads the all-time series by seven games.
The one time each year I allow myself to cheer for Yankee players and they take the collar. Here's hoping they continue to stink. At least you can count on Mariano Rivera, who closed the game out in the 9th for the save. (not that my Sox fared any better and Manny didn't even show up)
Is not Vladimir Guerrero the best bad-ball hitter you've ever seen? After Brad Penny overpowered the first 5 hitters he saw, he made the mistake of leaving a pitch within reach of Guerrero, up around his shoulders, which Vlad deposited into the right field seats.
My favorite part of the game though is when we had some rarely-seen small ball play in the All Star game, and great defense. Vernon Wells throws a pea to home plate to throw out the speedy Alfonso Siriano from 2nd on a base hit by Carlos Beltran, with Beltran going to 2nd on the throw to the plate. Beltran subsequently steals 3rd and scores on the very next pitch, a wild pitch by Halliday...a play which gave the Senior Circuit a lead they would hold on to until Young's heroics in the 9th.
This is a series of plays that Roberto Clemente would've loved. Now there was a ballplayer...a five-tool player with humility and class, one who gave of himself on and off the field, a man who paid the ultimate price when in 1972 his plane crashed while on a humanitarian mission to Nicaragua. Not familiar with Clemente? Then take a look at these stats Official Clemente site Major League Baseball honored Clemente during a break in 5th inning of the game.

All Star Pittsburgh Penny Guerrero Siriano Wells Beltran Michael Young Clemente Nicaragua Rivera American League National League Vlad

Weekend wrap-up

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

Weekend Sports Preview

Cuz, this pic of my Bruins jersey is the answer to the question I'd asked about who my favorite type of player is. It is posted now because I've been negligent in mentioning that the Bruins signed Don Sweeney to be Director of Player Development. Don Sweeney A great story: Bro and I went to a Bruins game a few years ago at the New Garden. Of course I wore my Sweeney jersey, knowing I'd be the only one. Wrong! Sitting right next to me was a Bruin fan from Ottawa wearing a Don Sweeney road black jersey. He and a friend had driven down to watch the Bruins play the Senators.

What could this weekend's matchup between the last two World Series champs, the Red Sox and White Sox, mean? I think it's a good measuring stick for our Sox since the experts feel, and I tend to agree, that the White Sox are the best team in baseball; and if we have aspirations of getting the trophy back, it'll likely mean going through the Pale Hose. We also need to continue to play well because the Yankees are not far enough back for my comfort. We have the rotation lined up for this series. So I'd like to see us take 2 out of 3 and keep the momentum going.

Will anyone be watching the World Cup final on Sunday? Around the Nascar race and the Red Sox game I will. I'm no soccer fan, as you know; but the passion of the fans, the national pride of country-on-country and the fact that this is the biggest tournament in the world played only every four years is why I watch some.

Nascar heads to Chicago this weekend. My boy Kasey Kahne will be driving the same car he's won 4 times with this year. So I'm optimistic about how he'll do, as I am about the continued improvement of the 43, driven by Bobby Labonte. Who do you like this weekend? My fantasy pick is Denny Hamlin. In our fantasy league we can only use each driver once per year. Look for a post race write-up. I'm also going to do one soon about why I dislike the Chase format. I sold my NHIS July tix this year. So I won't be blogging about having been there.

Patriots picked to make it to the Super Bowl but lose to Carolina by the ESPN expert panel. Nice to know folks like that think we'll have another excellent team; but since experts are always wrong, it's nice they didn't pick NE to win. I would like to see the Pats sign Ty Law and shore up that secondary. I still hate the Cowboys but their QB is still a favorite of mine. So here's hoping Drew Bledsoe throws for big numbers. Let's talk some football.
Patriots Red Sox Sweeney Panthers Boston Bruins Ty Law Bledsoe World Cup Nascar Kahne Labonte White Sox

My Nascar cyber friends

Some background: You might think growing up in Maine is an unlikely place for a 35 year Nascar fan to be from. Well, unlike the rest of New England where the tradition is more open-wheel modifieds, Maine has a stockcar tradition going back at least to my memories of going to Unity Raceway with my dad in the early '70's. I'm not sure how much of a fan he was but he was a tire salesman and had "connections" to race teams. He was at least a casual friend of one of the big names at that time, Pete Silva. I had an uncle who was a Nascar fan, and I remember listening to the races visiting with my cousin, watching the few races that were on TV (Wide World of Sports). Always wanting to be different, everyone around me was a Chevy fan but I kept hearing this guy named Richard Petty in Dodge whipping their butts. Thus the lifelong Mopar and Petty racing loyalties. Then in my teen years my best friend's brother was one of the better local drivers, and we used to go to all the races and help work on the car. His name was Jimmy McGinnis, always drove the A-1; and he was still racing when I took my daughters to Unity a few years ago.
I continued to go to races locally, watch and listen to some others; and went to my first race live at Riverside, CA in 1985. (Why not a few years earlier when I was living in the southeast is still a mystery)

Approximately 10 years ago while surfing the internet, looking for Nascar-related articles I stumbled upon a message board about Nascar at CNN/SI's website. That board no longer exists and I'm not even sure the website still exists. But this was a lively board (you can read lively as positive and negative) that was relatively new when I found it. So I was easily able to get into the beginning of conversations and found these people respected and welcomed my thoughts. These were people like me who had followed the sport for years, were passionate and knowledgeable about it; and we all quickly built up friendships there.
An example, even though this was a monitored board, one of the guys might say something a little too harshly about someone else's driver or something; and somehow the ladies on the board ended up relagating us to "under da porch," a metaphor for going to your room or sitting in the corner.
Eventually CNN/SI stopped hosting message boards. After that we moved from board to board for various reasons, always naming it Under da Porch. Well 10 years later there is still a core of us, approximately 10, that are still very active participants on our message board that were there from the beginning and several other loyalists who've joined along the way. We've lost touch with some dear friends (Graybo, Sprayberry, Big Bill and others) through the years; but we've also become very good friends, the rest of us. Various members meet up at races (usually the 600, which I went to in 2004) or sometimes when someone's just driving through.
We are fans of various drivers. Myself? Anyone who drives the 43, Kyle Petty, still hoping Ricky Craven isn't finished and became one of the earliest members of the Kasey Kahne bandwagon. Gotta love that red Dodge with the Ram on the hood!
We've become somewhat of a secret society in that we like to have control over the types of people we interact with and how we interact; but we've decided that we need some new blood, as it were, to liven up our board. We do talk about other things a little, though we try to steer away from things that people always argue about.
So if you're interested in joining us, you can email me for the map and secret password. We won't let just anyone in. We're only interested in people who love Nascar (newbies and oldtimers), who are respectful of others and their opinions, and who want to join us. Many of them read my blogs and I'm hoping they'll add their comments here to fill in what I've left out. They may say that they'd prefer I add the link in here, with the proviso that new folks read our rules and understand there'll be a probationary period.
Nascar Maine message boards Coke 600 Petty Unity Raceway Under da Porch Nextel Cup Nascar fans

Wow, what a finish. Italy 2, Germany 0

In a game which Germany ouplayed Italy in a scoreless game almost through the end of the second overtime, Fabio Grosso breaks the scoreless tie with an absolutely fabulous shot that bends into the back corner just beyond the fingertips of the outstretched German goalkeeper. Then, as Germany opens it up even more in search of the equalizing goal, Alessandro Del Piero scores a pretty one-on-one breakaway goal just 2 minutes later to seal it.
This is the most enjoyable soccer match (oxy moron) I've seen, especially the wide open overtime periods.
Some background: Germany has never beaten Italy in the World Cup, Italy has never won a World Cup match on penalty kicks.

Italy advances to play the winner of tomorrow's other semi-final match between France and Portugal.
World Cup Italy Germany Grosso Del Piero

Snub or blessing

I've always been conflicted about Major League Baseball's All Star selection system. It's the fans' game and they should vote. Sometimes the fans will surprise you with their insight but at least as often they vote purely based on favorites. Also, the fact that every team needs to be represented has its pros and cons, mostly cons. It's an all star roster and, thus by definition, the roster should be populated with the very best players, which never happens when you have to select someone from say the KC Royals. But someone will always be snubbed (the roster size has increased dramatically in the last few years) and this year is no different.
In this age of haves and have-nots because there is no salary cap, some teams will never be able to compete consistently because they can't afford retain all the great talent they drafted and groomed. The Red Sox and Yankees can afford to retain the players they draft and groom as well as the best of the small market teams' best players. So even though Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett didn't make the All Star roster when they certainly should have, it's not a perfect system and it's about as fair as you can make it. Besides, not having to worry about your two best pitchers getting hurt or overworked in a game that doesn't count is certainly a good thing.

Congratulations to Annika Sorenstam on winning her 3rd US Women's Open, 10th Major title overall. I don't tend to watch much women's golf; but since this is the most important of women's tournaments, the fact that we're witnessing history every time Annika is in contention, the fact that my wife will watch this sport with me, I will pay attention and enjoy it, even though the level of play is still well below that of the men's game. I also think it's great that for the first time in 100 years a professional golf championship was played at Newport Country Club, one of the original USGA member sites and the site of the first US Open. USGA

The Boston Bruins opened up their tight purse strings and signed 3 free agents, most notably in my opinion Zdeno Chara, a big, physical, top flight defenseman. Boston Bruins

Schilling Red Sox Beckett Sorenstam Boston Bruins Annika US Open Newport MLB All Stars Chara

Commercials, not Nascar, on Fox

Thank all things racing that this is the last Fox Nascar telecast of the season. TWO times this race they went away for five minutes of commercials, only to come back for 30 seconds of racing and then back to commercials again. And each new race brings more Visa racebreaks, race recaps and other horseshit interrupting the telecast. I swear they're not showing half the green flag racing that takes place.
Do we get ESPN back next year or the year after?
More crappy luck for the 43. Bobby Labonte has breathed new life into the King's ride and it's been great, but bad luck has turned many good runs into lousy finishes. This time running in the top 5 for most of the 2nd half of the race he's an innocent bystander and finishes in the 40's. Commercials interrupted that too incident as well as everything else worth seeing.
At least bad luck bit Jeff Gordon, someone who until recently never seemed to have any bad luck. He was caught up in a wreck not of his making about 5 laps after Labonte's accident.
Thank goodness for a couple of Shipward IPA's to take the frustration level down a notch.
Not enough beer to soften this rant though. What is the point of waving the caution flag for debris with half a lap to go? That means they don't race to the end but the race results will be determined by where the cars were at the time the caution came out. Nascar has lost control of caution flags this year and last. A car at the back of the back will spin out and immediately get it righted but the caution is already waving.
So this puts the crappy icing on pretty much a boring race, won by Tony Stewart. Not that I want to see the dangerous 43-car packs of recent past, but these current rules take what interest was left out of restrictor plate racing.
Zebster's favorites rundown: Kasey Kahne 25th, Kyle Petty 28th and Bobby Labonte with a DNF. My fantasy league pick, Dale Jr. with a lucky but disappointing 13th.
Kudo of the race: Clint Bowyer, another rookie with a top 10 finish this year.
Point leader: Jimmy Johnson

Nascar Fox Daytona Pepsi 400 Labonte Shipyard IPA Daytona Pepsi 400