Gentlemen Start Your Engines!!

It's NASCAR season once Again!!!
Yes, in case you haven't guessed, I am a Race fan. And when I say a race fan, I am not really a picky race fan. I will watch snails race if there is nothing better to do!! Ok That's not really true, but I have watched lawn mower races. LOL Sometimes a guy just needs to see something interesting. There are many people who don't consider motor racing to be a sport, but I'm not one of them. A sport defined as follows :

(1): a source of diversion : recreation b: (1): physical activity engaged in for pleasure (2): a particular activity (as an athletic game) so engaged in

4 a: sportsman b: a person considered with respect to living up to the ideals of sportsmanship

So by this definition from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Racing is a sport and the drivers and pit crews are sportsmen.

I guess that I am something of a sports nut after all. I am not a hardcore fan, ( I miss summer races all the time) I am however a long time fan since I have been a race fan as far back as I can remember. I used to watch the races when they were on TV sporadically back in the 70's. I would watch the highlights on The Wide World Of Sports. I watched the Daytona 500, The Indy 500, the Charlotte 600, the Southern 500, Darlington and Rockingham and Bristol and Martinsville. These were the races of the days when the Allison's and the Petty's ruled the track, when guys had a beef and they got into fisticuffs in the pits, they swung for teeth and later that night popped a beer together and laughed about it. They weren't called into the hauler and told how to behave in front of company. These guys were mechanics as well as drivers and they knew the wrench as well as the steering wheel. The last of these guys are still running a few races, Terry Labonte, Bill Elliott, Mark Martin. They haven't had to turn a wrench in years, but they still remember the days when the driver split time with the crew chief driving the hauler to the next race. Now most of the teams have dedicated employees for every aspect. Drivers for the haulers, tire changers, jack men, Tire carriers. There is a guy whose entire job is to run a stopwatch. So It really is a team sport.

I watched the stock cars and the open wheels and the Grand Prix and the road rally's. It was sort of in my blood though because there was a time when my pops used to race snowmobiles. I loved going to the races. I got to be in the pits and to see all the guys. This was way before the days of the corporate sponsors and if you had a little bit of factory backing you were in the top echelon of the sport. Pops quit racing the year that one of his closest friend was killed on the track. It was the final straw for him, besides the expense of getting to and from the race sites, there was the upkeep of the machines and the other related equipment. Then when his friend was killed it lost some of it's appeal. I was only 6 years old, but I remember seeing the accident that killed Curtis Beam. I won't describe it, but suffice it to say that I will probably remember it for all of my life. Even so, it is a risk that every Driver takes when they decide to compete. This past week the Extreme Motocross world lost Jeremy Lusk. In 2001 NASCAR lost Dale Earnhardt Sr. There are so many names of Drivers who have died on the track doing what they loved to do. I couldn't come close to listing them all. And not only drivers but the crew members as well. Pit guys, and track guys and rescue guys and even in some cases fans. It happens, and we understand this. Maybe we have a little bit of the macabre and we hope to witness one of these crashes. We all want to see some carnage, but we really hope that everyone walks away. There is nothing like the cheer in the stands when there is a spectacular wreck and then the driver gets up and walks away from the wreckage. We like the excitement, but we want the human to live on.

If your not a fan of racing, you will never understand the appeal, and if you are a fan then you know what I'm talking about. Root this year for Mark Martin and Michael Waltrip. Mark because he is racing a full season and making a run for the cup, one more try before he retires. He is one of the best drivers in the business but he has never been a series champion. Mikey because he needs a good season to keep his teams and his sponsors. Gentlemen, Here's To you! May yo have a great season and I hope you rund a great Race on Sunday.

thin skinned

So today's news had a little story about a high school basketball team that won a game by a score of 100 - 0. The story (This link is for a follow-up, not the original) first mentioned that the scoreless team was "learning challenged", but later specified this to be dyslexic and ADD. Now the school of the winning team has made a public apology for winning by such a margin, and the coach of this team has gone on record saying that the team played with, "honor and integrity," and refused to apologize. The coach was fired for his honesty. ( and apparently for letting his team continue to play after they had a 59-0 lead at the half!) The witnesses say that the opposing team played with all of their hearts, but just couldn't get the score. Why the need to apologize? If the team with the big score gives up so that the other can get a few points what are the points worth? What is the use of getting points when the other team is giving them to you?

What has become of schools when they feel the need to apologize for winning? Lately I have realized that I must be becoming an old fogey, because I keep these words so close to the top of my mind, "when I was a kid..." And to finish the sentence this time..." we learned that sportsmanship meant being a good loser as well as a gracious winner. If we took a beating our coach chewed our asses and we worked that much harder the next time. and when we won we thanked the other team for a good game." Never once did our coaches ever tell us to, "take it easy on the other team, we don't want to beat them by too much!" Our coaches made us get every point that we could, if it was baseball we hit the ball hard and ran the bases fast. If it was football we drove the ball down the field any way we could and if it was basketball it was the three point throw every chance we could. Never did it occur to us that we should have "mercy" on the opposition. There was no quarter asked for nor given. Sadly, mine is the last generation to have this experience.

I'm a gen-Xer and that means that half of my generation was raised as a bunch of pussies who barely stand on their own 2 feet and say shit when they have a mouthful. Our parents were the boomers, and so many of them are the touchie-feelie, hippy types who were more worried about being friends with their kids rather than disciplinarians. The other half of my generation was raised by the old fashioned method, a boot to the ass when you were in the wrong and your parents were the bosses of the house and you were the child. Life was about hiding from mom and dad the things that you knew would get your ass in the shit and not getting caught. Our parents weren't our friends. They taught us to have a thick skin and that life wasn't easy and that the world wasn't going to be at our beckon call. We had a thick skin and we were and are prepared for failure and we know how to pick our asses up off the couch and get back to work. We are the ones who are doing the jobs that keep the world moving, because we don't sit around and whine that nothing is going our way. When we get layed off we go out and find a new job. If we have to work at a minimum wage job to get our foot in the door we do it. If we have to work 2 of them to make ends meet, we do it. We were once called the slacker generation, but it was truthfully only half of us. The other half, we went to work and got shit done. The new president is of the last years of the Boomers, but his wife? Oh yeah, she is an Xer and that means that she knows the score.

So the pussy Xers and their sissy kids the generation Y, are the ones who have come up with these things like "Mercy Rules" where teams are not allowed to win by a very wide margin, or they will be penalized. For winning!! It makes me so freaking mad that I wanna go kick some idiot poofter in the balls! (What the hell is the new generation called? Are they Z? or have they come up with something original like the Millenium Generation? I like that!! The Millenuim Generation! That's what I am going to call them !! ) I really feel sorry for the military as these poor saps get older and join the service. Drill instructors really will be a bunch of mommies. Their recruits will not be even the slightest bit ready to be called on their weaknesses. They will have self esteem issues when they are called maggots and cry-babies. Their poor minds are so conditioned that the world revolves around them and their feelings that all that the Millenium Generation has going for it is their self esteem. They have no concept of the real world as a nasty bitch who cares nothing for their feeling and will trip them at every opportunity. How is a mercy rule in sports supposed to help them learn about disappointment? It's okay to be diappointed if the loss isn't so big? right. I don't buy it. Go shovel shit for someone else.

If a winning team feels the need to apologize for playing well, and a losing team has to feel good about their loss, then there is truly something out of wack here. A winning team should be able to enjoy the victory for what it is, a win, whether hard won or an easy trounce. The losing team needs to work harder and maybe they will win one next time. Maybe they spend the whole season as losers, but they will have learned from their loses. They will see what other teams do to win, and maybe they will have a chance to implement what they have learned next season. Mercy rules should be called what they really are "Pussy Rules" because the pussified adults who are in charge don't want to hurt the feelings of the losers. Well guess what? Life's a BITCH! She will kick you in the balls and poke you in the eyes and steal your candy. She will take your boyfriend or your girlfriend, and screw him or her in the closet at the party and then tell all your friends about it!

Cowboy up and get to livin' or get it over with and get to dyin', but get the hell out of the way with your whinin' and cryin'. I'm tired of hearing about bruised egos and mercy rules. If you can't deal with what life has to offer, then maybe you need to run to the store and get a new life!!

For love of the game

My nephews play sports. I like to watch them and to take pictures and videos. Someday I may do something cool with them, but for now I can share some with y'all. Now many of you know that I am not a sports fan. I have no care who wins the world series as long as it is over as quickly as possible and doesn't pre-empt regular programming that I am actually interested in! Most sports are a waste of time and money and are no more than opium for the masses. I have never understood the rabid sports fan, you know the ones, every piece of clothing they own is in the team colors or has the team logo on it somewhere, they read every stat from every season and never miss a pregame or post game analysis. ( Is "anal" the root of "analysis", or is it"lysis". What's a "lysis"? ) The go to the games as often as possible and when they can't make the game the where the jersey all day long even if they are poll bearers at a funeral. Face painters, chest painters, shirtless in a blizzard cheering for their team no matter whether they are winning or losing. Now this is not to say that I don't occasionally watch a game with friends, or can't discuss current events on occasion. Even the sports that do interest me I'm not rabid about. I like Motorsports, and I can honestly say that when nothing else is available I will happily sit and watch ANY form of racing. Mostly because I can fall asleep during the boring parts and then wake up and watch the great crashes. I don't want to see anyone die, in fact I am happiest when the crash is REALLY spectacular and the driver walks away. Then he really has a story to tell!

So anyway, back to my point, my biggest complaint about professional sports is that too many of the players are simply playing for the huge ridiculous salaries. They no longer play for the love of the game. Although I do imagine that some like Brett Favre play long past their effective careers to keep their attention addiction sated. Kids however still play because they like to play. Of course there are always the exceptions to the rule, but we all know that any kid that doesn't truly want to play any sport will do everything in his/her power to completely suck and thereby not actually have to play, meanwhile keeping daddy happy that he/she is on the team. Why do I say daddy and not mommy? Again with some exceptions it seems to be the sports that allow the fathers to connect to the children. At least this has been my experience. There are still the stage mothers who push their children into anything so that their child will be popular (or the stars knows the motivation). The kids that play because they like it, are the best to watch, because they will put all of their energy into whatever they are doing, whether it's football, baseball, soccer, hockey or anything else that kids play. These are the games that I love to watch. I don't even care what game it is or who they are playing, it's just infectious fun to watch when they still play for the love of the game.