Welcome to another edition of Talking Sports. We have the Stanley Cup Finals and Tebowmania in New England , “Can You Believe It!

NHL Update

The Bruins and the Blackhawks dropped the puck at 8 pm to kickoff the Stanley Cup Finals. This series has all the drama of any other finals, two original 6 teams  that haven’t played each other all season. Two uniquely different styles, the Blackhawks with there speed and great forwards, the Bruins with several layers of defense. If game 1 was any indication how this series will play out, it will be a hockey fans Nirvana. The Bruins last night blew a 3-1 lead that ended up in triple overtime before the Blackhawks Andrew Shaw scored on a deflected shot with about 5 minutes left in triple overtime . The game ended at 1am.

. The Hawks beat the Bruins in a thriller, both teams had chances, both goalies came up big. The Hawks got back into this game using speed and burning the Bruins up the seam in the middle of the ice. The Bruins effort was huge, as was the Hawks, in the end the fatigue set in and the Hawks got the bounce they needed to win this game. This was purely the NHL at it’s best.

Tim Tebow is a WHAT? was my initial reaction to hearing that old Timmy has signed a two year deal with the New England Patriots. I’m not sure what Belichick’s plan is for him. I’m not sure if Tebow will make the 53 man roster but it will be interesting to see if this is another Chad Johnson slap you on the ass project by the Patriots or if this is just Belichick taking a kid that he thinks he can help. What this isn’t, is a publicity thing like it was with the J-E-T-S. The Patriots give the media nothing if anything, they avoid publicity at all cost, just listen to a Belichick's press conference. I think this is going to be an interesting experiment in frustrating the media.  What I can’t understand is Tebow usually says and does the right thing but the media creates a circus around him. He tries not to call attention to himself, sure he does the pray thing, but a lot of guys do it in the NFL. Is there a thirst for a positive story because there is so much negativity in the league? I don’t know but this will be interesting as it plays out.

I took a couple of the Lanz’s into the Red Sox Game on Saturday Night, we had no sports for the weekend which doesn’t happen often but lots of rain on Friday, bad field conditions on Saturday and Lacrosse ending last week set this up. We decided to go in around 5 pm for the second half of a day nighter. We ended up seeing Clay Bucholz pitch a gem and he ended up on the injured list after diving for infield ball and making another great play at first. The kids got to see a David Ortiz Home Run . They also got to see Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, and Josh Hamilton. It was a fun night, we got street parking near Boston University a couple of blocks away, I  got tickets in the family section so there were no drunk assholes and those seats are in left field with a much better view than right field. I think Middle Lanz was fascinated with Johnny Gomes and what he does with his water bottle during the game. He would place it in his glove and take a few sips. Then he would tuck in the small of his back or in a pocket. Lil Lanz who is never short on words or opinions said nothing the whole game, he just kept his eyes on the field. It was a fun night for the Lanz boys.

I have been thinking a lot about Little League Baseball. Lil Lanz’s team was eliminated this week. Sometimes I think the focus on development of the kids and teaching them the enjoyment of the game is lost by over competitiveness. I think there needs to be some competition to make it fun and rewarding but it also needs to be about the kids more than the adults. So the other night the team we were playing in an elimination game has this little boy, B. B is the weakest player on the team and he is the best teammate, his coaches and teammates just love this kid and so do the opposing coaches. So B is a little guy with big glasses, he gets a walk against us and it starts a rally. B has a little accent so the age director shows up to watch the final few innings. B gets all excited to see him.. The guys name is Joe Defazio and Joe is a great guy, so he gets excited to see B. B jumps up and says Hey Defazio  I started the rally. Joe gives him a High Five myself and his coach Bob just start laughing.

B doesn’t say Mr..Defazio . He doesn’t say Joe, last name only. That’s what Little League Baseball is all about.

Hello Gabbers and welcome to another Wednesday. It’s the last week of school for many here in Michigan. I’ve got two days of final exams to monitor. I don’t know how to feel about them. I had a few students who seemed dumbfounded that they had finals. Now, I know I’m just a substitute, but being that these are 10^th graders, shouldn’t they know about finals? They seemed equally dumbfounded that having their phones out during finals would be stupid. This could make for an interesting couple of half days.

It’s June in the NFL. Tebow’s in New England and ESPN is having joygasms all about their office. Idiotic players are guaranteeing Super Bowls among them Nick Fairley of Detroit. Despite high fan resistance (80 some percent according to some polls), Goodell is still rallying for a team in London. Still, one question still tops everything: how is Robert Griffin doing?

It seems like we get daily updates. Former Redskins QB Donovon McNabb came out to suggest that Griffin shouldn’t give in to so much pressure for information. Still, we get them nearly daily, if not weekly. Today, for instance, we learned he is sprinting, apparently “explosively” so.

Now, I don’t have anything against RGIII. In fact, I think he’s a great asset to the league. I hope he tries to put a little less wear on himself when he comes back. He’s got enough of an arm where he doesn’t need to run for everything. Still, I am a lot more tired of the league and media who seem to be pushing/willing this kid to a quick recovery. The cry goes up every day that it only took Adrian Peterson about 4 months to recover. Griffin knows this and has talked with Peterson. Of course, we should all know Peterson and Griffin are different. While they’re of similar size, everyone has their own recovery rate. Rushing Griffin to return is dangerous. Yet, that’s what most involved with the NFL seem to want. Long term health be damned, Griffin must start opening day.

 While Adrian Peterson has apparently become the measuring stick for athletes coming off major surgery, I’d much rather Griffin look to Derrick Rose for inspiration. Rose, like Peterson, suffered an ACL tear. Unlike Peterson, Rose spent last season rehabbing and conditioning his knee. Rose began to take more and more pressure for his actions as the season wore on. Rumors continued to leak that he would be back for round one or against the Heat. Still Rose sat. Why? Rose said he knew he wasn’t ready. I would be inclined to believe him. Who can say they know themselves better than the athletes themselves?

Rose could have come back and might’ve earned his team a few wins. On the other hand, he could have further damaged his knee. In the end, he had the strength of will to know his own limits. Griffin plays in a different sport. We here at the Gab question the toughness of the NBA daily and the flopping epidemic hardly helps. For Griffin, the NFL frequently asks players to suck it up and tough out injuries. Players that don’t play face scrutiny and are openly challenged. If you doubt it, ask Jay Cutler circa 2010.

I believe Griffin feels he doesn’t have much choice but to give in to what the NFL, Redskins, media, and fans are asking of him. If he was anything other than a rookie, he might be able to fight it. If it had happened before Peterson’s miraculous recovery, there’d be no issue. Griffin is stuck by the principles of his sport and the wonders of modern sports medicine. Despite all of this, we have no clues as to whether Griffin is physically or mentally ready. We have Griffin giving a brave front and sprinting, but anyone looks good in June.

Griffin has a rare talent. While many praise him for his speed, he is more of a total package similar to Randall Cunningham rather than a Michael Vick. Forcing Griffin back in too early would be an act of sacrifice. While the league would go on without him, we’d be left wondering what might have been like so many times before. The NFL should do its part to take pressure off of Griffin. I don’t think they should keep him off the field, but perhaps they could hold back some of the updates until real progress has been made. With all of the doubts surrounding the NFL’s commitment to player safety, losing a talent like Griffin would only serve to further the cries of those they’ve already chewed up.

Well, that’s all for this week. Despite it getting warmer, I’m ok with this weather. I’m hoping the rain at least means good sweet corn and a nice crop of apples. With the end of the school year and the fiancée still not settled, I believe I’ll be taking up Beeze’s challenge to do an NFL Faces of the Franchise. Feel free to begin leaving suggestions. I will make an official post about this later. Thanks as always for stopping in. I leave you with your word of the week.

Pringlelingus

Bron to Splitter...you gets none!!!

Greetings from the Hoodwood where the locals are awaiting the arrival of the lovely Princess Katie

NHL: Bruins-Blackhawks battle it out for Lord Stanley’s Cup

The Conference finals seemed to be an afterthought. The Bruins swept the Penguins in relative ease, while the Blackhawks dispatched the Kings in five close games. Patrick  Kane logged the first series clinching hat trick in the double OT finale to set up the first meeting of Original Six teams since the Canadiens defeated the Rangers in 1979. This is the probably the best matchup the NHL could hope for short of a Canadian team playing a big US market team the Bruins seem to keep pounding on you till you fold start with the gigantic Zdeno Chara Martin Lucic and David Krejci who always seem to be in position to score or set up scores. The Blackhawks are just as resilient, this is a team that has scorers all over the place. Start with the rugged Kane and continue through Jonathan Toews, and Martin Hossa the West Champs just keep coming at you. These original six teams didn’t meet in the regular season and are meeting in the postseason for the first time since 1978 but you can be sure that the respective loyal and loud fan bases will seek to add to their rich heritage with their 2^nd Cup title in the past five years. I’m seeing this series going 7 and the Bruins hoisting the Cup? Why? I just think that the Bruins are just a little better.

MLB: Puig, who IS this guy?

I heard the name and was chuckling at the name Yasiel Puig? (Pronounced Pweeg) and wondered why the Dodgers spent $42 million on a Cuban defector. But the proof is in the pudding as it stands so far. Puig had rocketed up fast in the Dodgers organization and was recalled from Double A Chattanooga where he had already become a local legend in just 40 games! Puig makes his debut in Chavez Ravine last week and has already has hit 4 homers and knocked in 10. Including an opposite field grand slam he has hit four homers in his first five games and is fast getting a rep as someone not to run on. His throws are rifle-like (see this weeks dap) and reminds me of the accurate throws of a guy named Bo Jackson who was doing that sort of thing before Puig was born (he was born in 1990) But the fast flash is often in MLB, remember Jeff Francoeur? Who I want to see Puig face is Reds fireballer (and fellow Cuban defector) Aroldis Chapman…that will be must see TV

Horse Racing: Another year no triple crown

Palace Malice won the Belmont on Saturday, and I don’t think anyone really noticed or cared. Three different horses won the jewels of the triple crown (Oxbow winning the Preakness and Orb winning the Kentucky Derby) I was at the crib playing basketball on the PS3 and had forgotten about the race not noticing that the race had been run until the notice had come across my phone. But another year has passed without a Triple Crown winner. Which makes Affirmed’s win 35 years ago that much more awe inspiring. But of course it was 40 years ago Sunday that the ultimate win in the Preakness happened. Secretariat had rallied from behind to win the Kentucky Derby (running each split faster than the next…meaning he was accelerating through the entire race.) and Preakness going away by 2 ½ lengths and was a mind-boggling 1-10 favorite to win a six horse Belmont.  As I’ve done the past two years… the 1973 Belmont

So many people bought Pari-mutuel tickets on Secretariat but didn’t cash them in as souvenirs. Hell, who would want to cash in a .20 win? Sham, the supposed rival got run into the ground and finished last. This isn’t a rip on Sham rather a celebration of a great horse and a crowning race. Everytime I see the race I get chills and think of the words of Jack Nicklaus who unashamedly admitted that he wept watching the conclusion of the race. Why? He simply said he recognized perfection in a sporting performance and it moved him to tears.

NBA: Coaching Carousel spins faster…and out of control?

Now I must confess, I’m not a George Karl fan. I’ve always thought him a hyper blowhard, someone who rants and rants and gets players to play above their level…in the regular season but always manages to blow a tire in the playoffs. Let’s look at the examples:

Item: The Karl coached Sonics were the #1 seed in 1994 with 63 wins but managed to blow a 2-0 lead in the first round of the playoffs losing at home with the famous Dikembe Mutumbo laying out on his back shouting in joy

Item: Karl leads the Sonics to a 57-25 record but is again bounced from the playoff by the Lakers (Was that the event that inspired Ice Cube to say “I had the brew, she had the chronic. The Lakers beat the Supersonics? But I digress)

Item: The Sonics finally broke through in 1996 and got to the Finals where they got thumped by the 72 win Bulls. I don’t give a shit that they won in 6, the networks weren’t having a sweep. George Karl got two gimmes.

Item: Two more 50 win seasons in the following season were to come but also two second round exits.

Item:  After leaving Seattle Karl went on to Milwaukee and got the Bucks all the way to a 7^th game of the East Finals in 2001, but the Bucks never got back that deep in the playoffs again and Karl got the gate after 2003.

Item: Landing in Denver in midseason 2005, Karl took the Nuggets to the playoffs every year and got them to the West Finals against the Lakers in 2009. But that was their only foray past the first round despite winning 50 or more games in five seasons, tying then breaking the team regular season record for wins with 57 in 2013 and being named coach of the year. But this season saw another playoff collapse as they got outgunned by the upstart Warriors in 6 games. Karl was named coach of the year but a contract dispute saw Karl be relieved of his coaching duties.

Now Karl is still a hot coaching commodity, and with many coaching vacancies coming open he will be pursued by a number of teams who are really good. The Clippers, Grizzlies and the Nets are a teams that are young hungry playoff teams but gave their respective coaches their walking papers. Del Negro wasn’t a real shocker though his teams have been underachieving every year though they did win their first division title in team history. Lionel Hollins getting the gate was a bit of surprise since the Grizzlies were coming off their deepest ever playoff run in their team history.  The NBA has had a record 12 coaching turnovers and while Gregg Popovich is no surprise as the dean of NBA coaches at 16 seasons, it’s a shock that his NBA Finals opposing coach Erik Spolestra is now 3^rd on the coaching seniority list. Spolestra was all of 26 when Pop was hired as Spurs Coach and 37 when hired as an unknown by the Heat in 2008 but he is now one of the most tenured coaches in the NBA. Ironically, the top four coaches tenure wise all have won NBA titles and the 5^th tenured Scott Brooks took his team to the NBA Finals in 2012. It seems that the head coaching position in the NBA is the most tenuous of professions with even less security than others. If you aren’t winning titles you might be getting run quickly.

NFL: Just when we thought we were clear of it

Tim Tebow was signed by the Patriots. Sully, Mo I had respect for your team until this...what kind of bullshit is this??? I know Im a Tebow detractor lashing out and I have no qualms with Tom Brady but I saw this one and could help but put it in

PHAT DAP/HEAD SLAP

Phat Dap

​Again to Puig who is not only hitting homers at a frightening clip but throwing cats out on the basepath with a sick arm...peep this with the funky drummer backbeat

Head Slap

To Chad Johnson, a player that I have always liked. Johnson was sentenced to 30 days for breaking his probation. Johnson was about to take a plea deal when he in his words “playfully” slapped his attorney on the behind. The judge Kathleen McHugh who witnessed this was not amused. Johnson got the proverbial book thrown at him and caught. Johnson who has always been very loquacious and boisterous just didn’t get the fact that you don’t play in court.  I was watching Stephen A Smith about go apoplectic over the news, not that Johnson was sentenced. But that he would do something as asinine as what he did to catch the sentence. I’ve only been in court twice, nothing major and I wasn’t even trying to smile in the court much less do something playful. You just don’t play in court. Johnson is going to cool his heels in jail for a month and any slim chance he had on making a comeback in the NFL is pretty much eradicated now.  

Thats the View From the Hoodwood for this week. Until Next week fellow sports fans!!!

**tap tap** Is this thing on?  **tap tap** testing 1-2-3.  I’m just testing out my new encrypted blogging platform, so the NSA can’t listen into today’s blog post.  The last thing I need sitting in a file somewhere is it being noted that I’m associated with some of you freaks.  

The important feature of any vibrant tavern is the talk. The barkeep hears it all, and everyone has an opinion, just like they have...a favorite team.

So with that in mind, I was watching the Kings/Blackhawks tilt Saturday night and as the game headed into double overtime the thought occurred to me: The Kings logo sucks.  Frankly it looks like some of the logos of the CFL expansion teams when they tried to break into the US market in the early 90’s.  

I started thinking about the best and the worst logos in the major sports here in the US.  In my mind the Kings and the old school Canucks logos make that list.  The best/worst logo thing is hardly a novel idea: go ahead and google it.  Tons of links.  While everyone and his brother has their opinion on the matter, I decided YGS needed to wade into that pool - if for no other reason that the SEO benefits.

In my opinion, probably the best logos are found in Minor League Baseball. There are so many whacked out logos that it’s just so hard to pick just a couple out, but the Aquasox logo is pretty damn cool.  I like the shoutout to the old school Mariners trident.  Makes me want to thrown on a Jimmy Buffett album, throw on a Hawaiian shirt and just chill out.  As an aside, the throwback to the old school Mariners’ logo points out a really regrettable time in Major League Baseball uniforms - look no further than the Mid-70’s Mariners, Astros, and Padres unis.

Here are my picks for best and worst NHL logos.  My bias seems to be on the side of artistry and thought.  The artist had to put something together that might not be clear from the team name.  What DO you do with a Canuck?  To that question I would suggest that neither the skate logo or the shark logo makes that much sense to me.  If you can’t figure out a logo for your team that makes sense, maybe you should rename the team.  I mean, the Yankees have a logo that makes sense - an Uncle Sam hat on a baseball bat.  Can’t you rubes some up with Something that makes sense?

Best NHL Logos:

Ottawa Senators  I can’t say why I like this one as much as I do.  I guess its because it harkens back to the Roman empire, and it looks like quite a bit of thought went into it.  

Colorado Avalanche  In my opinion, this certainly blows the Quebec Nordiques logo out of the water.  I like because someone got really creative - I’m not sure I know where I would go if given the assignment for creating a logo for an avalanche.  As an added bonus, they have this great Big Foot shoulder patch.

Chicago Blackhawks.  I know, right now they’re my team’s mortal enemies, but I like the logo.  Its intricate, and generally consistent over the last 90 or so years.  Check it.  I’m actually a bigger fan of the logo they used through the 1950’s and into the 60’s.  Its not without controversy, but that wasn’t one of my criteria.

Worst NHL Logos:

Carolina Hurricanes  It’s just dumb.  I mean to be the counterpoint of the avalanche - the unique take on the name - the Canes went exactly where you might think and came up with this swirling butthole logo.  I actually like their secondary logo and I wonder why they don’t make the switch.

Winnipeg Jets  Not the reconstituted logo, but the original Jets’ logo before they relocated to Phoenix, that hotbed of hockey support.  Now, I should’ve specified that I was planning to stay with only the current teams/logos, but given I hate this one so much because it’s just so...dumb, I’m breaking that rule.  I hate this one even more than the Canucks’ skate logo.

LA Kings  Pick one.  They all suck.  The old school, Lakers rip off one is quite abominable, but color scheme aside, the whole palate sucks. The only one that doesn’t suck is the mid-90’s alternate...and that comes close to sucking.

So, tell me where I screwed up here.  

As a closing thought, in light of this weeks’ news that the government has been spying on us with the help of our friends at Verizon, Google, Facebook and Skype, I’m planning to submit a Freedom of Information request to the records of the negotiations between the Red Sox and Dodgers.  I want to know how the Sox convinced the Dodgers to take on Josh Beckett AND Carl Crawford.  Gonzo is the one redeeming player on the field for LA this season, but Beckett says he may not pitch again and Crawford is on the DL...I know, shock.  Finding that out would be the only positive to come out of the whole spying thing.

Good morrrrrrrrrrrrr-ning. Welcome Gabbers and others to my NASCAR update and other fast stuff. Twas a b-u-t-ful Saturday here in PA. Started out cloudy but the sun came out to finish out the day. Great birthday BBQ for my son and and a great day to enjoy the outside. 

So that means it's Sunday. Race day. We're at the Tricky Triangle this week. Pocono Raceway. A lap around here is 2.5 miles and in a triangle. Every corner is different so setting the car up is difficult. You have to pick the turn you want the best set up on and suffer through the others. So the drivers have a double whammy going on here. It was repaved in the fall of 2011 and they're driving the new Gen 6 car. Any notes you have on setups for 2012 are junk. Qualifying was rained out this weekend so practice was limited. The cars will line up by owners points. Only 43 cars entered so all 43 are in. More about Pocono later. Lets get to the other fast stuff.

JEB BURTON WINS @ TEXAS

Jeb would be Ward Burton's son & Jeff Burton's nephew. He's got a ride in the NASCAR truck series and they were at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday. Congrats to Jeb. Nice job.

STEWART MAD @ MEDIA

After Stewart won Dover last week he of course did his media center interview and took a few of the journalists to task for their spewing out untrue info without checking up on it just to get a story out there. In recent weeks rumors have been flying that Stewart was going to fire his crew chief Steve Addington because he's been in such a slump. Stewart was mad about it and said he has a hard enough time being the owner of 3 teams and trying to keep them competitive every week without the media spreading rumors. Says Steve is staying and that his guys work hard and don't deserve the crap from the media.

AJ ALLMENDINGER UPDATE

AJ will be back in the Phoenix Racing #51 car at Pocono this weekend. Roger Penske has been letting AJ drive in some of the races for the Indy Car Series since his re-instatement from NASCAR. He says he's grateful for all that Roger has done for him and is grateful for a ride of any kind be it stock car or Indy Car. 

Besides his Indy Car races he'll be stepping into the #47 at Michigan next week which will displace Bobby Labonte. It would seem that the one car team of JTG Daugherty Racing needs a new perspective from a different driver to get a better handle on this new Gen 6 car. He will get 4 other races this year in the #47. If you have Bobby Labonte on your fantasy league you'll have to be on alert to when he's in or out of the #47. It is said he's not being permanently replaced.

BRAD KESELOWSKI FINED AGAIN

Last week Brad's car was too low after the race and didn't pass post race inspection. The crew says it was a failed part which I believe. The cars run their tolerances close and the cars bend and flex all race long handling high rates of speed and G forces. Sometimes the cars just for whatever reason don't spring back into inspection shape. At Texas Truex's car didn't pass post race inspection because of a piece of debris stuck in the spring causing it to not be able to close back up properly. 

Penalties are----> Crew Chief Paul Wolfe gets a $25,000 fine and probation till Dec 31st.

                     ----> Brad Keselowski loses 6 drivers points.

                     ----> Roger Penske loses 6 owners points.

DOVER RECAP 

My most handsome Knight of the Mobile 1 took the win. Can't believe it but he did. After his crappy struggles in mediocre land so far this year it was a pleasant surprise. There were  some engine failures and accidents. AND a controversy between 2 drivers. Mostly it was just funny to here Jimmie whine and Montoya just shrug his shoulders. 

So lets talk about how we got to that point in the race. First they dropped the green flag with Hamlin on the pole and he takes the lead. Gordon immediately starts his whinning about the car not having any grip. 

By lap 24 Kyle takes the lead. Jimmie is in 21st fighting loose and Danica has tagged somebody and needs to pit for tires and a fender check up. She's 3 laps down now.

After first set of green flag pit stops aroung lap 65 Kyle still leading. Stewart is 1 lap down and Jimmie is barely on the lead lap.

Caution on lap 79 for debris sees Stewart as the free pass recipient or Lucky Dog. A big break for those that need more adjustments.

Kyle is still leading, Gordon is still whining in 16th, Jimmie is up to 14th and Danica is like waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back there and 3 laps down.

Kenseth beats Kyle off pit road after caution #2 on lap 127. He keeps that lead till lap 158 when his motor goes pooooof. Kyle takes the lead back. Jimmie is creeping up.

Lap 207 Jimmie takes the lead. Truex, Kyle, Hamlin and Kahne are your top 5.

Lap 223 sees Casey Mears in 13th!!!!! What?Lap 279 Truex is smoking. Another Toyota motor goes poooof. Jimmie maintains the lead.

Lap 300 sees Newman lose his mind. He takes out David Gilliland and himself. I guess the fighting over track position got a bit fierce and Gilliland wasn't giving in. Funny thing. Since NASCAR laid down the law with the lower under funded Start & Park teams, they aren't laying down so easy any more. We're going to see way more of this. It has the potential to change championship dreams. Actually it is changing the championship landscape already.

84 laps to go and Kahne goes around all by himself. There's a caution and Logano gets that free pass. 

24 to go Hamlin bounces off the wall when his right front tire goes down. Extended stay on pit road trying to get the fender bent out to put a tire on. And now we have our set up for the end. Montoya got out of the pits first with Jimmie second. It's restart time. Cars bunch up, they get to the restart area, Montoya doesn't take off but Jimmie does. He reaches the start finish line before Montoya and half a lap later he's black flagged. 

Rule states that all cars be in 2 lines and bunched up. The leader is to hit the line on the other side of the starting box first or the flag man starts the race at the start finish line with the wave of the green flag. Jimmies nose was clearly 6 to 8 inches ahead of Montoya. Jimmie says that Montoya hung back and never went. He also said he tried to give it back to Montoya but he wouldn't speed up. He says Montoya did what he would consider that flopping thing in the NBA and that as racers you have to exploit all angles and Montoya played it well. He plans on talking with NASCAR about this rule to make it clearer. Dover is a small track with a small restart area but a track like Indy has a much larger one and it's conceivable that he could trap 3 to 5 guys down by doing what Montoya did.

Montoya says that Jimmie hung back before they got to the restart area and mistimed his take off. He says Jimmie would've passed him any way but wanted to get a jump on me so he wouldn't have to deal with me. He had the dominant car in the end but lost the race through mistiming. It's all good. It's racing.

I see where Jimmie is coming from but I see he's whining too. The rule is pretty cut and dry but as of lately there's been some gamesmanship at restarts. Will NASCAR step in? Don't know.

Top 15 finishers - Stewart - Montoya - Gordon - Keselowski - Bowyer - Logano - Harvick - Martin - Dale Jr - Burton - Kurt B - Stenhouse - Edwards - Biffle

​                       

POCONO PREVIEW

Rain has put a damper on things but we should be racing today. The rain out rules put Jimmie on the pole to start the race. This will be a long grueling race. It was shortened from 500 to 400 miles in 2012. Richard Petty won the first Cup race here in 1974. Again Mark Martin holds a lot of records here. He has 52 starts , 3 poles, 7 - 2nd place finishes, 20 top 5's and 34 top 10's. Gordon has 6 W's, 18 top 5's and 28 top 10's. Johnson has a 9.0 finishing average. 

The Tricky Triangle eats motors and transmissions. It's shape is a triangle so there's lots of shifting. Track position is key here. You have to get all you can when there's a restart because the cars spread out quickly. 

Last years top 10 finishers - Logano - Martin - Stewart - Johnson - Hamlin - Bowyer - Kenseth - Dale Jr - Menard - McMurray - Edwards - Newman - Ambrose - Harvick - Burton

Kyle B lost a motor, Kahne and Allmendinger had accidents and Biffle lost a cylinder but maintained the 24th spot as the last car on the lead lap. Martin and Logano battled it out in the last laps with Logano doing a bump & run on Martin for the win.

So this year I'd say the Toyotas will be tuned down. There was a meeting with all the Toyota teams about the 6 motors that have gone poof. Two were last week. This race and Michigan the motors are to be tuned down to emphasize endurance and durability instead of speed.

So that being said, I'm not sure where you'll see Kyle B this week. Wrecker or checker. That's a tough one.

Team mates Hamlin & Kenseth should be good but will they have the power on restarts? The MWR guys Bowyer, Truex & Martin will face that same issue. Will talent be enough for these 6 guys?

Johnson needs to stop making stupid mistakes. What is up with him these days? Should see a top 10. Actually a win.

Dale Jr will be Mr Steady Eddie coming into a quiet top 10.

McMurray has been knocking and little things keep him down. Last week it was a flat tire while he was in 9th with 72 to go. 

Montoya hasn't figured out this track yet.

Stewart and Newman could find their way up to the top 10. Are the handling issues figured out?

Logano won last year. But this is a new year and new car and new team. I'm thinking he'll over come all that. Team mate Keselowski should be up there too.

C listers to watch for. David Ragan #34, Travis Kvapil #93, Dave Blaney #7, David Gilliland #38 (if Newman doesn't take him out again) and Ricky Stenhouse #17. Apparently Bobby Labonte is a B lister this year because he did so well last year. I missed that. Mostly because I wasn't looking for him on my Yahoo picks till recently. 

I did change my ESPN picks. Now I'm not sure about my picks with the announcement Toyota made about tuning down the motors to save them. This has been a tough season to gage. But you know it's onward and upward we go. Another race. Another day. 

I hope you all have a great weekend with the celebration of graduations, anniversaries, new beginnings and just any excuse you can find for firing up that grill, popping the top on a favorite beverage, toasting good friends and family and or just enjoying the day. Cheers Gabbers and others and...

I'm outta here......