I really have struggled this week to get anything on this blog. It has been a crazy week starting last Thursday. Last Thursday at 5:15 Middle Lanz got a call they needed an extra guy in his Babe Ruth League. For a%:45 game. The problem was that he promised his Lacrosse coach he would be at practice because he has only gone to Wednesday skills practice because of Baseball. He played the baseball game and ended up leaving early for Lacrosse practice. I stayed and watched the end of the baseball game the Mrs. took him to Lacrosse.

The kids at Lacrosse were getting ready for a drill they didn’t start and one of his knucklehead teammates wound up and whacked him on the side of the head with his stick. Yes, he should have stayed at baseball. He complained about a headache that night, and it was still there on Saturday when he went to the doctor. He has a concussion and will miss Lax and baseball until the headache clears for a week it hasn’t. The other kid is suspended until he returns. He did convince the Doc. To let him ref soccer on the weekends as a sideline official

Speaking of Soccer best wishes to brother official Ricardo Portico’s family. As we all have heard the sorry he was punched by a 17 year old after a call and later died. As a three sport Official people take some of these games way to seriously. I have been screamed at while changing after a baseball game, I have been threatened during a football game when an ambulance showed up for a hurt player and father whose son got ejected by rule for two personnel fouls said there is the ambulance for the referee.

No Official should have to be subjected to that kind of crap. I think B.O.B. asked earlier this week why we do it. Usually, because it’s fun, you stay involved and if you’re calm and professional out there and set an example the kids respond well to it. None of us go out there and have a fear that a player or parent will be that extreme. However, we attend rules meetings constantly and are being taught how to avoid it and handle of it does arise.

The best advice I have gotten is from one of our baseball rules inturpator said if you had a bad game get in the car and drive away. I always park far away when doing baseball or a Youth sport just avoid any conflicts.

I hope the 17 year old gets what he deserves there is no excuse for that crap in recreational sports. I will say more often than not people thank you or say good job at the end.of game but there are always a few.

NHL Update

The Boston Bruins took a commanding 3-1 games lead against Toronto,+ What about that dumb ass Maple Leafs fan that held up the Toronto Stronger sign Monday Night at the Air Canada Centre what a meat head.

No surprises with the Hawks and a 3-1 series lead with the Wild. The Penguins have all they can handle with the NY Islanders as the series is even at 2. Meanwhile Montreal and Ottawa have had a nasty battle but the Senators are up 3-1. The rangers came back nicely after being down 2-0. Both the Ducks and the Kings are up 3-2.The Sharks have sent the Sedin brothers packing eliminating the Canuacks 4-0.

The Boston Red Sox were one of the surprise teams early on in baseball but after a weekend series in Texas and being swept by the Rangers and then struggling with the Twins this week at home losing 5 of 6 and are tied now with the Orioles for first place.

That’s all I have.

Welcome to Wednesday, where the order of the night was to have a beer and enjoy the arrival of spring before getting down to writing. I’ve been enjoying my share of baseball lately. The Tiger bats have come in with spring. Still, the weathers been nice enough that it’s been hard to really give much time to watch a game.

We don’t get a long spring here. We usually come out the deep freeze and into the fryer. Plus, I have to enjoy being out there until the ice cream trucks come. I used to love those things as a kid. Now the music alone is enough to want to block off my street. Not to mention the prices… Also, does anyone know if they still have those WWF ice cream bars? Scott?

Baseball has been on my mind most here. I’m intrigued by the race between the Tigers and the Royals. The Royals always had good, young position players. The problem was that they couldn’t develop pitchers. If they could (Grienke), they could only keep them until their rookie contracts ran out. This offseason they brought in some arms and it is paying off. As BOB mentioned, the Tribe is coming up too. Just in time for a weekend series. Could be my dad’s time to gloat…

What happened to that vaunted Phillies starting rotation? Roy Halladay (a guy I’ve always liked) had only 2 wins in 6 outings with an 8.65 Era before his trip to the DL. That’s coming off a 2012 season that saw his lowest win total in 8 years. There’s a lot to like about Halladay. When he’s on, he’s a force. He had a four year streak of 200+ strikeout seasons culminating with 220 in 2011. What’s even better is that he disparaged Yankee Nation. When everyone was ready to see him in pinstripes in 2009-2010, Halladay stunned everyone by going to Philly. Incredibly, Halladay and the Phils have never put things together to win a World Series. I’d say the bats aged too much to help Halladay and co. I’m sure Halladay can pull it together when he’s healthy. If not, I wonder what this does to all the Hall of Fame talk?

Speaking of HOF talk, everyone’s friends at ESPN asked the question: who is the best right handed pitcher in baseball? Your options were Yu Darvish, Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, and other. Darvish came in second in the polls, though most folks explained they’d rank JV and King Felix ahead of him. Darvish is off to a hell of a start with a record of 5-1 and a 2.56 ERA. He was pretty close to perfection. Still, it’s unknown if he has the longevity of Verlander or Hernandez yet. There’s no need to rush Darvish into these kinds of talks. Of course, like most Japanese players, there is the unfortunate fact that he spent 7 seasons playing in Japan. He did not pitch a single game his first two seasons or at least is not credited with any stats.

 I wonder how close we might be to MLB teams getting guys like Darvish or Ichiro as truly young prospects? Can you imagine how much more reverence Ichiro would have if he had played in the US his entire career? On the flip side, others may wonder if Ichiro would boast the same career numbers if he had started here. Still, I’d be interest to see MLB clubs start to challenge the Japan Pacific League for younger players.

Now, I know it’s been said by many here before, but why doesn’t Tim Duncan get more credit in today’s NBA? This guy was raised for the NBA by the great David Robinson. He was groomed playing against the likes of Shaq, Olajuwan, and Ewing. Looking at players like Dwight Howard, it remains to be seen if we’ll ever really see a player like Duncan again. That saddens me. I used to love watching the bigs tussle down low. I modeled my own game after it. Physical play down low is an aspect of the game that I just don’t see on any level anymore. It’s more likely in college, but it gets abandoned quickly in the pros. Duncan still does things the right way. Granted he has a nice mid-short range jumper, but he gets it done in the post and on the boards too. He’s gotten awards and ranks well historically, but Duncan doesn’t have the flair to rank in the SportsCenter world.

Players like Duncan have me pulling hard for the Spurs. The Spurs built themselves up the right way: drafts and smart trades. Ginobli was the 57^th overall pick in the 1999 draft. Mind you this was the draft with a top five of Elton Brand, Stever Francis, Baron Davis, Lamar Odom, and Jonathon Bender. Now, these guys had decent careers, but Manu and the Spurs have 4 titles since then.  Of course, the Spurs had picked Leon Smith with the 29^th pick. Parker was their 28^th overall pick just 2 years later. The Spurs fly in the face of big threes. That’s why you gotta love em. Of course, I cut Thunder fans slack too.

After all the flap about James not winning the MVP unanimously, I have one answer: change the award. The fact that the award is given to the most valuable player lends itself to arguments like the one made in favor of Carmelo Anthony. Call it the League’s Best or something. That way you can assure it goes to the best player, though it usually finds its way there anyways.

Well, that’s all for this week. Hope you all have been pulling yourselves away from the NBA/NHL playoffs and MLB to enjoy the weather. If not, be sure to. Thanks as always for stopping in. I leave you with your word of the week.

Congratsturbating

Creating a problem that affects millions of people, then praising oneself for fixing the small part of the problem that affects you and then masturbating.

Coined by Jon Stewart

'Did you hear Susan Collins saying how proud she was that Congress passed a bill to speed up air travel?'

“Yeah that bitch is just congratsturbating.'

Does Anyone know where I can put this one in my house?

Greetings from the Hoodwood, where the locals are celebrating the 25^th anniversary of the “Have another donut” rant by Devils coach Jim Schonefeld to ref Don Koharski. Make mine cinnamon…what will you have?

NBA:  Lebron not unanimous?

To absolutely no ones surprise Heat F LeBron James won his 4^th MVP award garnering 120 of the 121 votes. Making him only the 2^nd player to win a near unanimous MVP,  Shaq was near his apex with the Lakers in 1999-2000 he was also one vote shy.  But the problem I have isn’t the fact that LeBron wasn’t unanimous though he should have been. Right now at 28, LBJ is the best player on the planet and being a big Kevin Durant fan I can say that without reservation. My problem is what the one voter,  Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe voted. Not that he voted against James, but that he voted for…wait for it. Carmelo Anthony. Carmelo fuckin’ Anthony! Now please don’t take my increudity at Washburn’s vote as a dis toward the prolific Knicks scorer whom Ive always had a bit of a soft spot for. I just don’t think that beyond being the reason the Knicks were a 54 win team was a reason that he would be in the serious running for MVP. If there would have been a holdout case, make it for Kevin Durant but Carmelo Anthony? I see that and think of one of my favorite quotes from the 2000 version of Shaft when Christian Bale replied to the query posed to him bad guy drug dealer played by Jeffery Wright when asked if he could land him some upscale clients. “Entre Nous? No Fucking Way.” I disagree with Washburn’s assertion that Melo being on a 54 win Knicks team is more important than the iconoclastic James making the Heat a near legendary team with their 27 game win streak being the closest a team has gotten to the iconic 33 game win streak the Lakers set a generation ago.  Im sure that without James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh would be hard pressed to keep the Heat at elite status.  I know that there is a tendency to get tired of voting for the same guy every year. Which explains why Barkley won in 93 and Malone in 97 when Jordan should have been getting an assembly line of the trophies from 90-98.  I wonder if Washburn was the dissenting vote for the Shaq MVP vote?

NBA: Conference Semis start off tense...

The conference semifinals in the NBA have started with high drama but not the usual suspects. Both LA teams are gone. The Lake Show having been closed out, and the Clippers joining them on the sidelines after the Grizzlies spotted them two wins in LA then storming back to win four straight. The Warriors won a contentious series with the Nuggets in 6 as Steph Curry absolutely sparkled. The Bulls raced out to a 3-1 lead let the Nets back in the series to a game 7 in Brooklyn but rolled to an easy win. The Thunder dawdled in dispatching the Rockets in first losing at the buzzer in game 4 looking disinterested in a game 5 rout loss in OKC before realizing that they were playing an 8 seed and dispatching the Rockets in game 6. Meanwhile the Spurs and Heat sat back and watched the other teams fight it out while they rested after dispatching the Lakers and Bucks in effortless sweeps but now the question is rest vs rust. The Heat struggled to find their rhythm early as they have a tendency but seemed to pull ahead in the 4^th. But shockingly came apart late in the game and the Bulls ran a 10-0 blitz late to stun the defending champs and steal game 1. The Spurs were down early and often but clawed back from 18 down late in the 3rd to force OT then made shot after big shot capped by a stunning 3  by Manu Ginobili. Damn, I hate the Spurs they always seem to fuckin win. They win a 2OT thriller 129-127 to survive game 1.

NHL: Working OT

The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs have epic written all over them, many a solid storyline. The Caps won a 1-0 OT thriller on Saturday only to the Rangers bounce back strong to win game 3. The Maple Leafs back in the playoffs for the first time in 9 years won the split the first two games in Boston to snag home ice advantage. With a party atmosphere in Toronto, the Bruins ruined the party by spanking the Leafs and snatching home ice back. An all-Canada series between Ottawa and Montreal has gotten downright nasty as the Sens and Habs are just proving that they just don’t like one another.  The Sens routed the Habs 6-1 in Ottawa to the Canadian Capitals delight who love to pound their haughty French Canadian neighbors. My beloved Red Wings got smacked around in games 1 and 3 by a talented Ducks squad but stole games 2 and 4 in overtime thrillers. This series is going to be a frequent flyer series as the series heads to Anaheim and will come back to Hockeytown for game 6. Do you think that the Wings are glad to be moving to the Eastern conference? The Wild looked to be down and out as they got spanked by the Hawks in Chi-town the first two games. But the Wild pulled a game 3 OT stunner and wont go quiet.  The only real walkover is the Canucks-Sharks series as the Canucks once again are playing way below expectations. Despite winning the Northwest division the Canucks  dropped a pair of fairly tight contests in GM place in Vancouver then got straight housed Sunday Night as the Sharks steamrolled them 5-2 smoking Canucks Cory Schneider with 3 goals in the 3^rd in a 3 ½ minute span breaking open a 2-1 game. This series may just as well be over and yet another disappointing spring run for the Canucks will be added.

NFL: Is Chris Kluwe getting the shaft for his stance?

Punter Chris Kluwe has been one that has been on the forefront of his support of gay marriage and has been quite vocal about it. Whether you agree with his support of it is on your conscience and thinking. But some head are being scratched that Kluwe who averaged 45 yards a punt (gross) last year was cut by the Vikings after they drafted Jeff Locke of UCLA (the same school Kluwe came from ironically) but his 39 yards net on his punts ranked him in the bottom third of the league and many think that his best kicking days are behind him. There are some though that think that the reason that he was cut was because there were those that were not in favor of his stance on gay marriage and that the Vikings were under growing pressure to release Kluwe as an example to keep others mum on the subject. I hope that it was the numbers and politics that led to Kluwe’s release. I also hope that he will catch on somewhere. Someone of his talent on and off the field is needed.

PHAT DAP/HEAD SLAP

Phat Dap

To my buddy Jason Wilson. Wilson, who is the president and CEO of his own construction company in the greater Cincinnati area ran a 3:14 in the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati over this past weekend. Wilson qualified for the vaunted Boston Marathon next year and I just have to give him dap for being a better runner on his worst day than I could ever be on my best. The furthest I run is on the softball diamond.

Head Slap

To former NBA player Chris Gatling. Gatling who played with a number of teams in an 12 year NBA career was accused of squatting, breaking into a lock box for a house in a Phoenix suburb  then living there for better than a year. The actual owners lived in California but had kept the power on. Gatling then tried to rent out the house on Craigslist for $800 a month.  You have to think that a person that gives someone dap after they posterized cant be all that bright...see below.

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Thats The View From The Hoodwood...Until Next Post Fellow Sports Fans!

As proprietor of the wildly popular Mo’s Tavern, I have recently come into some money – seems those old “Duffs At Mo’s 2008” t-shirts I had in the basement have become something of a collectors item.  Being the wise businessman I am, I’ve reinvested the windfall back into the business.  Opening this week is the beer delivery via drone.  Now, with this massive reinvestment in commercializing military technology, it does mean there will be a slight price increase – what with the sequester of military funding and all – but I’m sure $53 Fred Lites won’t dramatically affect business.  And hell, it turns out beer is a health food, so there's no reason not to enjoy!  

Now, let me just put to rest the rumor that due to all my financial success that I was the target of Crystal, the seductress, who pilfered $96-lerge from a guy after seducing and drugging him.  I will admit that some chick borrowed $30 from me once and never gave it back...I guess she would be Crystal Light. [click here] (an homage to Larry Nutball)

The Atlanta Falcons have proposed a $1-Billion stadium complete with seats that resonate with hits on the field.  The Falcons.  Say that to yourself again – The Falcons…$1-Billion stadium.  Sunk in yet?   The Falcons.  The idea is to “lure back NFL fans who prefer to watch the game on television.  ”  You know what would lure fans to the stadium WITHOUT spending $1-Billion?  Fielding a good team.  That’s really all that’s required.  Make the pricing affordable, the concessions reasonable, and the on-field product good.  The one time Atlanta has been at the center of a world class event – the 1996 Olympics – we remember the bombing, not the sports.  I mean, Turner Field remains, but the artifacts of the games are barely recognizable.  This is a city that sees itself as world class, but no way to draw people in – this is a means to do that.  Let’s face it, “The World of Coca Cola” isn’t really enough to bring in the crowds. 

Seems to me, though, this idea comes at a pretty steep price.  You’re not getting a World Cup.  You MAY get a Super Bowl, but let’s ask Jacksonville how well the Super Bowl thing worked out.   I guess I’m just having a hard time seeing how building this thing helps the NFL – I can see it now, give it a few years and it’ll be the home of the Georgia Bulldogs, and be as high tech as the Game Cube. 

I complain about stuff like this all the time – no less than 50% of the time I’m demonstrably wrong.  I thought the “Winter Classic” was a stunt and a stupid idea.  I was wrong.  I thought the Royals signing Zach Grinke was a bad idea.  The Red Sox were going to suck in 2013.   I was wrong.  I’m pretty sure I’m not wrong about this.  Here’s what’s really happening.  Fulton County is ponying up some $200-Million in hotel taxes to fund the place – the architects are presenting their most lavish plan, let everyone use that $1-Billion as their psychological anchor point, and then they’ll come down to a less-unreasonable vision that people will feel like they got a bargain for.  It’s a giant game, especially considering the Georgia Dome is really still viable – it’s just not world class.

Since I’ve touched on the Olympics – if only in passing – I’m here to begin petitioning for a coffee spilling event.  I would be the reigning world champion – quite possibly there wouldn’t be another country able to field a team that could compete with me.  I’m the best at what I do, baby.  Olympic gold for spilling coffee.  It would seem that if the FDA has it's way, however, those of us who exist solely to ingest caffeine are seeing the resurrection of an attack on our favorite chemical - meaning of course, there will be no Olympic competition, and this makes me sad.

We move from the debacle of coffee spills and outlandish stadium designs to a far more happy controversy.  I say it’s happy because, frankly, it’s a time honored controversy.  We’re not talking steroids, we’re not talking ownership debasing the game.  We’re talking whether Clay Bucholtz is illegally doctoring the baseball: is he throwing spitballs?  In the time honored tradition of Gaylord Perry, it seems Mr Bucholtz has been called out.  The real issue here is this little nugget buried in the linked article: “in the year after he posted a 4.56 ERA without a stain on his sleeve he has an MLB-best 1.01 ERA and is throwing the baseball better than anybody in the major leagues.”  Now there could be more than one reason for that – not the least of which is his previous pitching coach is now the manager, but let’s face facts: there’s something fishy going on and it’s not a coincidence it was in Toronto where he was called out.  Underperforming AL East Opponents?  Yeah, it’s the spitballs that are causing that 10-20 start. 

I'm off to go tend to my beer drones.  Belly up to the drone!  Beer is healthy!  

WOO HOOOOOOOO!!!! HOWDY!!!! Good day and good morning. Welcome Gabbers and others to my NASCAR update and other fast stuff. It's Sunday. It's Cinco De Mayo too. I think that means have a drink with your chinchilla in the carport. No oblo espanisho. So I really can't tell you what it means but I think my chinchilla would love a drink in the carport. Just can't let him near the grill. His fur would go up in seconds. Safety first you know. So how are all your fantasy leagues doing? I was checking out teams and their DL's. Did you know the NYY have $46 million on the DL? Jeter and A-Rod are $45 million of that. INSANE!!!!!!! EL STUPIDO!!!!!!! Add in Teixeira and that's another $23 million. OBSCENE!!!!! AND AGAIN EL STUPIDO!!!! What do these guys do to earn that much? The rest of the team is over paid too. 

KYLE PETTY CHARITY RIDE IN PROGRESS

Kyle Petty, son of Richard Petty is on the move. As of April 27th he started his 19th charity motor cycle ride to benefit the Victory Junction Camp which is a hospital disguised as a camp ground. More than 7650 children with chronic medical issues have attended this special camp at no cost to the families due to the donations from Kyle's ride. 

There will be more than 175 motor cycles riding from Idaho to Wyoming to Colorado and on to Arizona on Friday the 3rd of May. 

Kyle says it started out as just a small group of friends out riding from track to track across the country. Hershel Walker of NFL fame is on his 8th ride this year. He enjoys the camaraderie among the riders and watching Kyle interact with the fans and donors along the route. 

You can check out the charity ride through....www.kylepettycharityride.com or facebook.com/KP charityride.

On May 12th it's the 24th annual Mothers Day Convoy for Make A Wish. Truckers compete to see who can get the most donations. Kids get to ride in the trucks as they make their way from Lancaster to Ephrata and back along the Amish Autobahne, Rte 222. It is the coolest thing to sit on the shoulder of a highway and watch the trucks go by. 

On May 18th it's the 60th annual Sertoma Chicken BBQ at Long's Park outside of Lancaster, PA. It's a Guiness Book certified event. Over 25,000 chicken dinners will be served. For $9 you get a half chicken, beverage, roll, chips, banana, candy and ice cream. 

Profits benefit upkeep of Long's Park, it's petting zoo and amphitheater which has free summer concerts. 

So if you're bored and in PA for the 12th or 18th you can see clowns chasing people before the trucks take off for the convoy or go get a chicken dinner. Nice choices.

RICHMOND RECAP

This would be a picture of the squirrel that took out my Yahoo fantasy league. Yup. He took himself pretty much out along with Mark Martin and Brian Vickers. Like I said before about Kasey Kahne. He's a talented squirrel. He's either brilliantly winning the race or he's wrecking. The week I pick him he drives like a squirrel possessed and takes out my fantasy team. BOOOOO!!!! ROCKIE YOU ARE NOT!!!!! Go crawl inside Bullwinkle's hat. Bad squirrel.

Actually almost every driver was possessed last week. It looked like Bristol and not Richmond. I was in shock watching it. Kurt Busch was a ping pong ball. I think he bounced off everybody. He almost got the win but pit stops were not in his favor. He did ping pong his way to a 9th place finish in the ensuing Green/White Checker finish as well as a run in with Stewart, Kenseth and Truex on the track, Stewart on pit road and Stewart in the garage area. Christmas card bets anyone?

I really thought it was Montoya's night. Montoya stayed out of the pits and inherited the lead at caution #8 with 74 to go. He ran away from Harvick and it looked like it was his race. His day. He kept the lead through 2 cautions and 68 laps but the last caution with 6 to go was it. Harvick snatched his win away with the last restart. He was a good sport about it though. A 4th ain't so bad considering how bad his season was last year. I mean he did blow up the jet dryer at Daytona.

Top 15 finishers - Harvick - Bowyer - Logano - Montoya - Burton - Edwards - Kenseth - Almirola - Kurt B - Dale Jr - Gordon - Johnson - Menard - Allmendinger - Newman

PENALTY UPDATE

Penske lost their first appeal of the rear end housing debate. They get one more appeal and it's with the top dawg at the National Stock Car Racing Panel. We'll see how that goes.

NASCAR SAFETY MEETING

NASCAR called a crew chief meeting to talk about safety at the track. In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing NASCAR wanted the crew chiefs to get with their teams and other personnel to keep a closer watch in the garage area as well as the pits and any where someone could leave things that don't belong there. If it looks out of place then say something. A broader focus on safety and awareness is now on. 

TALLADEGA SPEEDWAY PREVIEW

Remember this car? You may have forgotten since it hangs out in the back all race long. This would be Danica. Speed is her thing so this 2.5 mile track is up her alley. I expect her to get a top 10. She was 8th at Daytona. So...it could happen.

It would be Bobby Labonte's 700th career start come this Sunday. Cinco De Wow - O. His record at Dega is 1 pole - 1 win - 6 top 5's - 13 top 10's and he's led 154 laps. GO BOBBY!!!!

So last years top 10 finishers were - Keselowski - Kyle B - Kenseth - Kahne- Biffle - Bowyer - Ragan - Bayne - Dale Jr - Burton 

With 7 to go Kurt B took a spin then on the restart Allmendinger blocks Hamlin who bobs and weaves and takes out everyone up front. 

So in the present it's been raining all week in Alabama. There's a 60% chance of rain on race day. Qualifying was rained out so the field was set by practice speeds, owners points and champions provisionals. Edwards gets the starting spot but it's not considered the pole. I can not begin to explain how you get the first spot and no credit for a pole position. NASCAR confounds me with all the twisty turny stuff sometimes. Lets move on now. Shall we?

Hamlin has gotten medical clearance to start the race but the first caution he must exit the car and let Vickers drive. The reason for him even starting is that if he starts the race, he gets the points. Not the relief driver. So if any one still has Vickers you best drop him. His points will be Hamlin's. It takes a good 3 minutes to switch out drivers so he may go down a lap under caution. Since it's been raining I'm betting NASCAR has a competition caution around lap 30 or so. Either that or a phantom debris caution just so Hamlin can get out of the car. I'm sure they're nervous about him being in the race.

This is a crap shoot as far as races go but there are some guys you can expect to be there in the end on most speedway races. Johnson is one of them. Dale Jr, Keselowski, Edwards, Kenseth, Kyle B, Stewart, Bowyer, Truex and Biffle.

Others that are there after wrecks cause opportunity are Burton who has benefited on numerous occasions after a speedway wreck. Almirola, Gilliland, Ambrose, David Ragan and Mears. 

Avoid Gordon and Kyle B. Both had issues last week. Looks like a rerun of last year. Who will screw up one point less than the other to get in the Chase. 

Logano is still hanging in there. He has a 4th place start. 

Michael Waltrip starts 14th in the #55. Martin is vacationing away from the Dega Crap Shoot. If you need a C lister he'd fit the bill. 

I'm still expecting a break out with McMurray and Montoya. They're both getting closer every week.

My Yahoo picks this week? Kenseth, Edwards, Dale Jr & Patrick. I'm hoping my race winner and top 10 picks aren't sitting on the bench like last week. Kahne needs to stay away from my team. 

This would be Gordons Dega car. Nice huh? I like it Don't pick it though. 

REPORT CARD FOR 2013 GEN 6 CAR

------>1,203 more green flag passes than last year after 9 races.

------>Average margin of victory .634 seconds compared to last years 1.759 seconds.

------>49.9% of cars finishing on the lead lap. Up from 38.2% from last year.

------>83.2% of the cars running at the end of the race. Up 3% from last year.

So I guess the car is doing what it's supposed to. Go really fast and turn left. The reason there's more cars running at the end is because NASCAR made rules to discourage Start & Park teams. They all try to finish now. It's good and bad. Good for competition and bad if a power house team car has a bad day. They can't count on gaining a whole lot of spots any more from the back. It used to be you knew there'd be 6 to 10 cars out by lap 75 so if you had a bad day you wouldn't be worse than about 30th. Not now. Tough racing.

COOL FISH STORY

If you look this up on You Tube or Grindtv.com there's a great video. These guys were out swordfish fishing and they hook a 600 lb swordfish. Problem is an equally huge Mako shark decides he wants that swordfish too. He body slams the boat. He also mauls the swordfish. Great video. Wish I could figure out how to move videos. Worth a look up. 

Kirk and James of Metallica played a great rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at a SF Giants game too. Also worth a look up.

Any who, it's Sunday. We got Gabbers traveling. I hope they're safe. Hope your day is filled with the happening of your choice. Be it swordfish fishing, Yuengling guzzling, bear hugging, grilling, chasing your neighbors pet flamingos out of your yard or breakfast with great company. Do it well and enjoy your day and....

I'm outta here.....