Dillon's Image, Reputation Will Struggle If Grandpa/Owner Keeps Stepping In

It was nice to see a little beating and banging return to Bristol Motor Speedway during Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Thunder Valley. With the beating and banding came some of the fiery tempers that once were synonymous with the racetrack.

The biggest sign that Bristol was “back” as people are saying was when the seemingly most even-keeled personality in the sport, Trevor Bayne, confronted a driver after the race finished. In the waning laps of the race Bayne and Austin Dillon were running hard side-by-side when Dillon lost control of his car and wrecked Bayne, who was running for a top five finish in a rare Nationwide Series start for him this season, due to lack of sponsorship. 

 

The incident mirrored another one involving Dillon earlier in the race when the driver of the number three Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet wrecked fellow Nationwide regular Justin Allgaier. That incident irritated Allgaier enough to slam into the side of Dillon’s car under caution. 

Bayne’s confrontation with Dillon reportedly occurred on pit road after ESPN’s telecast of the race had gone off the air. According to NASCAR reporters on the scene the two drivers engaged in a heated conversation that didn’t turn that physical, but did include each driver laying his hands on the other at different points. The angry chat was reportedly broken up after a bit when Dillon’s car owner and grandfather Richard Childress stepped in. This is the part that annoys me. 

Childress, despite being the car owner and especially because of being Dillon’s grandfather, really has no business stepping in between two kids in their early ‘20s hashing out things over an on-track incident. You’ve got to let the drivers handle themselves in this situation and what Childress did was actually a great disservice to Dillon, because it makes it seem like Dillon can’t hold his own among other driver or fight his own fights. To be a tough driver and frankly a man in the sport of NASCAR you’re going to have to learn to fight your own fights or others will push you around. 

Dillon, who is one of the more smaller and unintimidating (he oddly uses the old “Intimidator” Dale Earnhardt’s car number) drivers in the sport, is often seen wearing a cowboy hat at the racetrack, but I’ve got some news for him, having your granddaddy step in for you when the heat is on is far from “cowboying up”. Now, I know that Dillon probably didn’t call his grandfather and car owner over during the middle of the confrontation, but he definitely should let Childress know that him butting in will effectively damage his image and reputation.   

Too Much Preseason NFL On My TV

Well, NFL fans are you tired of football yet? 

Enjoy watching this guy while you can!

I had someone say to me recently that they were already fatigued with NFL coverage this year. My response to them was that the season hadn’t even started yet, but I knew why they were tired of the game already. It’s because they’ve had meaningless preseason football games, and a lot of them at that, already shoved down their throat. 

Sports media overdoes football coverage, which is very obvious to people who consider something other than the sport of football to be their favorite, but it’s almost as if it’s starting to become ludicrous, ESPN, after all, did air multiple high school games over the last weekend. There has been at least one, many times more, preseason NFL games on a major television network almost every day since the preseason started. This greatly outnumbers the type of preseason programming shown for other sports and frankly almost exceeds the amount of regular season games you see broadcast of certain sports on these same networks. 

I know that football is so much more popular than the next most popular sport in this country, but I don’t understand the asininity of broadcasting, watching and talking about all of these meaningless games. Do you really care that much about who’s going to win the third-string quarterback gig for the Dallas Cowboys or seeing players that won’t play two downs all season long show their stuff for an entire half? 

You won't be seeing this guy play either!

I’m a football fan, though it might not sound like it from this admitted rant, but part of the reason why preseason football coverage bothers me so much is that I feel late season baseball division races get shafted by networks, specifically ESPN, for stuff that doesn’t mean anything as soon as the NFL regular season begins. I understand that you’re excited about a new football season, believe it or not, I am too, but by networks airing so much preseason football and by you watching so much preseason football all you’re really doing is spoiling the appeal and excitement of that first game of the regular season.           

The Worst Fantasy Football Draft Pick Ever Made ...

Last night during my fantasy football league draft I was witness to what might likely be the worst fantasy football draft pick ever made.

The first selection in the draft was a major surprise when new Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning was taken first overall. I think this is a bad selection, but it’s definitely a high-risk-high-reward pick that will probably work out well for the player.

The second selection in the draft was Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who will likely be the first quarterback taken in many fantasy football drafts this season and is a great selection.

Then came the third pick, which was taken by one of the league’s players in the blink of an eye without a second guess, and it was so dumbfounding and idiotic that I almost missed my own first round selection out of sheer shock at what I had just witnessed. This league member drafted Kansas City Chiefs running back Peyton Hillis, a player that likely should’ve gone undrafted in our relatively small league, third overall above any other running back. I mean, come on, Peyton Hillis is probably not even dumb enough to draft Peyton Hillis third overall in his own fantasy football league.

Now I’ve talked many times before in my life, even a time or two on this very podcast, about the stupidity and idiocy of sports fans and this fantasy football pick is just another example of it. I’ve heard and seen sports homers time after time, but taking Peyton Hillis, who is likely the Chiefs second string back behind Jamaal Charles, third overall just because he’s a fan-favorite of Arkansas Razorbacks fans pretty much takes the cake.

I know that Hillis had a breakout season with the Cleveland Browns a couple of seasons ago and looked like he could be a budding star in the NFL, but his atrocious season last year made it seem like he was more of a fluke than a potential star. Let me point out that even if this was the same Hillis of two seasons ago that drafting him third overall would still be a terrible mistake. It’s the case of a fan acting with his heart and not his head and it frankly makes me love the fact that there’s a person this unbelievably dumb in my fantasy football league. It should make it all the more easy for me and others to defeat him and potentially win the league.  

Little League Team Did Nothing Wrong In Using Appeal Play

Now, I admittedly don’t watch the Little League World Series, because when you’re an adult and you watch the Little League World Series it means you’re really creepy. But, the controversial appeal play ending to a Little League World Series qualifying game between Petaluma, Calif. and Nanakuli, Hawaii this weekend certainly caught my eye.

It caught my eye primarily for two reasons. 1.) Because I’d never seen a baseball game end on an appeal play at any level and that’s a pretty exciting and interesting way to end a game. 2) The debate on whether or not it’s sportsmanlike to appeal a play in that situation.

Many people are giving the Northern California team coach Eric Smith grief for having his team appeal a play in which a Hawaii player failed to touch third base when he scored on an RBI single to pull Hawaii to within one run of the lead. After one of the Northern California players noticed that the Hawaii player missed the base a meeting was held at the mound in which Smith instructed his players how to appeal the play.

People are claiming that Smith and Northern California doing this in a close late game situation is everything from unethical and unsportsmanlike to even cheating. These people claiming this, however, are asinine.

An appeal play is an option given to teams in the rulebook and thus can in absolutely no way imaginable be considered cheating.

Considering an appeal play in this situation to be unsportsmanlike or unethical is up to interpretation, I guess, but again if it’s a rule than I don’t think applying it can possible be deemed wrong. Using an appeal play in a close game in the final inning shouldn’t be seen as any different as using an appeal play in a 0-0 game in the first inning.

Northern California coach Eric Smith and his players should be commended for a head’s up, great baseball decision that won them the game and that’s all.    

In Defense of Nicolas Batum's Crotch Shot

It might seem hard or ridiculous to come to the defense of an athlete for intentionally hitting another athlete below the belt, but I’m about to do just that.

The quarterfinal Olympics basketball game between Spain and France ended in controversy on Wednesday afternoon when France players became angered by the Spaniards flopping to draw fouls and in the case of France forward Ronny Turiaf’s foul on flopping Spain forward Rudy Fernandez a hard foul.

Incensed by the flopping by the Spanish team France forward Nicolas Batum decided that he was going to give Spain guard Juan Carlos Navarro a parting shot that he wouldn’t forget toward the end of France’s 66-59 loss to Spain that would end their Olympic run. Near the end of the game Batum ran at Navarro and made a violent slapping motion toward his mid-section that caught Navarro in the groin. This action set off a slight incident between the two squads, but Batum was not ejected from the game.

Not only was the French team angered by Spain’s flopping, but they also felt that Spain had intentionally blown a 12-point fourth quarter lead in a game against Brazil so they could face France in the quarterfinals instead of a tougher matchup against the United States.

Batum, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA, would’ve most certainly received a fine and quite likely a game or two suspension from NBA commissioner David Stern had this incident occurred in an NBA game. However, I’ve got to say that I don’t have the slightest problem with Batum’s actions, even though Batum would later apologize for it.

Here’s why …

After the loss to Spain, Batum told reporters “I wanted to give him a good reason to flop.” Batum’s response is not only humorous, but also a fairly decent way to combat the shameful act of flopping. In my opinion, it’s not a whole lot different than a pitcher beaning a batter (which I approve of, as well) for admiring his home run a little too much in baseball. In sports athletes really have to police themselves and that’s what Batum was doing.

Flopping is a major problem in basketball. Fans know it. I’m sure if you polled fans it would be near the top of a list of biggest problems with NBA basketball. Players and coaches know it. NBA commissioner David Stern even knows it and has mentioned trying to figure out ways to put an end to flopping.

The league putting an end to flopping is something that would be hard to do. I have mentioned before that I would approve of officials giving technical fouls to players that they see as flopping, but like many other things in officiating it’s merely a judgment call and if officials are calling fouls already on these plays than they likely don’t view them as flops in the first place.

Players policing themselves like Batum did on Wednesday could be one way to end flopping. Hit a dude in the crotch enough times and I think he’ll probably get the message. After all, there aren’t many more things in this world that dudes are afraid of than getting hit right in the marbles.

Many people see what Batum did as a heinous act that deserves to be punished. I see it as getting a message across about another heinous act that should be punished.

Auto Racing Should Be An Olympic Sport (Just Imagine Jimmie Johnson, Dario Franchitti, Sebastien Vettel & Travis Pastrana All in One Race)

I know this is a pipe dream and something that will never happen, but I think auto racing should be an Olympic sport. 

Just imagine NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson (left) & IndyCar champ Dario Franchitti (right) racing for gold.

Think about it, auto racing is something that is done everywhere in the world and has successful and world champion drivers from a large group of countries. I know that this certainly doesn’t mean a sport will be an Olympics sport, just look at baseball and golf (which will be an Olympic sport starting in 2016).

However, how cool would it be to see the best drivers from around the world, stars of NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1 and others, competing in one big race or tournament of races to crown the top driver in the world?

There actually used to be a series similar to that called the IROC (International Race of Champions) Series from 1974 to 2006 where champion drivers from a multitude of series would compete in a four race series to determine a champion. It was mostly dominated by NASCAR drivers on mostly NASCAR tracks, with NASCAR stars (like Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin and Tony Stewart) winning every year from 1989 until the series folded in 2006, but other racing stars like Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt and Al Unser Jr. were crowned champions, as well. The series went out of business in 2007 due to financial problems.

While the IROC Series was mostly run on ovals, a potential Olympic event (again this is just a dream) would most likely have to be run on a road course or street circuit because most series around the world are exclusively run on those types of tracks.  

The series would also have to choose what type of car would be used in the event. My suggestion would be to use something like the Daytona Prototypes used in the Rolex Grand Am Series, because most drivers from around the world are already familiar with these cars from running in a race like the 24 Hours of Daytona (which often brings in big names from top series like NASCAR and IndyCar).

The format for auto racing in the Olympics is really something that I haven’t put a whole lot of thought into, but could easily be anything from just one big race with a qualifying process of either fastest laps or heat races or could be a series of races. The number of racers per race or the length of the race is also something that I haven’t put any thought into. As long as auto racing was involved in the Olympics I honestly wouldn’t care so much about many of the particulars.  

I have, however, compiled a list of 50 world class drivers from 19 different countries as proof of why auto racing in the Olympics would be such a great idea. Can you imagine some of these guys going up against each other for the gold?

1.       Fernando Alonso (Spain) – Formula 1 – 2x Formula 1 Champion, 30 wins

2.       Marcos Ambrose (Australia) – NASCAR - 1 Sprint Cup Series win, 2X V8 Supercar Champion

3.       Max Angelelli (Italy) – Grand Am – 1x Grand Am Champion, 17 wins

4.       Joao Barbosa (Portugal) – Grand Am – 2010 24 Hours of Daytona Champion, 3 Grand Am DP wins

5.       Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) – IndyCar – 11 Formula 1 wins, 1^st driver to have 300 starts in F1 history

6.       Sebastien Bourdais (France) – IndyCar – 4x Champ Car Champion, 31 Champ Car wins

7.       Ryan Briscoe (Australia) – IndyCar – 6 IndyCar wins, 3 American Le Mans Series wins

8.       Kyle Busch (United States) – NASCAR – 24 NASCAR Sprint Cup wins, 105 total NASCAR wins, 1x Nationwide Series champion

9.       Jenson Button (England) – Formula 1 – 1x Formula 1 champion, 13 Formula 1 wins

10.   Helio Castroneves (Brazil) – IndyCar – 3x Indianapolis 500 champion, 21 IndyCar wins

11.   Mike Conway (England) – IndyCar – 1 IndyCar win, 1x British F3 Champion

12.   Ryan Dalziel (Scotland) – Grand Am – 1X 24 Hours or Le Mans winner, 3 Grand Am wins

13.   Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) – IndyCar – 5 Atlantic Championship wins

14.   Scott Dixon (New Zealand) – IndyCar – 2x IndyCar Champion, 29 IndyCar wins, 1x Indianapolis 500 winner

15.   Ron Fellows (Canada) – NASCAR – 3X 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner, 6 total NASCAR wins

16.   Dario Franchitti (Scotland) – IndyCar – 4X IndyCar Champion, 3X Indianapolis 500 winner, 20 IndyCar wins

17.   Jeff Gordon (United States) – NASCAR – 4X NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, 86 Sprint Cup wins (3^rd all time)

18.   Lewis Hamilton (England) – Formula 1 – 1X Formula 1 Champion, 19 Formula 1 wins

19.   James Hinchcliffe (Canada) – IndyCar – 2011 IndyCar Rookie of the Year, 8 IndyCar Top 5s

20.   Ryan Hunter-Reay (United States) – IndyCar – 6 IndyCar wins, Currently 2^nd in IndyCar Points

21.   Jimmie Johnson (United States) – NASCAR – 5x NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, 58 Sprint Cup wins

22.   Tony Kanaan (Brazil) – IndyCar – 1x IndyCar Champion, 14 IndyCar wins

23.   Matt Kenseth (United States) – NASCAR – 1X NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, 22 Sprint Cup wins

24.   Steve Kinser (United States) – World of Outlaws – 20X World of Outlaws Champion, 555 World of Outlaw wins

25.   Tom Kristensen (Denmark) - Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters – 8x 24 Hours of Le Mans winner (most all-time)

26.   Andy Lally (United States) – Grand Am – 2x Grand Am class champion, 3X 24 Hours of Daytona class winner

27.   Sebastien Loeb (France) – World Rally – 8x World Rally Champion, 73 Rally wins

28.   Andre Lotterer (Germany) – FIA World Endurance – 2x 24 Hours of Le Mans winner

29.   Jan Magnussen (Denmark) – Le Mans – 4x 24 Hours of Le Mans winner

30.   Allan McNish (Scotland) - FIA World Endurance – 2x 24 Hours of Le Mans winner

31.   Juan Pablo Montoya (Colombia) – NASCAR – 1x Indianapolis 500 winners, 7 Formula 1 wins, 2 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins

32.   Simon Pagenaud (France) – IndyCar – 1x American Le Mans Series Champion, 5 IndyCar top 5s (this season as a rookie)

33.    Miguel Paludo (Brazil) – NASCAR – 2x Porsche GT3 Cup Brasil Champion, 10 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series top 10s

34.   Max Papis (Italy) – NASCAR – 3 Champ Car wins

35.   Travis Pastrana (United States) – Rally Car/NASCAR – 4x Rally America Champion, 10X X Games gold medalist

36.   Nelson Piquet Jr. (Brazil) – NASCAR – 1 NASCAR Nationwide Series win, 20 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Top 10s

37.   Will Power (Australia) – IndyCar – 16 IndyCar wins

38.   Scott Pruett (United States) – Grand Am – 3x Grand Am Champion, 4x 24 Hours of Daytona winner

39.   Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) – Formula 1 – 1x Formula 1 Champion, 18 Formula 1 wins

40.   Memo Rojas (Mexico) – Grand Am – 3X Grand Am Champion, 21 Grand Am wins

41.   Takuma Sato (Japan) – IndyCar – 6 Formula 1 top 5s, 5 IndyCar top 5s

42.   Michael Schumacher (Germany) – Formula 1 – 7x Formula 1 Champion, 91 Formula 1 wins

43.   Oriol Servia (Spain) – IndyCar – 1 Champ Car win, 17 IndyCar top 5s

44.   Tony Stewart (United States) – NASCAR – 3x NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, 1x IndyCar Champion, 47 NASCAR Sprint Cup wins

45.   Alex Tagliani (Canada) – IndyCar – 1 Champ Car win, 6 IndyCar top 5s

46.   Paul Tracy (Canada) – Grand Am – 1x Champ Car Champion, 12 Champ Car wins

47.   Sebastien Vettel (Germany) – Formula 1 – 2x Formula 1 Champion, 22 Formula 1 wins

48.   E.J. Viso (Venezuela) – IndyCar – 3 IndyCar top 5s, 1x National Class British F3 Champion

49.   Mark Webber (Australia) – Formula 1 – 9 Formula 1 wins

50.   Justin Wilson (England) – IndyCar – 3 IndyCar wins, 4 Champ Car wins,

Olympics Unfair to Banish Strategic Badminton Players

One of the biggest controversies from the first week of the 2012 London Summer Olympics was the dismissal of eight women’s badminton players for reportedly “violating the Olympic ideal and spirit of fair play.”

It seems that the majority of people agree with the International Olympic Committee’s decision to exclude the players from the remainder of the games, however, I certainly do not.

I understand that it seems ridiculous to attempt to lose in any sporting event and I also understand that people paid good money to see this event and the result was not what they expected. However, I don’t support the removal of athletes from the games when they didn’t do anything against the rules. Yes, these badminton players were throwing their games, but it wasn’t written anywhere that they couldn’t.

This was the first year that Olympic badminton included a round-robin format instead of a win-or-go-home format. This meant that teams could lose and still compete in the next stage of the tournament. In fact, the way things were going losing could help out a team because the team with the worst record plays the team with the best record first in the quarterfinals. When a surprising team beat a high-seeded team in the round-robin stage it set up a scenario where teams were intentionally trying to lose to face the expected weaker team that had won.

That may sound confusing to some, in fact it’s a little confusing to me, but what it boils down to is that these eight athletes, or four doubles teams, were playing the best strategy they could think of to succeed in the games.

Some people have called their actions cheating, but that is an extreme over-exaggeration, in my opinion. If you’re not breaking any rules than you’re definitely not cheating. This is simply an example of athletes being punished for making the best of a bad system. I’ll be surprised if the round-robin format returns to Olympic badminton in the 2016 games, because it can lead to this type of controversy, but as long as it is a part of the format, athletes shouldn’t be banished for manipulating it.

To Spoil or Not To Spoil

The biggest controversy from the first few days of the 2012 London Summer Olympics has been the tape delayed coverage given to Americans by NBC. NBC has chosen not to show some of the bigger events (mostly swimming and gymnastics) live on any of its television networks and instead hold them until primetime when there’s a bigger audience.

This decision by NBC, which almost everybody seems to agree is poor, has led to many viewers finding out the results of these events prior to the airing on television through news outlets like ESPN and social media outlets like Twitter.

You really can’t blame news outlets like ESPN because one of the biggest goals and responsibilities of journalists are to break the news when the news breaks. So, if Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte win swimming medals in London when it’s early or mid-morning in the United States the news will report it when it happens, as they should. It’s not the American media’s responsibility to wait until Americans have had the chance to see it to announce the results. However, NBC News giving the results before its own broadcast is another story.

This poses a major issue for me that I struggled with for the first few days of the Olympics. What should I do about my Facebook fanpage for my sports podcast Basement Sports?

Typically when sports news breaks I publish it immediately upon seeing or hearing it on the podcast’s fanpage (because I view it as a form of media). However, some of these updates are a few hours old before I get the chance to post them, because of my day job that does not include access to a computer throughout the afternoon hours five days a week.

The 2012 London Summer Olympics are the first Olympic games during my podcast’s tenure and so I found myself having to deal with something new in attempting to cover a sporting event (the largest one at that) on such a time difference.

My journalistic experience and instincts tell me to publish the results of the events when they occur or at least when I see or hear about them. However, I’ve refrained from doing that thus far and have made the decision to keep doing so until the events have completed on American television. Here’s why …

I’ve long believed and told people that I didn’t think spoilers affected my feelings about movies or television shows and I honestly believe that to be the case. Does knowing Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father prior to watching the “Star Wars” trilogy affect the movie’s greatness? No. Knowing a surprise twist or ending to a film or TV show ultimately doesn’t change whether or not a movie is good and it shouldn’t have any result on whether or not you enjoy it either.

However, when it comes to sports spoilers are everything. Because the sole intention of sports is to win or lose knowing the outcome of the event really takes all of the fun and excitement out of watching it. Sure, many people will still watch the event despite knowing the results just to see exactly how it happened, as NBC’s Olympic ratings have suggested, but it just isn’t the same.

Unfortunately I’ve known almost every single major result before it aired on primetime. I just can’t manage to stay unplugged long enough not to find out the results even accidentally. For this reason the Olympics simply haven’t been nearly as fun or exciting as I anticipated.

I know that my not posting Olympics results until after they air on NBC on the Basement Sports podcast fanpage is likely not going to make a whole lot of difference for most sports fans, who like me probably already know the results anyway. But, I don’t want to spoil the fun and the excitement of the Olympics for those intentionally staying away from the results, because I know how much that sucks.