Why I Don't Like Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue ...

On newsstands now is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue with the absolutely gorgeous Kate Upton on the cover. Even though looking at Upton in a small bikini is enough to make any straight man happy I’m still not a fan of the SI swimsuit issue. In fact, I’ve long said that I’m probably the only guy in the world who hates Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue.

Why? The answer is actually quite simple.

I lose respect for a journalism publication that covers sports all year around, but for one week completely drops sports altogether to show scantily clad women. It doesn’t seem very ethical to me. In fact, it’s simply a ploy to sell as many issues as they can. I get that Sports Illustrated is a business and they are in business to sell as many issues of their magazine as they possibly can (and the swimsuit issue is their biggest selling issue of the year), but the swimsuit issue seems to go against everything that Sports Illustrated should be about, i.e. sports.

It would almost be like Playboy having one issue every year dedicated to sports instead of naked women. It just doesn’t seem right. 

There is no way that Sports Illustrated is ever going to drop the swimsuit issue and every year I’ll have to explain once again why I hate the swimsuit issue. Keep this in mind. Kate Upton is on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Ed Reed has never made the cover. Novak Djokovic has never made the cover. Manny Pacquiao has never made the cover. And the list goes on and on.

2012 Top 10 NASCAR Nationwide Series Prediction

10. Michael Annett
#43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford

9. Brian Scott
#11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

8. Cole Whitt
#88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

7. Kenny Wallace
#09 RAB Racing Toyota

6. Sam Hornish Jr.
#12 Penske Racing Dodge

5. Trevor Bayne
#16 Roush Racing Ford

4. Justin Allgaier
#31 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet

3. Elliott Sadler
#2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

2. Austin Dillon
#3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
#6 Roush Racing Ford

2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Top 10 Predictions

10. Joey Coulter
#22 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

9. Parker Kligerman
#29 Brad Keselowski Racing Dodge

8. Miguel Paludo
#TBD Turner Motorsports Chevrolet

7. Timothy Peters
#17 Red Horse Racing Toyota

6. Nelson Piquet Jr.
#TBD Turner Motorsports Chevrolet

5. Matt Crafton
#88 ThorSport Racing Toyota

4. Ty Dillon
#3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

3. James Buescher
#31 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet

2. Ron Hornaday
#9 Joe Denette Motorsports

1. Johnny Sauter
#13 ThorSport Racing Toyota

Golf is Boring? Then Don't F***ing Watch It (And Leave Me Alone)

While at work yesterday I was attempting to watch as much of Phil Mickelson’s victory at Pebble Beach as I could on a TV that sits on the far side of the room. During the afternoon I was told by three different co-workers how boring the sport was and usually asked, “How can you watch golf?” It’s a statement that I’ve heard and question that I’ve been asked many times in my life, especially in the last few years. Almost every response included the phrase: “I’d rather watch paint dry.” My typical response to that is, “well, than go watch paint dry.”

When someone tells me that golf is boring I always ask them why. They never seem to be able to tell me why they think it’s boring. Most times their answer is the very vague and ignorant, “it just is.” If you can’t tell somebody why you don’t like it or why you find it boring than it generally means that you have zero clue about what you’re talking about.

I happen to find the sport of golf incredibly exciting and it’s frankly hard for me to believe anybody who paid attention to Mickelson’s huge comeback and win yesterday at Pebble Beach could think otherwise. You have your opinions and there perfectly fine with me, but I’m sick of hearing your opinions on how boring this sport that I like is. If you find golf boring than you don’t have to watch it, but don’t act offended by the fact that I do. Once again, that’s very ignorant.   

Vet Blaney Screwed in Favor of New "Golden Girl" Patrick

Last week an alliance was formed between NASCAR Sprint Cup teams Stewart-Haas Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing in which the Stewart-Haas #10 car driven by Danica Patrick, who is set to make her Sprint Cup Series debut in the Daytona 500, purchased the drivers points of Tommy Baldwin’s #36 car driven by Cup Series veteran Dave Blaney. 

This acquisition was key for Patrick and Stewart-Haas Racing as Baldwin’s #36 ride was in the top 35 in points last season and this mean’s Patrick is locked into the Daytona 500 no matter what and doesn’t have to rely on qualifying speed or racing her way into the race via the qualifying races the Thursday before the 500. 

This also means that unfortunately Dave Blaney could be screwed. Blaney did an yeoman’s job last season driving Baldwin’s underfunded car and keeping it in the top 35 in points and now his earned spot in the Daytona 500, the sport’s Super Bowl, has been stripped from him to give the sport’s new “Golden Girl” a free spot in the race. 

Sure, Blaney could very likely still make the Daytona 500 via qualifying speed or the qualifying race, but it’s basically now a crapshoot for him when he previously didn’t have anything to worry about. 

This is how Danica Patrick has always gotten by and it, along with her attitude, is why I’ve never cared for her. She’s always been given stuff because she’s a female, she’s attractive and she’s a sponsor’s dream. Meanwhile, a vet like Blaney who’s never been given anything in the sport and has earned everything is screwed in favor of her. That’s not the way things should work in NASCAR.  That’s not the way things should work in life.

CBS disrespects PGA Tour, golf fans by switching coverage

I’m sure some of you might remember a few months back when I berated NBC for forcing the PGA Tour to move up starts times so that they could finish a round of a tournament before the start of a Notre Dame college football game. I viewed NBC’s move as disrespectful to the PGA Tour and the sport of golf. 

Well, now CBS joins NBC in the growing pool of TV networks that are disrespecting the sport. During the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open on CBS on Sunday, Kyle Stanley below a huge 6-stroke lead over Brandt Snedeker and the two were going to have to finish in a playoff, which is always an exciting finish to a golf tournament. However, CBS decided to switch coverage of the tournament over to the Golf Channel, which far fewer people across the country have, for the playoff because “60 Minutes” was starting.

Thus, many people enraptured in a great and close tournament missed the ending because of the network’s dumb and disrespectful decision. It’s is ludicrous for CBS to move the coverage of the tournament to another network for the start of a show that can easily be pushed back, by the way “60 Minutes” is pushed back almost every week during the NFL season when NFL games run long. The network shouldn’t treat the sport of golf any differently than it does the NFL, even though I’m obviously aware the NFL draws many more viewers than the PGA Tour. CBS should have a little more respect for the PGA Tour and more respect for those fans not fortunate enough to have the Golf Channel who they turned their backs on Sunday afternoon.

'Grey's Anatomy' heartthrob set to compete in legendary autorace

Most television viewers, even viewers of this actor’s own show, probably don’t know that there is one certain dreamy television doctor who has a need for speed.

That actor is “Grey’s Anatomy” heartthrob Patrick Dempsey who plays Dr. Derek Shepherd, better known as McDreamy to many fans, on the ABC medical drama that’s been a hit for the network since 2005. “Grey’s Anatomy” and his movie roles in films like “Enchanted” and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” might be the Golden Globe nominee’s day job, but Dempsey’s passion and hobby is arguably much cooler.

Dempsey is a racecar driver who owns his own team, Dempsey Racing, which competes full time in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. The Rolex Series is unique in that it features two makes of cars competing in the same race in different classes. There is the Daytona Prototype class and the GT class. 

Dempsey’s team competes in the GT class. Despite Dempsey’s team being fulltime in the series, Dempsey himself isn’t a full time driver as he has to steer his racing career around his film shoots. Despite this, Dempsey managed to compete in 11 of the series’ 12 races in 2011.

The biggest race in the Grand-Am Rolex Series is the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a 24 hour endurance race at the famed Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., and it’s a race that Patrick Dempsey has competed in for the last four consecutive years alongside many of the greatest racecar drivers in the world from all bodies of auto racing including NASCAR, IndyCar and many more.

Last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona has been the highlight of Dempsey’s racing career thus far as him and his teammates finished with a podium finish of third in the 24 hour race. The race was Dempsey’s first podium finish.

The 46-year old actor/racer will once again compete in this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, which takes place this weekend starting on Saturday, Jan. 28 and finishing on Sunday, Jan. 29. Based on last year’s strong showing you’d have to expect that Dempsey’s team will be one of the race’s top contenders, though it won’t be easy as his competition features numerous past champs of this race, as well as world class auto racers like two-time NASCAR Daytona 500 champion Michael Waltrip, X-Games legend Travis Pastrana and other great competitors.

Dempsey is actually not the first actor to grace the road circuit at Daytona for the Rolex 24. Oscar-winning Hollywood legend Paul Newman competed in the race many times and even won in his class in 1995.

If you’d like to watch Dempsey compete in the Rolex 24 at Daytona it can be seen on SPEED starting Saturday, Jan. 28 at 1:30 p.m.         

Paterno's Final Months Not Befitting of His Legend

Joe Paterno, 85, passed away early Sunday morning from complications of lung cancer, but I can’t help but feel like he truly died back in November when Penn State fired him as a part of their high profile cleansing due to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

As everybody knows by now, Paterno was told of Sandusky raping a young boy and went to his superiors about it, but was seemingly at fault in the public eye for not going to law officials with this news. Everybody admitted that legally Paterno did was he was responsible for, but he was let go anyway.

Paterno is the winningest coach in Division I college football history and was a two-time national champion with over 40 years of his life devoted to the Penn State football program. He built that program from nothing into a powerhouse of college football and with him gone it shall be interesting to see if the school remains among college football’s powerhouses going into the future.

But, despite all of what Paterno did for Penn State the best that they could do for him was a late night phone call saying you’re fired even though you really didn’t do anything wrong. You know that that moment had to have killed Paterno inside. Sure, the official death for Paterno is cancer, something that afflicts and kills many, but I bet he felt a deeper and worse pain over his final two months of his life and for that you can’t help but feel bad and hurt for a great legend wronged by the university he loved so.