NASCAR has always been known for it's drivers different and sometimes wild personalities. It's a sport where you don't tend to grow up with a favorite already chosen like team sports from your state or city. Instead you pick them because of who they are. For me it was Tony Stewart, and it always will be. I'm not even sure when I picked him because for me it seems like I've been his fan since I was a kid, but I was hardly a kid when he broke in to the top series in 99. So it must have been from the start. I liked that he wasn't happy to lose, that he didn't mind showing who he did and did not like, especially Jeff Gordon. And of course I liked that he was good, and his car wasn't ugly.
As he has gotten older, hes gotten a bit nicer. During a rain delayed race recently, not sure which cause there have been a few, he actually said it was nice working with Gordon. I almost did a double take. True he has to sort of say this because they share Hendrick's engines and such, and he probably does get along with him for on the track kind of things. To me though they seem like total opposites, and I wonder now if things are getting to the point of, be nice to most, or suffer alone.
All sports come down to money, and for NASCAR, this affects the stars more than any other sport. They pitch the products on their car even if they may never have used whatever it is before they got the sponsor. Their fellow teammate drivers they didn't pick, and they don't really do much with on the track, but they have to be friends with so they don't lose their ride with the team. For Stewart, he now owns his team, so he has to be nice to everyone that he needs something from, like Hendrick's engines.
Eventually I think these things tend to suck the life out of a driver. They start realizing that being themselves might get them fans early on. Sort of make a name for themselves, but if they want to stick around and advance through the ranks, they have to do things like the rest of us. Kiss their bosses ass, work with people they might not like, and pretend to like their job. Otherwise they might end up like Robby Gordon.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
How to mess up a perfect realignment.
This popped in my head while writing the MLB scheduling post. The NFL awhile back realigned their league and did a great job, except one glaring problem. The AFC South, it appears to be a collection of new and moved teams, kind of a catch all of teams left over from other AFC divisions. I understand that a bit. Really though is Indianapolis south, and ever going to have rivals with teams in Texas and Florida? Probably not. Its one of the most blah divisions in the league for rivalries.
Why wasn't Miami put in the South with Jacksonville. Baltimore moved to the East where the Colts were because they once were in Baltimore. Then have Indianapolis moved to the North with two Ohio teams near by. It might seem silly since everyone has gotten used to the league as it is now and can't see the rivalries as they might have turned out. If you think about the last 7 years though, you could see some of the possible rivalries. The Ravens and Patriots won the two Super Bowls before the realignment. The Colts and Steelers have both won them in recent years. Jacksonville and Miami would instantly become rivals due to being in the same state.
Yes I know I'm basing this on where the teams are located, and that you're going to say Dallas is in the NFC East! Dallas though has a long history with that division, and I bet you'll have trouble naming the team that was removed from that division when they did the realignment.
Why wasn't Miami put in the South with Jacksonville. Baltimore moved to the East where the Colts were because they once were in Baltimore. Then have Indianapolis moved to the North with two Ohio teams near by. It might seem silly since everyone has gotten used to the league as it is now and can't see the rivalries as they might have turned out. If you think about the last 7 years though, you could see some of the possible rivalries. The Ravens and Patriots won the two Super Bowls before the realignment. The Colts and Steelers have both won them in recent years. Jacksonville and Miami would instantly become rivals due to being in the same state.
Yes I know I'm basing this on where the teams are located, and that you're going to say Dallas is in the NFC East! Dallas though has a long history with that division, and I bet you'll have trouble naming the team that was removed from that division when they did the realignment.
MLB Schedules and Alignment
As usual there is some grumbling about the schedules and alignment of the leagues in Major League Baseball. Some hate seeing teams like the hapless Orioles sit in a division with the Yankees and Red Sox. Some hate seeing horrible teams like the Pirates and Reds play each other almost 20 times a year. Some cant figure out how one division has 6 teams, another 4, and how thats all fair in the end. Some just hate 162 games a year. Some just like to cause trouble.
Others talk about history. How its not their fault the Orioles wont spend enough, and then point at the Rays. Others like to sit and watch the Pirates have a chance to win all those games against the Reds. Some even understand why the NL central has 6 teams. Some just don't care.
For me, I like history, I like fairness, and I tend to be able to make sense of the craziness of the MLB. Lets get a few things out of the way. The reason for the unbalanced divisions is due to the fact that the NL and AL didn't always play each other during the season. While they do now, its only a tiny bit. Also baseball is almost daily. Because of these two factors, each league needs an even number of teams. 30 MLB teams splits to 15, uneven, so the AL has 14 and the NL 16. That way you can have on any given night 7 AL games and 8 NL games, and no team sitting at home alone. The leagues do play each other now, interleague play as its called. This only happens at certain times in the year, and its only a small part of the season.
My fix to all of the complaints? Well if the leagues gave in to interleague play a few years back, they may as well go all the way. You've already ruined it for the purists, and rest of the fans want all the teams to come to their home stadiums. If interleague play is year round, then you can even the leagues out, and lower the number of games some teams play against each other.
---
Here are my ideas:
Move the Astros to the NL West. This drops the central to 5 teams, and the Astros are in the west, like the Rangers are in the AL West.
Move the Rockies to the AL West. The Rockies are a newer team, so the history isn't as deep. Makes a complete change in leagues easier. Could move Arizona instead, doesn't matter.
Right now its a mess, but most teams play around 16 to 18 games against each team in their division. Lower this to 10 games. 6 against other league teams, and 4 against each team in the other league. This comes out to 160 games per team.
---
The upsides and downsides? Well instead of 18 Yankees - Red Sox games, each team will have two game home stands against the Pirates, Brewers, Reds, and Nationals. Of course they will bring the Phillies, Mets, and Dodgers to town too. You can still have the DH or no DH at each team's home stadium, but this means each team needs to balance rosters each way. This may or may not be a good thing, but I don't think it will be that big of a deal. The balance of good games on the schedule could be tougher. Making sure division rivals still have some games left to play each other late in the year, and not road games at the other leagues cellar dwellers, could take a bit of work. I think in the end though these changes could fix a lot of problems, and not cause many others, and may even make baseball more popular.
Others talk about history. How its not their fault the Orioles wont spend enough, and then point at the Rays. Others like to sit and watch the Pirates have a chance to win all those games against the Reds. Some even understand why the NL central has 6 teams. Some just don't care.
For me, I like history, I like fairness, and I tend to be able to make sense of the craziness of the MLB. Lets get a few things out of the way. The reason for the unbalanced divisions is due to the fact that the NL and AL didn't always play each other during the season. While they do now, its only a tiny bit. Also baseball is almost daily. Because of these two factors, each league needs an even number of teams. 30 MLB teams splits to 15, uneven, so the AL has 14 and the NL 16. That way you can have on any given night 7 AL games and 8 NL games, and no team sitting at home alone. The leagues do play each other now, interleague play as its called. This only happens at certain times in the year, and its only a small part of the season.
My fix to all of the complaints? Well if the leagues gave in to interleague play a few years back, they may as well go all the way. You've already ruined it for the purists, and rest of the fans want all the teams to come to their home stadiums. If interleague play is year round, then you can even the leagues out, and lower the number of games some teams play against each other.
---
Here are my ideas:
Move the Astros to the NL West. This drops the central to 5 teams, and the Astros are in the west, like the Rangers are in the AL West.
Move the Rockies to the AL West. The Rockies are a newer team, so the history isn't as deep. Makes a complete change in leagues easier. Could move Arizona instead, doesn't matter.
Right now its a mess, but most teams play around 16 to 18 games against each team in their division. Lower this to 10 games. 6 against other league teams, and 4 against each team in the other league. This comes out to 160 games per team.
---
The upsides and downsides? Well instead of 18 Yankees - Red Sox games, each team will have two game home stands against the Pirates, Brewers, Reds, and Nationals. Of course they will bring the Phillies, Mets, and Dodgers to town too. You can still have the DH or no DH at each team's home stadium, but this means each team needs to balance rosters each way. This may or may not be a good thing, but I don't think it will be that big of a deal. The balance of good games on the schedule could be tougher. Making sure division rivals still have some games left to play each other late in the year, and not road games at the other leagues cellar dwellers, could take a bit of work. I think in the end though these changes could fix a lot of problems, and not cause many others, and may even make baseball more popular.
A Man and His Dog
So Michael Vick is officially back. I don't care too much either way really. What bothers me is that some people don't want him back in the game. No, its not that I think he deserves a chance to play again. Its that hes far from the worst athlete out there. While there wasn't much protest at his first preseason game, there has been plenty in and out of the media voicing their opinion that he should not be playing. Okay, if that is what you think, then how about these names: Plaxico Burress, Chris Henry, Adam Jones, Tank Johnson, Latrell Sprewell, Ron Artest, Donte' Stallworth and well this list could go on for awhile.
While some of the names mentioned and not mentioned have had their critics that wanted them out of their sports, none have had the amount Vick has had. And besides what Burress will probably serve, Vick has spent more time in jail than I think all of them combined, though I could be wrong. Vick did commit a crime true, and what most hate him for is how the dogs suffered, but all of these other guys have commited crimes against humans, or put humans in danger with their acts. Artest is on video beating the crap out of people, but these days hes just that slightly "odd" guy that you "might" not want on your team. Stallworth messed up and killed someone, sure unintentionally, but he will be back next year and not much will be said about it.
The last person I want to bring up is Steve McNair. Everyone loved this guy. Great player, great guy, great teammate, you get the idea. Well sadly hes murdered... by his girlfriend. Did I mention he was married at the time, with kids? Oh, that's okay, no one knew about it til he died, and he was such a great guy after all. Well lets say this exact thing happens to Vick 10 years from now. His career ends up well, plays awhile longer and retires. He gets married, has a couple of kids. Then he ends up like McNair. Does he get the same treatment? No, he will have his name stomped in to the ground for cheating on his wife. It might seem fair given his past, but really what past did McNair have with us? He just happened to make it through his career with no one finding out he was cheating or doing anything else.
For me it doesnt matter, I watch the games and have teams and players I like and dislike. Vick, McNair, and most of the rest are the same to me. I didnt like the Falcons or the Titans, neither of them ended up being that great a guy, and neither of them matter when I play fantasy this year. I just wish the media, and the crazy people that throw fits about things, at least gave them all equal treatment for their sins, or even better, just give up bothering with it since they are all going to be playing anyways.
While some of the names mentioned and not mentioned have had their critics that wanted them out of their sports, none have had the amount Vick has had. And besides what Burress will probably serve, Vick has spent more time in jail than I think all of them combined, though I could be wrong. Vick did commit a crime true, and what most hate him for is how the dogs suffered, but all of these other guys have commited crimes against humans, or put humans in danger with their acts. Artest is on video beating the crap out of people, but these days hes just that slightly "odd" guy that you "might" not want on your team. Stallworth messed up and killed someone, sure unintentionally, but he will be back next year and not much will be said about it.
The last person I want to bring up is Steve McNair. Everyone loved this guy. Great player, great guy, great teammate, you get the idea. Well sadly hes murdered... by his girlfriend. Did I mention he was married at the time, with kids? Oh, that's okay, no one knew about it til he died, and he was such a great guy after all. Well lets say this exact thing happens to Vick 10 years from now. His career ends up well, plays awhile longer and retires. He gets married, has a couple of kids. Then he ends up like McNair. Does he get the same treatment? No, he will have his name stomped in to the ground for cheating on his wife. It might seem fair given his past, but really what past did McNair have with us? He just happened to make it through his career with no one finding out he was cheating or doing anything else.
For me it doesnt matter, I watch the games and have teams and players I like and dislike. Vick, McNair, and most of the rest are the same to me. I didnt like the Falcons or the Titans, neither of them ended up being that great a guy, and neither of them matter when I play fantasy this year. I just wish the media, and the crazy people that throw fits about things, at least gave them all equal treatment for their sins, or even better, just give up bothering with it since they are all going to be playing anyways.
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