40-0 ...Really?

Perry beat Sidney Christian Academy 40-0 in a softball game Tuesday night. Where, oh where, to begin.
I've tossed this score around in my brain for a while, trying to figure out where I sit. This isn't easy. On one side, you could say, How dare Perry run up the score like that?! I mean, 40-0 is a bit over-the-top.
But on the side I finally plopped down on, I say what was Perry supposed to do? The Commodores got only 11 hits, so one could imagine the comedy of errors SCA put on display. There are only so many junior varsity players a varsity coach has at his disposal to put into a blowout. Would you have the Perry players quit trying, just give up?
If a team can't stay within five touchdowns of their opponents in a softball game, maybe it's time for the OHSAA to review their certification.
It's not about taking athletics away from the students at SCA. Not having an OHSAA seal of approval sure makes it hard to field a team, but it still can happen. Lima Temple Christian did it for a good long while.
Perhaps it's time for SCA to look elsewhere.

Limaland Week No. 2

SECOND POST, 9:18 P.M.
In the B-Mains, Ronnie Blair came on later in the 10-lap race and won. Kent Wolters came on strong after a restart on lap 9, with Dwain Leiber coming in third.
In the Mods, Andy Bibler slowly increased his lead over Shane O'Connor and took the race. O'Connor was second.
There was no B-Main for the Stocks due to low numbers.


FIRST POST, 8:36 P.M.
No surprise, but the line to run (and win) seems to be high to middle. Less than 20 stocks for the second week in a row, but the Sprints have over 30 and the Mods number in the upper-20s.

STOCK HEATS:
Earnie Woodard and Kevin Gossard picked up where they left off last week, except it was Woodard coming out on top this week in Heat 1. UNOH student Logan Wise looked remarkably strong in the Heat 2, picking up the win.
SPRINT HEATS:
Tim Allison looked strong, strong, strong in winning Heat 1. Mike Brecht made his way from the tail to No. 2 in the same heat. Darren Long, last week's feature winner, won Heat 2, keeping Luke Hall at bay. In the final heat, Dustin Daggett and J.R. Stewart made it a two-car race, with Daggett taking honors. In heat 3, Brett Mann had a spectacular flip and crash on the start (he walked away).
MODIFIED HEATS:
In a loaded first heat, Frankie Luchini (who won the Dash for Cash) won the race in an easy fashion. Heat 2 was all Indiana as Todd Sherman held off Terry Hull for the win. In heat 3, Nick Rosselit took the checkered.

Let's go racing

End of the night, Stock feature
Kevin Gossard capped off a great night of racing with another late-race move for the Thunderstock win. Gossard was pinched between Earnie Woodard and Tim Bowen for the first 13 laps of the 15 lap feature. On lap 14, though, he went low on Woodard and stole the win.

If we have 19 more nights with weather like this and features this exciting ... well, I don't have words to describe how great that would be. What a night. What a start. Can't wait for more next week!

10:35 p.m. Sprint feature
Wow. What a way to start the year. Right after Henry's great move in the Mods, Darren Long nailed Tim Allison with an absolutely amazing move on lap 24 of 25. He went low, low, low from turn 3 into 4, almost getting into the infield. Holy crap. How can we narrow down the Cool Move?!?!
Stocks are getting ready to finish up the night.

10:07 p.m. Mods feature
Jon Henry makes a fantastic move on the 17th lap to take the lead from Darryl Banks and win his second career feature. The race took a obscene 24 minutes, thanks to five cautions.
Sprints are on the track.

9:24 p.m. B-Mains
Tony Anderson looked great in his new, green Mod, taking the checkered in the B-Main. Nick Rosselit came in second, but no one ever got close to Anderson.
In the Sprints, Jeff Williams broke out strong and cruised to the win. The only hiccup was Ryan Ruhl ending up on his left side in turn 3 on the first lap, prompting a complete restart. Very, very impressive was J.R. Stewart, in his new Hammons ride, running up to finish second.
With only 18 cars entered, there was no B-Main in the Stocks.
Taking about 5 minutes for track prep, and then its the first features of 2008.

8:47 p.m. Stock heats
With only two heats in the Stock division, it was a quick run. No surprise as Tony Anderson dominated the first heat for the win. In the second, Tim Bowen held off Earnie Woodard for the win.
B-Mains are up after some work on the track. Stay tuned ...

8:35 p.m. Sprint heats
Every winner was a run-away. Ron Blair, Kent Wolters and Dennis Yoakam all won easily. The best drives were by Tim Allison in the first heat, to finish third, and Luke Hall in the third heat, to finish second. Best of all -- NO CAUTIONS!
Stocks are out on the track now.

8:16 p.m. Modified heats
Andy Bibler held off Shawn O'Connor to take the first heat. It was Hoosier power in the second two heats, with Terry Hull and Todd Sherman taking one each. Thankfully, there were only four cautions thrown during the three heats. And so far, it seems like the one-way radios are working well.
Sprints are next up.

This is my first attempt at blogging from Limaland. If all goes well and you want more, I'll keep it up. So, keep coming back, make a few comments and show me you want more!

What a beautiful night. I couldn't be happier to be at the track, catching up with people I haven't seen in quite a few months. It was hard keeping my mind on work and getting stuff done because I was too worried with shooting the "stuff."

Hot laps are about to start. I'll paraphrase what I just heard in the box up here, "If it's 6:29 on opening night and you're a guy in the stands without getting 'excited' you don't belong here." Beautiful.

I'll start this out right. My racers to watch this year.

SPRINTS: Mike Brecht, J.R. Stewart, Tim Allison, Luke Hall
MODS: Jon Henry, Jeff Babcock, Tony Stewart
STOCKS: Tim Bowen

Not saying these are the best, but just keep an eye on these guys.

I'll post more after the hot laps and heat races. Stay tuned ...

Why the surprise?

Carmelo Anthony was nabbed for a DUI in Denver. No big shock there. I mean, he's human. He made a mistake. Hopefully he learns from it.

Just as un-shocking to me is the preferential treatment Anthony was supposedly given. According to reports, Anthony was driven back to his hotel by police (instead of thrown in the drunk tank) and his car was driven back to the police station parking lot (rather than the police impounding the car).

So where's the surprise? Anthony is a multi-million dollar star athlete. He's received special treatment for a loooong time now. And he's not the first athlete to get a break. Is it right? No. Should it be met with such surprise and indignation?

That would another big, fat no.

Now we can all settle down

Tiger Woods enters the final day of The Masters six shots back from the lead. Now I know Tiger is the best golfer of ... blah, blah blah. Six shots at Augusta in one day is even too much for the Red-Shirted One.

It's not that I don't like Tiger. He is an amazing athlete and has revolutionized the game like no other athlete has done to his/her sport.

I am sick of all the hype, though. Yes, everyone's fawning over Tiger is a bit much even for a golfer approaching all of the hallowed records of his sport.

Which makes his failure in Georgia all the more appealing. At least now I don't have to spend my summer avoiding all golf talk and this nonsense about the Grand Slam. Cause had Tiger won The Masters, you just know every moron with a microphone or laptop would be spouting off about Tiger's World.

I could have stomached the Grand Slam talk had Tiger even stood a chance at it. But he didn't. Even Tiger -- yes, Him Without Peer -- can't tame those four tournaments in one year.

I have finally accepted there are very, very few records Tiger won't break. As a central Ohio boy, it pains me to say Jack's 18 majors will someday fall short of whatever number Tiger posts. He may make a run at Byron Nelson's record-breaking season.

However, the Grand Slam is one hallowed mark no one will reach. Not even the wonderful Tiger Woods.

Tiger recently said he's won four tournaments in a year before. He just has to win the right ones.

Yeah, if it was only that easy.

How did he walk away from that?!

I finally decided to watch Michael McDowell's tremendous NASCAR Sprint Cup crash from Texas. I didn't believe the hype (I was sure it was spectacular, but a crash is a crash) and therefore didn't feel the need to immediately watch it. Yawn.
Was I wrong.
Sitting at work, watching the clip, I let out a groan which drew looks from some coworkers. That crash looked like something out of "Talledega Nights" and not reality. I mean, how many barrell rolls can a car make before you start laughing out of disbelief??
And yet, he walked away. Amazing.

Just one question:WHY?

Bill Self just won the National Title with his Kansas Jayhawks. Before the confetti settled in San Antonio, talk already swirled around whether Self was destined for his alma mater, Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys are waving as much as $10 million in front of Self. A large sum of money, no doubt.
But why would Self leave Kansas?
The Jayhawks are one of the crown jewels of college basketball (along with Duke, UNC, Kentucky and UCLA). They can contend for a National Title every year. They can attract two or three McDonald's All-Americans every year.
The father of basketball, James Naismith, is buried in Lawrence, Kansas, for crying out loud!
Okey State is a solid program, with two Final Fours since 1995. It's not like Self would be leaving for Colgate or Utah State. The list of Cowboys coaches include Hank Iba and Eddie Sutton. Pretty nice company.
Sure, $10 million is hard to turn your nose up at. But is leaving a program like Kansas really worth that much money?

Just another day in the NFL

This from the Associated Press:

PEARLAND, Texas -- Cleveland Browns defensive back Kenny Wright was arrested Thursday after police said he led them on a quarter-mile foot chase that began in the parking lot of the police station.

Pearland police said officers were investigating a disturbance in the police station parking lot around 11:30 a.m. Thursday. When officers approached Wright, he took off running and was eventually caught in a nearby subdivision.

Police said they found 1.875 ounces of marijuana in Wright's vehicle.

Yeah, cause running always works. If watching crappy cable TV has taught us anything, it's that no matter how fat or out-of-shape a cop is, the bad guy always gets caught trying to scale a chainlink fence or spotlighted by a helicoptor in a field.

Good news for Wright, though. The Bengals just called, inquiring about his availability. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Thoughts from Opening Day...

-- First off, thank God for the great weather. The 64 degree opening-pitch temp was about twice what it was last year. The 3 1/2 hour game took about as long as last year, but at least we got in a full 9.

-- It was funny to listen to the evolution of the reception Jim Thome got through the game. During introductions and before his first at bat, I would put the cheers to jeers ratio at 1:1. After the first two homers, that number definitely skewed to the jeers.

-- At least the bullpen gives you a show. Sure, they may make your heart stop, but as manager Eric Wedge said of Joe-Bo's homer to Dye, "Hey, he got the save." I guess it doesn't matter how, just how many.