My Thoughts: Random and Related

NASCAR’s Silly Season makes crazy moves once again

2012-02-20T15:18:00.002-05:00

Every year begins at Daytona, and every year there are somedrivers who change places, paint schemes, crew chiefs and teams. This offseasonmight have been one of the wildest in recent memory.

The biggest free agent acquisition, arguably, was made aseason-and-a-half ago when Kasey Kahne announced he’d be joining HendrickMotorsports. Kahne, who spent last season with the now defunct Red Bull Racingteam, displaces 53-year-old Mark Martin.

Martin and Waltrip at a preseason test (MWR Photo)

Martin moves over to Michael Waltrip Racing to run part-timein the No. 55 Aaron’s Toyota, splitting time with his team’s owner MichaelWaltrip. MWR’s biggest offseason change was the addition of Clint Bowyer, whowill pilot the No. 15, sponsored by 5-Hour Energy.

Bowyer departed Richard Childress Racing, who is back down toa three-car operation. Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Paul Menard will man theship for RCR this season.

Nothing much has changed over at Joe Gibbs Racing either. Thelineup still stands with Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, althoughHamlin has a new crew chief, Darian Grubb who won the title with Tony Stewartlast season.

Speaking of Stewart, maybe you’ve heard about this DanicaPatrick woman who will take the No. 10 car (which was Stewart’s, but now isn’ttechnically due to a “points swap”) out on the track ten times this season? Ifyou haven’t, well, you haven’t been watching, listening or following along onTwitter.

Stewart grabbed Steve Addington away from Penske Racing to behis new crew chief.

Addington, who was Kurt Busch’s crew chief last season, leftbehind a brand-new Penske driver in A.J. Allmendinger, who left his ride withRichard Petty Motorsports during the offseason to replace Busch, who was cut byPenske after his all-too-viral run in with Dr. Jerry Punch at Homestead.

So Allmendinger joins Brad Keselowski at Penske in the No. 22Shell car, if you’re keeping track at home.

Allmendinger’s departure left room for former Mark Martinco-pilot Aric Almirola (a favorite interview of yours truly) to take over the famed No. 43 car. Almirola finished fourth inlast season’s Nationwide standings in a JR Motorsports car, and returns back toCup full-time for the first time since 2009.

Ragan at IMS last year

Roush Fenway Racing is now a three car operation (and more onwhat that means in tomorrow’s blog) after cutting David Ragan because of a lackof sponsorship dollars. Ragan landed with Front Row Motorsports as a teammateto David Gilliland.

Ragan, the 2011 Brickyard 400 polesitter, said he learned a lot from the offseason job search.

“You sit up a lot of nights and think, 'What's going tohappen?'” Ragan said. "Being 26 years old, I'm sure this won't be my lastoffseason where I will be a free agent, but definitely, I was matured some overthe offseason, and you learn a lot more about how these teams are structured,who really does call the shots, what decisions the sponsors play in who thedriver's going to be. I definitely learned a lot about the sport.”

Trevor Bayne will continue to run part-time for the WoodBrothers in the famed No. 21 Ford, basically as a satellite operation of RFR,who swept the front row in Sunday’s qualifying for the Daytona 500. Baynelocked himself into the “Great American Race” by virtue of turning one of thethree quickest laps by a “go-or-go-home” team.

Reutimann finished 2nd at Kentucky last season

David Reutimann—who left MWR—and Landon Cassill will team upas part of BK Racing, a new team that has assumed control of the old Red Bull equipment and points from last season Reutimann will drive the No. 93 Toyota, and also will fill in for 26 races inthe No. 10 when Danica Patrick isn’t running in the Cup Series. Travis Kvapilwill drive the No. 93 when Reutimann is at Tommy Baldwin Racing (whotechnically owns the No. 10 car).

For more, check out Ryan McGee’s complete team-by-team breakdownonline and in ESPN The Magazine.

Edwards and Biffle sweep Daytona 500 front row

2012-02-19T21:46:00.000-05:00

Carl Edwards may have come up just short of winning the SprintCup title last season, but he used that disappointment to motivate a run to thepole for next Sunday’s 54th running of the Daytona 500.

“I think I've been asked that one-point question 4,000 times,”Edwards said. “But we didn't let that disappointment slow us down. It gave usreal motivation. So it is nice to come here and show everyone that it isn'tjust talk. Everybody at Roush went back to work and kept their heads down.”

His teammate Greg Biffle qualified second, giving Roush FenwayRacing, and manufacturer Ford, a sweep of the front row at Daytona for thefirst time since 2007 when David Gilliland and Ricky Rudd sat 1-2 for the “GreatAmerican Race.” This marks the third time in 12 years Ford has swept pole dayat Daytona.

And one way that Edwards can forget about 2011 and keep themomentum rolling for the sport is by doing what he did today. Getting the polewill do that for the runner-up. “This is very special,” Edwards said. “It’s nota driving accomplishment. This is a team accomplishment, this pole.”

Edwards, driving without crew chief Bob Osborne, who was awayfrom Daytona this week due to the death of his father, was able to rely on ChipBolin, an RFR engineer to lead the team in the interim. Osborne will return toDaytona later this week for the 500.

Bolin said, “We felt like this was the best crop ofsuperspeedway cars we had brought to the race track in a long time. Our entireorganization was really confident. Bob has built this program on steady,calculated moves and we just tried to execute the plan that he expected us todo here and here we are.”

Trevor Bayne, who clocked in 9th in speed, also locked himselfin. And while some of the attention was on the defending Daytona 500 champ, alot of the focus was on the other Fords.

Doug Yates, of Roush-Yates engines, said, “Obviously, the carshave speed and we just need to be patient and bide our time and make sure thatwe’re there at the end. Starting up front and being locked in and not having torace on Thursday is always a big deal. There’s a lot of pride that goes into sittingon the front row here, especially for Jack Roush and his team to be able to dothis is pretty cool.”

Bud Shootout leaves fans on edge for Speedweeks

2012-02-19T11:18:00.001-05:00

The Bud Shootout turned into the Bud Wreckout on Saturdayevening prompting many fans to voice their displeasure with pack racing atDaytona. The pack may be back, but it’s no more fun to watch than the tandemstyle drafting that left a lot of fans displeased after last season.

But NASCAR delivered “pack racing” back to fans, andapparently—judging from some tweets—a lot of fans loved it. Except the ones Italked to.

Tandem style racing led to two-car breakouts like these from last year's Talladega race (Getty Images)

Ken tweeted, “I liked tandem[s],” to me during the race.And while I will not completely side with Ken, as I too thought the tandem style was a little boring to watchlast season.

I did. However, I pined for the “big packs” at the end of thatblog post. Not so much anymore. And the reason, well, is the same reason I’vealways hated restrictor plate racing, or should I call it wrecking.

“Ain't much racing anymore,” Clint Bowyer said to reporters in the garage area after the event .“Just wait your turn to wreck.”

Ryan Newman and Jeff Burton, both long time Daytona veterans,also agreed. “You're just at the mercy of the situation,” said Newman, the 2008winner of the Daytona 500. “It's not good.”

“I don't know what to say," said Burton, whose brother Ward,captured the 2002 Daytona 500 championship. “Plate racing is a huge challenge.One of the great things about the tandem (racing) was it separated the pack;one of the bad things about the tandem is I guess people thought it was boring.”

This finish at Talladega had 8 cars within a few car lengths (Getty Images)

They did. Fellow Bearcat football alum T.J. Franklin tweeted, “Pack racing is so much better than 21 sets of 2 cars going around a track."

T.J. and I had a short Twitter conversation about the pros andcons of each style (and he suggested even taking the restrictor plates off and letting the drivers “fight it out old school style")before settling on the fact that pack racing was back, and strategies woulddiffer going into next week’s “Great American Race.”

Defending Brickyard 400 winner Paul Menard said next Sundaymay be a little tamer, at first. “It is going to be chaotic. It is going to beexciting for sure,” Menard said. “We have to figure out if we want to just ridearound or not because it is a big big chance you are going to wreck. We don’tlike to wreck; they don’t pay many points back in 43rd.”

Something that T.J. and I talked about was that strategy thatmany drivers used at Daytona and Talladega years ago. The “wait-and-see,” hangout in the back of the pack style of racing also bored many fans, who didn’twant to tune in to watch Dale Jr. (for example) run 180 laps in 30th placewaiting for mayhem to unfold in front of him.

But if that’s what we’ll see, NASCAR will hear about it.Listening to fans has been great, and NASCA was able to eliminate—to a certainextent—the tandem style drafting that made races interesting, yet tough towatch at times last season.

Jeff Gluck caught a candid comment from one crew member, whosaid, “Look at the guys working on those cars. Pack racing is real 'fun,' huh?”

“It was really like you just rewound the clock to three yearsago,” Greg Biffle said after the race.

The winner of the 2007 Daytona 500, Kevin Harvick, expressedsome displeasure with bump drafting in big packs. “The biggest problem is thetandem racing has been so easy for these guys to stay attached that some ofthem haven't raced in pack racing. It's going to take a lot more patience froma lot of guys who haven't done this before,” he said.

“You're just running into each other,” said Brad Keselowski. “Justa bunch of angry drivers in a traffic jam. It's difficult.”

Jeff Gordon even flipped and landed on his roof, for what wasthe first time in his career. “It's pretty wild and crazy but I like thisbetter than what we had last year, definitely,” the four-time Cup champ said.

On Sunday morning, 2009 Daytona 500 champ Matt Kenseth weighedin on Twitter, saying “I am not a fan of two car team racing. At least now we can make our own decisions on the fly and let the race play out ."

While we take a page out of the Ron Burgandy book and “Agreeto disagree” about which style of plate racing is better, I offer thisconclusion: in one week, when the cars are three-wide, 12-deep coming off ofturns three and four for the first lap, we’ll all be holding our breaths. Itmight be fun, exciting or boring to you, but the one thing that Daytona will definitelybe next weekend is breathtaking.

And I’m not sure I can hold my breath for 500 miles.

What would have happened had Mark Martin won the Daytona 500?

2012-02-17T13:49:00.003-05:00

So often in our lives we wonder, ‘What if?’ How would thingsbe different? How changed would we be?

I wonder all the time. And every year around this time Iponder, ‘What if Mark Martin had won the 2007 Daytona 500?’ How would thingshave changed for him? Would he be a different man? Or would he always have thesame attitude?

Five years ago this weekend, Mark Martin was leading on thefinal lap of the Daytona 500. Mark Martin fans from sea to shining sea musthave thought, ‘Is this a dream?’ as they watched Martin in the No. 01 U.S. ArmyChevrolet lead the pack off the final turn at Daytona, gunning neck-to-neckwith Kevin Harvick for the race win.

What could have been a dream turned into a nightmare. At leastin the eyes of many fans.

Bolting down the backstretch for the final time, just afterFOX’s Darrell Waltrip proclaimed that Mark was “driving the race of his life,”Kyle Busch stepped out of line behind Mark’s No. 01 car to try and block thehard charging duo of Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.

Martin was all alone.

This CIA Stock Photo shows the beginning of the wreck

With Busch far behind, they drove through turns three andfour, Martin and Harvick door to door. And then it happened.

Chaos, pandemonium, mayhem, total bedlam.

Through it all, Mark Martin’s spotter Jeremy Brickhousetold him to keep the “hammer down,” and pedal as hard as he could to thefinish.

Cars spinning and crashing, sheet metal twisted up like you’dnever seen before, and Clint Bowyer’s No. 07 ended up on fire and on its topcrossing the start/finish line.

No caution flag was thrown. I repeat, no caution flag wasthrown as cars wrecked and slammed into one another behind Martin and Harvick.

The wreck keeps going. (File photo)

It’s been named by Yahoo! as one of the top five Daytona 500 finishes in history,and a replay that has become a favorite of FOX over the past five seasons.

But it’s also a disappointment to NASCAR fans. If seeing DaleEarnhardt Sr. win the Daytona 500 was a big deal, Mark Martin taking thecheckers might have been a close second. The way that the end of the race washandled still hurts to watch today.

“If Kyle Busch doesn’t wreck,” Martin told ESPN before the2009 Daytona 500, “I think I win the Daytona 500.”

On pit road Martin got out of his car, having finished just.02 seconds behind Harvick, and had a huge smile on his face.

Harvick edged Martin by .02 seconds (File)

“I haven’t even seen the finish. It is what it is,” Martinsaid. “We were inches or feet or whatever. We were short. It was so close, butit was second. I let it slip away, slip through my fingers, and I’m fine withthat. I am very proud of what this team did for me this weekend.”

An MSNBC.com article written a few days after the race said, “Every incident proved it’s past time for NASCAR to have a very clear rule book. Otherwise everything will always be arbitrary…”

“I thought they weregoing to throw the yellow flag, they were wrecking behind us … That’s just theway things go. I wanted to drive a fast car and they gave me that,” Martinadded.

J.J. Martin, a fellow Markaholic, told me a few years ago, “After the 2007Daytona 500, when other drivers would have been crying a river, Mark stood talland accepted that he didn’t win. We know who really won that race.” (see moreon the Markaholics from a 2010 article I did here)

Martin is known for his second place finishes. Five times he’sfinished second in the points. Twice he’s finished runner-up at Indianapolis atthe Brickyard 400 (often considered NASCAR’s second most prestigious racebehind the 500 in Daytona). But only once has Mark Martin been so close towinning the Harley J. Earl trophy.

And Mark Martin didn’t pout, didn’t complain and didn’t pull aWill Power (For a non-family friendly photo check here)when things didn’t go his way.

Mark Martin is known as a loveable loser. Even in defeat hesees a positive. When he walked into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’sBrickyard 400 media day in 2009 (with yours truly in attendance) two weeksafter capturing win four of the ’09 season, he had a huge smile on his face.

One reporter asked, “How does it make you feel to be theseries leader in wins?”

He responded, “It’s nice, It’s really nice…You know me, I’mdown playing it. It’s really nice. I can’t imagine anyone having a better lifethan me. It’s all good. Just like I said Saturday night at Chicago I’m reallyliving a dream and things are beyond my dreams right now. I’ve been incrediblyblessed with a great family, great friends, a great career and now with a greatteam and we’ve had our share of success. It’s great.”

To see a man who, for all accounts, should hold some grudgesover past experiences, be so happy, upbeat and positive, is a real eye-openerto those of us who may get down on ourselves over the little things.

Mark at the Brickyard in 2009

Mark Martin is a role model for fans in this way. Whenever hegets out of his car, whether he wins or finishes 43rd, you can see a genuinesmile on his face. And he has no qualms about finishing second, as he did toJimmie Johnson in the 2009 Brickyard 400. He was just happy to have a chance tobe in position to win.

“I'd love to have won the race,” he said. “But I'm verygrateful to have had a chance at it. I got beat. I didn't get her done. But Igave it my heart. So did my race team. I'm grateful for it.”

He could have been disappointed. No one would have blamed him.But instead, he was happy to have an opportunity. Sometimes you learn more fromlosing than you do from winning. And being humble has become Mark’s callingcard over the years.

On Thursday at the preseason media day in Daytona, Mark had achance to address the 2007 Daytona 500 all over again.

“No, it doesn't bother me at all,” he said. “None. Why shouldit? ... I have not lost one ounce of sleep over it, other than when I missed itby three feet in 2007.”

This season will mark Martin’s 28th chance to win “The GreatAmerican Race,” and while he wants to win it as much as his other competitors,Martin realizes that winning one race doesn’t make or break a man’s career.

“Nobody ever told me I was going to be the greatest of alltime,” he told reporters. “I figure I'm darn lucky to have been able to be inthis sport, stumble around and win a few things. I'm not owed anything ... I'vebeen lucky enough to win a few races. You don't get to choose which ones theyare.”

And that was his point at Indianapolis a few years back. ‘Hey,I’m glad I can win a race, and I certainly appreciate having a chance because Idon’t know if I’ll ever win one again.’ Yet he can teach us all to be gratefulfor the chances we have.

The 2011 season in NASCAR was one chock full of first-timewinners: Trevor Bayne in the Daytona 500, Regan Smith in the Southern 500 andPaul Menard in the Brickyard 400. All winners for the first time in the sport’smost iconic, historic and important races couldn’t believe they’d won. But allwere gracious and thoroughly appreciated their chance.

Mark Martin felt that way as a young driver as well. “When Iwas a teenager, I thought I was going to win the Daytona 500,” he said. “Ain'thappened. But it hasn't stopped me from trying.”

A Yahoo! Sports article on Thursday afternoon might have said it best: “Back in 1982, Martin showed up at his first Daytona 500 with his owncar and no sponsor and left here broke. He's in a little better shape now ...and maybe, just maybe, he can get that win that's eluded him for so long. Atthis point, he's got as good a chance as anyone ... but even if he doesn'tclose the deal, he's doing just fine.”

Mark Martin may never win the Daytona 500, and that may painfans who want nothing more than to see NASCAR’s most respected driver inVictory Lane at Daytona. But knowing that Mark Martin is happy just having achance to win, just having a chance to race and do something he loves, issomething that should make us all happy.

Mark Martin may never formally be a champion, but in the eyesof his fans, he’s already won so much.

Breaking: Former UC coach Tresey hired at Youngstown State

2012-02-16T10:19:00.002-05:00

According to FootballScoop.com, former UC defensivecoordinator Joe Tresey, who spent the last three years at three differentpositions after leaving UC, has been hired to be the defensive coordinator atYoungstown State.

Tresey, who spent 2011 as the defensive coordinator at UCLA, 2010 in the UFL with the Omaha Nighthawksand 2009 as defensive coordinator at South Floridawill take over at YSU after the departure of Rick Kravitz.

Tresey is from Warren, Ohio. The NBC affiliate in Youngstownhas some more information on Tresey's hiring at YSU.

Having worked around Joe Tresey I can tell you, he’s going tobe a good hire for the Penguins of Youngstown State. And, knowing him on thepersonal level that I do, I’m excited for Coach Tresey to have landed a job soclose to where he grew up. I know he’s probably excited about it too.

Valentines Day: What I love

2012-02-14T19:29:00.002-05:00

“Who doesn’t love love?”—DennyHamlin

“I love love.”—DavidReutimann

It’s Valentines Day, the day of love. Those folks that visitthe blog regularly know I love a lot of things, and those things often presentthemselves in photos and in the text of these great blog postings. Love, in allits forms, is in the air on a day like today. And no matter if you’re single,married or somewhere in between, I hope you’ve had time to tell someone youlove them today (and why does Valentines Day have to be relegated to romanticlove? That’s such a narrow view of love, but that’s for another day, I’m sure).

While I love a lot of people very few people can compare tothe longest love relationship I can have with someone who doesn’t share my lastname (and you’ll have to wait to find out who, or what, that person, or thing,is).

I love my friends, the people who, through thick and thin,have stuck it out. They’re the people who make me laugh, make me smile and pickme up when I’m down. It’s not a hard job for the most part, it’s just verythankless.

And for some of my friends working with me has become thereason we’re more than just co-workers. Colleagues become friends, and friends are friends forever.

I love my job too, and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that.While it is totally demanding (just ask my friends who rarely get to see meanymore) it is still worthwhile. I’d ask when the last time was that anyone gotpaid to go to Hawaii and Miami, Fla., within the same month, but I’m not suretoo many people have. And, as I stated earlier, I love working with the peopleI work with. They’ve become my friends, and friends are good.

UC Head coach Butch Jones before the Liberty Bowl

Since I love my job, I must admit I love college football too.Even with all of its flaws, college football is still pretty awesome. It’s notexactly as “pure” as high school football, I would argue, but it is fun to be apart of and fun to watch.

I love writing too. One of my teachers noted on the first dayof class for this quarter that graduate students need to love to write, or they’regoing to have some trouble with graduate studies. Well, I won’t admit to being “inlove” with grad school, scholarly type writing, but I can tolerate it. I’mtruly at my best when writing here. And I’m thankful I can.

I love my family too, don’t let me give you the wrongimpression. They give up more time with me than they ever should have tobecause my job is so demanding. But they take it in stride and have supportedme every step of the way. Without them, I’d be lost.

I also love the one person in my life who is closer to me thanalmost anyone else ever has been, my best friend Sarah.She may never read this (she’s kind of busy taking care of her newborn, and forthat I will give her a pass!) and even though she knows I love her, I alwaysmake sure to give her the “props” she rightfully deserves.

Oh, and you know that person/thing I told you about earlierthat I’ve loved longer than anything else in my life? Could you figure thatout? Was it easy?

I never thought I'd ever get to do anything like this. Dreams do come true

It’s NASCAR.

And my obsession/passion/love for the sport has allowed me tocombine all the above aspects (yes, including friends and family) of my lifeand has allowed for them to see my passion for the sport emerge and growthroughout my nearly 20 years as a fan. My love for the sport will neverchange, and my passionate following of the sport will always be a point ofemphasis in my life.

I will introduce myself, “Hi, my name is Adam, and I loveNASCAR. No really, I do.”

In fact, when my boss’s wife asked me what I was doing onSaturday after work, I mentioned I’d be watching a race that doesn’t count forpoints, and that my favorite driver wasn’t even participating in. “And why?”she asked.

And before I could answer, my boss said it best, “Because he’sbeen waiting all winter to watch it.” I’ve worn off on him, and that makes mesmile.

The Beatles said “All You Need is Love,” and they weren’tkidding. But on Valentines Day when so many people are focused on romanticlove, maybe we should all take a step back and recognize there’s more to lovethan just one singular person.

Tell someone you love them today, and every day.

Martin locked into Daytona 500

2012-02-13T17:31:00.000-05:00

Michael Waltrip Racing expanded operations this offseason fromtwo cars to three cars, meaning one of the teams wasn’t locked in for the Daytona500 (or the next four races on the schedule). That has changed.

Bob Pockrass of SceneDaily.com reported the news on Monday afternoon.

Martin (with Claire B Lang) at Indy last year

According to reports (including the above article) FAS Lane,owned by Frank Stoddard, finished 34th in owner points last season with the No. 32 car.FAS Lane got points after the 2010 season from Latitude 43 Motorsports and teamowner Bill Jenkins, who is now listed as the owner the No. 55 that MichaelWaltrip will drive in Saturday evening’s Budweiser Shootout.

A number of drivers including Terry Labonte and Ken Schraderdrover the No. 32 last season (for a full list click here).FAS Lane, according to Pockrass, may still enter the Daytona 500 with Labonteas a driver, using Labonte’s past champion’s provisional.

Martin is scheduled to run 25 races (and the All-Star race) inthe No. 55 this season and Waltrip is scheduled to run six (plus the Shootout).According to this releaseMWR is still looking for a driver for the other six races. Both Martin and Waltriphave said via Twitter that they’re still looking. For Martin’s schedule visit his websiteand check out the schedule bar on the left side of the page.

Big Ten recruiting wars get personal

2012-02-10T12:17:00.003-05:00

As I’ve stated a few times on Twitter, there’s never a dull dayin division one college football. Recruiting seems to be a year long process(and if you don’t believe me, you’ve never had my job) full of official andunofficial visits, recruiting films (the part I deal with most often) andadults swooning over 17 and 18 year old young men.

No, seriously. That’s why over a week ago I lambasted National Signing Day as a time that isn’t worthy of all the media coverage it gets.

Except in the Big Ten, where the conference’s coaches have a “gentlemen’sagreement” on committed players. Players who verbally commit to a Big Ten school(verbally committing of course is non-binding, and players can only officiallysign to play at a school on National Signing Day in February) are committed tothat school, and all other schools must back off of their recruiting until theplayer decides, if he decides, he wants to open up his recruiting again.

This year, new Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer waspublically attacked by numerous Big Ten counterparts for breaking that gentleman’s agreement,sparking furor that played out in the media and in the blogosphere.

If that gentlemen’s agreement has been broken, then gentlemen,start your engines, or more aptly, your recruiting.

The Big Ten’s recruiting wars are so much fun to watch from anoutsider’s view, and reading the opinion columns on the fight have made melaugh.

If you’re a supporter of the Ohio State Buckeyes or theMichigan State Spartans though, you probably view this fight in a differentlight. Speaking a few weeks ago in Canton, Ohio, Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi ripped Meyer for poaching a Spartan recruit .

“(The agreement) has been between the coaches,” Narduzzi toldreporters. “Jim Tressel and Mark Dantonio would never call or talk to eachother’s commitments. People coach Dantonio knows well don’t come in and takeplayers away. When you do, you lose friendships over that.

“It sets a tone and starts a recruiting rivalry. I guess it’sfair game. You don’t want it to be that way, but that’s how it is.”

Wisconsin’s head coach Bret Beilema even called out Meyer publically before the Big Ten coaches met in Chicago. “There are a few things that happenedearly on that I made people aware of that I didn't want to see in this league,that I had seen take place in other leagues,” Bielema said on Signing Day tothe media. “Other recruiting tactics, other recruiting practices that areillegal. I was very up front and was very pointed to the fact, actually reachedout to coach Meyer and shared my thoughts and concerns with him. The situationgot rectified.”

Of course this angered Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith who responded with this: “I am disappointed that negative references have beenmade about our football coaches, and particularly head coach Urban Meyerregarding recruiting. In our league appropriate protocol, if you have concerns,is to share those concerns with your Athletic Director (AD). Then your AD willmake the determination on the appropriate communication from that pointforward. The ADs in our league are professionals and communicate with eachother extremely well.”

But the Ohio State-Wisconsin war didn’t end there, in fact,Ohio State’s much outspoken president, Dr. Gordon Gee decided to weigh in when he visited with the OSU school newspaper .

“We hired the best coach and we went out and got the best kidsso get a life,” Gee told the newspaper about Bielema's criticism of Meyer.

I still contend that the people that should be “getting a life”in the whole hoopla surrounding Signing Day should be all the adults who putway too much stock into these young men signing their lives away to playcollege football. Four years ago Gee was probably ecstatic that his then-headcoach Jim Tressel landed Terrelle Pryor.

See how that worked out for Ohio State?

No matter where you come down in this argument (and I for one,feel strongly that Gee’s comment furthers the nationwide hatred for Ohio State.How can you not dislike a school whose president is out telling people to get alife? He’s the president, not the AD. Shouldn’t he be worried about academics?)it should be fun to see just how much the recruiting atmosphere in the Big Tenchanges with Urban Meyer in Columbus.

Because if these fights keep happening year after year, it’sgoing to be really entertaining.

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In news today, Ohio State and UC have announced the two futuredates for the two schools to meet on the gridiron. UC will travel to Columbusfor both games, the first on Sept. 27, 2014 and the second on Sept. 8, 2018.

2012 NASCAR Chase predictions

2012-02-09T18:30:00.002-05:00

Remember when I said Jeff Gordon was going to win the Sprint Cup last year? Remember when I said Joey Logano was going to win at Kentucky last year?

Good, I don’t remember those moments either. In allseriousness, the only prediction I’ve ever gotten right in my years of bloggingwas saying that the UC Bearcats would go undefeated in 2009. And we did.

So, if you’re looking to bet any money on what I’m sayinghere, you might want to think twice. I’m probably going to miss badly. But,like my fellow Markaholic Bryan said on his blog, “Making predictions for theChase are always risky. Doing so will make some people look likegeniuses, while making others question if their friends should be admitted to apsychiatric hospital.” (Read more on his blog here)

Will this guy win title number six this year?

He took a stab at it, so why don’t I?

I’d like to say this though before I get started, these guysare presented in no particular order. I’ll try to re-evaluate this when theChase starts. Let’s see how I do.

Will make the Chase (8drivers)

Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, KyleBusch, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart

These guys will no doubt, 100 percent be in the Chase thisyear. Mark my words.

Every single one of these guys was in the Chase last year, andevery one of them will be back in 2012. It’s kind of tough to bet against lastyear’s champ in Tony Stewart, and five-time champ Jimmie Johnson in this group.Johnson is hungry to go out and win another title, as is his teammate JeffGordon.

Matt Kenseth is deadly; quiet mostly, but very deadly at theend of races.

Ditto for Kevin Harvick. He’s a guy that makes the folks on TVsay, “Where’d he come from?” at the end of races.

Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin also make an appearance on thelist, and I just have this sneaking suspicion that Hamlin is going to have areally good year. Maybe not title worthy, but he’ll come darn close.

Should make the Chase(4 drivers)

Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Juan Pablo Montoya and A.J.Allmendinger

These guys should make the Chase but are flirting in my “shouldbut might not range.”

Allmendinger is ready to prove he can make something of histop-notch ride at Penske Racing and his win in the 24 Hours of Daytona shouldget some momentum rolling for Speedweeks.

Brad Keselowski is out to prove that last year was no fluke.He’s good with just one functioning ankle, so imagine how good he’ll be when hehas both ankles at 100 percent.

Montoya’s 21st-place finish in the standings last year wasdisappointing to say the least. Even though he has done well at some ovaltracks, he has yet to crack into victory lane at a non road course event. Overthe offseason Montoya gained Mark Martin’s old engineer Chris “Sunshine” Heroyas his crew chief. We’ll see if Heroy can bring brighter days to Montoya.

Speaking of the No. 5, Kasey Kahne finally gets to step intothe car once piloted by Mark Martin, and I think that he’ll benefit from themove to Hendrick Motorsports. But, I’m not sold on the fact that he and KennyFrancis, his long-time crew chief, will have wild amounts of success in thefirst year at HMS. The fact that they are working in close relationship withHMS vets Jeff Gordon and Alan Gustafson should give them enough of an edge tomake the Chase though.

Might not make theChase, but will be knocking on the door (5 drivers)

Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Martin TruexJr. and Joey Logano

Biffle is a popular pick to make the Chasebut not to finish so highly if he does make it there. As Biffle and crew chiefMatt Puccia begin their first full season together (Puccia was actually namedBiffle’s crew chief right after Kentucky last year) we’ll see if they are ableto crack to the top 12, or fall just short.

Admit it, you probably think I hate Dale Jr. because I didn’tpick him to make the Chase. Not true. Dale Jr. is talented, and he’s in thebest equipment in the garage, but I just don’t think he and Steve Letarte willbe able to pull it off this year. Jr. hasn’t won since 2008 at Michigan, awinless streak of 129 races (For more on winless streaks check out Bryan’s analysis of winless streaks in NASCAR). I think “Jr.Nation” should be more worried about Dale Jr. winning a race than making theChase.

Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. are teammates at MichaelWaltrip Racing, and they’ll probably benefit from having Mark Martin around atMWR. But I’m not entirely sure they’ll be able to make it into the Chase. Don’tget me wrong, they’ll compete, and might even win a race or two, but I just don’tthink they can qualify for the Chase with such a deep field to compete against.

Joey Logano is the guy I just love to root for, probablybecause I identify with him a little bitbut I just don’t think he’ll be able to match the star power of the guys whoare ahead of him. Having successful teammates like Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlincertainly should help Logano, and I really feel he’s close to becoming abig-time star. Just not quite this year.

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With just under 17 days until the Daytona 500 I urge you to keepyour browsers pointed here. While I can’t guarantee a countdown like you’veseen in the past few years from me, I’ll give you what I can as we close in onthe Daytona 500 weekend, one of the best times of the year.

Bruton Smith: PR genius or liar?

2012-02-04T12:00:00.001-05:00

I had never heard Bruton Smith speak in person before June of 2010when he was in the Kentucky Speedway media center prior to what was then thetrack’s biggest event of the year, the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. I hadread his quotes, I had read about him, but never before had I had an opportunityto listen to one of the greatest salesmen in the world talk to reporters.

He can sell ice to eskimos, even if that ice is alreadymelted.

He’s gotten in very public arguments with Loudon’s policechief, and the city of Charlotte.

Traffic at Kentucky on Ky. 35 last year

Last year at that same New Hampshire track Smith walked intothe media center facing the same reporters he sees at his racetracks everyweekend. He lied to them. ESPN’s Terry Blount called him out .His excuses on that day stemmed from the event his newest track held one weekearlier.

Perhaps you remember the Kentucky Speedway traffic issues? How could you forget?

On that July day last year, Smith said, “[The race] was huge.It was the biggest of the year.” (Blount of course points out that Kentucky’sannounced attendance was nowhere near the top of the list for ticket sales tothat point in the season) “It speaks loud and clear that we drew a lot ofpeople. We don't control the highways,” Smith added.

He passed off blame for the Kentucky Speedway traffic woes onthe state of Kentucky.

And don’t think that it’s not in Smith’s playbook to call outthe government. A few years back he threatened to move Charlotte Motor Speedway if the city government in Concord, N.C., didn’t grant him land to build a dragstrip next to the speedway.Concord city officials, after a small skirmish, decided not only to let smithbuild the dragstrip, but also to name a street after Smith.

Back to the Bluegrass State’s issues, the issues Smithpartially blamed on I-71 (“I warned everyone that Interstate 71 sucked,” Smithsaid last year. “It’s terrible.”). He had another scapegoat for the speedway’slack of parking.

Smith also blamed the parking company Speedway MotorsportsInc. hired to control parking around the 1.5-mile oval in Sparta. He toldreporters last July, “We had a lot of inexperienced people on parking. They dida lousy job. We knew with so many people coming, we predicted the problem. Thepeople that came early had no problem.”

A few weeks ago during NASCAR’s media tour in Charlotte, Smith and Kentucky Speedway General Manager Mark Simendinger told reporters of the ongoing construction in Sparta that will help ease some of the parking issues that plagued the speedway last July.

A look toward the new land Kentucky bought

Part of those improvements includes buying 142 acres of landacross from the speedway’s third and fourth turns (on the other side of Ky. 35)to add nearly 18,000 more parking spaces.

Oh, and getting a new company to handle parking. The group incharge of parking at last year’s inaugural Sprint Cup weekend, BrantleySecurity, was fired immediately following the travesty that was dubbed “carmageddon”by many national media members.

During media week Bruton Smith pulled no punches, once againblaming Brantley for their poor handling of the parking at Kentucky. “The company that Mark had dealt with as far as the number of parkers, we contracted for 300. Eighty-four showed up,” Smith said on Jan. 25th.

On Thursday, Brantley and their lawyers told Kevin Kelly ofthe Cincinnati Enquirer that Smith had lied to the media during NASCAR’s mediatour.

Kelly’s article details the facts presented by the parkingfirm “Jeremy Curran, president of Brantley Security’s event managementdivision, supported attorney David L. Johnson’s claim that Brantley contractedwith the speedway to provide 96 attendants for the Quaker State 400 and, in fact,had 112 show up on race day,” he wrote.

“The biggest thing for an event management company’sreputation is making sure that they fill their calls,” Curran told Kelly. “Tome, that was (a) complete lie that I think was made up the three seconds before(Smith) went on stage. And I just don’t understand the purpose of it, otherthan ... to deflect blame of the situation that they caused partially. So allwe want is that corrected.”

Good luck. Getting Bruton Smith to admit he lied is a lot liketelling an NFL linebacker he can’t tackle someone. It isn’t happening.

Johnson, the lawyer for Brantley, told the Cincinnati Enquirerthat Kentucky Speedway, “ignored other suggestions from his firm’s client, suchas striping the parking lots, utilizing satellite parking and changing itsforced parking plan.”

FOX19's Joe Danneman interviews fans in traffic

Curran told Kelly that he thought there still would have beenproblems given the infrastructure surrounding the speedway, but had his firmbeen allowed to hire more parking attendants the issues wouldn’t have been assevere. “I think there still would’ve been some issues,” he said to Kelly. “Butwe could’ve minimized it so 15,000 people would not have been sitting on 71 andmissed the race.”

Brantley also provided the Enquirer with facts from previousraces where they ran parking for the speedway.

As quoted in Kelly’s article: “Curran said Brantley provided137 attendants for the 2009 Nationwide race, which attracted 70,000 race fans,and 101 for the same event the next year, when it drew 61,000 fans. With morethan 110,000 fans expected for the Quaker State 400, he said Brantley suggestedthe Speedway budget for more than 96 attendants.”

It all comes back to Smith and SMI wanting to deflect as muchblame as possible for the troubles caused in July, no matter who was ultimatelyat fault.

“Obviously in your mind, you’re a little bit frustratedbecause you’re like, ‘OK, somebody’s got to be the scapegoat here,’” Currantold Kelly. “I guess from a (public relations) standpoint I can actuallyunderstand it that they needed to say we hired a new parking company or we didthis or we did this … because they got a lot of negative publicity over all ofit.”

Some fans made it to the Quaker State 400 on time

It all goes back to Smith, who talks a big game, and gosh darnit, he makes you believe what he’s saying is true, even if it isn’t.

Terry Blount provided some words of wisdom last year, when,after listening to Smith’s pathetic excuses, wrote, “I've always respectedSmith, a man who came from nothing and molded himself into one of the mostsuccessful racing moguls in history. I'm sorry to say I lost a great deal ofrespect for him Friday. I wrote earlier this week that Kentucky Speedwaydeserves a second chance. Maybe it still does. But Smith? I hope so, but it's alot to ask.”

As for me, I’ll listen to Bruton Smith talk, but from now on,I feel like we should all take his words with a huge grain of salt. Given thathe has (apparently) lied about the Kentucky Speedway issues (again) maybe weshould all wonder if Bruton is telling the truth at all any time he speaks.

I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to trust him again.
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I used a ton of info from Kevin Kelly of the Cincinnati Enquirer in this blog. Make sure you check out his articles. He's a pro, and relays a lot of NASCAR info to NASCAR fans like myself in Cincinnati. He's worth a follow on Twitter too if you live in Cincinnati and love NASCAR or motorsports in general.

Mark Martin is blowing up Twitter

2012-02-03T10:29:00.000-05:00

When Mark Martin’s new car owner Michael Waltrip signed up hisnewest driver for the world of Twitter a few weeks ago (shocking yours truly)I wondered how Mark would take to it. Especially after he told me in 2010 thathe’d likely never join Twitter.

In fact, two days into his tweeting career, Mark responded tome, saying, “I guess you are never too old to learn. Trying to get in [the]21st century.”

So, that old saying is wrong. You can teach an old dog newtricks.

“I’m not what they call an early adapter to new technology,” Martin said in a statement released on MWR’s website.“I wasn’t a big fan of HDTV when it first came out, but after trying it out Ican’t live without it now. So, I’ll try it.”

Martin has gained almost 12,000 followers in two weeks on theTwitter trail and has tweeted nearly 300 times according to his account @55MarkMartin. Fans ask Mark about his schedule this season, his plans to race in theNationwide and Truck Series as well as his well-known weight training program.Fellow driver Kenny Wallace (who notoriously tweets from his handle @Kenny_Wallace)has even poked fun at Mark and noted his fitness program makes Wallace feellazy.

Martin has taken to Twitter, and become very interactive

Martin learned early on from fans that the 140 character limitwas not conducive to re-tweeting his fans questions along with his answers. So,like all good tweeters do, some fans suggested new apps for Martin’s phonewhere he can use an extension to Tweet longer.

“I just like playing with it and talking to the fans,” Martinsaid. “Never thought I’d get into it, but it’s kind of neat. At first I wasn’tsure Michael did me a favor because the last thing I need is something to takeup more time, but it’s been fun so far. I’d have never done it on my own. Ithought just kids did it, but I’ve got people all ages following me now.”

It will be fun to see how Mark Martin evolves using hisTwitter account, especially with some weekends off this season. For one, I’dsuggest for Mark to follow races using Twitter on his weekends off, and eventry to give some insight into what some drivers or crew chiefs might bethinking during the course of a race.

But even if Mark doesn’t do that, I think as a fan, I’mtickled that Mark has warmed up to the idea of tweeting, even though he told mehe’d never do it.

“I guess they’ve hooked me,” he said of his fans and followers.No doubt we’re hooked to hearing what Mark Martin has to offer via Twitter. It’sbeen fun to see a different side of drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kensethand even Kyle Petty. Hopefully Mark can live up to his initial offering oftweeting more than once a week. Anything will keep his fans happy, and give usone more reason to love the man we call @55MarkMartin now.

Opinion: National Signing Day not worthy of attention

2012-02-02T21:25:00.001-05:00

Call me jaded or cynical, but when it comes to one day on thecalendar when a lot of college football fans are fired up, I am the opposite.That day is National Signing Day.

Last year I wrote how I was not impressed with Signing Day.UC’s head coach Butch Jones said last year, “Everyone wants to rank recruitingclasses. The real rankings (of the class) should occur 1-2 years from now.”

And I couldn’t agree more.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy hearing the speculation on whowill be the next great college player as much as anyone involved in collegefootball, but isn’t it a little ridiculous to dedicate hours upon hours uponhours talking about young men who may never see the field?

It’s this point that gets many folks—football fans andnon-football fans alike—fired up. We dedicate so much time and publicity to ayoung man to make a choice of where he wants to go to school and play footballthat we often forget the driving force behind signing; to get an education.

When we, as a society, wonder what is wrong with our youngkids, I say we have to look no further than something such as National SigningDay.

On Monday, ESPN’s college football analyst (as well as tennisexpert) Chris Fowler tweeted “FYI, ‘National Signing Day Fever’ is one disease I will never catch. For thoseafflicted, have a ball Wednesday.”

A lot of my friends and co-workers were fired up about NSD.But I was not. For all the hype surrounding each class, I ask you, how manygames have those kids played in? How many championships have they won for theircollege?

None.

And that’s all that matters. I take a wait-and-see approach.While I’m excited to see what the nextclass brings to UC, I note that experts said the 2008 UC signing class (whichincluded Senior Bowl MVP Isaiah Pead, Derek Wolfe, JK Schaffer, DJ Woods, and afew other players who will contribute to the 2012 Bearcats) was no better thanaround 75th nationally.

They didn’t do too bad for themselves did they?

That’s just one reason amidst many that I’m not a fan ofNational Signing Day. For those of you that enjoy it, I hope you enjoyedWednesday. I’m not hating on you, but I am not one who will jump to conclusionsabout the signees.

Give it three years, then I’ll tell you how each class did.

(The opinion expressed here is solely mine, and have nothing to do with my job, trust me. I love seeing recruits sign with UC, but I just don't understand the hype over Signing Day personally)

West Side landmark Glenmore Bowl holds final night of bowling

2012-01-24T11:07:00.001-05:00

On Saturday evening a West Side landmark, Glenmore Bowl,opened its doors for one final night of bowling. The ten-lane alley is beingturned into a performing arts center by a group called The Drama Workshop.

The final night of bowling would bring a flood of friends and family predicted Jeff Horstman, whose family owned Glenmore Bowl.

And I’m saddened that I didn’t get to stop by.

Bowling was a huge part of my life, from early childhood on.Spurred by my grandfather’s love of the sport, my brother and I often spentSaturday mornings honing our skills at Del-Fair Lanes in Delhi. And although we’dhate it, our grandfather would watch every little move we’d make, and tell uswhat we were doing wrong, and how to correct it.

It paid off for me.

For four years in high school I was a part of the Elderbowling team. I made memories there that will literally last a lifetime. Andthe driving force behind my work ethic to make the high school bowling team(the OHSAA officially sanctioned bowling as a sport in my senior year of2006-07) was for my grandfather to watch me.

When my grandfather passed away in July of 2010 I wrote something so poignant, so almost poetic that one of my mom’s cousins tothis day still reminds me how great it was.

I wrote, “My mother always used to tell my brother and I whenwe were younger that the sounds of thunder during storms were sounds from theangels who were bowling above us. As a line of thunderstorms rolled throughCincinnati this evening, I thought of my grandpa. He’s upstairs in heaven withhis family, and I hope for his sake that the bowling lanes up there are just asgood as they were down here.”

And one of my grandfather’s favorite “houses” to bowl at wasGlenmore. We stopped in every once in a while in our younger days to watch himbowl. Looking back now, it was the little moments like this that make me sad tothink that Glenmore Bowl had to shut down.

In the eyes of many West Siders Glenmore Bowl may never be thesame again, but to me, and my family, it will always be a special place.

Navy to join Big East for football in 2015

2012-01-24T10:39:00.001-05:00

News broke on Monday evening that the U.S. Naval Academy wouldjoin the Big East for football beginning with the 2015 season. ESPN’s Joe Schad first reported it.

Niumatalolo (center, in blue)

The Big East’s football Twitter handletweeted the news earlier on Tuesday that a 3 p.m. teleconference would takeplace. (To listen to that teleconference, click here)“Participants on the call will include John Marinatto, BE Commissioner; ViceAdmiral Michael Miller, USN, Naval Academy Superintendent Chet Gladchuk, NavalAcademy Director of Athletics; Ken Niumatalolo, Naval Academy Head FootballCoach,” they tweeted.

I’ve stated numerous times here on the blog that if I had to pick a second favorite college football team, it’d be the Naval Academy.Last year, I even got to watch Navy take on Notre Dame at Notre Dame.

But I’ve stated more than once, including in a blog I wrote a few years back ,“I love the [option] offense. I enjoy watching it run to perfection, but I’dhate playing against it.”

And in three more seasons that unfortunate nightmare maybecome a reality. I’ll probably always love Navy, but unfortunately it lookslike my fandom of the Academy may have to cease soon.

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More on this news, as well as any news that comes from a scheduled2 p.m. press conference here at UC with head football coach Butch Jones, and asalways, more NASCAR news from the Sprint media tour this week. Stay tuned.

Mark Martin joins Twitter

2012-01-23T11:20:00.002-05:00

Two seasons ago in Indianapolis I wrote a lengthy story about Kendra Jacobs, Mark Martin’s then-Hendrick Motorsports Media Rep and the personfans turned to on Twitter for information about Mark Martin.

Moments after this press conference I had a one-on-one chat with Mark Martin. He said he'd never join Twitter. That has changed

Now that the 53-year-old has moved to Michael Waltrip Racing,fans need another source of information, and that source is the man Mark Martin himself.

Two years ago Martin told me, “I would look on Twitter, butthey ask too many questions to form an account and I’m a very private person.All the questions they ask, all the e-mail addresses and all that stuff—theydon’t need all that. I don’t have access to Twitter because I don’t like whenyou have to put all that information in.”

Never underestimate the persuasive power of team owner andfellow No. 55 driver Michael Waltrip, who, on Monday persuaded Martin to jointhe popular social networking site, and created Martin’s new handle @55MarkMartin.

We’ll see how quickly this topic comes up as the NASCAR MediaTour makes their annual stop at MWR’s shop today. I guarantee it’ll be aquestion asked to both Michael and Mark.

A lot can change in two years, and apparently Mark Martin’sreluctance to join the Twitter world has changed. I am interested to see howmuch Martin uses his Twitter profile. Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnsonand Matt Kenseth, all fellow competitors and good friends of Mark Martin haveused Twitter to interact with fans. We’ll see if Mark does the same thing.

For now, he’s worth a follow. Check him out. In just 30minutes from joining Martin picked up nearly 1,000 followers. Will you jointhat group?

Opinion: Will we ever see another Joe Paterno in college football?

2012-01-22T21:16:00.000-05:00

The sad passing of Joe Paterno on Sunday morning in HappyValley, Pa., brought forth numerous condolences from all corners of the collegefootball and sporting world.

But it also brought forth a question from many on ESPN (whereI watched hours of programming dedicated to Paterno’s passing). Will we eversee another coach last at one school as long as Paterno did at Penn State?

No. No one will even come close.

College football is a multi-million dollar industry. Coachesare paid millions of dollars, and bring thousands of people to footballstadiums each and every Saturday afternoon in the fall. The best collegefootball programs have cult-like followings.Penn State is one of those schools.

Today’s society, if I may opine openly, is a win-now society.UC’s head coach Butch Jones calls it a “SportsCenter” society.Sure you see the highlights, but you never see the hard work, the process ittakes to become the best.

Very few people know what it takes to be the best in collegefootball. Joe Paterno did. And in his rise to the top, he did it the right way.No matter what your feelings on the last six months may be, Paterno influencedthousands of lives, including students at Penn State who never had the pleasureof meeting the man everyone called Joe.

We will never again see a man coach at one school as long asJoePa coached in Happy Valley, and that’s a reason to mourn today. It’s areason to be sad.

Todd Graham (left) and Butch Jones (right)

In an era where Todd Graham jumps around from job to job and fewcoaches seem to have any loyalty to one school, Joe Paterno was a breath offresh air, a traditionalist in a world of change.

Joe loved Penn State. Penn State loved Joe. College footballloved Joe. And today we mourn for the loss of a head coach that was truly aonce-in-a-lifetime coach.

Rest in peace Coach, the college football world mourns for youand your family today.

35 Days until the Daytona 500: Living the dream

2012-01-21T16:19:00.001-05:00

As a NASCAR fan always on the go in my younger days, therewere times on Sunday afternoons where I’d be relegated to listening to the raceon MRN Radio (back when we had a steady, strong MRN Affiliate in Cincinnati, unlike now).Some of my favorite parts of the broadcasts were the short “tag offs” that MRNRadio personalities did as they cut away for commercial breaks.

“From Daytona International Speedway this is MRN, the voice ofNASCAR…”

As a kid who dreamed of maybe one day being an MRN/PRN guy,that was inspiring. ‘One day,’ I thought, ‘I could do that.’ To hear my voiceon the radio saying, ‘From the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, this isMRN, the voice of NASCAR…’ would be a dream come true, right?

I’ve been close enough.

Sitting on the pit road wall after the 2010 Brickyard (a dreamin and of itself) I got to do my own story, and it was a story about MarkMartin to boot. Talk about dreams coming true.

I sat on this pit wall and did a story about Mark Martin in 2010

It was a long journey to get there, but it was so worth it.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a magical place for so manypeople, and for me, it’s a second home. Each and every summer the Brickyard 400is a tradition, a tradition that is so special and so awesome.

Martin in 2009

To watch Paul Menard win the Brickyard 400 last year and celebrate with his fatherin the same way I would if I ever had the chance to was very special.Indianapolis, as I’ve noted many times over, is the place where memories are made.They are memories that go beyond NASCAR, and memories that will last a lifetime.

Many people go to the beach every year. Many families take atrip to Florida, and go somewhere warm. I go to Indy, with my dad, and it’sjust as awesome. In the past three years I’ve gone up on Friday afternoon andtaken part in media day at the Brickyard, which is special in and of itself.

It’s where I finally got to meet Mark Martin three years ago .If you’ve ever met your childhood idol, you know how I felt. And each of thepast two years I have been lucky enough to talk to Mark one-on-one forinterviews about behind-the-scenes members of his former Hendrick Motorsportsteam.

It’s special, and it’s just one of so many reasons I loveNASCAR. It’s a reason I write about NASCAR, and it’s a reason I love tocountdown to the Daytona 500 every year.

Martin talks to Claire B Lang of Sirius/XM last year at IMS

We’ve got 35 days. The countdown is on.

One day I might have a job where I get to sit on the pit roadwall after the Daytona 500 and tell yet another great story. For now, it’s justa pipe dream, but ten years ago if you had told me I would have met Mark Martinand done some real, live reporting from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Iprobably would have laughed at you.

I’m all smiles now.

Are leaders born or bred? A Bill Belichick case study

2012-01-18T15:11:00.002-05:00

Today you can have a look into some of the work I’m doing forgrad school. Being that this short paper I wrote is related to sports, Ifigured I’d post it here. While I know this may be a little too formal for mystyle on the blog, I hope you can enjoy this look into leadership in the sportsrealm.

Before I start, let me mention I have very few opinions onBill Belichick and the New England Patriots outside of the fact that all theyseem to do is win. And really, that’s more of a fact than an opinion. This isnot meant to be a grand look at all coaches and their “coaching trees” but ashort look—a case study, if you will—of why the New England Patriots seem to beso good, but their assistant coaches who move on struggle.

Feel free, as always, to leave any feedback as a comment onthe bottom of the blog. Enjoy.

Leaders: Born orBred? A look at the Bill Belichick “Coaching Tree”

Are leaders born or bred? Keith Grint (2010) would say it’snot a black and white question that he must answer to the most common questionhe gets when lecturing. Although he admits that it’s normally a combination ofboth, Grint states four different types of leaders, Carylean, Athenian, Spartanand Calchasian, exist in this world. He sets them in a two by two grid, pittingnature and nurture on one axis with collective leadership and individualleadership pitted against one another on the other.

Carlylean leaders are naturally born says Grint. He argues, “Ineffect, in this approach the requirements of leadership are hard-wired intohumans and remain relatively stable across space and time” (55). Athenianleaders, described as cultivated amateurs by Grint are usually born into theirleadership roles, a lot like youngsters of wealth and prestige in Athens were.Spartan leaders, says Grint, are regulators. Leaders promote their way, makefollowers loyal to the leader and obedience to the system, regulated by theregulator (Grint, 58). The Calchasian approach relies on group leadership.Grint writes, “Leadership has to be distributed through the organization;furthermore such a deep or distributed approach can be encultured, it can besocially supported and we need not simply rely on ‘nature’…” (62). Relying ongroup decision and making learning and leading a social experience, Calchasianleaders are more group or community oriented.

So, back to the original question Grint is asked most often:Are leaders born or bred? Well, in the case of the New England Patriotscoaching staff, it would seem that leaders certainly aren’t bred. In 12 seasonsas head coach of the Patriots Bill Belichick has compiled and amazing 139-53record, including three Super Bowl titles, and one undefeated regular season.He’s done this while sending numerous assistant coaches on to otherhigh-profile jobs in the NFL and in college.

Being bred under Belichick is supposed to be a blessing. Afterall, winning the way New England does is almost unmatched by any team in theNFL. But the coaches who have been assistants under Belichick have had troubleon their own, leading me to believe that in the case of the “Bill BelichickCoaching Tree,” leaders are born, not bred.

Weis (Icon SMI file)

Belichick has been at the helm of the Patriots for 12 seasonsand has lost four of his former assistants to head coaching jobs of their own,three to other NFL teams and one to a premiere college program. Those fourcoaches held six jobs (two coached multiple teams), and compiled a record of105-132, which is mediocre to say the least. When compared with their mentor,though, that record is just plain awful. This leads me to believe that in thecase of New-England-Patriots-assistant-coaches-turned-head-coaches that leadersare definitely more born than they are bred.

Charlie Weis returned to his alma mater, Notre Dame, with muchfanfare. Weis was the offensive mastermind behind the Patriots’ three SuperBowl titles in 2001, 2003 and 2004. Notre Dame fans thought Weis would be thesavior to bring Notre Dame back to the glory the Fighting Irish once reveledin, nearly 20 years earlier. They were wrong. Rather than “Waking the echoes,”Weis went a pedestrian 35-27 in five seasons in South Bend before being replacedby Brian Kelly.

Charlie Weis used to roam these sidelines. Now he's the head man in Kansas

Romeo Crennel coached with Weis and Belichick in New Englandfor those three Super Bowls, coordinating the defense. In 2005, Crennel tookthe reins of the Cleveland Browns franchise, and went 24-40 in four years inCleveland. He was fired after the ’08 season, and took a year away fromfootball (for health reasons) before taking over as a defensive coordinator inKansas City. Crennel was named interim head coach for the final three games ofthe Kansas City Chiefs season in 2011, and went 2-1. Crennel was recently hiredto be the Chiefs head coach for the upcoming season.

Crennel in Kansas City this year (AP Image)

After Weis and Crennel departed Belichick’s staff, EricMangini got his shot. After one year as Belichick’s defensive coordinator in2005, Mangini, who had been with New England since 2000, took over the New YorkJets. Mangini went 23-25 in three seasons with the Jets. A week after beingfired by the Jets, Mangini was hired to replace Crennel in Cleveland. TheMangini years in Cleveland were as bad, if not worse, than Crennel’s tenure.Mangini went 10-22 in two seasons in Cleveland.

McDaniels and Tim Tebow (US Presswire)

Josh McDaniels left Belichick in 2008 after eight years ofworking with the Patriots, including two as the offensive coordinator. In lessthan two seasons as head coach of the Broncos, McDaniels compiled aless-than-stellar 11-17 record. He was fired before the end of the 2010 season,and has been re-hired by Belichick to be the Patriots’ offensive coordinator.

It would seem, by a cursory glance, that Belichick’s mentoringand leadership didn’t pay off for those assistants that took over their ownprograms. While there are so many variables at stake in football—the least ofwhich being how each individual coach ran their own program—many people wouldlook at the success Belichick is having and wonder why his assistants can’treplicate that success on their own.

According to Grint, if leaders truly are born, “Then we mighteven consider looking for the leadership gene that is making them act” (56). After looking at the stats, we are left towonder if maybe Belichick has that gene, and he is having trouble cultivatingthat gene in his followers. According to Grint’s description of Athenianleaders, we could presume that Belichick’s assistant coaches are in a way“born” into the position they have. Perhaps Belichick isn’t cultivating theirabilities to be great head coaches, hence they fail when they leave Belichick’stutelage.

One Boston-area sports blogger, named Mike (2009), opined thatBelichick’s demanding style of coaching may stifle his mentees when they branchout on their own. Mike wrote, “Is [Belichick] too controlling, so his mentees never get theproper feel of the decision making they need as a head coach?...Even if itturns out you make the wrong call, you believe in yourself, staff and playersto execute the decisions and adapt as necessary. Developing a plan, sticking toit, and having the flexibility to learn and alter it are importantcharacteristics for a leader to have.”

Mike made some great points in his piece about Belichick’sprotégés leaving New England and not having the same success the Patriots havehad. And he also makes a great point about leaders needing to teach theirleadership to their followers for better understanding of leadership.

Judging from the perspective that leaders are born and notbred, Belichick is a great leader, but a bad teacher. He can’t breed leaders inthe way his mentor Bill Parcells did. Mike (2009) even stated Belichick, “Lookseven more like a genius with each successive failure of his former coaches ontheir own.” Perhaps Bill Belichick isn’t as good at breeding success in the waythe Athenians did, as Grint noted, and is just better at leading his footballteam. So in this small case study, it looks like Grint’s quandary would beanswered simply with Bill Belichick is a born leader, but his assistants arenot.

References

Grint, Keith. (2010). Leadership: A Very Short Introduction.Oxford University Press. (p. 1-82)

“Mike” (2009). Bill Belichick: Good Coach, Bad Mentor? Sportsof Boston Blog. Retrieved Jan. 10, 2011 from http://sportsofboston.com/2009/12/01/bill-belichick-good-coach-bad-mentor/

50 Reasons to Celebrate

2012-01-17T10:18:00.002-05:00

Last week was Mark Martin’s birthday, and, as I stated, theunofficial countdown to the Daytona 500. On that day I began to think howinfluential and important Mark Martin has been on my life. Without followingMark Martin’s career in NASCAR, I definitely wouldn’t be as big of a fan of thesport, and certainly wouldn’t spend a majority of my free time followingNASCAR.

But more than Mark Martin there is one man I should thank formy undying passion for NASCAR: my father.

Today, January 17, is his 50th birthday. And while I couldjust toilet paper our front yard for fun, I’m better at writing about the father-son bond we’ve formed around the sports world I live in, more specifically, the NASCAR world .

In 1996 my dad searched high, far and wide to find a friend togo to the ’96 Brickyard 400 with. No one wanted to go. He turned to me. Atseven years old he found the perfect friend to join him on a maiden voyage tothe Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

We’ve never looked back.

My dad would sit in front of the TV and watch NASCAR with me.In fact, he still does. While he’s not as big, nor as passionate, a fan as hisoldest son, he still enjoys watching races with me.

When I first met Mark Martin in 2009the first person I told was my dad, who reminded me to always “Act like you’vebeen there before.” I sent him a text message that said, “Just met Mark. It waspretty cool.”

Later, when I called him, I said, “How many chances am I goingto have to meet Mark Martin?” I was excited. My dad was too.

When my dad suggested he was thinking about skipping the 2009Brickyard (after the Goodyear tire debacle of 2008)I had to plead with him to join me. Every year since 2003 that one weekend in late July/early August has become our weekend to enjoy NASCAR, and so much more.

It wouldn’t be the same without my dad. I’d think he’d feelthe same way about me. When we lost my grandfather in July of 2010moments like this took on a more special meaning. Not that they weren’t specialbefore, but they mean just that much more now.

I told my dad about Jeff Gluck’s Indy tweetup this year. Hesaid, “OK, let’s go.” He met Gluck (who he also follows on Twitter) and westood just feet from Ned Jarrett and polesitter David Ragan. My dad still citesthis as one of the coolest phenomena in NASCAR, and maybe all of sports.

He tells people, “There we were standing feet from thepolesitter and a NASCAR Hall of Famer and no one rushed them for autographs oranything. And you turn around and 100 feet away people are walking around andhave no idea what’s going on.”

Nothing will ever replace those moments, and I’m sure thereare many more to come. For today, there are plenty of reasons, even somenon-NASCAR related, to celebrate my father’s 50th birthday.

But for now, I’ll stick to writing about the things I knowbest, and those things are my dad, NASCAR and the reason why both of them willbe forever linked in my mind.