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To that I say go find a go-kart track (not one by a mini golf course that you'd take your kid to) and give it a try. I just was at this place called Sugar River Raceway in Wisconsin where quite a few racecar drivers have gotten their start (Danica for sure, I think Travis Kvapil.....there were others). It's an 11-turn, .42 mile track and the karts hit 55 on the straightaway. We did it for like 25 minutes and I was wiped out. The next day, muscles I didn't even know I had were hurting. The bumps were just killer....And that's about one bajillionth of what the real guys go through. It gave me new appreciation for how tough it can be. Add in 100+ degree temperatures, 500 miles every week, you're not being successful unless you're an athlete. There's a reason these guys train as much as they do. You'd never make it if you were out of shape. It ain't like taking your sedan out and hanging a left onto John R. There's a helluva lot more that goes into it than drive fast, turn left.

::snicker:: I was just coming here to post the same thing. Vickers: "I'm sorry...I forgot it was the Kyle Busch show. I thought we were racing for a win. He started crying like a little baby and I told him to give me a minute to get out and we could talk about it like men. If he wanted to fight, that's fine with me. Then I got out of the car and he ran off." Why does Kyle Busch think that he has a God-given right to be the winner every single week? It gets funnier and funnier every time he comes up short. It's so funny to watch him ***** and moan even when he gets a podium. The best part was he sarcastically said something along the lines of "I know I'm just whining and crying....." Uhh...yeah. That's exactly what you were doing, dbag. Congrats to Keselowski! Not a bad week for him. Wins at his home track and he gets to watch practice of his favorite college football team, the Meeeeeechigan Wolverines.

Yes he did, and yes I'm pissed about it. ESPN's chat was hilarious. Three questions in a row: Deuce (Denver) Do you think Roger Penske would have Stremme split the 12 later in the season to give Allgaier some seat time and experience? David Newton (2:31 PM) Not a bad idea. He'd like to get Keselowski in that ride for next season as well. Maxx (reno) if stremme is so bad why not bring algiar up already? David Newton (2:32 PM) Wow, two Stremme needs to be replaced questions in a row. See below. Michael Waltrip (Michigan Int'l) Am I still the worst driver in Nascar? or have I been passed by Stremme? And who else in in the conversation for worst driver?? David Newton (2:33 PM) You're at Michigan a bit early. Too funny. And Stremme is stealing Waltrip's limelight, so to speak. Newton also made his prediction for Michigan: Something along the lines of "A Roush car will win and David Stremme will wreck somebody." I started a thread on Harvick's message board asking the same question I posted here: Is there anyone worse currently--and has there been anyone worst in the past 20 years than Stremme. Some really interesting responses/stats: http://fancentral.kevinharvick.com/forum/t...orse-than-david

I'm going to go ahead and put this out there: David Stremme is the worst driver on a quality team that I have seen since I started watching Nascar about 18 years ago. I'm not so sure he's not the worst driver I've seen in Nascar period. Five years in the series and he has THREE Top 10 finishes.... This isn't funny anymore. That guy is an absolute joke. As soon as Penske finally pulls the plug, that's going to be the last you'll ever see of him in the Sprint Cup Series. He's never getting another ride, and the sooner he's gone, the better. You say Ragan has potential, I've got no problem with that (even though he wrecks about 1 car a race). Stremme is what he is, and he's a God-awful Cup driver. He ain't getting any better. Hell, he's never even won a race in the NATIONWIDE series. He has no business being in Sprint Cup, especially not for a guy like Roger Penske.

I'm pretty sure Stremme is the worst driver in the series. I really am shocked that Penske hasn't pulled the plug on him yet. I was rooting for Montoya to get it done too. But how great was his interview with Vince Welch after the race? "Kasey Kahne came down and had some angry words for you after the race. What'd he say?" "I think you take everything the wrong way! He came to apologize! Thanks a lot!" Juan was pissed.

What the hell did they do to Pocono? That was actually an entertaining race! I can't remember the last time I said that about a race there. Usually I'm wishing they'd bulldoze that place and give the races to Darlington and Iowa (which is an AWESOME track). Or just build a clone of Richmond and give them both races. How much longer til David Stremme is out of a ride? He's now had one TOP TWENTY finish in his last 13 races. That guy has as much business being in Cup as me. Stremme can go around there wrecking people every week and yet we can't find a way for Aric Almirola to actually get to drive once in awhile? Speaking of Davids that suck, chalk another two wrecks up for David Ragan. I've never seen Bobby Labonte that pissed off. I was really hoping that when they interviewed him he'd be like "I never say anything bad about anybody, but that guy is a joke." He's a danger. I can't believe Rousch is sticking with him and pawning of McMurray (who ain't a great driver himself).

Agreed. I don't think they need to completely ban them, because the attendance/viewership would go right in the tank, but they need to do something about the Cup guys overrunning that series. Maybe either limit the number of Cup guys per race or limit how many races per year the Cup guys are allowed to race in? It's a dilemma for sure. Do you want to make money or develop young drivers? I might be in the minority, but I love watching the kids try to work their way up. The Indy Lights series has some PHENOMENAL racing (their race at Indy might have been the best race I've seen all year in any series) and I don't need Tony Kanaan or Helio driving to be interested. Here are the winners this year so far in the Nationwide series: Shrub (6) Logano (3) Biffle (2) Edwards (1) Keselowski (1) Bliss (1) Harvick (1) Ragan (1) Kenseth (1) Bowyer (1) Stewart (1) Out of 19 races, Mike Bliss is the only person who has won a race in the Nationwide circuit who has never won at the Cup level. He and Keselowski are the only non-Cup regulars to win a race this year (and they've run 6 and 7 races this year, respectively, and Keselowski has a win in Cup). If it weren't for Bliss and Ragan (and Harvick :flamingmad:) winning, it would be hard to tell that list from the list of Cup winners. There's a problem when the list of the winners in the "minor league" series looks like that. They need to be getting guys like Cale Gale some seat time, rather than just having the Cup guys using the series as a glorified test session. When guys like David Stremme still have rides in Cup, it means they aren't doing a good enough job of developing new talent to bring up.

The main game that jumps to mind is when we lost to friggin Slovakia. The US was all over them, Janus was keeping the Slovaks in it, and then McCollum would give up a terrible goal. The US would make it a game, McCollum would give up a terrible goal. Again, it's entirely possible he just had a bad game/bad week, but he was horrifically bad (particularly in that game). At least that game, it wasn't a problem with the team in front of him, it was just God-awful goaltending. (And to be fair, Jimmy Howard sucked in the World Juniors as well, and I'd love to see him be our goalie....it's just an issue of familiarity. I saw Howard be fantastic in college...I don't watch the OHL.)

I'm still holding out hope for Jimmy Howard. I know McCollum put up great numbers in the OHL, but the only time I've gotten to see him was during World Juniors when he was just BRUTAL. Maybe he just had a bad tourney, but it wasn't a good first impression, that's for sure! I'm not sure where Kulfan got his numbers about Pearce. It looks like he went with Pearce's numbers from his junior year, because that was his GAA/Save %/Win total, but he didn't get the losses right. Last year he posted crazy good numbers. It was something along the lines of 30-6-3, 1.67, .931.....Don't know how that slipped past the editor. I knew it was wrong the second I read it, since there was no way ND lost 11 times last year....

See, I think those were two completely different things (and not just because I like JPM and hate Shrub). It's one thing entirely to spin someone (like, knocking them in the left rear) under yellow on a short track. It's another to crank your car down into someone on the backstretch at Texas (or whatever cookie cutter fast track they were at). Especially when you drill them in the right rear and put them head on into the wall. There are plenty of ways to get back at someone on track without risking their life. I don't think it's overly dramatic to say that he easily could've killed JPM. That wreck was a helluva lot worse than the one that killed Earnhardt (granted the cars are safer). I think Nascar has been way too lax about people who intentionally cause wrecks. Yeah, they tossed Gilliland from the race. Yippee do. They should have parked him for the season. Jarrett intentionally wrecked Newman at Richmond a few years back and ended up taking out at least one of the guys who was competing for a spot in the Chase. They penalized him like 5 laps. Too bad he was like 3 laps behind the car in front of him and 10 laps ahead of the car behind him. It didn't cost him a single position. I've always found it really amusing that you can intentionally wreck someone and you get a slap on the wrist. If you swear on TV though? That's 100,000 and 25 points.

Hornish has wrecked Harvick at least twice this year and I couldn't stand him when he was in IndyCars, though I don't recall if I had a reason for that. Gilliland: Honest to God I'm not sure he should be allowed in a racecar after what he did to Montoya last year. I thought he should've been suspended for the rest of the season and I still can't believe Nascar let him off as lightly as they did. That guy is damn lucky that these cars are as safe as they are. Kenseth: I guess I shouldn't dislike him as much as I do, given that he's a big reason Harvick won the 500 in 07 and he donated a bunch of autographed stuff to a fundraiser for my hockey arena. He's pissed me off too many times (though none jump to mind). Biffle and Harvick have had their run-ins in the past. I also think he's got a terrible attitude. One of the first guys to rip the crew when something isn't going his way. Hamlin just strikes me as a major whiner. At least Shrub is pretty much upfront about it that he's a total prick. Hamlin seems all nice and then once in awhile he says something that makes me think that Shrub and the old version of Stewart rubbed off on him. Another one that I don't really have a good reason to dislike. I just think David Ragan is a complete joke. And he screwed Harvick's chances at a championship last year. Punted him at Talladega and so he was back behind the wreck that Edwards caused. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered. Some guys at the front and some toward the back got taken out. But, yeah, that guy is terrible. No more than 3 minutes before he wrecked the 29 in that race, I told my fiancee that I really didn't like the fact that Ragan was right behind him. By the way, it's not like anyone should be shocked that Shrub got put into the wall hard. He drives like a complete idiot the last lap of these plate races. This definitely isn't the first time he's gotten reckless trying to block. There's a reason that the right side of Harvick's car was trashed when he won the 500. Shrub tried to block him way too late and knocked him into the wall. Go back and watch the last lap of that race and try to imagine how many cars he would've taken out if he had been a little quicker sliding up at Harvick. Oh and I completely agree about TNT's coverage. It was awesome. (Though I'm a fan of DW and McReynolds....it's a completely different atmosphere in that booth.) And their HD always looks SO nice. Too bad they can't do that Wide Open Coverage more often. Also, it wouldn't make me cry if Nascar just said screw racing on Sunday and had all their races Saturday night under the lights. Night races kick ass. BTW, doesn't Penske have to get Stremme out of the 12 car at some point? That guy makes Ragan look like Johnson. I said before the season I didn't think he'd make it to halfway, and I'm not really sure why he has. He hasn't had a top 20 since the 8th race of the year and has gone 31, 38, 24, 22, 31, 34, 38, 39, 28, 35 since then. It's not like he had a stellar career before that. There's gotta be someone better out there. Hell, shelve the car and put the money into getting my boy Will Power back into an IndyCar! :-)

I don't see there being a problem if the Wings and Tigers were playing at the same time. You'd have 20,000 or so for a hockey game and what? 40,000 or so for the baseball game. Combined, that's still not what Ford Field can hold. They've had Lions and Tigers games at the same time before, haven't they?

I don't know if he's just matured now that he's a car owner or what, but I think Stewart is starting to "get it". I think I've only called him a prick a couple times this year and for the most part he's come across as pretty likeable. He even gave Kahne credit for that performance Sunday. Or maybe it's that I've grown to dislike a half-dozen or more guys even more than I dislike Stewart. (You can start with Shrub, Hornish, Kenseth, Biffle, Regan, Hamlin, and Gilliland.)

Would it be fair to call JPM the most improved driver in the series? Aside from late last season when he intentionally spun Shrub after the race, I can't remember the last time he took someone out. And he's in prime position to make the Chase, despite being in inferior equipment to most of the top guys. He pissed me off for awhile since he kept taking Harvick out, but I always liked him when he was in IndyCar, and once he spun Shrub, I was back in his corner. I'm glad to see him doing well.

Franzen is more proven/less of a gamble than Hossa? Keep in mind that he hadn't had this second good playoff season when Holland signed him. When Holland signed him, he had had about the equivalent of one good full season and one good playoff run. Hossa has had about 9 good regular seasons and 3 or so good playoff runs (some years the team didn't make it, some years he was up there in scoring on a team that just didn't play a lot of playoff games so he hasn't put up the numbers)? Franzen is a MUCH bigger gamble than Hossa IMO. One guy has never had a 60 point season. The other guy has had 9. And they're the same age. I don't think it's remotely accurate to call the OTHER guy a franchise player and the guy with 9 60-point seasons under his belt "a gamble".

Yeah, he's just a steaming pile of poo, scoring 92 and 100 points back to back years with Atlanta. For the record, here are the numbers from Ottawa's 02-03 team, when Hossa didn't have "a good playoff year" according to most people's standards who will only acknowledge that he's had success in the playoffs once: (All in 18 games played) Hossa: 5-11--16 Bonk: 6-5--11 Havlat: 5-6--11 Alfredsson: 4-4--8 (that is some heavy lifting) So he only led the team in scoring by 5 points. Not good enough? How bout 01-02? (12 games played) Alfredsson: 7-6--13 Hossa: 4-6--10 Bonk: 3-7--10 Havlat: 2-5--7 Hell, how bout 03-04 when they lost in seven: Hossa: 3-1--4 Havlat: 0-3--3 Alfredsson: 1-2--3 Hossa was the only player on the team with more than one goal in that series. In a 7 game series. He was the only player on the team to score more than once. What a ******* choker. 2000-01 when they got swept out in round one: Hossa: 1-1--2 McEachern: 0-2--2 Alfredsson: 1-0--1 Yashin: 0-1--1 They scored three goals in the series. He was in one two of them. 1998-99: Alfredsson: 1-2--3 Hossa: 0-2--2 Yashin: 0-0--0 99-2000 was the only year where he wasn't right at the top of the Sens scoring leaders when he had 0-0--0 in six games. But even then Alfredsson had 1 whole goal. So in all the years Hossa played for the Sens, Alfredsson outscored Hossa three times, Hossa outscored Alfredsson three times. Yashin NEVER outscored him. Neither did Havlat. Hossa had 34 points in 51 games over those six seasons, Alfredsson had 32 points in 51 games. And actually, IN HIS CAREER Yashin never topped 5 goals or 8 points in one playoff season, so pretty much you were just talking out of your ass on that one when you said he was along for the ride while those other guys did the heavy lifting, weren't you?

It absolutely blows my mind how many people are questioning the character of one of the few athletes on the planet who said "It's not about the money" and actually meant it, and turning it into "He's just a front-runner who wants to ride other people's coattails". You take your $4 million and find a "solid scoring threat" on the open market. I'll take my $4 million and sign Hossa. We'll see who ends up with the better player. Some more numbers for the people being hypocrites by calling Hossa a playoff choker and giving Datsyuk the benefit of the doubt: With 49 points in his last 56 playoff games, Datsyuk has completely shed the label of being a playoff underachiever. And notice that he's getting the benefit of the doubt for his postseason performance, where he only scored one goal even before he missed games with a broken foot. That wouldn't have happened several years ago. Now look at Hossa. Datsyuk's 49 points in 56 games has been enough to shed his label as a perennial underachiever (more due to 39 points in 40 games over the 07 and 08 playoffs than what he did this year). Well, Hossa has had 41 points in 43 games over the past two playoff years and has 46 points in his last 54 playoff games. Pretty darn comparable to the best of Datsyuk's career, no? Then when you factor in that Hossa, in addition to the numbers above, has an additional season where he scored 16 points in 18 games and another where he scored 10 points in 12 games, it becomes exceedingly difficult to see why he's been labeled as someone who can't perform in the postseason and who only had "one good year" referring to last season with the Penguins. Let me be perfectly clear: The 16 points in 18 games and 10 points in 12 games were not factored into his numbers that are almost identical to the best playoff stretch of Pavel Datsyuk's career. Outside of the past 3 playoffs for Datsyuk, he has 42 games played and a line of 3-12--15. Outside of the past 4 playoffs for Hossa (to get the breakdown to be equivalent), he has 44 games played and a line of 10-20--30. Then when you factor in that--assuming the Freep's numbers are correct--Hossa would be getting $2.75 million per season LESS than Datsyuk, it's really hard to see how anyone could be against this. And once again, I'm not saying this playoff run was Datsyuk's fault, that I think he's overpaid, that I want him gone, that I think he's a playoff choker, or anything of the sort. I like Datsyuk an awful lot (something I most definitely wouldn't have said a few years ago--beyond the fact that he was entertaining to watch). I just think it's hilarious to watch people fall all over themselves to run him out of town for only being our fourth-leading scorer in the playoffs when he had more pressure on himself than anyone in the league outside of Crosby.

Especially considering if the numbers listed are true, player "B" would be making $2.75 million less than Player A. But Player B is a playoff choker, and only wants to ride the coattails of Player A, dont'chaknow.

Even if you hate Hossa for having the audacity to outscore Pavel Datsyuk in the postseason (goals, points, goals per game, points per game), getting a 40-goal scorer for a tick more than we're paying Brad Stuart is a complete a no-brainer.

The Man is going to be on with Joe Buck at 9 pm Eastern tonight on HBO for the debut of Joe Buck Live. I'm not a huge fan of Buck, but this is going to be a must-watch. It was an interview that was previously scheduled before this Minnesota stuff starting happening. Should be VERY interesting.

The Sharks would make sense. That team clearly (and if I type "Cleary" one more time when I'm trying to type clearly.....) needs to make some changes. Maybe center a deal around Thornton or Marleau (clearly they'd have to put more in a Marleau deal). That would be a really nice pickup for them. Could Chicago take on Heatley's contract without screwing themselves when it's time to resign Kane, Toews and the other youngsters? I don't see Ottawa taking Campbell or Huet back as the center piece of a trade....

Happy to see that Salo's team and Johnny O's team both won! I didn't watch more than an hour of the race, but I always try to catch the ALMS when it's on. Hopefully Acura will make it over there next year. I'd love to see de Ferran's team win it.

What should Datsyuk get? How bout Franzen and Zetterberg? Do they get $2? Does Stuart owe about $5 million? With your method, based on the way these guys played in Game 6 and 7, it won't be a problem to get well under the salary cap next year.

Hossa had: 1) The same number of points in the Finals as Crosby (and one less than Franzen). 2) More points per game in the playoffs than Datsyuk 3) One fewer goal than Zetterberg, if you ignore the empty netters Here is the list of players who had more goals than Hossa this postseason for the Red Wings: Franzen (4 points in the Finals), Zetterberg, Cleary (1 point in the Finals, OMG!). Here is the list of players who had fewer goals than Datsyuk this postseason: Leino, Lebda, Maltby, Chelios, Meech, Kopecky. Draper had the same number. Of all those guys, only Lebda and Maltby played more games. And 12 of his 15 games played were before he hurt his foot. I'm not even bringing that up to point the finger at Datsyuk. I'm doing it to emphasize how moronic it is to point a finger at our fourth-leading goal scorer and rip him for not scoring more, when our Hart finalist is getting a pass even though he scored one more goal in the playoffs than I did. Does Hossa deserve some of the blame? Absolutely. But so does everyone else on the team, up to (and including) Osgood (who was our best player and rightfully would have won the Smythe had the Wings won the Cup, but gave up terrible GWGs in Game 6 and 7). And there's the very real possibility that he was playing injured. For those who say "then he shouldn't have been in the lineup", as bad as you seem to think he played, do you really think Ville Leino would've been more effective? C'mon. He still had 15 points in 22 games. More than all but 4 other Wings can say....

Stuart has been really bipolar this playoffs. Some games he's been absolutely outstanding and I want to take back everything bad I've said about him this year. Then the other half the time him and Train Wreck make me avert my eyes every time they're on the ice together. He has been better than he was in the regular season though. People keep bringing up the 3 games out of 22 where he's scored. And Datsyuk has goals in what? 1 out of 15 games? Hossa has more points per game than Datsyuk and Datsyuk had (without looking it up) 20 more points in the regular season? I'd call his dropoff bigger, personally. But no one is making a peep about him because he sat out some games with an injury. Hossa isn't getting the benefit of the doubt though. Maybe next time he can sit out a few to prove to the fans that he's actually hurt. Hossa was a HUGE reason that we got past Anaheim. Two goals on the road in a game we had to have. Even if he did nothing else the entire postseason, there's a 50-50 chance we lose that game (and more than likely the series) without his two second-period goals. Also, Z has 11 goals in the playoffs. That looks great right? Well, four of them were empty netters. He's scored 7 with the goalie in, Hossa has 6. OMG UNDERACHIEVING!!!!! Zetterberg is a goal scorer. HE NEEDS TO SCORE GOALS WITH THE GOALIE IN! Who cares about assists?! Back-checking doesn't help when you're down by a goal!!!1!