The Brickyard, Needed or Not?

Tomorrow, NASCAR’s best start their engine at one of the world’s greatest racetracks–the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Since the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994, this race has become the second-biggest race in NASCAR. However, for the past week, fans have been displaying their dismay for the summertime race on Sirius/XM’s NASCAR channel.

A lot of fans think the racing isn’t great at Indy. I can’t say I disagree with that. Lets’ face it, there’s not a lot of passing; clean air is premium, and there’s going to be a lot of empty seats for tomorrow’s race. The empty seats are happening all across NASCAR, but also in other sports too–so NASCAR isn’t alone in the in-person attendance category. The fans want to see Indy off the schedule; why? They need to have a valid reason.

Some fans haven’t come back to Indy since the epic 2008 tire “disaster”. The economy hasn’t picked up-so some don’t want to fork out all the money for the in-person experience and others have been, but claim the views’ at the track are not good. Are these reasons to pull NASCAR away from the historic track? No. If that were the case, then why does Pocono still have a race? It’s the exact same as Indy–just the track is a triangle–not four-cornered, or rectangle like Indy.

I agree with NASCAR blogger, Pete Pistone–NASCAR’s relationship with Indianapolis is important. Drivers view this as the “second” Dayton 500. Even though there may just be 138,000 people at the race tomorrow–that’s nearly 30,000 more than any college football, NFL, MLB, MLS or any other sports venue can hold. It will, at the very least, double what the Olympics opening ceremonies held–maybe triple.

Also, Indy has tradition–kissing the bricks. Champions tend to rise when Indy rolls around. Four-time champion, Jeff Gordon, leads all drivers with four wins at Indy; five-time champion, Jimmie Johnson, has three wins, and defending series champion, Tony Stewart, has two wins. Eight winners have gone on to win the championship in the same year (three mentioned above are apart of the group). Will this weekend’s winner be launched to a Sprint Cup Series Championship? Who will kiss the bricks? I don’t think the winner will win the championship, however, it will be someone who’s never won the race before. Maybe it will be Joey Logano, winner of the June race at Pocono. What about Kyle Busch? He’s had a terrible season, but a victory at Indy can turn everything around. It won’t be either of them. My pick for tomorrow, Kasey Kahne.

Kahne–winner of the Coca-Cola 600 in May, and last race at New Hampshire–is firing on all cylinders right now. He’s hungry to show his dominance at Hendrick Motorsports. A win tomorrow would pretty much secure his spot in the final 10-race chase for the Sprint Cup.

Paul Menard–defending Brickyard champion–was a surprise last year. Do I expect another surprise tomorrow? No, but that doesn’t mean someone couldn’t sneak in for the victory.

Tomorrow, a new chapter is written into one racing’s most-historic tracks. It’s not going anywhere–no matter what people say.

Favorite Cartoon

During my last post, I shared my favorite Nickelodeon shows, however, they weren't the cartoon shows. I had to save cartoon-list for another post. When I remember my favorite cartoons, several come to mind. Only a few stand out, though. They all were under the Nickelodeon umbrella. It was my ritual–like most kids–to watch cartoons. Even flipping through channels now, I run across the Nickelodeon channel and I see Hey Arnold! or Doug on. It takes me back to when I was kid. Wow, those days went by so quick. Here’s my list of my top-5 cartoons:

1. Rocko’s Modern Life

No debate about my no. 1 show. Rocko’s Modern Life was my favorite cartoon show. I thought it was hilarious, gross, dumb, etc. As a kid, you could care less about the “educational” value of a show. This show had ZERO, however, it was my favorite. You had Rocko the wallaby; his friends Heffer the cow and Filburt the turtle, Rocko’s neighbors the Bigheads’ and of course Spunky, Rocko’s dog. All the memorable shows (if you’re a fan). Do you remember when Heffer had his brain sucked into the big screen television? Or what about Ed Bighead’s “Magic Meatball” (a play off the magic 8-ball). One of those has to be my favorite episode. As mentioned earlier–not “educational”–but hilarious.

2. Rugrats

How many adventures did you go on as a a kid? I can remember a few, but no kid took adventures like Tommy Pickles. That kid saw everything it seemed like. He would go to places with his grandfather’s stories. He got locked in a toy store–not a good thing–but he had fun in there. The adventure was fun for me as a kid. Tommy was the coolest toddler around. We all have a faithful sidekick–Tommy was no different; he had Chuckie. We all know a Chuckie; doesn’t want to get into anything because he’s afraid of getting in trouble. Then, we all know a Phil and Lil. Two twins who wanted to get into everything. Then last, but certainly not least, there was Angelica–Tommy’s cousin. We all have the cousins’ who pick on us when we’re smaller; Tommy was no exception to that rule. I remember many days of wanting to be a “rugrat”. What I didn’t know was we all are in our smaller years.

3. Doug

Doug Funnie and Mosquito Valentine brought junior high to a younger generation. Nickelodeon gets a lot of props from me. Looking back now, we all dreams of a special girl we really like; we dreamed of being a hero (or I did). Doug brought us complex, but simple characters. “Skeeter” was Doug’s best friend; Roger was the class bully and Patti Mayonnaise was Doug’s love interest (or crush). I could relate to the cartoon. We all knew these people growing up. Sometimes, I wanted to turn into Quailman or Durango Doug. How funny to look back now. This show should be in everyones’ top-5.

4. Hey Arnold!

“Football head!” What a nickname for a kid. Arnold–who’s head was shaped like a football–was a great kid in the show. I remember thinking that my friends and I were a lot like Arnold and his friends. We all played baseball in the neighborhood and we all went to school together. That’s just like Arnold and his friends. Looking back now, I never realized how much his grandfather looked like Old man Herbert from Family Guy.

5. Rocket Power

How can we forget the kids who love to skateboard? Otto, Reggie, Twister and Squid–they took us on some wild journeys on their skateboards. Everywhere they went, they were on a skateboard. They lived on a California beach, so naturally they surfed. They loved anything extreme. They were doing things only I could imagine at a young age. I’d be willing to bet they made extreme sports relative to a younger demographic, and we can think this show. Even though I didn’t watch every episode, I watched enough. That’s why the show is in my top-5.

Honorable Mentions: Aaahh!!!! Real Monters, Angry Beavers, CatDog, Ren & Stimpy

Remembering the Days

I’m sifting through Twitter, reading all the tweets, looking to see what’s trending–then it caught my eye. Not a picture or a specific tweet–but a hashtag that read #NickelodeonClassics. I couldn’t believe it. I read as people were talking about their favorite Nickelodeon shows. It made me sit back and think, “What were my favorite Nickelodeon shows?” This is my top five list.

1. Legends of the Hidden Temple

What a great show! I remember being scared of the temple guards when I was younger. Who didn’t want to go through Olmec’s temple? He had everything you could think of. Swings, ladders, observatory, etc. My favorite room in the temple–the ledges. I’d always laugh when a team chose to start through the ledges. A temple guard would always pop out, and they were down a pendant of life right off the bat. My favorite team–Purple Parrots. This is when I really rooted for underdogs. I only saw the Parrots’ make it to the temple one time–guess what? They won! It was educational, but most of all, fun to watch.

2. Wild and Crazy Kids

Wow! This is a close second. I remember spending hours watching the no. 1 show along with this one. Wild and Crazy Kids had some of the funnest games imaginable. Do you remember bumperball? What about Raging Waters episode? How about rolling a house in toilet paper? Or when they took over Universal Studios Hollywood? They were on the movie sets for all their games. Only on this show could kids go all out with their imagination. One other thing–Omar Gooding Jr. Hard to believe he was a host on this show–especially with the movies he’s been in.

3. Are You Afraid of the Dark?

This show was part of the Nick’s Saturday night lineup. I always felt the show didn’t get the credit it deserved. Coming on after All That must have been tough (not on my list though). It always made me think something scary will happen. The ending–no one wanted to be the last person around the open campfire–because they’d have pour the water out over it, and no one else would stick around to help them. Where did they come up with some of these stories? For a little kid, the show did its’ job. It left an impression

4. Guts (all versions)

“Do You Have it?” A memorable slogan from the show. Mike O’Malley–main character of the popular show, Yes Dear–hosted Guts. All the players competed for a glowing piece of aggro rock. The Aggro Crag was a beast towards the end of the show. I liked the fact they used many different sports during the show. Strong show, lots of love–but it didn’t crack my top three. However, it did have to the coolest arena name–Extreme Arena.

5. What Would You Do?

No–this is not the show hosted by John Quinones–this was hosted by Marc Summers. The show feautured different things, like the pie pod, the pie wash, pie coaster, etc. Who can forget the Wall O’Stuff? I know I can’t. I’d laugh when people would get a pie to the face, or the pie sprayer would soak them. They would present their token with a big smile–then the smile went away (in most cases). How many laughs this show gave me, I’ll never know the answer to that.

This list could not have been possible without our honorable mention list: Salute Your Shorts, Double Dare, Figure It Out, Kenan and Kel, Nick Arcade and Hey Dude. Now, I know there weren’t any cartoons, but that’s to come at a later date. We’re going to have a whole other debate for Nickelodeon cartoon supremacy.

Els’ Triumph

(Credit to Bleacherreport.com for photo)

Ernie Els returned to the major championship winners’ circle Sunday defeating Adam Scott by one shot to win the 2012 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

Els–who hasn’t won a major since his 2002 Open Championship victory–birdied the eighteenth hole to card a 2-under 68, 7-under overall.

“Last year I was absolutely nowhere. I started believing a little more and somehow, here we are,” said Els. “I feel very fortunate, but I also feel Adam Scott. He’s a great player and a great superstar.”

Scott–who remains majorless–held a four shot lead walking off the 14th hole, however, Els’ birdie on 18 cut the deficit to three, then Scott made four consecutive bogeys.

He (Scott) failed to convert an up-and-down from a bunker on the fifteenth hole. Then he three-putted 16. The seventeenth hole, Scott pulled his approach shot left from the middle of the fairway. Finally, his pulled 3-wood into a pot bunker on 18 forced Scott to pitch-out sideways and get up-and-down from the fairway. He hit his third shot to 7 feet, but was unable to sink the putt.

“I had it in my hands with four to go,” Scott said. “I managed to hit a poor shot on each of the closing four holes. Look, I played so beautifully for most of the week. I shouldn’t let this bring me down.”

For Els, his major disappoinments’ have to come to a halt. Since his last major victory, Els’ closest calls came during the 2004 season. He finished second to Phil Mickelson at the Masters, lost in a playoff to Todd Hamilton in the Open Championship–his last runner-up finish in a major–and missed a playoff by one shot at the PGA Championship, won by Vijay Singh

Credit: ESPN.com and PGATour’s Twitter for the quotes and helped statistics in this article.