[adrotate group=”1″] [wpcdt-countdown id=”15298″] 🏁 The Daytona 500 had its inaugural race on February 22, 1959, at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Here are some key moments from its early years: 1959: Lee Petty, the patriarch of the racing family, clinched victory in the first-ever Daytona 500. In a dramatic finish, he defeated Johnny Beauchamp in a highly unusual manner. The two were lapping Joe Weatherly at the finish line1. 1960: Junior Johnson employed the draft—a little-understood phenomenon at the time—to secure victory. He drove a slower, year-old car but used the draft to his advantage. The field consisted of a whopping 68 cars, making it the largest Daytona 500 lineup in history. Driver with the Most Wins When it comes to Daytona 500 victories, one name stands out: Richard Petty. The legendary driver has an impressive record of seven wins in this prestigious race. His dominance on the track and his iconic No. 43 car have left an indelible mark on Daytona 500 history. Fastest Speed Record In 1980, Buddy Baker achieved a remarkable feat by winning the Daytona 500 at an average speed of 177.602 miles per hour—a record that still stands as the fastest in the race’s history. Baker was also the first driver to break the 200 mph barrier on a closed course. His victory remains a testament to speed and skill on the high banks of Daytona. Fun Trivia Kurt Busch holds the distinction of leading the fewest laps (just one lap) and still winning the Daytona 500 in 2017. Matt Kenseth defied the odds by starting from the 39th position and emerging victorious in 2009. The slowest winning average speed belongs to Junior Johnson, who triumphed in 1960 with an average speed of 124.740 mph. The Daytona 500 continues to captivate fans, drivers, and racing enthusiasts alike. Its rich history and thrilling moments make it a true American racing spectacle. 🏎️💨 Views: 115
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This That and the Other Thing
Today I will be talking about a few things. Football, Politics, Basketbal, and anything else that pops into my mind. FOOTBALL: Questions. Will Peyton Retire? YES! I believe he will retire. But follow the lead of Jeff Saturday and retire as a COLT. Will Johnny Manziel find a home? Despite his intolerable behavior….I believe someone will find a spot for him. JAMESIS WINSTON found a home, DIDN’T he. What about Robert Griffin III ? I think he will land some where. BUT as I wrote before his, Russel Wilson, and Andrew Luck’s drafting. R.G.III needs to play behind a veteran for at least one or two years. Then I think he will be ready. POLITICS: Same old thing. people will elect another MULTI-MILLIONAIRE, who has no interest in the working people. Right now it looks like our choice will be Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Before I move on let me remind you I do not affiliate with any party. It is my belief THERE IS NO ROOM IN GOVERNMENT FOR PARTIES. That said; Donald Trump has set a precedent as one who will, if things get a little tough he will bail. Just look how many times he has bailed out of businesses using BANKRUPTCY!!!! Hillary Clinton: Don’t forget Who’s name was on NAFTA which sent and continues to send AMERICAN JOBS to another country. CLINTON. She has been caught in so many LIES already. Yes I know LYING is a politician’s pre-requisite. As an INDEPENT VOTER I must say our choices get worse every election. Lastly. BASKETBALL: Thank goodness we have something to look forward to. I will have your printable brackets, and updates for the NCAA Tournament. This year is the first time in many years the Tournament looks wide open. Every week we see I would say about 5 upsets. Who will peak at just the right time, or have an outstanding game: or the worst game of their season. Yes I will have my selections, how you would do if you had picked the favored team, AND the upset sheet which will highlight every upset for the Tourney. Time to go now. Talk to again. Be sure to check back for my coverage of MARCH MADNESS. PS: I almost forgot. The Oscars. As usual most all awards go to the least deserving. I usually go to one movie a week, and the movies I watched were MUCH better than the winners. I truly believe the pre-reqisite for an Oscar is a bad job which needs the “MAGICAL ACADEMY AWARD” to get a push. I won’t go through every award. Let me just say BEST ACTOR: DiCaprio???? Are you kidding. He was a terrible actor as a child, and is still terrible. The best movie he even came close to giving a really good performance was 14 years ago. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. Sorry but that is truly the only movie I could call him creditable. THE REVENANT was an interesting story. But really a Chimpanzee could have turned in as good a performance. So as you can see they should have made a special category to score him as Oscar. The category should have been PARTICIPATION OSCAR. Just as the little soccer players win or lose get a Participation trophy. PSS: I forgot I wanted to mention the threat of the Louisiana Governor to do away with LSU Football. We all know that LSU brings in a massive amount of money to the state for their football games. To take away the financing would be a bigger blow to Louisiana’s economy than the program costs. That Is How I See It. Views: 118
NFL Playoff Wild Card Confidence Picks Week 1 Jan.9-10,2016
Regular Season has ended. Is it just me, or did this season seem to just fly by? Maybe I was just having too much fun. (Yeah, that’s it as many low spots, as I have had this year). Like week 17, my gut was saying Seahawks over Cardinals. But NO! I went with the numbers. Maybe there are times when one should listen to their gut. RECAP: Two games were decided by 3 or less points. Perhaps the biggest unexpected blow out WAS the Seattle Vs Arizona game. I really expected it to be a close game. It’s a new season, now. A fresh start for all teams. Will the leaders continue, on there merry romp, or will they falter. It appears Seattle is peaking at the right moment. Will other teams begin their rise to the top? This year I am making a change in the scoring. YOU can adopt the new scoring or continue to use the old scoring. This year we get a negative score for missed games. We will continue to get a positive score for correct predictions. EXAMPLE: LAST YEAR if you scored 1 pt on the first game and you had 15 pt on the second game and was wrong you would still have a Positive 1. HOWEVER. this year the same scenario would result with a -14 score. I will fill in my picks Friday. Until then feel free to: Just copy and paste for your own Fun Pool Use. Or to see if you can beat me. IF YOU SEE I MADE A MIS COPY OF THE GAMES AND TIMES FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AND TELL ME I GOOFED. All Times EST GAME VISITOR SCORE HOME SCORE CONFIDENCE RUNNING SCORE SATURDAY 01/09/16 16:35 1 K.C. CHIEFS 30 @ Hou. Texans 0 3 3/3 SATURDAY 01/09/16 20:15 2 PIT. STEELERS 18 @ Cin. Bengals 16 2 5/5 SUNDAY 01/10/16 13:05 3 STL. SEAHAWKS 10 @ Min. Vikings 9 4 9/9 SUNDAY 01/10/16 16:40 4 G.B, Packers 35 @ WA. REDSKINS 18 1 9/8 Tie Breaker (Sunday 2 team total game 45 Actual Score 53 Points Off –8 Possible Points 10 Views: 112
Confidence Picks, Week 17 01/03 /2015
WEEK 16 RECAP: Three games went into overtime. Two games were decided by 3 or less points. Three teams failed to score in double digits. This is the week that I expect to score low. This is the week too many teams have nothing gain by a win. Starters may see some or no action, to protect them from injury. Teams which do have something to gain will do whatever they can to get that added WIN. So you never know what to expect. My week was pretty dismal. But the two previous weeks were great. I suppose one must not let the bad weeks overshadow the good. I see Cleveland is still having trouble with Johnny Manziel. I think I would be tired of babysitting him. But….Let us consider this. Perhaps Manziel is playing a game of his own. I do not believe he wants to be in Cleveland. So what better way to get his release, (either by trade or out right release). If you believe this what would you do? Trade or release? OR, keep him but bench him. Hide him away if you will, till his contract is up. He will not have gained experience, as he should have been; had he behaved as an adult player. Would any team even remember him. Would any team want a QB with his record, both on and off the field? Something for him to consider. HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!! For those of you who do not know how confidence ranking goes, let me explain. If we were playing an office pool,(which we ARE NOT). The object is to score the most points. To obtain the score YOU rank the teams by how confident you are a team will win its game. EXAMPLE: Say this week we have 16 games. The team you are most confident will win you would assign the number 16 and follow down to the team you are least confident in and assign that number 1. We use the Monday night game as a TIE BREAKER. The tie is broke by the closest to the total (that is the COMBINED score of the two participating tams) final score, without going over. If we were playing this is how my sheet would look; My pick will be in bold Capital letters. you can use circling, underlining, or highlighting. I will show my correct points in Bold YOU can adopt the scoring described above. Or, the optional method. A negative score for missed games. We will continue to get a positive score for correct predictions. EXAMPLE: if you scored 1 pt on the first game and you had 15 pt on the second game and lost you would still have a Positive 1. HOWEVER. with the same scenario new scoring system would result with a -14 score. I will fill in my picks Thursday. Until then feel free to: Just copy and paste for your own Fun Pool Use. Or to see if you can beat me. IF YOU SEE I MADE A MISS COPY OF THE GAMES AND TIMES FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AND TELL ME I GOOFED. I had some requests from the people who copy and paste, for their own pool to move the network out of the score column. I aim to please. So I hope this is better GOOD LUCK TO ALL. BYE WEEK: NONE NOTE: GAME TIME CHANGES. Are now posted All Times All Times EST GAME VISITOR SCORE HOME SCORE CONFIDENCE RUNNING SCORE SUNDAY 01/03/15 13:00 1 CBS N.Y. JETS 17 @ Buf. Bills 22 3 3/3 2 CBS N.E. PATRIOTS 20 @ Mia. Dolphins 10 14 14/11 3FOX Det. Lions 24 @ CHI. BEARS 20 2 14/9 4 FOX N.O. Saints 20 @ ATL. FALCONS 17 8 14/1 5 CBS Bal. Ravens 16 @ CIN. BENGALS 24 13 27/14 6 CBS PIT. STEELERS 28 @ Cle. Browns 12 15 42/29 7 CBS J’ville Jaguars 6 @ HOU. TEXANS 30 9 51/38 8 CBS TN. Titans 24 @ Indy Colts 30 1 52/39 9FOX Wa. Redskins 34 DAL. COWBOYS 23 6 52/33 10 FOX Phi. Eagles 35 @ N.Y. GIANTS 30 4 52/29 SUNDAY 01/03/15 16:25 11FOX St. L. RAMS 16 S.F. 49’ers 19 OT) 7 52/22 12 FOX T.B Buccaneers 10 CAR. PANTHERS 38 16 68/38 13CBS Oak. Raiders 17 K.C. CHIEFS 23 11 79/49 14 CBS S.D. Chargers 20 @ DEN. BRONCOS 27 12 91/61 15FOX Stl Seahawks 36 @ AZ. CARDINALS 6 10 91/51 Sunday 01/03/15 20:30 16NBC Min. Vikings 20 @ G.B. PACKERS 13 5 91/46 8 Tie Breaker Sunday 2 team total last game) 45 Games 9-7 67%/34% Actual Score 33 53% Points Off +12 Possible Points 136 Views: 101
SUPER BOWL XLIX FEB. 01, 2015
UPDATE: NFL has found 11 of the 12 balls used Sunday against the Colts, were indeed under inflated. I guess the Patriots were afraid of the Colts beating them. Not that they had to as it turned out. What punishment would be appropriate? We know the answer. FORFEIT TO THE COLTS. But they won’t go that far. Any thing less will be merely a slap on the wrist. After all the MARKETING MONIES, and PUBLICITY for advancing to the Super Bowl will way out weigh any other punishment. Suspension of William Stephen “Bill” Belichick. No problem. Given the teams history, they will most likely find a way for him to watch and get plays to the other coaches. Speaking of the other coaches, who have been with Belichick long enough to know how he would call the game any way. Maybe suspending QB Tom Brady, TE Rob Gronkowski, Place Kicker Stephen Gostkowski, Punter Ryan Allen, and of course RB LaGarrette Blount. But suspending players would not really be fair to those players or the rest of the team. What ever punishment handed should have a HUGE impact on the Patriots bottom line. HOW ABOUT Forfeiture of all income springing from their advancement to and including Their SUPER BOWL appearance. (excluding the players pay. Of Course). Plus any sanctions NFL chooses to place on Future Draft Picks, etc.etc. We all know MONEY is what PROFESSIONAL SPORTS IS ALL ABOUT! We have now reached the BIGGEST game of the season….. “SUPER BOWL” !!!!!. Two great teams, Two great Quarter Backs, with a great supporting cast. Yes the QB’s usually take the praise when his team wins. But he is also called upon to bear the burden when his team gets beat. Just like the Pitcher on a Baseball team. BUT, in FOOTBALL. There are many teams. Offense, Defense, Special Teams, Back up Player, Practice Teams, Coaching Team, and lets not forget that all important team……the 12 th man team. Everyone of these teams are just as important as the other. The OFFENSE, plays its game to MOVE the ball down field, and SCORE points. The DEFENSE, plays its game to STOP the movement down the field, and if the opportunity arises, STEAL the ball away. (Just like in Basketball). Then in semi-rare occasions SCORE points. Kind of makes it seem like the DEFENSE does most of the work and gets a passing note of praise, for a win. The SPECIAL TEAMS. Are a combination of OFFENSE and DEFENSE. They are the SPECIALISTS, as the name implies. They can return kickoffs, or receive punts, or play for the onside kick. They include the KICKERS, SETTERS, RETURNERS, and anything else they may be asked to do. The PRACTICE TEAM, is that unknown group, which plays one of the most important roles on the team. They don’t make the big money, the game time players make. (Perhaps $100,000.00 a a year). What many people don’t realize is the Practice Team must mimic every opponent their team may face in a season. After all, how would the Patriots practice against the Seahawks, and vice-versa. If you think that is easy, try being a different team every week. The BACK UP Team. The Subs, the Bench warmers. The men who sit on the sidelines hoping to someday get into a real game. They must be ready at any moment to enter the game and play up to the same standards as the starters. While on the sidelines they must be cheerleaders, spirit lifters, if you will. It can’t be easy waiting to get in a game, (most likely; even if un-concioiusly hoping for something to happen to the starter to afford them their chance), to be that support group. The Coaching Team. Held together by the HEAD COACH. Each coach has his speciality. They are the ones who decides the plays, trains the players, and inspires them to succeed. Of course if you ask any one of them HIS job is the most important coaching position on the team. But the Head coach is the one who acts as referee, and maintains the peace among this group. I’m sure the Offensive Co-ordinator, makes most of the offensive play calls, just as the Defensive Co-Ordinator, makes the decisions on defensive plays. Etc.Etc. on down the line. But the Head Coach is the ultimate decision maker. NOW. We come to that all important 12 th MAN TEAM. They are sometimes called the “Boosters”, because that is what they do. They give the team that extra BOOST. Cheering them on to work harder, Applauding them when they make good plays. Supporting the team by buying the game tickets, concessions, and the various souvenirs, and Team apparel. They make noise to drown out the opposing teams signals, and hush up so their team can be heard and on the same wavelength. On one hand you have the seasoned veteran, TOM BRADY. On the other hand you have that “undersized” QB, RUSSEL WILSON, who is in his THRD year. BUT…. by the way already has one Super Bowl Championship under his belt. HUH? Can that be right. The QB most teams thought was to short to play that position effectively? YEP. That be him. (Not to brag or anything. But if you check my post of Jan. 13, 2012. Colts 1st Round Draft Pick Is…. I had Wilson as a TOP 3 Pick: in my eyes the most capable of the three). Can he be the QB with 2 Super Bowl Championships in a career of 3 years. This should be the BEST Super Bowl in MANY years. But there is always that unknown phantom that can come in and just make the game a blow out. As my Dad, always said. “HOPE FOR THE BEST, AND EXPECT THE WORSE”. As of this writing the odds makers in Las Vegas, have made no move as to odds and who they think will win. Right now it is just… Continue reading SUPER BOWL XLIX FEB. 01, 2015
2013 Academy Awards Winners: My Reaction
As a rule I see the ACADEMY AWARDS as merely a way to promote the worst pictures. That has been the way it has been since the 1970’s. Occasionally they slip up and give a legitimate award. I tend to agree with Woody Allen, when he said something like, and here I paraphrase,(only because I can’t remember the direct quote). You can not judge art. No one really can. The things I might consider art another may consider junk. One would have to be able to completely divorce himself from all preconceived ideas. Open mindedness is a hard state to find. I have none of the preconceptions. I know what I like. I know what I don’t like. But I am able to put aside my feelings and make a pure judgement. Granted I may sometimes judge things by the cover. By that in regard to movies. I will some times read the plot and make a decision on whether or not it interests me. Some really interest me, and I may see them and be truly disappointed. Others I will say, “Okay I won’t pay to see this. I will wait for the TV or DVD release and see if any of my friends bought it.” Sometimes the plot just reads so thin. I don’t even think of seeing them. So here are my reactions to this years awards. I will rank them as I feel they should have been. Exception if I think another Picture, or Person more deserving that is where I will Place them. Actual winners will be in green.with a note if I did not see them and/or did not care to see them. BEST PICTURE: ARGO: Linxoln: Saw this one. Gave Argo a close run. Amour. Saw this in the French version. Loved the story line. Django Unchained: Saw this. Lots of action. Just was pretty much unbelievable. The rest were tied. Life of Pi: Considered this but decided would wait for DVD. Silver Linings: Same as above. Beasts of The Southern Wild, Zero Dark Thirty. Did not see. Can’t imagine how they got on list. Should not even make it to DVD. Les Miserables. Did not see. Cannot even imagine this great work as a musical. BEST ACTOR: bradley cooper silver linings. hugh jackman les miserables, joaquin phoenix the master. denzel washington,flight. None of these truly deserved Best Actor. I saw much better portrayals in other movies. However of the list they gave us I would have to vote for Daniel-Day=Lewis. Of the listed he probably was most deserving. BEST ACTRESS: Nominees were jessica chastain, zero dark thirty: JENNIFER LAWRENCE, silver linings: EMMANUEL RIVA, Amour. naomi watts, the impossible: quvenzhane wallis, beasts of the southern wild. It was my feeling the only true deserving winner for this category would have been EMMANUEL RIVA for AMOUR. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: NOMINEES WERE: alan arkin, argo: robert de niro, silver linings playbook, philip seymour hoffman, the master: tommy lee jones. lincoln: and CHRISOPH WALTZ, django unchained. Of these I found none deserving. There were many better performances too many other movies to mention here. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: This category I find my choice for BEST ACTRESS, as I did not see her as a supporting actress but as the STAR. So I suppose because I see her as BEST ACTRESS she had to be the outstanding BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS. That person being HELEN HUNT. Of THE SESSIONS, However the other nominees, why they got the nod Is way beyond any thinking I may be capable of seeing. them here. Nominees were. amy adams, the master; Sally Field (who would have been my second choice), Lincoln; ANNE HATHAWAY., (who had to have a lot of nerve, just to take the role on). and jacki weaver, silver linings playbook.’ BEST DIRECTOR; This one is a tough call. You may have an excellent movie but poor direction, or great direction with a poor movie. That being said Nominees are: Michael Haneke, Amour ANG LEE, Life Of Pi David O. Russel , Silver Linings Playbook Steven Spielberg , Lincoln Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild Like I said I have no input on this category. BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY. Again I have seen screeplays I liked better so I must yield to the nominated ones. Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom, (did not see, never even heard of this one). Mark Boat, Zero Dark Thirty John Gstins, Flight (again I never even heard of this movie ). Michael Heneke, Amour, (I felt it was not directed to it’s potential). QUENTIN TARATINO, Django Unchained. (which in my humble opinion the direction left a lot to be desired). BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: This is another category, I do not have the knowledge to call. as I have not read the books (i assume the adaption came from). so Nominees are: Lucy Alibar and Beth Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild. Tony Kushner, Lincoln David Magee, Life of Pi. David O Russell, Silver Linings Playbook CHRIS TERRIO, Argo Probably a good choice, BEST ANIMATED FEATURE BRAVE: Again I have no seen only one of these, BRAVE, The only one I am waiting for DVD is Wreck-It-Ralph. Nominees were: BRAVE: Which I have to agree with this choice. Frankenweenie ParaNorman The Pirates! Band of Misfits (which I will see on DVD) Wreck-It-Ralph The technical categories I will not go into. because I am unaware of what goes into these categories. I understand the success of many movies can rely on these services, so I will only list the winners. BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY LIFE OF PI, Claudio Miranda BEST COSTUME DESIGN: ANNA KARENINA, jacqueline Durran BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Nominees were, 5 Broken Cameras, The Gatekeepers, How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, and SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN, (although I did not see this I at least heard of it. BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: INNOCENTE, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine. Other nominees were Kings Point, San gilman and Jedd Wider: Mondays at Racine, Cynthia wade and Robert… Continue reading 2013 Academy Awards Winners: My Reaction
Baltimore Ravens Win !!!
Perhaps the L-O-N-G-E-S-T Super Bowl game in History. BALTIMORE’S RAVENS bested the SAN FRANCISCO FORTY-NINER’S by a score of 34-31. Last night Championship was extended by a power outage. I have read some say it was an external feed, and another report that it was snafu inside the arena; an equipment failure. Either way the side line announcers had the burden of filling in unexpected time. Another thing that made it seem longer to me was the half baked,…er time show. I know many of you are Beyonce fans. But I would like to have more entertainment than a bunch of women in their swimsuits jumping around and making noise. I actually switched over to watch bits of a COLUMBO re-run. Now to the game. Yes my Math and my Scientific methods both failed. Therefore I could claim the Ravens win to be a fluke. But that was not the case. In fact it came down to, (as I said), D-E-F-E-N-S-E. Baltimore brought their defense and San Francisco’s was running way late on it’s arrival. I believe both QB’s did an excellent job. I also believe had San Francisco got their defense together before the power failure. They would have won the game. But they didn’t, and they didn’t. The game hinged on the 108 yard return by Ravens’ Jacoby Jones. There is no way that return should have happened. The 49’ers defense left the whole field unprotected. No one stayed back. Just as in a high school game I watched this past season. The kicker rushed down and tackled the receiver 5 yards after the catch. But that was a mistake. Even though he was able to do that. His coach wasted no time in letting him know it was a mistake. The rest of the season he stayed back and saved many potential scores. Flacco was GIFTED the MVP. Yeah, he did a good job. WAS it a better job than Kaepernick. Not in my eyes. The true MVP was the Ravens DEFENSE. But how do you give MVP, (the “P” is singular) to a group. Thus you give it to a single person. Jacoby Jones would be a fair choice, it was his run back that won the game. But that was only one play. The DEFENSE on the other hand was on thier game most all night. So I suppose as the QB is often considered the leader an Spokesman for the team, Flacco would be give MVP, on behalf of the team. After all , as in any T-E-A-M SPORT, one person can not win the game by himself. Congratulations to the BALTIMORE RAVENS. And I want to compliment fans on both sides. I have not seen any reports of rioting or anything. This shows me their fans are (both Baltimore, and San Francisco), are CHAMPIONS too. Hope to see you NFL fans back here again next year. I have time to try to figure what I did wrong this year. I suppose the next big event is NASCAR SEASON. and for some the NBA All-Star game. I don’t care for the All-Star game. Because they don’t really have any BASKETBALL stars. Merely Media Darlings. I will go into my feelings about the NBA at a later time. I may have opinions to share about NASCAR later. Looking forward to NCAA Basketball tournament. will give my picks, updates and OPINION; just like i did last year. For now We close the book on: 2012 FOOTBALL,and the 2013 SUPER BOWL XLVII. One final note some of the commercials were good. Some not. But at least some got more exposure due to the 34 minute delay. My favorite was, again Budweiser, with the CLYDESDALE COLT. Thank you for indulging me. Views: 103
