Never Would've Figured You for a NASCAR Fan!

The 2010 NASCAR season ended today, and I am sad. Not sad at the outcome of the season in any way -- it is what it is, as they say (one of my least favorite sayings). Sad at the prospect of NASCAR-less weekends until Daytona in February. I'm also an NFL fan, especially of the Broncos, so between the Super Bowl and Daytona is a real wasteland!

Nobody seems to be very surprised that I'm an NFL fan. And they understand why I'm a Bronco fan once I tell them I grew up in Denver. But I always get this: "You like NASCAR? I never would've figured you for a NASCAR fan!"

That has been as consistent when I lived in Arizona and Maryland as when I lived in New York City. It baffles me. What do people think a NASCAR fan looks like? Some people think of them as beer-guzzling, loudmouth rednecks. Well, first of all, what's wrong with that? I personally don't drink (as a public service), rarely get loud and like to think I don't blindly dislike anyone. But if you go to any live sports event, you get a bellyfull of those kinds of folks. (I consider rednecks anyone who has a blanket dislike of any group of people for the color of their skin or their political beliefs or religious beliefs or sexual orientation or any other reason that reeks of discrimination.)

Sports were always a part of my growing up. My dad watched football on Sundays and Thanksgiving. He and my mom played golf and watched golf on tv. I went to football, basketball and hockey games during high school, college and beyond.

And...when I was little, I watched auto races of all kinds on tv in our basement. All the time. In high school, I went to local races. My first NASCAR race that I attended in person was about 15 years ago when I was invited into an owner's box at the Charlotte speedway for the Nationwide (then the Busch) series race the weekend of the Coca Cola 600. I LOVED it! I wrangled an invitation to the Coca Cola 600 the next day in the same owner's box and that was it. I've been hooked ever since.

I did go to an Indy car race in Richmond, Virginia, about 3-1/2 years ago and found it to be pretty boring compared to NASCAR. There were almost no lead changes and I didn't see much to keep my interest. That made me understand why non-NASCAR fans say they think NASCAR is boring. The more I know the race rules, the car characteristics, the drivers and their families, the more interesting it is.

I have my favorite drivers and the ones I really could happily ignore or do without. I won't name them here. Because the point is, I'm a NASCAR fan. And I don't think I'm all that atypical from what I see of other NASCAR fans on Twitter.

Oh, what is that you say? You never would've figured me for a Twitterer either? Ha!

Proud to Be a Broncos Fan - Floyd Little Enters the NFL Hall of Fame

Tonight as I watch Floyd Little's induction into the NFL Hall of Fame on ESPN, his acceptance speech brings me to tears. He delivers his message -- "No one travels this road alone" -- like he played football: with passion, humility and spirituality. He is the real deal.

Little is being inducted now, in 2010, in his 30th year of eligibility. If he was so great, why did it take so long? Because the teams he played on did not win. However, he filled the stands in Denver during the late 1960s and early 1970s. "He was the only reason to really even watch the team....He filled the stadium, packed it, because of No. 44," said the ESPN commentators prior to his induction.

I grew up in Denver and I remember oh so well when the Broncos lost and lost and lost and lost. But during those years Floyd Little shattered the rushing records of Jim Brown and Ernie Davis. When he retired in 1975 after nine seasons with the Broncos, he was the Broncos' all-time rusher and touchdown-maker; both records stood until 1998, commentator Len Berman told the crowd at the induction.

What I especially remember about him during that time was that he was aptly named -- he was considered "too little" to be a football player. Of course, he dispelled anyone of that notion in no time. He hung in there even when the Broncos weren't winning. (LeBron James, take note.) He helped ensure that the Broncos stayed in Denver, and John Elway and millions of Bronco fans thank him for that.

When Elway was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004 (his first year of eligiblity), I watched it live, as I also am tonight. He had his daughter introduce him (even though he also has a son), which was unprecedented. Tonight Little had his son Mark introduce him. I am so proud of both of these star Broncos for publicly cherishing their families. Little spent half of his allotted 10 minutes highlighting the accomplishments of and his gratitude for his family members -- parents, sisters and brothers, ex-wife ("mother of my two daughters"), wife, children. He thanked his Lord, Jesus Christ. He was a powerful man with a passionate delivery. His humility and gratitude, mixed with waiting 30 years for this honor, brought me to tears. I was so proud to be a Broncos fan.

Congratulations, Floyd Little! You did the Broncos proud 35 and 40 years ago, and you did the Broncos proud again tonight.

Football's Back!

It's Friday night. I've been out to dinner with my three usual Tuesday night buds, a spontaneous make-up night since we didn't go this past Tuesday. We had our usual laughs and hoots, some at others' expense, most at ours. Our young waiter was obviously a real neophyte and we confused the poor guy by trying to use two coupons when the coupons clearly said "one coupon per party per visit." Guess who won that round. Yep, us.

We always tip a minimum of 20% so imagine our surprise when the waiter, a desperate look on his face, hurried out the door when we were in our car and ready to leave the parking lot. He looked all around for us. He was followed by the manager. What's wrong? we asked. They thought we hadn't paid our bill. Yeah, right, all of us over 50, three over 60 (I'm the youngster, don'tcha love it?) and we're gonna dine and dash? I don't think so! Turns out that when we questioned something on the bill, our dear waiter brought us another one of those plastic bill folders so we had two on our table, and he picked up the wrong one. We straightened that out in a hurry but it was pretty funny, probably more for us than them.

So now I've got the Olympics on with the sound down so low that it's merely a murmur. I just checked out the winner of the NASCAR Nationwide race. Brad Keselowski. Don't know him. I follow the Sprint Cup series, rarely the Nationwide series (which is kind of like the B team, though several Cup racers also compete regularly in the Nationwide races). I was just glad that Kyle Busch didn't win. He was 7th. He's an awesome driver but he has the charm of a mackerel on a good day and the personality of a jackal on a bad day, and he has a lot of bad days. Can you tell he's not my fave?

But my big thrill tonight is the Denver Broncos-Greenbay Packers game. I can't see it on TV. Both our D.C. and Baltimore stations have Houston at Dallas. Darn. I love getting both sets of network stations because often they have different games on. Not tonight, though. So since I rarely am able to see the Bronco games on TV, I "watch" the action (little lines that move on a stationary green rectangle that represents the field) on the NFL.com site. I can only stand a whole game of that if I can hear the audio, and that means getting a "Field Pass" every year. It's audio, live during the games. It's $29.99 for the whole season, including preseason and postseason games -- for all 32 NFL radio feeds. I usually stick to the Bronco games, but I could hear any and all of them, even simultaneously, I believe, though I haven't tried it.

The "Denver Bronco Network" is wonderful. The same guys -- who knows their names -- have been announcing the Bronco games for as long as I've been listening, and they know their stuff. Even better, they're not annoying, either in tone or constant blather like John Madden is, at least he is to me. I sometimes listen to my Field Pass audio when he's on, that's how much I don't like listening to him.

So, at the moment, just at the end of the first quarter, the Broncos are ahead 17 to 13. It's preseason and I know it doesn't count, in many ways, but I am enjoying that they're playing well. They just got a surprise touchdown when QB Jay Cutler completed a 49-yard pass to Brandon Marshall, who nearly bobbled it but saved it at the last second. And kicker Matt Prater got the extra point, so all is good in my world.

But...why oh why did the Broncos let Jason Elam go to the Atlanta Falcons??? The superkicker won more games for the Broncos over the past 15 seasons than anybody else except John Elway. He holds nearly every record a kicker can have -- longest field goal kicked, highest extra point conversion percentage, and many more, all with the Broncos. So they let him go??? I thought they were idiots for letting Clinton Portis go to the Redskins, but letting Elam go, I truly believe, was idiocy!

But hey, it's early in the season, which hasn't even officially started. Let's see what happens.

As of today, I'm an "officer" (duties: zero!) representing Maryland in the Facebook group "Displaced Denver Bronco Fans." So it's my duty and obligation to tune in to the Bronco games. I wonder if that means I can write off the $29.95 Field Pass fee on my tax return.

A Fine Line between Agony and Ecstasy

As I've been glued to my chair and computer, writing my book on building housing for baby boomers (deadline loooooooms!), I've had the Olympics on much of the time. Their schedule matches mine lately -- on all the time, including in the middle of the night.

Sometimes I can write with the sound on, but sometimes it's too distracting, mostly when I am stuck on something. So sometimes I keep it on but hit the mute button.

And I've noticed something. I've been aware of it before, but in the Olympics emotions are heightened to the extreme and, especially with the sound off, it's even more evident.

Agony and ecstasy pretty much look the same. I know they don't feel the same but our bodies and faces (especially) look the same when we're screaming in emotional or physical pain and when we're shrieking with delight.

Look at Michael Phelps -- God knows they play everything over and over and over -- at the end of the 400-meter relay race that clinched his 8th gold medal. His mouth is wide open and his eyes are nearly squinted shut. If you didn't know, would you think he was freaking out-upset or freaking out-ecstatic? Angry or disbelievingly joyful?

When contenders' parents are shown in the stands as their kids triumph or flounder, they look pretty much the same. Their faces scrunch up, their eyes close, their jaws drop, they shake their heads in disbelief, they collapse. And they burst into tears.

Maybe that explains why sometimes we are sobbing and end up in giggles, or we are hooting and end up in choking wails. The extreme emotions seem to unleash the other emotions that have been bottled up next to them.

Okay, back to writing. Just had to note that. I'll try to keep my emotions in check as I write, just to avoid confusion.

What Is Congress Doing in Baseball!?

It is absolutely beyond me how this country evolved to the point where Roger Clemens is in danger of doing prison time after being investigated by a House committee for taking steroids at some point in his career. The Committee on Energy and Commerce, no less. What the heck is Congress doing in baseball, anyway?

Is this an "energy" issue because it takes energy to be a professional athlete? Is it a "commerce" issue because teams travel from state to state? Is it a consumer protection issue because we could be influenced by these high-profile athletes' behavior? Come on!

Let's see.... It is hardly a Homeland Security issue, which I'd think would be more appropriate for a "Commerce Committee" to concern itself with. Our country is just as safe from terrorists whether Clemens got shot up with steroids or not. If it's a criminal matter involving drugs -- are anabolic steroids and human growth hormones illegal, by the way? -- why isn't one of our numerous law enforcement agencies taking charge? FBI? ATF? NYPD?

Aren't there plenty of energy and commerce issues to keep that committee busy? Important things that affect our global economy, our health, our well-being and our future? Apparently not.

Instead, Congress asked the Justice Dept. to look into whether Clemens lied to a House committee, which was investigating something I believe it had no business poking into in the first place. Clemens could spend up to five years in prison, not for taking drugs, but for lying to a body whose business it isn't what he did in baseball.

For that matter, why is that same committee investigating pro wrestlers in World Wrestling Entertainment and other sports? When and how did Congress get involved in policing pro sports?

Am I just naive?

My Libertarian nature blanches at the thought of government getting its snout too deep into matters best left to the free market to resolve. Yes, I actually voted for perpetual Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne one year when my frustration level took hold of me like a crab's pincer in the voting booth. I didn't intend to but at the last second I just couldn't bring myself to vote for either major candidate. I can't even remember which election that was, but it could have been any one of several.

I hate the social interference of the holier-than-thou Republicans and the economic interference of the let's-steal-from-the-middle-class Democrats. I hate how the aftermath of 9-11 has eroded so many of our freedoms. Our freedom to keep our shoes on while going through Security. Our freedom to carry more than a sample size of hair spray in our carry-on bag. Our freedom to bring a never-popped-open Diet Pepsi Vanilla, which they don't sell at any airport I've seen, on the plane side of the terminal. (Can you tell I fly a lot?) Our freedom to walk along the street without a driver's license or passport. Our freedom to talk on the phone to anybody anywhere around the world without Big Brother possibly listening in.

I believe that many of those so-called safeguards are more for political show than to really keep us safe. If they were really serious, there wouldn't be the holes the size of Montana in our security systems. So we go through all of the gyrations and pretend that we're being kept safe, but I think we've just plain been lucky. Thank God.

But I digress.

I ask it again.... What is Congress doing in baseball? What good for our country is it when they call for taxpayer money to pay for their own and some Dept. of Justice investigation into what goes on in baseball? What's next? A committee inquest into prescription drug use in music? Or show business? Those are also industries with a lot of highly paid heroes for kids to worship. Watch out, American citizens. There are a lot of House committees that can probe into pretty much whatever they want and subpoena pretty much anybody. Who knows, you may be next.

Believing Someone Who Believes Roger Clemens

Aa a recent former New Yorker, over the years I heard a lot about Roger Clemens when he was a Yankee...and beyond, when he played for Houston. He was an awesome pitcher. He was a hero. Now he's being bashed by people left and right after his former trainer claimed he injected Clemens with steroids on several occasions. Who do you believe and how do you know how to judge?

Well, I believe Clemens.

I am not in a position to know anything about what happened or what didn't. But someone I know and respect is an award-winning, longtime sports writer who has covered Clemens for some years, and he has taken a strong stand for the (hopefully) future Hall of Fame pitcher. His name is Mike Geffner. Mike is a passionate do-gooder in the BEST sense of the word; he has created several writers groups online solely for the purpose of giving writers a place to go for help, to help other writers and to learn about writing. If you write anything, or aspire to, I urge you to subscribe to Mike's Writing Newsletter (free!), join Mike's Writing Workshop (a Yahoo group), and become a "friend" of Mike's on his MySpace page.

Mike posted a blog item today on his MySpace page called "Believing in Roger Clemens." You can see it on his MySpace page and on recordonline.com. He says he believes Clemens because he knows him, knows who he is as a person, and he believes in him. That's good enough for me.

People have no idea what journalists get to learn about people. They, well, we -- I'm one too, which is how I know -- are attuned to whether someone is being straight with us or not. Our job is to ferret out the exaggerations, distortions and outright lies and deliver the truth to our readers, and we get to be very good at it. We can smell a lie a mile away. Not always -- we can be gullible too. But by and large, we know who people are when we talk to them. It's a lot about patterns. When we see something 150 times, we can assume when we see it for the 151st that it's a lot like the first 150.

But really and truly, the great benefit of being a journalist is the relationships we form with the people we write about. It would absolutely astonish you to learn what people tell us. They start to trust us or they get caught up in the conversation and they forget we're journalists and they open up to us. I've had people tell me the most private things about their businesses, their marriages, their extracurricular activities, their bodies, their partners and their deep-down frustrations and desires. I know when they lost their virginity and to whom (the best was at a Black Sabbath concert), I know the exact moment their marriages took a turn for the worse, I know the political landscape and that they're angling for the CEO position (or leaving the company) before they've told anyone else. I know the real reasons for their actions despite what they've told their colleagues, clients, spouses or their p.r. people. So I totally believed Bob Woodward when he said that William Casey, the former head of the CIA, revealed deep secrets to Woodward on Casey's deathbed for Woodward's book Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987. Casey's wife said it never happened, that Casey would never do that. Well, wives, p.r. agents and best friends never know what people say to us one-on-one. There is no doubt in my mind that Casey had that kind of conversation with Woodward, a journalist he trusted. Hey, journalists will go to jail to protect their sources. You're better off telling things to a journalist than to your best friend.

So when Geffner says he believes Clemens, I believe him. And, therefore, I believe Clemens.

Broncos and Raiders -- Surprise!!

Living on the East Coast, I rarely get to see the Denver Broncos' games. Including today, when their longtime rival, their nastiest rival, the dastardly Oakland Raiders, came to visit.

So at the beginning of the preseason, I signed up, as I have before, for the NFL Field Pass, which allows me to listen to any NFL game's radio broadcast during a game. Then I can hear what's going on while "watching" the action on the NFL.com site. Unfortunately, it's not streaming video or any video at all. It's a largely dead Web page that refreshes itself every few seconds with the new score, new time and a little field with lines for the lines of scrimmage and where they need to get to for the first down. The only animation, which is a generous term in this case, is when little green dotted lines move down the field to signify a kick. Pretty lame for a bigtime site for such an action-oriented sport.

So that's how I experienced today's Broncos-Raiders debacle. The Raiders have been playing dismally, the Broncos well, and it should've been a slam-dunk (to borrow a basketball metaphor) for the Broncs. The first half was great for Bronco fans -- Broncos dominated (as they should) and the half ended with Broncos 17, Raiders 3. I heard the live radio feed from the Denver Broncos Network and watched the little field on NFL.com.

The second half was a blazing disaster for both teams. Broncos and Raiders alike just kept messing things up. But the Broncos seemed to fall apart and the Raiders caught up, helped in part by the Broncos spotting them two points, via a truly unnecessary safety. Suddenly it was 20-20 and the game went into overtime.

Then a miracle. Two, actually. The first was that right after the Ravens-Jets game ended (Ravens actually won! 20-13), CBS went to Denver and showed the entire overtime. Wow! (Glad I was multi-sporting and had the Ravens game on tv as I kept up with the Bronco game.)

I called my mom and her significant other, Lloyd, a former Raiders fan that we've "persuaded" to become a Bronco fan. They're in Phoenix, where they didn't get the Bronco game either. But there, who knows why, CBS did not air the overtime. So I kept Lloyd on the phone while I gave him my own play-by-play as I watched the live game. Involuntarily I punctuated it with groans, light profanity, squeals and, ultimately, cheers, as at first it looked like the Raiders had won with a Janikowski field goal....But the Broncos had called time out just before (JUST before) the snap, so it was deemed a practice kick. He had to do it all over again and this time it went wide right. That was the second miracle. The highly motivated Broncos jammed the ball down the field and gave superkicker Jason Elam an easy field goal for the true overtime win of 23-20.

The recap video of this incredibly twisty-turny game isn't nearly as much fun to watch as it would've been to see live. But I can't have DirectTV where I live now to see the NFL games so I have to settle for whatever CBS, Fox, ESPN or NBC give me. The NFL Field Pass is a pretty poor workaround for Bronco fans who can't see the games. But I'll take what I can get. And thanks to my local CBS station for airing the overtime part of today's game!

IRL vs. NASCAR -- Give Me NASCAR!!

A wonderful friend of mine had an extra ticket for the Sun Trust Indy Challenge at Richmond (VA) International Raceway a couple of weeks ago and asked if I'd like to go. She'd pay for the ticket if I'd drive since she doesn't have or need a car as a Georgetown resident. Good deal for both of us.

Now I'm a NASCAR fan, have been since way before NASCAR was cool. It wasn't easy being a NASCAR fan when I lived in New York City, where the few folks who knew what NASCAR was would look at me like I'd just drunk out of the finger bowl. But that didn't bother me. I wore my red and black Dale Earnhardt (Sr.) windbreaker with pride, right out there on the streets of Manhattan. Nobody ever beat me up and a few would high-five me, even if just with their eyes. Out-of-towners, no doubt.

I don't even follow the Indy Racing League (IRL), never have. Though I did study up for this race by watching the Indy race the week before on TV. Who knows why, but the stock car races have always sucked me in, whereas the how-can-you-watch-those-cars-just-go-round-and-round attitude that people have who don't "get" NASCAR is pretty much the one I have for IRL. Yes, the Indy cars go faster and are sleeker. The many non-American drivers are sexy and suave. IRL has women drivers, the most famous of whom is Danica Patrick, all 100 pounds of her, though don't discount Sarah Fisher. And NASCAR doesn't have a driver's spouse equivalent to Ashley Judd, wife of IRL star Dario Franchitti.

But I don't care. I love the diversity of NASCAR fans. (Too bad the diversity doesn't extend to the drivers. How many NASCAR drivers or even crew members of color have you seen? And women? Not in Nextel Cup racing, yet, though a couple have slipped in from time to time in the Busch series.) I love the 42ish-driver field in each race. I love the long races, the longest of which is the Coca-Cola 600, which takes place in Charlotte, N.C., every Memorial Day weekend. The Indy race in Richmond was 250 miles, just a warm-up for NASCAR races, and had all of, I think, 12 drivers starting out and took only a little more time than it took my friend and me to wait and creep through the traffic getting out of the parking lot and crawl toward our hotel just a few miles away.

I love the strategy employed by NASCAR drivers. (Yes, strategy, you non-NASCAR fans who taunt us with, "Strategy? Turn left, turn left, turn left, turn left!") I saw a little of it in the Indy race too, but, unfortunately, it didn't appear to last long. The same roster of five leaders was frozen in place for the last half of the race. And there were no crashes. Neither would ever happen in NASCAR. The lead usually changes upward of a dozen times in each race. The last five laps in NASCAR are certainly when I sit glued to the TV when I'm watching a race on Sundays (or, less fun, on Saturday nights).

This isn't to trash IRL. As a racing car fan who has dealt with my share of NASCAR detractors over the years -- I view them as ignorant, not evil -- I don't want to demean IRL or their drivers or fans. I'm just ignorant about IRL.

The Richmond race was a wonderful experience. It was perfect weather, and day into night was beautiful. The novelty of a new racing venue was fun. My favorite driver, Mario Franchitti (what do I know?) won. The Star Spangled Banner live never fails to stir me. Being there with a friend was great -- I know more about NASCAR but she knew more about IRL so it was educational as well as entertaining. And, the thrill of all that speed never gets old.

I'm just sayin'....if I had my choice between going to an Indy race or a NASCAR race -- unless I was invited to an Indy owner's skybox -- you'd find me screaming myself hoarse at a NASCAR race.

Broncomournia

I have a bumper sticker on my wall at the office that proclaims that I'm a "Broncoholic." Clearly that means I've been immersed in Broncomania all season...til yesterday.

I won't even get into the problems or the criticisms or the analysis or anything. It's too painful. I have gotten many condolence calls from friends and razzing from my now-former friends. (Ha!)

I'll just say, as a friend of mine said, "After the National Anthem, it was all downhill."