Memorial Day Weekend 2023 Part 2

This is normally my big sports viewing day of the year.  The Indy 500 is usually the highlight, though there have been a few years that I haven’t been able to watch.  Those have been some upsetting Memorial Days.  This time there was no problem watching.  I did get up late, which messed up my schedule a bit.  I was set to watch the race with dad.  He seemed completely ambivalent about it.  He also said he didn’t want to eat out today.  Fine.  I brought my own hot dog for lunch.  I was planning on eating on eating a hot dog at some point this weekend anyway.

 

I was making a sacrifice.  There were three ball games on at the same time as the race.  If I’d stayed at home, I would have listened to the Rangers on the radio, had the Tigers game on the computer, and watched Indy on TV, occasionally flipping over to the Minor League game that was on.  I would have also gone out to get something to eat afterward, obviously exhausted from over stimulation.

 

Just to get it out of the way, the Rangers lost to the Orioles in a tight 3-2 game.  I like both teams, so I’m conflicted.  The Tigers beat the White Sox, 6-5, with a walk off in the tenth.  So, I was missing out.  Elsewhere of note, my Aunt Judy texted dad during the race.  She was excited about a Cardinal home run, but they lost 4-3 to Cleveland.  I’m sorry I wasn’t able to watch the Rays beat the Dodgers, 11-10.  That must have been a heck of a game.  Likewise, the Rockies beat the Mets by the same score. 

I did get to peek in on the Minor League showcase game on Stadium between the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders and the Worcester Red Sox (the Woo Sox).  I have to admit I was super impressed with the Railriders’ stadium, PNC Field.  It’s set against a forested, rocky Pennsylvania hill in a picturesque fashion.  I hate to give more love to a Yankees’ affiliate, but I liked their announcers, too.  The guy had a great voice and worked well with the woman he was paired with.  He sounded professional, but conversational in tone.  The team had Josh Donaldson and Oswald Peraza with them on rehab and won 11-4.  The fans there also got to see a nearby air show going on with the Blue Angels.       

    

Was just basically watching the race worth missing the games?  Read on. 

 

Like I said, I woke up a bit late.  I did turn on the TV and watched some of the prerace before going over to dad’s.  I caught an interview with Tony Kanaan.  This was going to be his last Indy.  About his race strategy, he said, “I’ve got nothing to lose.  What are they going to do?  Fire me?”

 

As always, the spectacle of the pageantry and the crowd was awesome.  Over 300,000 were present and were especially giddy, as reported by all the drivers and others there.  The drivers fed off that and seemed jazzed, too.  The flyover for the Anthem and Back Home in Indiana was a New Mexico fighter unit pleasing myself and dad.

 

Graham Rahal was nearly the race’s first casualty.  His car wouldn’t start.  Eventually, he made it out on track, but two laps down.  Scott Dixon made an early pit with a tire vibration.  The in-car camera view was hellish.  There were a couple more early pits with the same problem. 

 

NBC was mostly running side-by-side commercials, which I appreciated.  The commercials were mostly classy, which I appreciated even more.  My favorite was definitely the one for Perdue University featuring the band playing at the race.  Kyle Larson was there in the pits.  He’s planning on doing the “Double” next year.  I doubt he was worried about getting back to Charlotte for his race.  (More on that later.) 

 

On-track action for most of the early race was Rinus Veekay and Alex Palou trading the lead to save fuel.  Katherine Legge slid leaving her pit stall and nearly had an accident.  She had to return to the pits and ended up being the race’s first retirement.  After another mechanical retirement, the first on track accident was Sting Ray Robb hitting the wall.  (I don’t make up names.)  During the mass pit stop afterward, Veekay and Palou hit each other coming out.  That pretty much took them out of the running for the victory.

 

The race restarted on Lap 101.  The “gentlemanly” racing from the first half of the race was over, as cars started going three and four-wide jockeying for position.  TK got one more career Indy highlight.  He made a pass through the grass for position.  The race pace slowed by 20mph as the teams tried to save fuel. 

 

Another pit lane incident.  Teammates Colton Herta and Romain Grosjean collided.  Grosjean and his groomer pride DHL car later crashed out on Lap 151.  Lap 160, the iconic-looking Santino Ferrucci took the lead in the Red, White, and Blue AJ Foyt car.  The rear of the field was involved in a continuous dogfight.  With 31 to go, there was a near disaster for Ferrucci as a tire got loose during a pit stop.  He didn’t have to make a penalty drive through, but lost the lead anyway.

 

What happened next was a phone call that my dad insisted on taking from the state of New Mexico Health department polling him about drug abuse in the Land of Enchantment.  They’d called him yesterday and he’d told them to call back the next day.  It was a loud call that went on for over 10 minutes.  There were no questions about the drugs coming over the open border with illegals or about the numerous legal weed dispensaries in the state.  (I think there are six in my reasonably nice neighborhood.) 

 

This of course happened during the most interesting 10 minutes of the race, when I’d turned down the sound.  With 18 to go, Pato O’Ward also touched grass on a pass on Felix Rosenqvist.  Pato was pretty likeable guy in the prerace.  Two laps later was The Big One.  Rosenqvist hit the wall a couple of times before spinning in the middle of the track.  Kyle Kirkwood’s left rear tire was clipped going by.  The tire flew off.  The tether must have been cut.  It just missed going into the stands and went into the parking lot.  Kirkwood went airborne, hit the wall, got flipped over, and skidded down the track in a shower of sparks.   

Kirkwood was okay.  When he was interviewed coming out of the care center, his hair wasn’t even messed up.  There was a car hit in the parking lot by the tire.  It belonged to Robin Matthews, pictured here in the center.  Her car had to be towed off.  IMS officials gave her a ride in the pace car after the race and let her kiss the bricks.  They also gave her a ride home.

 

The race was red flagged.  The fans in the massive stands did the Wave.  The F1 race replay from Monaco was starting on ABC around this time.  Gone are the days when I was going to wake up before the sunrise to watch this race anyway.  I missed the start, which is always functionally the entire race.  Max Verstappen started on the pole and won.  It did rain later in the race.  Usually that makes F1 races more interesting, but not here.  Even the nominally histrionic Sky News race announcers were obviously bored.

 

Indy restarted with 8 to go.  Pato was leading briefly, but crashed out as Josef Newgarden took the lead.  Another damaged car ran into Pato after he’d stopped.  Agustin Canapino’s steering was gone and he couldn’t help it.  This brought out another red flag.

 

The restart happened with 4 to go.  The resulting wreck happened in the rear of the field before the cars had even crossed the line.  Last years’ winner, Marcus Ericsson had taken the lead on the restart.  His newlywed wife was crying at the prospect of him winning.  At this point, Race Control had about a half lap to decide whether the race would finish under caution.

 

While the crowd had already gotten a great race, it just didn’t seem right to end it under yellow.  The fans there deserved a green flag winner.  The race was red flagged for a third time with 2 laps left.  This left an unprecedented 1 lap shootout.  The cars left pit lane, drove around to the line, and took green and white flags from the stand.

 

What happened next was what everyone wanted for the end: clean, hard racing.  Newgarden made a great pass for the lead and successfully defended it coming to the checkered flag for the win.  Josef became an instant hero, as he then got out of his car, went under the fence, and waded into the crowd.  In the interview afterward, yes, he’d always meant to do that if he won. 

 

That was worth waiting for.  This was also Penske’s first win since buying the track.  There he was on the pagoda jumping up and down as his car won.  Ericsson was bitter afterward in an interview about the decision to red flag the race.  He’s not wrong.  Danica Patrick in the closing commentary was also against it.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he was for it and was glad for the great finish, but felt lucky that nothing bad had happened.  I’m sure Race Control felt the same way.

 

Forget anything topping this race today.  I went back home and indifferently watched the rest of the F1 race.  The Coca-Cola 600 coverage started with images of rain coming down.  So much for that.  They’ll try it again tomorrow.  I didn’t bother watching the rain delay theater.  It was raining bad enough that they didn’t even try to fake the viewers out.   

 

There were two more ball games left for me tonight.  The Braves and Phillies started first on ESPN Radio.  The Braves scored 5 runs in the first and did not look back.  I switched to the Chihuahuas game when it came on.  They had a live band there for the Anthem.  They didn’t say who they were though.  The Reno Aces also scored 5 runs on the pups in the first. 

 

The game had 7 straight half-innings of scoring, but Chihuahuas gave out first.  As the Braves won their game, 11-4, the Aces won in El Paso, 15-6.  The crowd was still loud and cheering in the bottom of the ninth.  They also wanted their postgame fireworks.

 

Lastly, on TV I was flipping around and ran into a Mexican League soccer championship game.  This usually comes up around this date.  I decided to watch the Chivas versus the Tigres for all of the enchiladas.  About the first 5 minutes in, the Goats had already scored twice.  Well, this one is over, I thought and flipped channels.  Over two hours later, I was flipping back around and they were still playing!  And the Tigers were up 3-2 in extra time!  Holy cow!  Did I miss one!  While the victorious players were humping each other on the ground, their trophy was being engraved on the field.  (Certainly, I was getting uncomfortable watching these guys.) 

 

On to Monday.

Diecast Carshow: The F1 Experience

 I just have a few F1 cars.  I'm lucky to even have these.  

Back when I first became a racing fan, I visited the message boards for Racer magazine a lot.  In the F1 section, there was an announcement that AutoZone would be distributing a line of F1 Hot Wheels cars.  Autozone?  

They were supposed to be released on a certain date, so I went to the store down the street.  No luck.  I even went to the one across town and came up dry.  Everyone on the message board had the same experience.  Workers at the stores had no idea what the toy collectors were talking about when asked about it, but the original message was updated with a new date.

I went back again and, Wow!  There was suddenly a whole aisle with cars and a display by the register.  I bought all these at the same time.  I showed them to my dad and he really liked the little Ferrari.  I went back to the store to buy one for him a week later and it was all gone like it had never been there.  I even checked the other store.  It was a very odd, very limited time promotion.  (They should have run it during Christmas at least.)            

    

I wasn't into larger scale cars, but this was hard to resist.  They had McLaren and Williams cars, as well.  There was an even larger sized McLaren available.  I liked the Michael Schumacher model though.  It's well-made and very detailed.  While it rolls well, I doubt it would survive play with a child for long.  The CD has some Ferrari stuff on it.  Nothing special.  (It had a couple of sound effects of an F1 car at full speed.)  Mostly, there's the Velocity X car game Demo.  It's not a racing game; it's more of a combat-oriented puzzle game.  I thought it was fun, but I could never finish it.   

These were packaged like standard Hot Wheels cars.  They came with the team stickers, which I didn't want to remove from the display.  They're all the same, except for the colors and logos.  There were six available.  The other three teams were losers, but when I went back, I was going to buy them anyway.

Diecast Carshow: Bigs

 These are my larger sized cars.  I just have a few.

Okay, it's not a diecast; it's a model.  This is a Corvette C6R with Le Mans decals.  I bought the kit for dad.  He made it, but threw up his hands at putting on the decals.  In my youth, I was terrible at putting decals on models.  Somehow, I became a near master at it when I decided to do it one night.  I credit using a pair of tweezers.  It turned out great.  Dad was impressed.  I wish had had some display case to put this in, because it's not doing well with age.  I actually busted the wing on it, when I moved it to take this picture.  

1:24 scale Michael Schumacher Ferrari.  I have a story about this one that I'll tell in another post.  It's in good shape, even though I used to display it outside of the box.   

1:24 Jeff Gordon Chevy Monte Carlo Dupont Flames.  This was a Christmas gift.  It's beautiful. 

1:24 Juan Pablo Montoya Dodge Charger Havoline.  Another Christmas gift.  These are in pretty good shape, because I've mostly left them in their display packages.  There's a bit of a manufacturing flaw on this one.  The front tires kind of touch the front fender.      

Obviously not a race car.  It's a Tootsie Toy pickup camper.  It was a gift from my grandparents right before they passed.  I was probably bit too old for it when I got it, but I've loved it.  It's a neat toy car.  It rolls well and I've mostly kept it in good shape, except for a little melted ding on top.  I don't remember how that happened.  

Memorial Day Weekend 2022 Part 3

Part 2

 5-29-22 Race Day

I look forward to this day all year, though there have been horrible disappointments (a couple of times I missed Indy because of broadcasting issues).  However, I felt really busy all day.  I made little to no effort at recapping anything.  (I barely watched some of the races.)  I feel like I’m gradually phasing out the blogging compared to my more maniacal blogging of all sporting events I was watching in previous years.    

 

Indy 500

It was such a relief tuning into this years’ Indy 500 and seeing blue skies.  Weather can definitely ruin your racing.  There was an enormous crowd having a good time at IMS, which was great to see.  I was over at dad’s apartment to watch.  I saw the opening ceremonies at my apartment and the first lap before going to see him.  I noticed Steve Aoki briefly doing the music while the drivers were introduced.  I think he was also doing a show at the Snake Pit on the infield during the race.

 

For lunch, I talked to some guy in India to order a Papa John’s pizza.  I thought I heard him say $17 for a large pepperoni, but thankfully it was only $10 at the shop.  Regardless, it was really good. 

 

I’ll just cut to the chase in describing the race.  Scott Dixon was leading late and looked like the driver to beat, but got caught for speeding on final pit stop.  (I thought they had pit lane limiters on Indy cars so you couldn’t speed.)  Jimmie Johnson, an Indy 500 rookie, led a lap with his fuel strategy.  Unfortunately, he crashed a few laps later with six to go.  This messed up his teammate, Marcus Ericsson, who was cruising to the win.  The race was red flagged.  The crowd approved of the decision.

 

The restart began with two laps left.  The announcers were the most excited they had been for the entire race.  The crowd roared as Mexican, Pato O’Ward, made a serious challenge on the final lap.  Ericsson weaved all over the width of the track to break up the draft behind him.  A crash late behind them froze the field and Ericsson held on for the win.  Ericsson’s extremely hot girlfriend got look on as one of the Indy princesses impulsively planted a giant lipstick mark on his cheek as he drank the milk. 

 

F1 Monaco

Gone are the days of me waking up at 6:30am to watch this live.  This race started just before Indy finished.  (The red flag caused Indy to run late.)  Since this race was on delay, they cut right to the race without a prerace.  (Thanks to the NBC Indy people for not spoiling the results.)  However, it was raining in Monaco.  At other F1 tracks, these conditions can lead to a great race.  At Monaco, it’s still a slot car track.  The cars had on their grooved rain tires, err . . . I mean, tyres.  They did a rolling start under caution to begin the race.

 

I went ahead and went home.  Dad could probably take a nap without the F1 race on (though he might get to sleep faster).  After I got home and put the leftover pizza in the fridge, I went to Paleta Bar next door for a delayed dessert.  I hadn’t been there in a while, because it’s expensive and has upset my stomach the last few times.  (Also, a weed shop opened next door.  The addicts are lined up outside all of the time.) 

 

I picked the “New Mexico United” ice cream bar (named after Albuquerque’s soccer team).  It was flavored with cookies and cream with bananas, then dipped in chocolate and covered in almonds.  It was delicious, but afterward, I was full for the rest of the day (with a slight bellyache).    

 

I called my friend, Ron, to see how he was doing with his cold.  We ended up on the phone most of the afternoon.  The MLB.TV free game was the Padres and the Pirates.  The video wasn’t blocked, so we were able to watch, which we appreciated.   MacKenzie Gore pitched seven scoreless innings for the Padres, but bullpen coughed up the lead.  Trent Grisham won it in the tenth, 4-2, with a two-run homer after two bunt attempts.  

 

I missed the homer.  My computer and the TV where I had the F1 race on aren’t in the same room.  I kept shuttling back-and-forth, while chatting with Ron on the phone.  (Not to mention, I had a couple of Twitch streams up with girls, ahem.)  I did see the end of the race.  The track had dried and the top four cars on each other’s bumpers.  Since it was F1 at Monaco, nobody could pass.  Sergio “Checo” Perez won.  No doubt Mexico was happy.  They came close to also taking Indy on the same day. 

 

From seeing the start, I knew the two Ferraris were in front of Checo, but didn’t see how he’d gotten in front (since I was getting ice cream and watching baseball).  From reading up later, Ferrari had messed up their pitstops and called both cars in at the same time to change to slick tires, err . . . tyres.  The race was going to run long because of the rain, but instead, they switched to making it a timed race.  I have seen timed car races before, and ones that even changed from laps to timed during the race.  But, I’ve never seen F1 do that.  One of the best races I ever saw was Jenson Button winning the 2011 Canadian GP in the rain, a race that went way over time.

Coca-Cola 600

The early end to F1 allowed everyone to see the start of NASCAR’s Charlotte race.  (Nice coordination between the three networks today.)  This event was the usual cluster-f it is every year.  I told Ron the best betting on this race is over/under 10 cars on the lead lap by the end. 

 

Play-by-play on a race this long is problematical.  I’ll just hit a few highlights.  Chase Elliot was doing well and won Stage 1.  Late in Stage 2, he spun through the infield.  It was too early for a victory celebration, Chase.  This accident happened in side-by-side commercial.  This happened at least four or five times today between this race and Indy.  They never broke from commercial, though.  The Big One happened right after.  Ryan Blaney spun in front of the field and took out 12 cars.  By halfway, 10 cars were out (including three of my favorites, Chase, Ryan, and William Byron), but only one car off the lead lap.

 

Meanwhile, the Chihuahuas were playing the Space Cowboys on the radio.  (I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence.)  The pups were down by 10 in the sixth, but had a 6-run inning later to make a game of it.  They got within 2 runs late, but finally fell 17-14. 

 

Late in the race, Chris Buescher had a rolling crash through the infield and ended up on his lid.  He met the same fate of nearly every front runner or challenger for the lead in this race—a crash.  By the end, there were 17 cars left on the lead lap.  (I should have taken the over.) 

 

Kyle Larson, who seemed poised for the win, though he’d had a race full of setbacks, got taken out with other frontrunner, Ross Chastain, after Austin Dillon spun, when the leaders all tried going four-wide.  In the second Overtime, Denny Hamlin won it.  Hours ago, he’d actually been the pole-sitter and hadn’t been anywhere near the front since.  I think everyone, especially the drivers, were good and tired of this race by the time it was over. 

Part 4

Memorial Day Weekend Sunday, 5-26-19

Continued from Saturday.

90% chance of rain in Indianapolis today.  That had been the forecast all week and even when I tuned in to the coverage for the prerace Sunday morning.  The sky was indeed overcast over IMS.  By the time the race was over, nary a drop had fallen and there were blue skies overhead.  This years’ race was NBC’s first crack at the Indy 500, since acquiring the rights from ABC/ESPN.  In spite of my general hatred for ESPN, I had to admit that they did really good job on their last race (5-27-18).  It actually kills me to admit to that, so you know I mean it. 

NBC had a lot to live up to given their competitor’s history.  You could best sum up their attempt with one word: cringy.  Here’s a few more: smiley, happy, no depth, embarrassing.  Here’s the biggest race of the year and the prerace is like an hour of the Today Show.  I guess you’re trying to appeal to the normies, but they don’t watch the race.  The fans do.  When I tuned into qualifying last week, they did a great job of setting the storylines for the day.  If it hadn’t been rained out, I would have watched.  So, they could have done a better job of setting the stage for the race, but instead did a segment on milking cows for the Victory Lane milk. 

Our expert commentary for the prerace was provided by Danica Patrick.  Once again, it was the Danica Show.  I should have known better than to think that we were rid of her.  Like much of the prerace, what was frustrating was that she was insightful during the race, once she stopped talking about herself, which took a while.  Also present was a damn-glad-to-be-there, Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Who is this guy?  Was he ever this happy racing?  He also drove the pace car, still smiling, and was surprisingly cogent talking about the race.  Also present was my favorite pit reporter, adorable Kelli Stavast.  The dulcet British tones of Leigh Diffey provided the play-by-play.  It was odd hearing him doing an American open wheel race, instead of F1, but I got used to it.

But, the important thing here is lunch.  McAlisters was featuring a new sandwich on their website, which I scouted before I decided to go there for lunch, the Chicken Avocado BLT.  It was a good-sized meal and very tasty.  It did fall apart a bit as I was eating it.  The Avocado didn’t quite hold it all together.  It was served on two oversized slices of white bread.  The bacon was good.  I was worried the chicken might be poor, but it was fine.  I’m trepidatious about any fast food chicken except for Chik-fil-a, Raising Canes, and What-a-burger (their Honey Barbeque Chicken Strip Sandwich exclusively).  Every place else and every other chicken item is on probation with me, because they’re not only not as good, they’re usually just bad. 

Of course I had the M-F’ing tea.  (That meme is probably dead by now.)  I was offered a cookie or a brownie, which I wish I’d gone ahead and bought, but I didn’t know what the price was.  Instead, I went back out about an hour later to Orange Leaf for froyo.  I got cookie dough with peanut butter cups added in.  I also tossed on some Twix, but those don’t work with ice cream, because the caramel goes hard instantly in the cold.  That pretty girl was back working there.  I’ve seen her several times.  I don’t know what to say to her to chat, even when we’re there alone.                                 

Back to the race, pit lane mishaps were the story.  Colton Herta had electrical issues, I think, and came to a halt on pit lane.  Helio Castroneves had contact on pit lane with another car.  Last years’ winner, Will Power, missed his spot in the pit box.  Another driver hit one of his pit crew.  Kyle Kaiser, the last driver to make the field who bumped Fernando Alonso, lost his car coming out of pit lane. 

Alexander Rossi, who won in 2016, had a fueling problem on one of his pit stops.  He was completely infuriated, banging on his steering wheel, while the crew worked on it.  I’m told he’s never normally that angry.  Well, Rossi went on a rampage trying to get his lost positions back.  He nearly ran over a lap-down Oriol Servia, who was holding him up.  They exchanged hand signs at over 200mph as they passed one another.  Rossi, passing like a madman, made it back up front.

The Big One happened on Lap 178.  There had only been three retirements beforehand.  There were five more with this wreck.  Graham Rahal chewed out Sebastien Bourdais on track while Bourdais was still sitting in his wrecked car.  (How humiliating for a four-time Champ Car champion.)  Rossi had just passed polesitter and Indy GP winner Simon Pagenaud for the lead as the race was red flagged.

The race was restarted with 13 laps left.  Pagenaud immediately passed for lead, but Rossi was back in the lead by the next lap.  They would end up trading positions five times before the end.  Takuma Sato, the 2017 Indy winner, came back from a lap down to third place with 10 to go and pressed the both of them.  Rossi had the lead with three to go.  Pagenaud passed on the outside with one lap left.  There was lots of swerving on that last lap, but Pagenaud held it and won.

Pagenaud gave Penske another trophy and got to keep his seat.  Simon stopped in front of the grandstand to salute the fans and he also thanked them again after splashing himself with milk in Victory Lane.  (I hate the milk drinking bit here, because I love milk and these guys nearly always waste it.)  What a month at Indy for Simon: GP win, pole, led the most laps, and won the big race.  Regardless of the prerace, as long as you’re showing the race, you really can’t screw up the coverage.  It will make its own drama, regardless of attempts to enhance it.  The story is always the same: triumph for one driver, tragedy for 32. 
           

Two other events started before Indy finished.  On a Mexican station, the Dodgers and Pirates were on.  During yesterday’s MLB game, they’d promoted that they were going to be broadcasting another game today.  I’d checked back repeatedly at the advertised time, but it wasn’t on that I could see.  I joined the game in the fifth with the Dodgers up 4-2.  The Pirates were in their horrible 70’s throwbacks.  I like several teams’ retro uniforms, but this one is way too gaudy.   

Wow, I wish I hadn’t scrambled my notes together from four different events.  Let me untangle this.  I saw Joc Pederson homer to make it 5-3.  By the time I’d tuned back, it was 9-3 in the sixth, but the Pirates did make a comeback to make it 10-6.  The Dodgers scored again in the seventh on a missed catch.  This broadcast was the Dodgers’ video feed.  They showed fans already leaving over the Roberto Clemento Bridge.  The Bucs scored in the ninth, but lost 11-7.  I’m sorry there was so much going on.  This would have been an entertaining game to have watched instead of just peeking in on.

Meanwhile, the F1 Monaco race had started on ABC.  This was on delay, but “Thank you,” NBC for not spoiling the race during your Indy broadcast.  Last year, ABC had shown the F1 race right after Indy without any prerace.  There was one this time and they announced that there was a 90% chance of rain there in Monte Carlo.  For an F1 race, impending rain is good news, since that often makes the race more interesting.  I had to miss the most of the prerace to see the end of Indy, but I did make sure to watch the start of the race and the hard right-hander into Sainte Devote.  Having seen this race before, I know that that first corner is functionally the whole race. 

No rain fell in the principality either today during the race.  Here in the Las Cruces, there was a 5% chance of rain today.  Suddenly, I’m hearing thunder.  The wind had kicked up hard outside and it was overcast.  It would eventually start raining a bit for a short while.  This is the way I would have wanted it, rain here instead of at Indianapolis.  It would have been ironic though if the lightning had gotten bad enough that I’d had to turn off the TV before Indy finished. 

I flipped between the F1 race and the ballgame.  The coverage featured some hysterical Sky Sports announcers.  Not hysterically funny, just hysterical like a panicked woman.  I’m missing the BBC guys.  ABC also inserted random commercials into the race, since the original broadcast didn’t have any breaks.  There was a woman with ESPN, who came on and assured viewers that they wouldn’t miss any of the race.  Well, that’s nice at least. 

So, Lewis Hamilton started on pole, led coming out of the first turn, and won the race.  How does Monaco keep delivering these surprises?  Actually, Lewis and Max Verstappen did touch in the closing laps, but didn’t crash and maintained their positions.  I wish they’d use karts for this race instead of F1 cars.  The drivers might go for it, if it didn’t affect the points standings.  It would be like the most glamorous Mario Kart race ever.       

Sure, let’s check out what’s on the radio too, specifically the Rangers and Angels and the Chihuahuas were scheduled to play.  The pups were not on, which was okay, because I was getting twitchy enough just changing TV stations.  I found out later that they’d been rained out in Fresno.  In LA, it was actually raining lightly there.  Ranger announcer, Eric Nadel, couldn’t remember ever seeing rain at a game there.  The field in Anaheim wasn’t built with good drainage, so a hard shower might end the game.  His partner, Matt Hicks, was worried about the open-air pressbox and all of their electronics.

The rain continued into the eighth, but never affected play.  It didn’t hurt Mike Trout as he homered in the first to make it 1-0 Angels.  The fans were unaffected too.  Matt called a fan in a suite with a mitt making a great catch on a foul.  Shin-Soo Choo homered in the fourth to tie it.  Hunter Pence also homered to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.  (I was on the phone and missed it.)  It was Hunter again in the sixth driving in a run with Logan Forsythe then driving him in.  The Rangers built up a 5-1 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, a double play ended the inning, but the Rangers stayed on field, apparently they’d all forgot the number of outs.  I kind of wish I was watching this game.  Ranger starter, Ariel Jurado, came out in the seventh and the Angels tee’d off on the Rangers’ relievers.  Trout doubled in a run.  Shohei Ohtani tied the score on a sacrifice.  Two wild pitches brought in two runs and gave the Angels a 7-5 lead.  After that catastrophe, the Rangers made a comeback in the ninth.  Choo doubled in Ronald Guzman, but was left stranded at third.  7-6 Angels was your disappointing final.

Before getting into the afternoon NASCAR race, I have to mention a movie.  Flipping around, I ran into a 50’s gem on Comet, The Beast of Hollow Mountain.  I was confused when I saw it because it looked like a Western.  It was.  The caption summed it up succulently: A Tyrannosaurs Rex terrorizes a Mexican village.  It’s like the Magnificent Seven, but with a dinosaur.  (Not really.)  It was an exciting seamless blend of stop-motion puppetry and practical effects (namely shots of a guy wearing big T-Rex feet or giant claws fumbling at the actors).  This concept seemed familiar somehow.  It was.  Last year on Comet, I’d seen a 2015 film called Cowboys vs Dinosaurs.  Not quite the same premise, but close enough. 

The Coca-Cola 600 prerace had my full attention.  I was riveted watching Shannon Spake stuffed into a hot, off-the-shoulder dress.  This was my favorite part of the coverage.  Shannon did spoil the end of the Monaco race, which had quite yet finished on the other network.  I’ll forgive her (mostly because the outcome wasn’t in much doubt). 

There was no rain in Charlotte, but it was very hot.  The drivers were concerned.  Another hot Charlotte, WWE wrestler Charlotte Flair, joined Michael Waltrip on the grid walk.  The drivers they met seemed genuinely awestruck by the overwhelming blonde.  I think they were WWE fans.  Charlotte would drive the pace car.

A Marine general gave the command.  He brought his own hype-man, a master sergeant, to introduce him and he did so with a flourish.  The cars went into a three-wide formation on the pace lap.  I was listening to the baseball at the time, so I’m not sure why they did that.  It was good practice for later in the race.

I really meant to sit and watch the race, but the Braves and the Cardinals came on ESPN Radio after the Rangers’ game was over.  I’m not sure what inning the game was in, but I heard Harrison Bader drive in the first run and be driven in to make it 2-0.  The story of the game though was a guy holding a baby, reaching over the rail for a foul ball.  The announcers wet themselves.  Mom immediately came over and took the child away and they all left shortly thereafter.    

We’ll skip to the ninth with the Cardinals up 3-0.  The Braves came up with a run and got two on with nobody out.  Another hit made it 3-2.  Andrew Miller came in.  He gave up the tying hit.  I wanted to start watching NASCAR, but these guys were not cooperating.  In the tenth, the Braves’ go-ahead run was walked in.  They won 4-3, as KROD went on autopilot and I missed all of the bottom of the tenth except for the final out.   

Back at the race, there were 10 cautions through the first two stages.  It seemed like a bunch of blown tires, maybe due to the heat.  Before the race, my dad had pointed out a picture of Jimmie Johnson’s paint scheme in the newspaper.  It looked good there and on track with the desert camo.  If only they still sold little affordable diecasts.

I was watching Stage 4, as two large wrecks messed up the field.  On the final restart with six to go, I finally turned up the sound as the baseball game was in commercial.  The cars were going four-wide and banging off each other in the final laps.  Martin Truex fended off Joey Logano for the win.  And I got to see a little more Shannon Spake.  Yay.  I feel like I cheated myself not watching more of the race. 

My last viewing of the day was a Comic-Con documentary on TBD.  That was pretty interesting.  A guy proposed to his girlfriend at a Kevin Smith panel, which was sweet.  Funny how the comics are almost the least of it there now.  With that, we pack it in until tomorrow.

On to Monday.  

Sports Journal October 19-26, 2018

10-19-18

Owing to just getting back to work from vacation, I wasn’t able to really watch or listen to tonight’s NLCS game.  The Brewers beat Dodgers 7-2 in Milwaukee.  Cardinal World Series hero, David Freese, drove in both Dodger runs.  The game only took three-and-half hours.  On to Game 7.

I noticed that Aggie Soccer was playing a late game against GCU in Phoenix.  I caught the end of the match over the Internet.  The Aggies lost 1-0, which was heartbreaking, though somewhat encouraging that they were at least competitive.  Shots on goal were 9 to 8 in favor of the Lopes, so the Aggies had their chances, but weren’t able to convert.  The Lopes also had four players carded, so they won the fights. 

When they showed the highlights afterward, I saw that Ashley Martin stopped a GCU PK.  Well done, Ash!  There was a shot of the stands clearing out.  GCU has an actual stadium with seats for soccer, in addition to having lights for the field.  However, their attendance there was about the same as the Aggies at home.

10-20-18

As it turned out, the NLCS Game 7 was on Mexican TV and the radio, so I could have watched.  However, I was at a departmental “business” meeting at Top Golf.  I think the boss was trying to get in some practice before a bank-sponsored golf tournament.  It was initially mandatory, but then changed to voluntary for me, because I’m not on salary. 

Since I wasn’t able to go to see Aggie Football after seeing volleyball in morning, my afternoon became free.  It was reasonably fun there and a nice meal.  $1,200 worth of fun and nice, I’m not so sure, at least not without a lap dance included.  (Don’t ask me where the money for the trip came from or how this expense was going to be justified.)      

            

I caught a little glimpse of the game at the bar.  A co-worker said he’d seen a bit of last night’s game and had been mesmerized by an attractive, well-endowed woman behind home plate.  I named her for him; that was Front Row Amy.  When I got home, I was able watch the end of the game. 

Amy was there, along with the Marlins Man.  Joining them was the guy who often sits behind home plate at White Sox games wearing the Kyle Busch M&M’s jacket.  And a Yankees fan was beside him.  All we needed were those guys who dressed as umps, the guy in the Katy Perry shark dancer suit, the Marilyn Monroe impersonator, and a dude on a cellphone waving to the camera to complete the picture of famous home plate seat fans. 

The game seemed almost irrelevant by comparison.  The Dodgers won 5-1 over the Brewers.  All the runs came off of homers.  I’m disappointed, but at least we can all see the best World Series that money can buy between the Dodger$ and the Red $ox.

Oh, I did ask my co-worker friend for an update on the Aggies versus Georgia Southern football game.  For the first update, the score was 24-17 GS.  Okay, that didn’t sound too bad.  The next time I asked, it was 45-24 and there was still a quarter left.  My dad didn’t listen to the game.  The batteries on his radio died and mom won’t let him plug it in.  However, the paper had the final at 48-31 Georgia Southern.  Clearly, the defense is still having problems.  They’re missing a couple of guys, who were apparently the lynchpins.  I am really heartened by the offense though.  Maybe this team will have a chance next year.

10-21-18

I had some intention of watching NASCAR this morning, but the station wasn’t coming in.  Not wanting to mess with the antenna for longer than 30 seconds, I instead flipped over to the F1 race from Austin.  Kimi Raikkonen made a power move at the start of race and won for the first time in several years.  Yep, same old F1.  You only need to watch the start.  A few hours later, I finally adjusted the antenna and NBC came right in.  They were doing the post race discussing Chase Elliot winning.  That’s what I get for not putting in a little more effort in at reception.

Over on Stadium, they were showing Women’s College Soccer.  In San Diego, the SDSU Aztecs were taking on the Air Force Falcons.  I’ve seen the facility there on TV a couple of times.  “The Sports Deck” as it is called is pretty nice.  The Aggie girls played there to start their season. 

This season neither team is very good.  Both are having trouble scoring.  Air Force has a good goalie in Jennifer Hiddnick.  She took all the free kicks on the Air Force side of the field as well.  Gabby English, one of my favorite player names, was not in net for the Aztecs for unspecified reasons.  They put in freshman Kate Hart today.  As usual, I focused on the tallest blonde on the field, in this case Lauren Dicus, a SDSU defender.  Air Force had a couple girls with nice hair.  One was a bright natural redhead and another had shining silver hair.  I didn’t get their names.

Though most of the action of the first half took place on the Air Force side, I got to see plenty of Lauren in match.  Her and a fellow defender passed the ball between each other about 20 times.  It was an odd strategy since they weren’t moving the ball up the field.  The Falcons have a freshman playing for them from San Diego (whose name I also didn’t get).  She got the biggest cheer of the match when she came in.  (AF actually had some vocal fans there too.) 

By the time the Falcons got their first shot on goal 26’ in, the Aztecs already had 7.  Jennifer had been getting a workout.  Still, nobody scored until the 41’ (see, I’m using proper soccer timing), when Cloe Frisch made a great pass in front of the net to Darcy Weiser, who finally put it in.  1-0 Aztecs.

What did I say about soccer being “sports ASMR?”  After a mostly lopsided, but nearly non-scoring, first half, I started nodding off in the second.  I was awakened in the 61’ as Phoebe Leitch chipped in a shot over Jennifer to make it 2-0 Aztecs.  That was her third goal of the season, which made her the highest scoring player on the field for either team.  (And I thought the Aggies were having scoring issues.) 

From here, it started raining goals.  67’ Laura Fuentes scored, which made this the Aztecs’ highest scoring game of the season at 3-0.  Lauren, tired of passing the ball back-and-forth, took the ball up field on a rush and found Dorothy on a pass (she’d had plenty of practice passing).  74’ Dorothy got her second goal to make it 4-0. 

75’ Air Force had their best chance to score on a turnover near the SDSU box.  Kate was in a one-on-one, but managed to deflect the shot wide.  80’ Air Force put in a new goalie, Danielle Katz.  As often happens, she was tested immediately.  There was a sniper shot by Malia Kaleiohi outside the box.  Danielle made a flying dive at it, but it went just out-of-reach for a 5-0 Aztec lead and the win.  Okay, not the greatest game to watch.  I feel like I should have been rooting on a lower score, so that I could have fallen completely asleep.

10-23-18

I basically missed Game 1 of the World Series between the Red Sox and Dodgers.  This is what happens when I don’t really care about the outcome.  The Red Sox won 8-4.  I did see the pivotal play of the game as Eduardo Nunez hit a pinch hit three-run homer in the seventh to ice the game.  The pitch wasn’t even a strike.

10-24-18

I missed most of this game too.  The Red Sox beat the Dodgers 4-2 to go up 2-0 in the World Series.  David Price actually did well again pitching.  Seems like he may have overcome a mental barrier in pitching in the playoffs.   

The main noteworthy action that I saw was in fifth.  The Sox loaded bases with two outs.  A run was walked in and then JD Martinez singled to bring in two more.  Not bad for a guy with a twisted ankle.  This team’s ability to score with two outs this postseason has been prodigious.

The Boston crowd broke out a “Beat LA” chant.  The radio broadcast mentioned the origin of the phrase.  It was from an NBA game, but not between the Celtics and the Lakers.  The Celtics were about to lose to the 76’ers and they would go on to face the Lakers in the finals.  The Boston fans were encouraging the 76’ers to beat LA.  I also heard a completely out-of-place “Yankees Suck” chant.  That’s okay.  They always suck.  Also noted and annoying were the micro commercials inserted into every pause in the action, especially in the later innings.  In spite of the extended commercial breaks, the game finished in a reasonable three-and-a-half hours.

10-26-18

In the first inning, the Red Sox faced Walker Buehler on the mound for the Dodgers.  The first three Red Sox batters worked a lot of pitches, but went down for a 1-2-3 inning.  “That’s a win for the Red Sox,” proclaimed the announcers, twice even, saying that they’d gotten his pitch count up.  Buehler only went seven scoreless innings tonight, but it was a “win.”

Once again I was at work and wasn’t able to watch much of the Game 3.  I little realized at the time that this would become an all-time classic World Series game . . . that few other people probably saw either.  Essentially, the game was tied at 1 after nine innings.  The game might have been four hours old by that point. 

                 

The Red Sox finally scored a run in the thirteenth, but the Dodgers did the same in the bottom.  Both runs scored thanks to an error and Eduardo Nunez of the Sox figured into both scores.  On into the night we went.  Most of what I got of the game was over the radio.  Play-by-play man, Dan Shulman, actually starting getting horse. 

By the time I’d finished work, I watched the game on TV a bit, but finally decided I was going to have to go home.  Once there, I scanned around until I found a static-y radio broadcast.  I could have turned on my TV, but I didn’t think it would go that long.  Maybe less than a half-hour later in the eighteenth inning, Max Muncy homered to mercifully end it 3-2 Dodgers.  He’d almost done it a couple of innings before on a massive foul ball.  It was about 1:30am MST.

At seven hours 20 minutes, the game became the second longest MLB game ever by time.  All sorts of records were brought up during the game.  Curiously, the previous World Series record for innings was held by three games at 14 innings, including a game from the 1916 matchup between these two franchises.  That game went a gaudy two-and-a-half hours.