What’s the buzz from the world of sports? Here are some items that will have people talking:
1
If a bird lands on a 1½-mile track and somebody other than Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in the lead, NASCAR throws out a caution flag.
(How many times over the years have we heard that the caution is out because of “debris” yet the dozens of TV cameras around the track can’t find any debris?) If Junior is in the lead with two laps to go, a car can billow enough smoke to make the Road Runner proud and another car can spin sideways in the middle of the pack and NASCAR pretends it did not see anything.
That’s why it was so great when Junior ran of gas on the final lap.
This way, if and when he ever does win again, he can say he earned it rather that it was given to him.
The Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night was a fantastic race, full of drama. (And it came just hours after a thrilling finish at the Indy 500.) Greg Biffle was just a few laps away from winning before the empty gas tank did him in. Jeff Gordon was among the leaders until he had to pit, too. Race fans did not need NASCAR to manipulate anything. The race was dramatic enough.
Fortunately, the race gods were awake and did not like what NASCAR was trying to do. So Junior had to coast around the last half lap while others passed him … kind of like the Road Runner to Junior’s Wile E. Coyote.
2
Soccer fans in Minnesota were ticked Sunday when the local Fox affiliate went to weather coverage instead of the Champions League final. Actually, the TV station used a split-screen format, so the match was still on, but the sound off, while the station had its weather coverage with sound.
Soccer fans in Minnesota did not think that a tornado warning was that big of a deal.
The TV station did not think the soccer match was that big of a deal.
The fight was on.
Soccer fans flooded the station with phone calls and text messages. The TV guys responded by saying no matter how many angry soccer fans called, they were sticking with their emergency weather coverage. In fact, one guy told the angry mob, “Don’t cheese us off.”
Oooooh.
Of course, the weather guy said this to soccer fans because, well, they’re soccer fans. Our guess is this would not have happened in Minnesota during the Super Bowl.
