Daytona 500, Oscars, and the NFL Combine

That's what was on TV this weekend.  I didn't watch a second of the Oscars, at most a few minutes of the NFL Combine, and watched a lot of the Daytona 500.  The only one I wasn't disappointed with was the Oscars...and that was because I didn't watch any of it so didn't have anything to be disappointing about. 

A co-worker asked me if I had seen any of it (the Oscars).  I was somewhat surprised that this person had watched it.  Anyway, he said that Seth MacFarlane was extremely funny.  Of course if you read anything about the Oscars today it was that MacFarlane is getting criticized for being "sexist" and "crude."  I find it interesting that my coworker, who I consider the average guy in America, thought it was hilarious and critics panned it.  Does the fact that the Oscars had it's best Nielsen ratings in years mean the critics have no clue what the average person in America likes?  I also have to wonder if anyone thought MacFarlane, who is the creator of "Family Guy" and director of the movie "Ted," wasn't going to be crude in some form?

Critics also said the Oscars where too long and dull.  Why do you think I didn't watch any of it?  Is it really going to be any fun watching 5 second clips and some celebrities standing on stage trying to make opening an envelope dramatic?  If you really did care who won, wouldn't your time be better spent doing a search on the net after it was over?


The Combine.  Wow, like the Oscars, dull and too long...and even worse than the Oscars you don't even get to see who won until draft day.  Hey look, there's a guy running around cones...hey look, there's another guy running around cones....hey look, there's a guy that could be drafted in the top 5 running around cones. 

Marquise Goodwin, a WR for Texas, ran the 40 in 4.27 seconds...just short of Chris Johnson's unofficial record of 4.24 sec at the 2008 Combine.  The story is that Bo Jackson ran the 40 in 4.12 seconds at the 1986 Combine in the Super Dome. There's also rumors that guys like Daryl Green, Deion Sanders, and Joey Galloway ran it under 4.2.  

These 40 times are totally ludicrous to me.  I can't see how anyone can take them seriously.  As fast as they are,  do you honestly believe that any of these guys could beat a Steroid juiced Ben Johnson or Usian Bolt in a 40 yard dash?

When Johnson broke the World Record for the 100 meters he ran the first 40 yards in 4.38 seconds.  Bolt of course ran the 100 meters faster than anyone ever...and he slowed down near the finish.  He was .1 faster in the 100 than Johnson (9.79 vs 9.69).  I haven't seen an official clocking of Bolt's 40, but how much faster, if at all, would it have been than Goodwin's 4.27?

Even accounting for the fact that sprinters have to react to a gun and in the Combine the clock starts when the runner moves (considered a .15 advantage), Goodwin would have been within a 10th of Johnson. Jackson, Sanders, and Galloway would have ran it faster...possibly faster than Bolt.  And that's without starting blocks.  Yea, right.


Unlike the majority of casual fans that tuned in to the Daytona 500 (viewership was up 30% over last year), my interest was in the new car, not Danica Patrick.  I'm a car nut, and like racing in all forms.  NASCAR was much more interesting when the cars were different from one another.  Once the rules changed to make all the cars equal, I lost interest.  I wanted to see if the new Gen 6 car would make things interesting for me again.

The new car and thus the race was disappointing.  It was only slightly less boring than the Combine and the Oscars.  With the new car the drivers were afraid to even try to pass.  The outside lane was the only place to be...which even made it more boring.  It was a one lane race track and no one wanted to pass...is that racing?  The outside lane was so dominate that a car with a banged up front nose (less aerodynamic) could hold off the inside line even if the inside line had some of the faster cars in the field. The last lap pass only happened because when Earnhardt went, everyone behind went with him.  Patrick, who was 3rd, and Greg Biffle who was 2nd, didn't stand a chance.  If either would have attempted to pass, nobody would have gone with them.  Earnhardt's teammate, Jimmie Johnson ended up winning the race

Yea, I know best finish at the Daytona 500 by a woman.  Look, unlike a lot of hardcore NASCAR fans I think Danica can drive (Maybe I'll post about that some other time).  In any event, it wasn't even the best finish in NASCAR by a woman...just the best finish at Daytona.  By the way, Janet Guthrie's 6th place finish at Bristol in 1977, a much more demanding track, is the top finish by a woman in NASCAR.  I was more impressed that she won the pole and the most impressive part about Danica's finish wasn't even mentioned.  In nine combined starts at the two most famous 500's, Indy and Daytona, Patrick finished in the top 10 in seven of those.  Not to bad for someone who supposedly can't drive.