Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Welcome to Nascar, Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick has been very busy during her winter break from racing. She signed a three year contract extension in early December to stay with Andretti Autosport and continue in the IndyCar Series. A week or so later Patrick announced she will run a partial schedule in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in a JR Motorsports entry. The deal with JRM is a two year deal. Her sponsor in both racing endeavors will be long time partner Go Daddy, the internet powerhouse for domain names and web hosting.

What does Danica Patrick’s racing future hold? Patrick recently completed her fifth season in the IZOD IndyCar Series. She finished a career best fifth in points. The highpoint in her IndyCar career has got to be her lone victory, coming in Japan in 2008. She really wants to win the Indy 500, the Crown Jewel of the IndyCar season, and after finishing third last year, it’s no surprise she re-signed. Danica has a lot of talent and has won many accolades in her racing career, including the 2005 Indy Car Rookie of the Year. Will she win an Indy Car title? Probably not. Patrick will always race in great equipment, but I don’t think she’s a series title contender. Why? She is very aggressive behind the wheel and very emotional. Patrick’s emotions often get the best of her and open wheel cars aren’t the most durable when it comes to “rubbin is racin.” Remember the Indy 500 in '08 and her scuffle with Ryan Briscoe? What about Milwaukee '07 when she shoved Dan Wheldon? I know, I know, tempers run high in any competitions. I think she’s a very good driver and has a few more wins coming on the horizon.

What does Danica Patrick do best? She is a marketing goldmine. Many times in the racing world, talent isn’t the deciding factor unfortunately. It’s sponsorship. Patrick will never have to worry about sponsors because companies will battle to the death to be associated with her. She has won the Most Popular Driver Award three times in the Indy Car series. She has had and continues to have great relationships with Motorola, Boost Mobile, Go Daddy, and many other companies. Here’s a shameless plug for our sponsor Go Daddy, a one stop shop for everything you need to establish your internet identity. Patrick has been featured in many commercials and magazines, including FHM and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and is a mainstream celebrity.

Danica Patrick has the star power to race wherever she wants to. Why would she want to try NASCAR, you ask? The simple answer is MONEY. During the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, 45 drivers collected over $1 million in winnings. It has been announced that Patrick will run in the ARCA Series opener at Daytona in an effort to get approved by NASCAR to run on some bigger tracks and she will compete in 10-14 Nationwide races. JR Motorsports is setting up a race schedule around Patrick’s IndyCar season. Patrick recently completed her ARCA tests and rumors say that everybody was pleased with the results. This foray in NASCAR could be a long, challenging experience for Patrick. She is going to tear up some cars this season and piss off some people, as almost every rookie driver does.

That brings us to the final question. Will she win in NASCAR? I say yes she will, but I want to add an asterisk. A big plus for Patrick, just like in IndyCar, she will get the privilege of driving top of the line equipment and working with top notch people. Doesn’t everybody win who drives a Hendrick car win? Even the “bad” drivers get lucky and pull off a fuel mileage win once in a while. Casey Mears did it at Charlotte in 2007 and Dale Jr. stretched it to victory lane at Michigan in 2008. This is the kind of win I can see Danica Patrick backing into. Or she gets angry and wrecks everybody that isn’t a start and park team. Overall, it should be fun watching her grow into her new ride and the season will definitely be a roller coaster ride. Good luck, Danica.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

College Basketball Bonanza

The college basketball season is in full swing. Most of the teams have started in conference play or will be shortly. That means it’s time for the BWI. The BWI is a complex formula that we use to pick the winners of the 32 conference tournaments and then the Big Dance. We’ve watched a lot of hoops action so far, gathered some essential information, and here are our picks to walk away with the regular season conference crowns. The ** following some of the team names indicate they would be repeat champions.



American East..................Boston U

Atlantic Coast...................Duke

Atlantic Sun......................East Tennessee St

Atlantic 10.........................Dayton

Big East............................Villanova

Big Sky.............................Portland St.

Big South..........................Radford **

Big 10................................Purdue

Big 12................................Kansas

Big West............................Cal St. Northridge **

Colonial Athletic................Old Dominion

Conference USA................Memphis **

Great West........................South Dakota

Horizon..............................Butler **

Ivy......................................Cornell **

Metro Atlantic Athletic.......Niagara

Mid-American.....................Kent St.

Mid-Eastern Athletic..........Morgan St.

Missouri Valley..................Northern Iowa **

Mountain West..................UNLV

Northeast..........................Robert Morris **

Ohio Valley........................Murray St.

Pac-10...............................California

Patriot................................Holy Cross

Southeastern.....................Tennessee

Southern...........................Charleston

Southland..........................Stephen F Austin **

Southwestern Athletic.......Alabama St. **

Summit..............................Oakland

Sunbelt..............................Troy

West Coast........................St Mary’s

Western Athletic................Utah St. **


Editor's Note. College Hoops are great. There are some good mid-major teams that will surprise some folks this season.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Championship Week Pt 2

Welcome back to the Championship Week discussion. Part 2 covers the title games that we’ll see tomorrow. We brought Buddy back after his unbeaten picks in Part 1. Please remember Buddy is 6 years old but he has proven he has what it takes. Lets not waste any time, here are the picks…



Houston and East Carolina are facing off for the Conference USA hardware. East Carolina is the defending champ and gets the game at home, which will help. The winner will make it to the Liberty Bowl, most likely. What makes this game interesting? Houston boasts the top scoring offense in the FBS behind Heisman long shot Case Keenum who has tossed 38 touchdowns this season. Houston also fields one of the worst defenses in football. Look for a high scoring and entertaining game. One of Buddy’s favorite movies is Pirates of the Caribbean, so guess who he picked? That’s tight, the Pirates upset the Cougars. Prediction East Carolina 38, Houston 35



The Big East Conference trophy is on the line when Cincinnati visits the Pitt Panthers. The side story in this game is the future of Bearcat coach Brian Kelly. Is he leaving for Notre Dame? The Bearcats have Tony Pike back and are one of the top offenses. However they’re one dimensional. They like to pass, pass, and pass. That plays right into the strength of the Panthers. They have a ferocious pass rush and lead the nation in sacks. Cincy has also struggled to stop the run, and Dave Wannstedt likes to control the clock. He’ll feed Cincy a heavy dose of freshman Dion Lewis running the ball. Unbeaten Cincinnati is actually a three point underdog. Buddy picks the Cincy Bearcats. Bears are dangerous he says. Prediction Cincinnati 35, Pittsburgh 17


The game that everyone wants to see comes to us in the middle of the afternoon, the SEC Championship from Atlanta. It’s a playoff game really, the winner goes to the BCS Title game and the loser heads to the Sugar Bowl, unless something really weird happens in some on the other games. Heisman hopefuls Tim Tebow and Mark Ingram will look to improve their resumes. The game is a rematch of last year’s title game and features two big time coaches, Urban Meyer and Nick Saban. I’ll call this game “the Battle of the Asses”. Both teams feature tough defensive units. Scoring will be tough. Whoever sneaks in the most big plays will escape with the win. What is Buddy’s insight? Elephants can step on alligators. Alabama wins the logo battle. Prediction Alabama 23, Florida 14


Saturday finishes with what could be a couple of barn burners. One nightcap is the Big 12 Championship game at Cowboys Stadium. The Texas Longhorns are looking to cash their check to the BCS Title game. Standing in the way are the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who can claim a spot in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl with an upset victory. The Blackshirts have been impressive this year and Texas has shown a few kinks in the offensive armor at times. On the other side of the ball, the Longhorns defense has been equally as good and is top ranked in the Big 12. I don’t see the Huskers offense being able to score enough points and Heisman candidate Colt McCoy will do enough to win. Buddy also likes Texas. He’s running around with Hook ‘em Horns going on both hands. Prediction Texas 34, Nebraska 10


The other nightcap is for the ACC crown. Atlantic Division champ Clemson is facing Coastal champ Georgia Tech at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The winner is awarded a trip to the FedEx Orange Bowl. The game will feature this season’s ACC Player of the Year, CJ Spiller of Clemson, and last years POY, Tech’s Jonathon Dywer. The title game is also a rematch from earlier this year when the Yellow Jackets built a huge lead and then had to hang on to defeat the Tigers 30-27. The key to the game is the defense. The defense that steps up and can contain the run, will win the game. Buddy laughed when he found out a Yellow Jacket was a bee. He thinks the Tigers win in an upset. Prediction Clemson 27, Georgia Tech 21


Enjoy the games everyone, drink a couple beers, and get your BCS gripes ready for Sunday.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Championship Week (Pt 1)

Well, well boys and girls. Here it is. Championship Week, at least the college football version. The season comes down to this last chance to fight your way into the BCS Bowl Games. There are enough meaningful games spread out over the day, that Saturday is a great day to sit on the sofa, order a pizza, and drink lots of beer. And on Sunday you can debate with your friends why Iowa doesn't deserve to play in the Fiesta Bowl or how TCU got hosed. But first, here are the latest theSportStew rankings...

1. Texas (2) 990
2. Alabama 963
3. Florida 959
4. TCU 876
5. Cincinnati 834
6. Boise St 781
7. Oregon 765
8. Ohio St 717
9. Ga Tech 702
10. Iowa 688

Championship Week starts on Tonight with the battle for the Pac-10 crown. I'm not sure who to thank, but I'm so happy USC isn't in this. Pete Carrol whines for a week about Stanford running up the score, and them he breaks one off in Neuheisel and the Bruins. Part of me thought it was funny, but because it was USC, it became a dick move. The Oregon St Beavers travel to the unfriendly confines of Autzen Stadium to fight the Ducks. Hopefully Oregon will pull out those retro uniforms again. The winner faces Ohio St in the Rose Bowl. This game looks like another classic Pac-10 shootout with points flying. Oregon is favored by 9 1/2 points in the "Civil War" but our 6 year old prognosticator says that he thinks Beavers are cooler than Ducks. Good point buddy. Prediction Oregon 38, Oregon St. 32

Friday night has the MAC Championship game. The game is held in Ford Field with the conference champion gaining a berth in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, formerly the Motor City Bowl. It's kinda odd but the champions can decline this bowl and accept a different bid. It happened last year when Buffalo went closer to home. The 9-3 Ohio Bobcats will try to stop the 10-2 Chippewas of Central Michigan. Central Michigan is led by QB Dan LeFevour and that is really all you need to know. He has thrown 25 touchdowns this season and added 14 on the ground. Buddy, remember he's only 6, doesn't know what a Chippewa is but thinks their name is funny and I have to agree. Central Michigan covers the 13 point spread by a landslide. Prediction Central Michigan 45, Ohio 17





Now lets get a laugh at Notre Dame's expense. I guess coaching the Golden Domers isn't such a great job. You're top candidates are dropping like flies. Urban Meyer. You think he's stupid? I think he likes winning titles where it's warm. Bobby Stoops. He would be a good fit. A whiny cry baby leading a disgraced program. He might even be able to complain the Irish into a a bowl game they don't deserve. He does it every other year. Gary Patterson. He just signed an extension to remain at TCU. Kirk Ferentz. His coaching style doesn't have enough flash and he tends to recruit troublemakers. The list of arrests the last few years is three pages long according to Iowa City police. He's the highest paid state employee and his kids attend Iowa. Brian Kelly. He is on the verge of winning the Big East for the second year in a row. He is under contract but I think he's the most likely to stiff their current school. Jim Harbaugh. Nope, remember Ty Willingham? So do the Irish. That leaves Chris Petersen as the new coach of the Fighting Irish. Boise St has run rampant over the WAC since he's been there and this would be a significant challenge. He runs an exciting offense. The last time Notre Dame was searching, they snoozed on another small school coach, Meyer, and we know how that turned out.


Another minor fact that makes Notre Dame a target for ridicule. They are trying to decide if they want to accept a bid to a lesser bowl. Isn't college about the kids? Don't the fans want one last chance to see Clausen fire a score to Tate? Lets face it, they are both gone, moving to the Sunday stage. You stuck up snobs realize that the rest of the world wants to see another Notre Dame ass kicking this season and you know it will happen. So take the easy road Notre Dame, don't "tarnish" your image any more, call it a season.


Saturday's big games will be visited in Part 2 coming Friday.