One Guy Talkin'

So, not much happening on the local sports scene unless you like racing or the long slow summer of baseball season. But I like it all, and I've been listening, watching, and thinking. It occurs to me that I have way too much knowledge of stats, history, and meaningless data; and the good news for YOU fair readers, is I have to get some of it off my chest. So here goes nothing :

Roger Penske's racing team is simply the best. Arguing is futile, and the data's there to prove it. They work at winning, don't miss details, and since the 1970's with Al Unser and Rick Mears, Penske has been absolutely inhuman at the Speedway. It doesn't matter who's behind the wheel, they're going to be fast and they're going to be a favorite to win every race they enter. At Indianapolis, that excellence is magnified, and once again a Penske car is on the pole with Helio Castroneves (I don't care if he DID cheat on his income taxes. The man's a stone cold winner with the best attitude I've ever seen), and has 2 more cars in the top 4 spots with Ryan Briscoe and Will Power. They'll be there on race day. Take it to the bank.

For the moment, my favorite athlete anywhere is Tony Kanaan. Talk about a guy who just knows how to get the job done. Danica Patrick's car shimmies a little and she throws her crew under the bus, whining like the spoiled brat she is. Meanwhile, Kanaan drives a 230 MPH shopping cart into the wall two times, and never says a bad word about anyone. He spent 2 hours with Danica (maybe we should just start calling her "Patrick." That first name thing is getting old, and I've always wanted someone to call Cher "Bono." Might make that guy from U2 a little uneasy, but she doesn't deserve a "first name only" anymore. Does anyone know what the "real" Bono's last name is?), and I truly hope whatever he said got through. She needs to win or button it. One or the other.

As of this writing, the Reds are tied for first place despite Dusty Baker. They have a solid pitching staff which is only getting stronger; and the bats are hot for the moment. St. Louis just put Brad Penny and Kyle Loshe on the disabled list, and Chris Carpenter's fastball is staying up in the zone consistently. The Redlegs have a chance, and I'm interested to see whether or not they'll make any deals to improve the club. It'd be just like them to say "we've come this far with the guys we have, why change now?," but I really hope they make a deal. In my perfect world, they do whatever they can to get rid of Mike Lincoln and Daniel Ray Herrera. And Paul Janish.

The Pacers maintained their consistent string of "no luck at all" and will draft #10 in the June NBA Draft. There's no chance they get any better with the 10th pick, so Larry Bird needs to do something or risk a 5th straight mediocre/bad season. With Butler's recent run, Indiana's improvement, and Purdue's exceptional team right now, the Pacers are running on fumes and need to start winning in 2010-2011. Why spend $85 to go see the Pacers idle through a 5th straight season when you can get into Hinkle Fieldhouse (and sit in a better seat) for $10 bucks? I still have no idea why the Pacers felt the need to win several meaningless games late in the season, but for what seems like the 194th consecutive year, they have a traditionally mediocre draft pick. In a franchise which has little history of courting and signing significant free agents; I think the Pacers would be wise to trade their expiring contracts for proven young talent. They can no longer afford to sign the Dahntay and Solomon Jones' of the world simply because nobody cares and they don't help a team like the Pacers win. It's time for an Eric Gordon and Trevor Ariza.

The "idiot" award this month goes to the crew of Jay Howard's #66 Service Central/Sarah Fisher Racing machine. He's in. He's qualified for the Indy 500. The only guy that can knock him out - Paul Tracy of KV Racing - hasn't shown the speed and just made a qualifying run that just about knocked holes in every inch of the SAFER barriers around the Speedway. Howard's never done this "bump day" thing before, and if I were Fisher, I'd have taken the steering wheel and hidden in a bucket of chicken. Howard's car was the slowest in the field and "on the bubble," but Tracy's chances of finding the necessary speed at that point were about as good as Marisa Miller calling me later tonight. But Fisher's husband Andy O'Gara (Howard's team manager) decided to take destiny out of Tracy's hands, putting it in Howard's. O'Gara decided to withdraw Howard's qualified car and re-qualify, having to bump the now re-entered (previously bumped) car of Sebastian Saavedra; who was at the time lying in a bed at Methodist Hospital recovering from an earlier crash. You see this coming, but Howard didn't find the speed and indeed prevented Tracy from making the field. But he also bumped himself, which cost the small and under-funded team a ton of money and likely a good bit of its future. I know one guy who didn't get lucky Sunday night.

Handicapping this weekend's race (and yes, NASCAR guy, I mean THE race..the Indy 500), I see it this way : Ryan Briscoe wins it. Penske's just too good, and Briscoe's a terrific talent. Casroneves, Dario Franchitti, Graham Rahal, and Scott Dixon will be there; and I think one of Andretti's cars will be there in the end; but once again, Penske and Ganassi steal the show. It's predicatble and boring; but the cream rises at Indianapolis, and it will again.

RT Brightman