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I guess it's about time I scrape the shores of my vast sea of thoughts, ideas, and knowledge. Yes, despite those groans, once more I bring you Mind Flotsam. All the detritus (or debris in NASCAR lingo) has been raked, sifted and scanned for useful trash. That's been filed away, here's what's left: |
I regret not having taken a second in the past week with the move and all my other distractions and expressing my deep sympathy and well wishes for the family of Kathy Bodine. Her passing was barely noticed in the general population but the Stooge felt it. I have a personal story or two about Kathy, she was a fine lady, a respectful and true wife and just plain nice! Godspeed lovely lady!
For those of you who don't want to hear personal stuff, skip this paragraph. For those of you I consider friends, and you all know who you are, my father seems to have adjusted well. I was forced to move him one town away but the staff seems to be very good, genuinely care for the patients, specially trained in Alzheimers care and have already reduced my father's medication twofold. Unfortunately they are the only place that has an Alzheimer's wing and so I am forced to drive 28 miles each way to see him. That takes a big chunk out of my writing and other "webmaster" duty time so the amount of new stuff will suffer. I will strive to make everything posted worth a trip by here.
In other words: I am giving my self plenty of excuse to get lazy. heheheh
Once again, the simple minded have called my newspaper of choice ("Tulsa Something or Other") to complain of the papers amount of coverage offered racing. "After all, everybody knows those aren't athletes, the car does all the work." Athlete is defined in my dictionary as: somebody who has the necessary abilities to participate in physical exercise, especially in competitive situations such as games, races, and matches.
According to that definition a NASCAR driver fits pretty well in the category. Four hours of physical strain to throw a 3400 pound car through the turns, 4 hours of complete mental attention, 4 hours of extreme temperatures (Richard Petty, when tested, lost 16 pounds in 4 hours) and 4 hours of heart rates tested as high as 200 beats a minute during close contact and wrecks. With maybe 5-10, twenty second breaks during cautions.
Now this moron will be the same idiot calling for more baseball, a real sport. Let's take a quick look at the "baseball outfielder". Inning one. Run out to the outfield and stand around waiting to see if a ball comes your way. Nope, not this inning. Physical exercise? 0 OK, run back in and sit down. Wait for your turn to bat. Physical exercise? 0 Didn't get up this inning. Run back out to the outfield. Dang, no hits to him again, stand around. Physical exercise? 0 Run back in and sit down. Wait your turn at bat. Go to bat, strike out, sit down. Physical exercise? 2 minutes of holding and swinging a bat. Inning over, run out to the outfield and stand and wait. Dang the pitcher's throwing a no hitter, nothing again but 10 minutes of standing around in the outfield. Run back and sit down, no bat, you batted last inning. One hour has passed and he's got about 2 minutes of exercise. Fourth to 6th inning, repeat first 3 innings. So this outfielder, on a day his pitcher throws a no-hitter gets about 6-8 minutes of exercise in a 3 hour game.
Who's an athlete?
I serve as an "expert" (don't laugh!) over at AllExperts.com for NASCAR questions. I pride myself on being able to answer everything asked and when I get a rating under 10 I get distressed. Just one of them goofy quirks when you're a perfectionist like me. The other day I got an 8 for knowledge from some Viking named Kjell from Norway or some other fish eating country up there in the frozen north. Seems Mr. Eriksmoen wanted to know "I'm told that a US relative of mine "Eriksmoen" has been or is an active driver (not in the top fuel series). Have you heard about him?" My answer, no, he's not in NASCAR the field for which I am an "expert" at AllExpert.com. Well I guess the correct answer only rates an 8 in Norway or Narwahl or Fishheadvania or wherever the heck this Norse popsicle hails from. No wonder nobody knows anything about Norway. Who cares?
Did everyone catch Brock Yates article over at Speedvision.com? His article was dated 4/17. Now go read my article dated 4/5. Think Brock reads Stooge's Racing?
I saw DW recommending the HANS device be made mandatory. I don't. I'm sorry but it should be personal preference. If you want to wear one, great! If not, don't. But don't hold NASCAR or anyone else accountable when your bowling ball size head puts 6G's of strain and stress on your 3.5 square inches of neck vertebrae as your car goes from 180-0 in 0.15 seconds. I wouldn't have to have the HANS device mandated.
And last but certainly not least, for those of you who asked me to continue, just take a little while off and think about it. Thanks for your kind words. It's been a rough couple weeks. I appreciate the vote of confidence and I will continue. Now I think you all should seek professional help!
And just what did become of Blackie Wangerin?