I'm not really even a Patriots fan but I'll tell you what.  I'm rooting like heck for them this year to go 18-0 if for no other reason but to see Mr Shula have a stroke.  What a selfish self centered jerk of a man to say what he had to say today about there needing to be an asterick if the Patriots run the table.  So he was a decent coach 30+ years ago.  So what.

Here is a man who is so keen on keeping "his" record that he needs to belittle the acomplishments of a truelly historical team that the 2007 Patriots are becoming.  And before you Shula lovers want to bash me think about this.....

Back when the Broncos were 13-0 and talk was of a perfect season he rooted for them to lose.  He rooted for them to lose!!!!  And who was on that team?  No other than his son. 

So what that means is that "his" Dolphins of 72 is more important to him than his son's potential to match that.  Now I'm a father and if I had the record I couldn't think of a better team to share it with than one that had my son on it.  It would be an honor.  And he rooted against his own son.  Bet family dinners were wonderful in the Shula house. 

And now a coach that should of retired years before he did stayed around long enough to get the most wins (hey how about an asterick for that?) and now he's crying about the Patriots.  Shame on you Don.  Your team that you love so much is a pathetic 0-8.  Or is it just the 1972 team you love so much?  I know there is no winter in Miami but you sure have given the fans down there a snow job all these years. 

I just did some checking on that "great" Dolphin team of 72.  That year they beat Kansas City and the NY Giants.  Those two teams each finished 8-6.  They beat two teams that finished 7-7 (Minn, NY Jets x2).  And who else did they play that year?  1-13 Houston, 3-11 New England, 4-9 SD, Buffalo (twice), and the mighty St Louis Cardinals, who finished 4-9-1.  Oh and they beat the Baltimore Colts twice.  And they finished 5-9.  So the aggregate record of their opponents that year was 70-122.  I know they beat Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Washington to wn the Super Bowl but I do not think we can call them the best team of all time.  Not even close.  They played 9 games against pathetic teams and 5 games against mediocre teams.  Already this year alone the Patriots have played Indy, San Diego, and Washington so enough said. 

Any of you see the comments by Robby Gordon in the nascar rumours section yesterday?  Up until I read that I firmly believed that Dale jr was just getting unlucky with all the blown motors and I 100% believed he was not being sabotaged.  But after reading what Robby had to say it makes me really wonder about that.  Robby said that once he announced he would no longer be using DEI motors he got a half dozen that were bad and caused him numerous DNF's down the stretch.  So maybe the engine gremlins idea thrown around this summer has some validity to it.  And if that is true I think that DEI's reputation will take a hit that may not be repairable. 

Speaking of Robby Gordon I just want to say that yes he is one of my favorite drivers.  In this day and age of merges and teams at or near their max here is a guy running solo.  Granted he is only 24th in points or so but how many other teams would love to be in that position.  He has shown at times this year that he can be competitive on more than just the road courses.  I am going to go on a limb here and predict he'll be a top 15 driver next year.  No he probably won't make the chase but he's getting awfully close to being very competitive every week.  Note to Robby:  Please figure out a way to not blow tires and/or hit walls and you would already be there.

A lot of you will tell me what a jerk he is.  And yes he is hard headed at times.  But thats not because he's a jerk.  He's just so very competitve.  But its hard for him in this sport as the breaks don't go his way.  Years ago Dale sr bumps Terry labonte at Bristol to win the race  and its called racing.  Robby does the same at Dover to win a race and he's called reckless.  What a farce.  And speaking of farces there is none bigger than......................

The Busch race in Montreal this summer.  I don't care what any of you have to say but when the yellow is out and you get bumped like he did you have the right to be back in your spot.  If anything mr Ambrose should of been sent to the back for bumping him during a yellow.  There is no argument to this.  So the idiots running the race tell him to drop back to 14th.  They would never have reacted that way if it was a more popular driver.  And that is where frustration sets in for me while rooting for a guy like Robby Gordon.  But I also think it was a very class act on his part to give Marcos a ride to show no hard feelings.  Too bad rain cancelled qualifying. 

Now the rumour mill has possibly Johnny Sauter joing RGM sports to have a two car team nexdt year.  That will only help him that much more.  Robby loves to race.  He doesn't care what it is and if the #### running Indy hadn't changed the time you would see him doing the double every year (next blog)  He's almost always competive in the Baja races and ends up having to fly cross country to handle his nascar responsiblities as well. 

How's this for a rumour?  Robby runs with Sauter next year with a two car operation.  Robby only switched to Ford cause he was so far down on the pecking order at Chevrolet.  Well next year when DEI falls further into the toilet and their net value when you subtract revenue from Dale Sr. keeps falling and no one in their right mind wants to drive for them he purchases DEI.  He is more than capable of handling that scenario.  Then its him, Truex, Sauter, and Menard.  He's had a relationship with Menard sr for years so it all makes sense.  Then he strikes a deal with RCR and gets engines from them exclusivley.  What about Mark Martin and Amirola you say?  Well they will naturally become the fourth team that RCR wants to have.  Wow, that makes more sense than I thought it did.

Ladies and Gentlemen I am proud to announce the 2011 A####mp;T Nascar champion.  #7 Robby Gordon (appaluse applause).  "Thank you very much.  This would not have been possible if your brother hadn't stepped down and you saved the sport.  Its been a great year.  I do miss racing against Tony and Jeff.  I was hoping I would be competive like this before they both retired last year.  Well at least I get to race against Tony at the Indy 500 every year.   And now again there is a Gordon at the top of the list."

For all you folks who kept telling me how tony stewart, and jeff gordon, and jr, et al should automatically make every race and that the top 35 is good for nascar I present the following link from Nascar.com today.

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/opinion/10/20/
top.35.dcaraviello/index.html

So if you all still think that the top 35 is good than your house has too many appliances from Lowes, or you drink way to much Budweiser. 

So, grab yourself a Red Bull, do the Mobil 1 oil change with the oil you got from NAPA, and take yourself a 360OTC for the heartburn you got from watching your fav driver not make Sunday's race and rejoice.  Rejoice in knowing that soon NASCAR will realize what they are doing is damaging the sport.  I"m can't wait till Monday when UPS delivers my boxes of little debbie snack cakes. 

There are too many well funded teams to have a rule like this in place anymore.

I recently wrote about the top 35 rule and how unfair it is to us fans that we don't get to see the top 43 racing each week.  Now on top of that you add the silliest thing called the chase.  And that leads to the "team rules".  Its one thing to allow someone to pass you for the lead to get the five bonus points and then you take the lead back.  That is a courtesy that has been going on forever.  And last weekend when Mr Hendrick got on the radio and told Kyle not to wreck Jeff Gordon there was nothing wrong with that either.  But when Greg Biffle is told to let Carl Edwards pass him to get a better finish and when Casey Mears is told to let Kyle Busch pass him for a better finish then I have a problem. 

Granted we're not as bad as Formula 1 and their teams telling a teammate to literally stop on the track so his partner can win the race.  Or when they hold him in the pits for an extra 30 seconds to let him catch up and win but the fact that we're talking about it now shows that its getting stronger in our sport.  And that my friends is not a good way to be going.  Even though guys have team mates they also are each independent contractors.  Their job is to be as successful on the track as possible.  Sponsors pay millions of dollars to have their logo's on the cars and they expect a return on their investment.  And how do they get that return?  By the driver having some success and running up front trying to win races.  And what is a by product of team rules?  Well we, the fans, get gyped again by not seeing the best possible racing.  Its bad enough that the chase guys feel they all should be running in the top 12 and everyone else should stay out of their way.

You say "well giving up a spot is not that big a deal".  Ok hows this for a scenario.  This weekend at Martinsville its midway through the race and Jeff Gordon is in first and starting to lap more cars.  Tony Stewart, due to another pit mishap with Paul Menard that is never Tony's fault is about to be lapped.  Then you hear the voice of JD Gibbs on the team radio.  "JJ, Tony's in trouble, you know what to do".  "Roger" says JJ and then you hear the announcers say "there's a spin in turn 4, JJ Yeley is in the grass, caution is out...."

Am I making to big a deal about this or is there some truth here?  Please let me know what you think as the responses I got on the last couple were great.

Back in the days before Fox and NBC got into NASCAR there was ESPN.  And they did an absolute wonderful job covering the races.  And while their product today is no where near what it was back then they do provide pretty decent coverage.  Except I cannot believe the anouncers they have chosen.  Why in the world would they have Brad Daugherty emabarrassing himself and making us feel bad for him because of his complete lack of knowledge and history of NASCAR?  It actually gets me mad when I am suppose to listen to him and pretend like he's telling me something important.  Yet he has no clue.  When ESPN covers ice skating they have ice skaters doing the announcing.  At the rate they are going at next year Mike Tyson will be doing the national spelling bee. 

And you know just cause the guy was a pretty good driver that doesn't mean he can become a pretty good anouncer.  Maybe I'm biased as having never been a fan of Rusty Wallace but in my mind this boy just does not have what it takes.  I know what they were thinking.  They think "man if he is half as good as his brother...."  Well he's not.  Not even close.

I would like the opinions of the readers on timing of commercials.  Say they are running at Michigan and its another long green flag run.  Do you want commercials during the pits stops so you miss no action on the track or let them cycle the pits and then go to break?

The impound rule has made a travesty of the sport and for all intents and purposes makes qualifying obsolete.   Actually NASCAR would look better if the non top 35 just had a ping pong ball lottery to see who gets in.  Obviously those outside the top 35 have to put in a car for a great qualifying run while the rest get to set up for the race.  Fair?  Hardly.

So NASCAR says "AJ Almendinger, great try to get in the race.  You had the 9th fastest time out of 51 drivers but I'm sorry your not eligible for this race.  By the way  Boris (10), Scot Riggs (11), Sam Hornish jr (13th), and Jeremy Mayfield (15th) would you all please vacate the garage as the 35+ cars who qualified slower than you are in.  Have a nice day."

Meanwhile Aric Almirola gets in and he's raced how many times this season?  And you all think that this is a fair deal?  I really guess I am missing something here.

Like lots of their ideas the impound rule is not working.  It, along with the top 35, needs to go.  Or just keep it in and you won't have to worry about the top 35 cause you'll start to have races with only that many.  Or less.