Coach Marty's Daily Game Balls Slay BOTD/MIB

The BOTD/MIB fiasco, along with the structure and navigation of the FoxSports.com blog directory has created a system of balkanizing and hiding great blogs, promoting Fox writers and helping the rich get richer.

FoxSports claims of fairness in the system and assertions that it is all due to "an outside contractor" are about as believable as Senator Larry Craig's statements the last couple of days.

By the way, how do upstanding Idaho parents talk to their children about their Senator sucking cock?

Speaking of balls, fear no more. Coach Marty has introduced the Daily Game Balls at his blog where he is giving recognition to a diverse group of six quality blogs every day.

Coach Marty's DGB is your chance to stick it to the Stalinist regime running the FoxSports.com blogosphere.

Check it out. Favorite Marty. Comment on his DGB posts and do the same on those posts being given DGB.

Coach Marty is giving a window to some great blogs here that FoxSports.com simply hasn't.

Dear Junior,

You were recently quoted in various media outlets as saying the following:

"I think it's about time we give Teresa a break... And as much as I am disappointed and frustrated over the fact that I don't get to keep driving the No. 8, the stuff that I read on the Internet and the stuff that I'm hearing is going on -- the remarks about her, directed toward her -- I don't think anybody deserves that... I hate to see somebody be crucified on the Internet like Teresa has.... It's just hardcore, man... People have been really, really rude and really way over the line on some of the things that have been said."

Well Junior, the fact is The Black Flag went as far as anybody in terms of being "really rude and really way over the line" (it is possible that there might have been some comment about Teresa being a greedy, home wrecking bitch who won't let you keep the number eight and keeps putting sugar in your gas tank).

As a result, I feel the need to set the record straight.

First off, we've got to be honest here. Your own comments about Teresa pretty much paint a picture of her that isn't exactly sympathetic.

Just based on your previous comments, I had the idea that she had an entire closet full of coats made out of baby Dalmatians.

In fact, listening to what you have said previously, I thought that Teresa sharing a cell with Michael Vick was a real possibility.

Second, there is one thing about The Black Flag you need to understand: This isn't a NASCAR blog -- this is a humor blog about NASCAR.

So, like anyone else who decides to take The Black Flag too seriously, I have no other choice but to ban you from coming to this blog.

It doesn't mean that you aren't one of the drivers I'll pull for on Sundays or anything like that. It just means you are no longer allowed to read The Black Flag.

Clearly, you don't like some of the things you read here, so there is a very easy solution: you stop reading it (because I'm not going to stop writing it).

That said, I'm prepared to honor your request to "back off" of Teresa and am offering an olive branch.

The Black Flag is offering Teresa an official membership in NASCAR MILF Nation.

Sincerely,

CCR

P.S. If it happens, the #38 would be really, really cool. A great tribute to your family history. It's even better than the #8 by itself (and I'm certain from a merchandising standpoint, you've already figured out it will be bigger than the #8 ever was).

Rob Ijbema has delivered two more classic NASCAR paintings for his "Car-A-Day" project.

Click here to see the original TBF write up on the Car-A-Day.

The Black Flag is continuing to feature different pieces from this collection on a weekly basis.

Click here to go visit Rob's main Car-A-Day blog.

This week highlights two of NASCAR's all time greats driving machines in 1972.

The first painting is of #11 Buddy Baker in the 1972 STP Dodge Challenger.

When most of us see STP on a race car, we think Richard Petty. What was really going on was that STP was sponsoring multiple Richard Petty Enterprises Cars at the time.

The second painting is of the #12 Chevy of Bobby Allison at Daytona in 1972.

Today, the #11 is a Chevy driven by Denny Hamlin and the #12 is a Dodge driven by Ryan Newman -- who Buddy Baker has worked with.

Bristol's Reputation for Nights of Hot, Exciting, Rubbing and Banging is No More.

Bristol at night is a race that NASCAR fans have always looked forward to and lusted for.

Bristol is a fast, sexy girl with a very naughty reputation. Everybody wants her. She's the
toughest ticket in NASCAR.

It looks like things may be different now.

Maybe it is the COT dropping speeds by a second a lap. It could be the hard rubber. Or it might be the banking reduction surgery. Then again, maybe it has to do with the black dyed concrete replacing the blacktop and the extra three feet. Or it could just be all of it put together (though the Craftsman and the Busch races were both typical Bristol slug fests -- so it is probably the car and the tire).

But the hot and heavy rubbing, banging and excitement we've all come to think of when we think Bristol just wasn't there last night.

The first 126 laps were all green flag racing. That doesn't happen at Bristol.

Everyone was on their very best un-Bristol like behavior.

Even Juan Pablo "Crash" Montoya and Kevin "Happy" Harvick were playing nice with each other. Late in the race, running nose to tail and side by side, they had a great opportunity to mix it up Bristol style, but they decided to just give each other plenty of room.

The passion, the excitement, the raw emotions, the flying sparks and heavy contact that get us all worked up when we think Bristol just weren't there anymore.

Here is what it was like....

Imagine that Maxim Hottie "F Da Eagles" Heather from New Orleans tells you she wants you to come over to her place (actually, I'm certain many frequent Black Flag readers do imagine this on a regular basis).

At this point, you have certain ideas as to what is going to happen.

You get to her place, and you don't even get to see Heather. Instead, you are instructed by the disembodied, unenthusiastic voice of Rusty Wallace to have a seat and wait patiently.

It's not what you were thinking, but you were counting on things being a bit freaky. So you just do what you are told. After a while you start to doze off.

A few hours later, still no Heather (by the way, I'm a big fan of anyone who hates the Eagles enough to get on national TV during a FOX Sports NFL Game wearing the shirt she did).

The suddenly, a laughing Bruton Smith (the owner of Speedway Motorsports which operates Bristol) and Brian France (President of NASCAR) come stumbling out of the back room. They thank you for your business, they appreciate you stopping by and tell you it's all over now and it's time for you to go.

That is the kind of quality let down NASCAR fans had watching the 2007 Sharpie 400. An amazing beauty is suddenly just plain.

They got away with something that no one else has before: creating a NASCAR documentary without giving NASCAR or the drivers the right to edit what they were doing before it went to air.

ABC is currently running a series called NASCAR in Primetime. The first episode ran last week and featured Juan Pablo Montoya. It is on Wednesday nights at 9:00 PM (please check your local listings). I got a chance to do put some questions to the executive producer of the series, Michael Bicks.

ABC's sister network ESPN did another NASCAR series this summer, Ultimate NASCAR. The two series are very different. But places where Ultimate NASCAR was a big let down, NASCAR in Primetime does a much better job.

The first was the way the ESPN played hard to the stereotypes by doing everything possible to only NASCAR fans who were white rednecks--something that is a bit different from the reality.

"We put fans on TV who were articulate and helped explain the sport and our drivers to a wider audience regardless of race or gender," said Bicks. "As someone who is new to the sport I was struck by the fact, that in most of the country, the fans are a much more diverse/educated bunch than the media has led us to believe."

While Ultimate NASCAR had some great race footage, they spent more time showing talking heads -- NASCAR in Primetime went with a much different approach.

Bicks says that he and supervising editor George Kachadorian come from a documentary background -- something that allowed them to really emphasize and highlight the high quality race footage in the series.

Bicks says, "The hard part is wading through all of the footage to find the exact right moment."

What makes NASCAR in Primetime special and must watch TV for any NASCAR fan is the behind the scenes view of the sport that you won't get anywhere else without getting a job as a member of a NASCAR pit crew.

It may be a case of necessity being the mother of invention.

"Every other series that has been done about NASCAR had to be viewed and edited by the NASCAR machine before it went on the air." Bicks explains, "Because I work for ABC News, we are not allowed to let anyone have editorial veto over anything we do, so we had to negotiate with them for years. I think in the end they decided that though, there might be some embarrassing materiel--i.e. the infield at Talladega--that in the end a fresh view of the sport was to their benefit."

Control and access was also an issue when it came to the drivers featured on the series.

"Many drivers also wanted the right to edit out any materiel that might be embarrassing to them or their sponsors," says Bicks. "Again, we could not agree to that, so any driver who insisted on this could not be in the program. I am not in the habit of kissing and telling, so I am not going to get in to who that might be."

Even under those circumstances, they were still able to get Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Burton among others.

A great NASCAR story and personality featured in the series is not even a driver. He's Bootie Barker, crew chief for Johnny Sauter. Being a crew chief is one of the toughest jobs out there in the best of circumstances. It's something Barker does from a wheel chair.

Bicks says Barker is a "very cool dude. Smart, open, heart of gold, pulls no punches."

Like many people new to NASCAR, Bicks had some surprises as he got a closer look.

"What surprised me the most was how smart the drivers were and what an emotional toll it took on them," said Bicks. "With the exception of Montoya and perhaps Jimmie Johnson none of these guys seemed to be having that much fun. I think it is very hard to be bred to win and to spend most of your time losing."

Mark Martin seems to be a great case study of that. Bicks added that Martin is a "complex fellow. I think that like may type A folks, he is a prisoner of his ambition. He can not stop from racing, loves to win, but misses his family."

Once again, you can watch NASCAR in Primetime on Wednesday nights at 9:00 P.M. on ABC.