Ahh, Daytona. The sun,the surf, the sand, the sound of restricted engines bumblebeeing down the backstretch. What's not to like? Glad you asked. Here are some of my dislikes from the duels, twins, or whatever the sponsor is paying to have them called this year.

---Blown, blistered tires. Goodyear had to soften up the rubber compound just to help make the COT almost driveable at Daytona. Imagine how bad these cars would handle if the compound was hard enough to hold up.

---The new sta-dri powder---WTF was this stuff? It looked like the white chalk they use to line a football field with. That zamboni they had putting it down looked like a steam locomotive on pit road. Let's red flag the race twice for blown engines because of this crap. You could actually see the white dust settling on the cars as they were parked on the track. Hey NASCAR, you might want to do some on track tests with this baby powder before you go on live TV.

---Darrell Waltrip. This guy is NOT funny. He is an embarassment. FOX/Speed TV should be embarassed to put him on TV. I'm embarassed to be a NASCAR fan when my non-NASCAR friends hear him on my TV. How many times did Mike Joy have to correct or cover for DW during the broadcast? Ten? Twenty?

Memo to DW: We know the sun shines in the driver's eyes. Rusty told us ten times per race last year.

Memo 2.0 to DW: When your brother screws up--- such as when Mikey made his own teammate jump start him---don't be afraid to admit it. Or, when your brother is blocking everything but the fire exit, it's not cute.

---Personal favorites not making the 500. It sucked that Ken Schrader, Sterling Marlin, Boris Said, A.J. Allmindinger, Wood Brothers, and others didn't make it this year.

Why doesn't NASCAR get itself together in the States before it tries to become a worldwide brand?  Of course the answer is always money. NASCAR's TV ratings have been down for the last couple of years. Tracks aren't selling all their tickets like they were a few short years ago. So, instead of trying to correct these trends, NASCAR says screw the U.S. let's go to Canada,  Mexico, and soon to Europe. It reminds one of a traveling carnival that moves on once it has bled all the marks, suckers, and fanboys.

NASCAR has tried this global thing before. They went to Japan in the 90s, and though not officialy sanctioned, some teams went to Australia a few times back in late 70s or early 80s. Never mind that NFL Europa just folded, NASCAR thinks it can succeed where a stronger sports brand has failed.  NASCAR, the rest of the world thinks that running around kicking a soccer ball back and forth for ninety minutes is entertaining. They might come see the first race or two out of curiosity, but eventually it will tank.

NASCAR has long taken it's core fans for granted. With the economy the way it is, these fans are going to want as much bang as they can get for their disposal income. It will be interesting to see if NASCAR makes an effort to get the U.S. fan back when attendence drops, or if Brian France keeps strangling the goose that laid the golden egg.

Of course there is one thing that can cure NASCAR's TV ratings and lagging attendence. That would be Dale Earnhardt Jr. doing something he hasn't done in a year and a half, winning a Cup race. The old NASCAR would make sure that Jr. ran up front and won some races. After all, what could be better for ratings than your most popular driver actually winning. It will be interesting to see which direction NASCAR takes.

Why do we do it? I've done it, and looking back, it's nothing to be proud of. Maybe you've done it yourself.  I'm wondering why we boo certain drivers when we're at a NASCAR race track. We don't know the driver as a person, but yet there we are booing and calling him everything except a human being.

I guess there have always been those drivers who rubbed some fans the wrong way with their personality, and for some reason it has always been acceptable to boo away at the track. Being able to carry in your own beer probably helps fuel the boo birds also.

As a kid, the first driver I remember getting booed---I'm guilty here too---was Darrell Waltrip. He was brash and mouthy, and worst of all, he could back it up. He came in and shook things up, and some fans did not like it at all. In the thirty some years since then several other drivers have been booed unmercifully. Among them are the Bodines, Ernie Irvan, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, the Busches. Hell, I was at Bristol when big E wrecked Terry Labonte, and even NASCAR's greatest driver got booed out of the place.

What I'm really wondering is how and why you decide which driver to boo. When I was a kid every driver got some cheers during driver intros---until DW came along---and it seems like it gets worse every year.

So let's hear it fans who do you hate on and why?

DISCLAIMER----THIS IS AN ENTRY IN LORI'S COMPETITION. IF YOU THINK IT'S SERIOUS, PLEASE SEEK MEDICAL HELP.

The following events take place between 7:00pm Feb 16 and 7:00pm Feb 17.

7:00pm Feb 16.......Buffy Waltrip calls Paul Andrews, her husband's crew chief, looking for Mike. Paul hasn't seen him in over an hour. He reassures Buffy that Mikey should get back to the condo soon.

1:15am Feb 17.....Countryjag last seen entering Lollipops Exotic Show Bar.

8:00am..........Andrews can't find Mikey anywhere.

8:50am.......Jag sits, cussing at a drive thru window for fifteen minutes before he remembers that Chick-fil-ay isn't open on Sunday.

9:45am.........CJ enters the massive infield, and notices something over his rental car's sun visor. It's a hot pit pass. Upon closer inspection it is signed love, Diamond. and has a phone number written on the back.

10:00am......Buffy is holding a press conference. She doesn't look happy. Mikey's out and Darrell is in for today's race.

11:15am......Jag chokes down his third beer, and notices Chris Meyer, Ned Jarrett, and some suit talking. CJ wanders into the conversation. Turns out the suit is a FOX producer, and he invites CJ to appear on the pre race show with a fan's point of view.

1:35pm.......A jack 'falls' on Jeff Hammond's head on the way to the Hollywood Hotel.

2:00pm.......Meyer intros the pre race show with Countryjag, and Ned taking the injured Hammond's spot.

2:45pm.......The Fox producers are so impressed by Ned's expertise and Jag's witty banter that they invite both of them to the broadcast booth to cover the race since DW's out.

3:30pm......CJ gets the 500 started with his catch phrase "Boola, Boola, Boola. Let's win one for the stripper!"

5:00pm......Lap 80. Jr. has led 40 laps so far.

5:20pm.....Montoya starts the big one. Countryjag gets bleeped for saying the S word, the B word, and the F word all in one sentence describing Montoya and his driving.

5:50pm.....Lap 140. Your top five are....Jr., Gordon, Kyle Busch, Dale Jarrett and old D Dub.

6:40pm.....One lap to go. Top three of DJ, Jr. and DW have broken away. We turn the stick over to Ned as they roar down the backstretch. "It's the Dale, Dale, and Darrell show! You know which one I'm pullin for. Into turn three, don't let him down there Dale. Stay low, and bring it home like I taught you!"

6:41pm.......Dale and  Dale are coming out of four sliding, slamming, bamming together! DW looks low, then swings to the outside. They're three wide in the trioval. All three are touching together as smoke pours out from between the fenders and tires. At the line it's...it's.....it's too close to call! CJ slurs out "Are you guys blind? DJ won by two feet."

6:42pm.......Mike Joy announces "We now have a replay from the finish line camera, and it looks like it is, it is Darrell Waltrip, Ol DW has done it again!"

6:50pm......There is a wild celebration going on in Victory Lane. DW is crying on cue for the cameras, when in the background there comes a solitary figure. It's Mike Waltrip. He's wearing a tee shirt, socks, and boxers only. Once again, Buffy doesn't look happy.

There has been a disturbing trend lately here in the hood. The influx of soccer---I won't call it football---blogs. There is a window on FOX blogs main page for soccer blogs. Why am I seeing so many soccer posts under the NFL category then? That category is for a real sport. Not something that fourth grade girls do during reccess. I remember back in the 70s when soccer was to be the next big thing. Yeah, so was the decimal system, and I've drank thousands of mililiters of beer waiting on both.

This past year David 'has been' Beckham was going to turn the U.S. on to soccer. Once again America sniffed and said "eh."  Is soccer even on a major, english speaking, cable TV channel? Poker, bull riding, bass fishing are all on multiple networks. I don't see any posts from these major sports clogging up the NFL category though. Just soccer.

Save your breath, don't tell me that it's the most popular sport in the world. BFD. You know why? Because it doesn't cost any money to play. Anyone from a deodorant intolerant Frenchman to a North Korean dictator can get up a soccer game. All they need is a realitively mine free patch of dirt, and a goat's head or a camel bladder for the ball. We citizens of the USA like scoring and being scored on. Any game that has a goalie ---you to hockey---doesn't have enough scoring to keep us entertained.  Unlike Akbar, Yin,  and Kunta we have other entertainment options.

I'm putting this in the NFL category so all you soccer posters will get the message