Actually, you pay for shipping and I'll give it to you for free.

Items include a nice red polo style shirt with #19 on the chest pocket! A pretty red #19 hat! Gorgeous gray/red #19 T-shirt! Two #19 coosies for your canned beverages of choice (I can confirm that Miller Lites fit extremely well). But hurry! I want this crap gone, and if this stuff sticks around too long, I swear I'll hire that Billy Mays dude to hawk it on prime-time TV.... 

Actually, nevermind, the effort just ain't worth it. My only effort will be hauling this junk to the dumpster.

So where's my boy going to wind up? As of this writing, I believe GEM and Petty have merged, correct? But my gut tells me they will only run three teams. Then again, my gut once told me that I had a shot to sleep with that Jenny chick in my history class freshman year in college and that didn't quite work out either. In other words, my gut has led me astray before, so maybe GEM (now is it GPE? GPM? PGM? PMS? Forget that last one....) will run a fourth and E-Sad will still have a ride....

Maybe he'll drive the #41, but what if Bobby Labonte wants that ride? (Though I hope E-Sad doesn't wind up there, I'd hate to see him in a Chevy...) So that organization apparently is "Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates." EGRFS? Just rolls off the tongue doesn't it....

#77? Good fit to me. Still in a Dodge, and heck, Penske's actually a step up from GEM in my opinion. And Penske is still just called Penske, right?

My vote? Let's be a REAL underdog and go back to the Wood Bros #21! If that organization still exists much longer, which certainly seems doubtful the way this sport is going...

Likely destination? The attic above Hermie's garage. Maybe Hermie can get him a gig on TV! Or he could follow Rusty's lead and do incredibly lame ads for 13-hour energy shots!!

Sad days here in E-Sad Nation. Me and the two other guys are going to saddle up the bandwagon and go out to drown our sorrows. Wish our boy luck....a few of those empty seats you'll see next season will be us....

And didn't blow a tire this week!

And didn't wreck anyone else!

And actually finished 12th!!

And moved up to.....wait for it.....

              He's so fast, he can only be seen in Low-Def!!

23rd in the point standings!!! Holy crap!!!

Yep, here in Sadler Nation (the Liechtenstein of fan "Nations"), we have to find our little victories where we can. Plenty of room available on the Sadler Bandwagon (the Yugo of fan "Bandwagons") if anyone's interested.....

Well, it was a gorgeous day in Richmond on Saturday. We pull into Randy's Auto Service parking lot at 3:00. Randy was thrilled to see us. Because we're old pals? Because we needed an oil change? No, that's where we tailgate, and he collects $20. Only the best when you party with us....Randy's wife is pushing Moon Pies on us pretty hard for some reason. Only $1. Uh, no thanks. (Can you use those profits to upgrade the plumbing in your freakin' bathroom?) First beer cracked at 3:01.

~3:15, Dave gets the grill fired up. Cheddar burgers and hot sausages. The local wildlife was quite enthralled. And by "wildlife", I mean the rednecks. No, I'm not trying to sound superior, I'm half-redneck myself. Second beer cracked at 3:17.

~5:00, start walking to the track (it's about a half-mile away, but it's worth it since we miss all traffic when we leave). I lose count of the confederate flag-bearing pickups halfway to the track. Working on fourth beer.

~6:00, after picking up the tickets from Will Call, run the gauntlet of souvenir trailers with minimal financial damage. I buy a #19 koosie (sic?), and that's it. Others in my party not so lucky. Not sure which beer at this point....sixth?

~7:00, arrive at seats. After walking around the track and the souvenir trailers, I'm shocked to realize I saw not one other person sporting #19 garb. OK, not so shocked. But a little disappointed. Our seats are in a sea of Junior fans; also not a shock.

~7:30 the festivities get rolling. Driver introductions. The usual chorus of boos for Jeff Gordon, the usual roar for Junior. Surprised to start hearing a similar response for Jimmie Johnson that you hear for Jeff Gordon. Shouldn't be surprising, since Johnson is pretty much Gordon the Second. Nice cheers for Denny Hamlin, the local guy, and Jeff Burton, another Virginian. Although Elliott Sadler is also a Virginian, but he didn't get much of a response. Other than me. I get some strange looks from The Nation surrounding me. Beer #8.

Then the National Anthem. On a serious note here, I gotta say I was very disappointed in the crowd. I've been to around 10 Sprint/Busch races, all but one at Richmond, and this was the first time I noticed the disrespect for the National Anthem in the crowd. People talking, making jokes, laughing, and I'm thinking I thought NASCAR fans pride themselves on being the most patriotic fans out there? Usually seems to be the case, but not on this night.

Then the Flyover. Best ever. The Blue Angels. The timing was absolutely perfect, right at the end of the Anthem. Maybe the best flyover in NASCAR history? Hard to say, I know, but I can't imagine one better.

To the race; my boy Sadler gets stuck behind his teammate, the #10, and goes backwards. After finally getting by the #10, he starts picking cars off. The #48. Then the #42. Then the #29. It was freakin' beautiful. Soon up to fifth! Then the gorgeous sunset. I thought it was a sign of things to come....

Sunset over RIR, 5-3-08. A Sign? Will the NASCAR gods allow Sadler to win?

Uh, no.

Then I go down to meet my cousin-in-law (editor-in-chief of NASCAR Illustrated, great magazine by the way, sorry for the plug) and by the time I get back, the #19 is way back in the pack. Right where he's comfortable. I breathe a sigh of relief, since I would have had no idea what to do if Sadler actually had a shot to win. Whew, dodged a bullet there! I down a $7 24-oz. Miller Lite in celebration.

Well, we all know how the race went in the latter stages. Denny dominated, then lost his tire, then his head. Michael Waltrip then proceeded to lose his head bigtime. Then The Incident That Shall Not Be Named. And Oh Yeah, Bowyer won. Beer count at this point is completely unknown, in the mid teens I think.

Then the trek back to Randy's, who's long gone at this point. Not sure how the wife made out on the Moon Pie sales, I'll try and find out.

Anyway, it was a phenomenal day at RIR, the rain held off, and neither of the Goody-Two-Shoes Twins (Gordon/Johnson) won. Sounds like a winner to me!

Well, the annual March screwing of the mid-major has occurred. Yeah yeah, the Committee's got an impossible task, someone will always be screwed, blah blah blah. You know who the one's that are usually screwed are, don't you? Let's take a stroll down Screwed-Mid Lane, shall we?

Butler: Ranked #10 in the latest Coaches poll, #11 in AP. RPI=17. At worst, should be a 5 seed, right? Nope, got a 7, and basically play a road game against USA, in Birmingham. And IF Butler makes it to the second round, they likely get Tennessee. Somebody in the NCAA clearly doesn't want Butler to do well in this tournament.

While Butler (RPI=17) got a road-game 7, Oklahoma (RPI=27) somehow got a 6-seed. In the latest AP, Butler got 989 votes to Oklahoma's 1. Yep, 1. In the Coaches, it's Butler: 499, OU: 0. Notta single vote. But OU gets a 6 to Butler's (road) 7. Indefensible! Yes, I'm sure OU played a tougher schedule. But isn't that already accounted for in the RPI? I thought that was what the RPI existed for....

Davidson: Ranked #23 in both polls. Rewarded with a 10 seed (!) going against #24 Gonzaga. At least the game's in Raleigh. Which brings us to....

Gonzaga: #24 in AP. Have to travel across country to play #23 Davidson in its home state. Huh?

Top teams left out by RPI: Dayton (32), Illinois State (33), UMass (42), Creighton (46). Notice any similarities with these four? That's right, all mid-majors.

Worst teams by RPI to get an at-large bid: Oregon (58), Kentucky (57), Villanova (51), Kansas State (50). Notice anything similar about these four? You got it, all BCS conference teams. And Oregon not only somehow got in, but received a 9-seed!

And how about the whining about Arizona State, left out while Arizona got in. Wow, my heart really bleeds for ASU. You have to go well down in the RPI, to 83 (!), before you find the Sun Devils. Gosh, they beat Arizona twice, and have a better Pac-10 record than Arizona! And ASU has five wins against RPI Top 50!! So my question therefore is; why is Arizona's RPI at 37, while ASU is at 83? Must be a reason for that, eh? Anyone bother to look at the rest of the resume for ASU? Yes, you beat down Xavier, give you credit for that, but how about other wins that include Cal Poly, Florida Gulf Coast, Delaware State, Coppin State, Idaho, St. Francis (PA), Montana State, and Princeton?

Does the Committee use the RPI at all? I know, they also use "Record vs RPI Top 50" (a completely arbitrary criteria which already figures into the overall RPI#, doesn't it?), and strength of schedule (which also already figures into the overall RPI#, right?). Why these extra criteria? Well, to help the big-boys, of course. Who benefits from "Record vs RPI Top 50" and SOS? Not the mids, that's for sure. And of course the mids would love to boost their SOS, but how can they when no big boys will ever give them a fair home-and-home deal?

Even the NIT isn't immune. Of the nine games I counted between mids and the majors in this year's first round, seven times the major gets the home game. Last year was just as bad, with 11 out of 14 first-round games pitting mids against majors being played at the major. But what do you expect now that the NCAA runs the NIT?

Everything is stacked against the mids, and, well, to be downright literate about it, it sucks large. How many more times do the mids have to prove that they can hang with the big boys? And fans love the supposed underdogs, I mean, wasn't THE story of the '06 tournament George Mason? That's what makes March Madness so much fun to begin with! When will action be taken to stop this constant reaming? It's not even subtle anymore, it's outright blatant, and the mystery to me is that there is mid-major representation on the Committee!! OK, I've gotta go, I'm completely flustered now, about to blow a gasket....