All Sport Report

Today was a big day in the Evans household. I had my remote set to flip between three different sporting events. At 1:00 PM EST, the Detroit Tigers took on the Oakland A’s. If they happened to win this game, they had the chance to move half a game ahead of Cleveland for 1st place in the AL’s Central Division. Of course, the Tribe would also have to lose their game today to the New York Yankees for this to occur. With the Yankees playing some damn good baseball lately that seemed like the inevitable outcome.

Meanwhile, Football’s pre-season began in Detroit when the Lions took on the Bengals. I’m not a fan of either team (though as a little tyke my heroes were Icky and Boomer – I perfected my “Icky Shuffle”). However, seeing football on TV was exciting enough to get me all riled up. Besides, being in Michigan, I feel minor loyalty to the Lions, even if they have had some rather “sucky” streaks in the past few years. The exhibition game just happened to be on my Detroit CW station with the Tigers on one of my other, local stations.

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Today was a bad day for NASCAR. After last week’s snafu with Robby Gordon, the last thing the Nextel Cup needed was to be rained out at Watkins Glen, where the race will be held on Sunday. This prevented racers from being able to qualify and pushed one very happy Jeff Gordon back to the pole. Unlike Gordon (who surely liked his placement) many other racers, simply couldn’t understand why qualifying didn’t commence on Saturday just prior to the Busch series race, which begins in the afternoon at 3:00 PM. With top five placements for the Nextel, which includes Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, and Tony Stewart it’s no wonder less prominent race car drivers want the chance to vie for the pole instead of accepting placement based on Nextel’s overall points system.

Stewart alone has won at Watkins Glen three times previously. To have Stewart take it a fourth time would be quite the upset. Still Gordon stands a good chance of maintaining his lead. It’s nearly as good as the chance Hamlin has of overtaking him. Ultimately, it’s a combination of a crapshoot and driving skill. We can all say every one of the 43 drivers in the race tomorrow is an excellent driver, but skill on the track, the weather, car conditions, and other drivers mean that anything can and will happen at this famed NY race track.

Frankly, I think the fact that Gordon is in first place and has been chosen to start at the pole is incredibly fair. Gordon has worked hard all season and this start is the payoff for his hard work. If they run the qualifying race, their cars have less of a chance of being in tip top condition. The drivers will be more fatigued if they plan to race in the Zippo 200, and it is an overall pain in the kiester for everyone involved. The fact that other drivers want to qualify just goes to show the top five intimidate them, especially Gordon, who has dominated racing since 1993, when he won an award for being the Rookie of the Year.

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After a few days break from my daily sports run down due to life really giving me a sharp kick, it’s back to the grind. So, what did we miss during my brief hiatus? Scandals abound like crazy in the sporting world. From Cycling to Basketball, Friday, July 20, 2007 was not a good day in the vast majority of the world’s top sporting organizations.

Baseball

Cleveland and Detroit Battle it Out for First Place – The Central Division of the American League has been heating up. With just a half game lead over the Cleveland Indians going into the second half of regular season, Detroit and Cleveland have been in a constant battle to see who will be number one. While Detroit remains just barely ahead of Cleveland, Detroit’s catastrophic 10-2 loss to Kansas City after a four game winning streak on Friday thrust Cleveland (who beat the Rangers 3-2) one step closer to taking over the top spot and kicking Detroit down to second place. My Tigers better hustle and win their next game if they want to remain in first place not only for the Central Division, but for the American League as a whole.

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A player will soon be on the phone non-stop with his lawyer, and a league is changing cell phone carriers.

Suspended NFL player Adam “Pacman” Jones has been charged with two felonies in a Las Vegas strip club brawl that led to a shooting in February. The Rainmaker allegedly bit a bouncer on the ankle and threatened to kill several club employees, according to police records.

This is the latest spot of trouble for the embattled Titans cornerback, who was recently wanted for questioning in connection with a shooting outside of an Atlanta strip club. It’s unknown whether the league can take any action against Jones, who in total has been involved with more than 10 incidents where police were called to the scene, but he’s proven himself to be liability to the league and his own life.

In other news, rumors are flying about NASCAR renaming its cup series from Nextel to the Sprint Cup Series. If they prove to be true, it will be the third sponsorship name change in four years for the association.

NASCAR officials deny the claim, but do say talks are in place. Sprint and Nextel merged in 2004 to the tune of $36 billion dollars, so its a little odd why the change would be so sticky between the two names linked to the cell phone conglomerate.

The only thing its stands to change is the amount of commercials we’ll see during races, and maybe an increase in NASCAR fans ignoring the release of the iPhone.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the biggest free agent in NASCAR after an acrimonious split with DEI Racing., officially announced his intention to drive for Hendrick Motorsports in 2008. The move confirms rumors that were swirled around the sport since last week and adds another rock star caliber driver to the sports’ most successful organization.

Jr. joins perennial contenders Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson on a squad that has won 10 of 14 races this season, and six championships in the last 23 years. The odd man out on this major deal is current Hendricks driver Kyle Busch, who will be released from his contract at the end of this season. Busch currently leads Jr. in the NEXTEL Cup standings by 82 points.

Hendrick Motorsports is like the Lakers of the 80’s, Yankees of the 90’s and Patriots of 2000 and beyond in the world of car racing. They cultivate talent, market their superstars well and build upon success. Jr. is a driver that transcends his sport, and this move solidifies Hendrick’s standing not only in NASCAR history, but professional sports ownership history.