Race Fuel and Pigskin

Nothing to say and yet a lot to say

2008-06-13T11:00:00.001-07:00

I think I have lost hope. I am disillusioned. I am disappointed. I have a new player to hate and his name is Paul Pierce. I didn't hate the Celtics, but I do now. How could the Lakers lose a 24 point lead? I knew they would. I told my roommate after the first quarter, they have never been good at holding a big lead. They lost a big lead to Utah, but held on to win. Not last night. The Celtics match up better than I expected and even with Perkins hurt. I don't want to think about the game. I still have a glimmer of hope that they can win 3 straight, but it is small. I guess the best way to look at it is that they will be better next year with Bynum back and any other additions/subractions that the now brillaint Mitch Kupchak deems necessary. The Celtics on the other hand, I think, can only get worse. Ray Allen can't continue to carry them next year. KG isn't clutch. PP (I refuse to say his name any more) is erratic and will be a year older. So fine, they win this year then they are done. It won't be a Spurs type riegn, win every other year. This will be it. Red can laugh from his rocking chair in heaven at Phil for getting this close and losing to his Celts. But next year, we will be back. Would I want to see a rematch, sure, but I don't think the Celts will make it back next year. We'll have to wait and see.

Quarterly Sports Update

2008-06-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that's about how often I post on here, once every 4 months. And I am not even going to promise to do it more often.

Headlines!!!

Finals Flashback - Lakers/Celtics set to face off tomorrow 6/05 for game 1 of the finals.

Both teams have had big turnaround seasons due to blockbuster (and as some may claim, unfair) trades that brought in new life. Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Paul Pierce on the Boston Celtics who along with solid play of youngsters Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins claimed the best record in the NBA. On the other hand the Lakers started the season well behind the MVP winning play of Kobe Bryant and the maturation of Andrew Bynum. The season took a turn for the worse when Bynum got hurt and was lost for the season. The Lakers received a gift from the Memphis Grizzlies in the form of one Pau Gasol. With his versatility and the consistent play of Lamar Odom the Lakers finished the season as Western Conference Champs.

The Celtics had a harder time getting through the playoff. They were taken to 7 games by both the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers. Although they were able to beat the defending Eastern Conference Champions Detriot Pistons in 6. The Lakers on the other hand sweep the Denver Nuggets in the first round, had some problems with the fiesty Utah Jazz in the second round before winning in 6, then took car of the defending World Champion San Antonio Spurs in 5. The Lakers looked undeniably better on their way to the finals, losing 3 games, only one of which was by double digits, to strong Western Conference teams. The Celtics it seemed couldn't win on the road and at some times lacked intensity or the ability to finish a team off. It didn't help that Doc Rivers decided to change the rotation for seemingly no reason. But it is a credit to both teams that they made it this far, especially when comparing it to where they were last year.
The storied rivalry is back on center stage. Most are picking the Lakers in 6 but I think they can do it in 5. Game starts tomorrow at 6pm PST.

Formula 1 heads to Canada.

The only race in North America is this weekend at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal. Kimi Raikonnen is looking to bounce back after a dismal race in Monaco, while Lewis Hamilton is hoping to follow up his Monaco win with another here. Ferrari feel they have a strong car and Massa wants to prove that he too can win a championship. He had some bad luck in Monaco but is ready to show what he can do. BMW are lurking in the background waiting for a misstep from either McLaren or Ferrari. They are hoping to pounce and claim their first F1 victory since starting theit own team.

Despite the close championship race the focus this week has been all about Max Mosley, the disgraced president of the FIA. After word came out of his Nazi themed sex scandal many clubs called for his resignation. Not only did he push back , a move that many saw as Max trying to be bigger than the sport, but he put his position in the hands of the 171 executive members of the FIA. This last tuesday they all met in Paris to take part in a vote of confidence. During the buildup all people would take about was who would succeed Mosley as president, but that was all moot once the vote came back in support of Mosley. He has promised to step down once his term is over in October, but many doubt he will stay true to his word. Not that this is done with, I echo the words of BMW's Mario Theissen who urged everyone to get past this and put the focus back on the sport.

The GP of Canada is Sunday 6/08 at 10am PST and will be broadcast on FOX.

Let the games begin

2008-03-12T13:50:00.001-07:00

Or rather the racing season. This weekend is the opening race of the F1 calender. As usually the race will be help in Melbourne at the Albert Park track. This may be the last year the race is held there as F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is putting pressure on them to hold a night race to boost viewer ratings in Europe do to the primetime broadcast slot. There are also some new faces and old faces in new colours. The biggest changes are Fernando Alonso going back to Renault and Hiekki Kovalainen going to McLaren. Other changes include Gian Carlo Fisichella landing at Force India (formerly Spyker), Nelsinho Piquet getting the nod at Renault, Timo Glock making it back to the grid with Toyota and the two Sebs at Torro Rosso, Vettel and Bourdais. Kazuki Nakajima is another rookie who has shown surprising pace in the Williams Toyota, and he along with Nico Rosberg are looking set to battle with BMW and Renault at the front of the second pack.

Tonight is Qualifying and I will give an update afterwards. Kimi Raikonnen was fastest in the morning session of practice while Lewis Hamilton came back in the second session and ended in P1 although his time was slower than Kimi in the morning. Some teams had a couple issues but nothing that won't be finxed in time for Qually. The main players are where you would expect and it looks like car on pole will be either Red or Silver. We'll have to wait and see!

I suck at updating this blog

2008-03-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

What has happened since my last post? Well USC ended up being PAC-10 Co-Champions (the have won the PAC-10 a record 6 years in a row) and going to the Rose Bowl. There they faced a weak Illinois squad that they demolished as was expected. It is unfortunate they couldn't have played a better team like Georgia, but no, the Rose Bowl commission wanted to stick with tradition and pick a Big Ten team, even though that conference was weak and Illinois was the 3rd best Big Ten team. So another Rose Bowl win and we ended the season ranked 3rd in the AP and 2nd in the USA Today polls.

We should have a good team this year. We lost some big time players to the NFL, namely seniors JD Booty, Sed Ellis, Lo Jack and Fred Davis. We do have some talented underclassmen ready to step up and fill the voids. We didn't lose many underclassmen either with Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing opting to stay and play. Our recruiting class was not up to recent standards but we still finished with a couple 5 star recruits, 10 linemen and a top 10 class. We will have a fierce QB battle between Mark Sanchez and Mitch Mustain, the early edge going to Sanchez, with Aaron Corp as the dark horse. I can't wait for spring practice to start and season to get going. We have a tough schedule this year and open at Virginia then come home to face Ohio State. I have confidence we will get back to the Championship this year. Now I need to see if I can get season tickets!

Keeping the dream alive

2007-11-12T16:26:00.000-08:00

The Trojans survived Mother Nature and the Cal Bears to keep their hopes of playing in the Rose Bowl alive. The match-up didn't carry as much as weight as was expected earlier this season when both teams were ranked in the top 10. Nonetheless the Trojans emerged from Memorial Stadium victorious with a 24-17 win. It wasn't a pretty game but we some good things as well as some not so good.

The Good

We won the game. Chauncey Washington had a huge day and was the workhorse we needed on a wet day like Saturday. He finished with a career best 220 and 1 touchdown. Stanley Havili caught a pass. Even better it was a touchdown. Vidal Hazelton is challenging Patrick turner as the go-to receiver. Kevin Ellison and Terrel Thomas both had an interception, the latter ending an end of the game drive that could have tied the game. Ronald Johnson averaged 25.5 yards on kick returns and had a long of 41.

The Not so Good

It was wet. The defense gave up over 200 yards rushing (not counting the -14 yards Nate Longshore had). Justin Forsett rang up 164 yard on the ground. The linebackers got banged up. Keith Rivers has a high ankle sprain and may miss the next game against ASU and Clay Matthews broke a finger and will play with a cast, again. Only one long pass attempt and it was incomplete. Fumbled snaps. It was wet.

The Trojans moved up slightly in the rankings after this win. They are now 11th in the BCS and AP polls. They head to Tempe next to face the 8th ranked Arizona State Sun Devils. They have some close games in the past and this will not be a cake walk, what game has this been this year? They have 12 days before the game and usually Pete Carroll does a great job preparing his guys. We will see if he can keep his unbeaten record in November alive as well as their BCS bowl hope.

Fight On!

Two Steps Back, One Step Forward

2007-11-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

That is how things felt at Buttonwillow on Saturday. The big change I made was putting new tires on the car. I was running Falken Azenis RT-615 235/40R17 all around before, but the tires were pretty worn and I was advised to get new tires. Seeing how things went Saturday I might as well have stuck with the old tires. The tires I put on the car are Kumho Ecsta SPT's, 225/45R17 front and 245/40R17 rear. I chose those tires after researching what was available in my price range. I didn't want to spend a lot on tires that I was going to burn up at the track, plus I plan to sell the car soon and want to use these one up before I sell it. I was looking at a couple cheap brands like General and Nexen, but I decided to go with the Kumho's that were about $10 more a tire but was a more widely known brand. I knew theses would not be as sticky as the Falkens but I didn't know they would be this bad. The idea behind getting some cheap, hard tires is to theoretically help improve my driving. If I can drive fast with crappy tires, I will be even faster with R compounds. Yes, I will be taking a step back in terms of the capability of the car with crappy tires, but I am willing to put it to the test.

Old................................................New

To expand on theme of taking a step back to learn I also ran the day with the ASC (automatic stability control - traction control) turned on, this was at the behest of the chief instructor and I agreed after my 3 off track excursions last month. Most new cars have some sort of traction control. The car is setup with wheel spin sensors and when it senses a change in wheel speed compared to the other wheels it will either apply the brake to that wheel or cut the throttle momentarily. The systems on the new cars are relatively transparent; unfortunately my car is not very new and the system is anything but transparent. The new systems also have a higher threshold, or allow you to manually select the aggressiveness of the system. Again, not my car. The ASC system does what it was designed to do, cut the throttle when wheel spin is detected. On this day it was both a blessing and a curse. The former because I am sure it saved me from spinning on more than one occasion and the latter because it was extremely aggravating to come out of a corner and accelerate only the system cut the throttle. It was most aggravating on the high g sweepers where I can usually carry a lot of speed. I know the problem was exacerbated by the crappy tires and I was trying to fight it most of the day.

That was my problem, I was trying to fight it. I was trying to get the car to do what I was used to it doing, but with these tires it couldn't do it. It took a while to figure this out. Another factor that didn't help was that we ran a different configuration of the track. Last month, and on my previous events, we ran the full track with either the Sweeper or Star Mazda in the clockwise direction. Saturday we ran the full track with Star Mazda but in the counter clockwise direction. Throughout the day I was trying to work out the line and figure out where I needed to be on the track. I probably should have been more proactive in getting an instructor to ride with me or at least give me a ride, but I didn't. The first three sessions were frustrating and I was upset about not going as quickly as I was used to and struggling with the car. The main problem was under steer. I would turn into a corner and it would just push a lot and coming out of the corner the ASC would cut the power. I adjusted the air pressure slightly but that didn't help much. In the last session I did what I should have been doing sooner, dialing it back a little and going slower. Obviously the tires I have cannot handle the same turn-in speeds that my old ones could, and they likewise cannot handle the exit speeds, wanting to spin. The refrain when learning to negotiate turns is 'slow in, fast out,' and that is what I decided to do in the last session. I was going to slow down more than normal and accelerate out smoothly. It worked. I had to rain my ego in a little and let a couple people pass me in the beginning, but I felt an improvement. The tires where not squealing as much and the ASC wasn't kicking in as often. I finally took a step forward.

Some good open wheeled action

The weekend was a great learning experience. I am a little upset that I didn't go as quick as I wanted, but I think I am becoming a better driver. I did have to take two steps back to go one forward. I kind of wish I was able to stay another day and get an instructor to help me more with the line but there will be other opportunities. I have an autocross this weekend and I am interested to see how the tires handle there. I don't have any other track events planned until February but something else could come up. I am still thinking of selling the M3 and getting an e30 318is or 325is. If anyone is interested in a clean low mileage M3 let me know.

Return to form, for the defense at least

2007-11-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

We got our revenge on Oregon St for beating us last year. And it looked like our defense wanted to personally take it out on the poor OSU QB Sean Canfield. The Trojans came out and played a great first half but the offense seemed to take the second off and let the defense do all the work. In the end we can’t complain too much, we came out with a 24-3 win and a sliver of hope of getting to the Rose Bowl. Granted it will take a lot for that to happen, namely us winning the rest of our games (Cal, ASU and UCLA) and Oregon losing to at least of their games (Arizona, UCLA and OSU). It is a long shot but anything can happen.

The Expected

The Defense played like we knew they could all along and logged their best game of the season (ND doesn’t really count since they are 1-8 and can’t even beat Navy). They held OSU to 176 total yards, 85 passing and 91 rushing. And they sacked Sean Canfield 9 times and intercepted him once. It looked like it might be a long day as James Rogers ran the ball 39 yard on the first play of OSU’s opening drive. The defense stepped it up though and the 3 points they did score was after a Booty fumble. Defensive MOP, freak freshman Everson Griffen who showed his speed in recording 3.5 sacks to lead the team.

The receivers continuing to not step up. They had a good game last week in the loss to Oregon but they did not look very good today. It is sad that this is expected but no one has stepped up all year as the go to receiver.

John David Booty being a little rusty. He was and it showed. Not all of the receiving woes can be placed on the receivers. Some of Booty’s passes where high or off target. What did you expect with him missing 3 games for a broken finger?

The Unexpected

The inability of the offense to do anything in the second half. They had the ball 6 times and the drives went like this: 4 plays, 20 yards, punt; 3 plays, 9 yards, punt; 3 plays, 3 yards, punt; 3 plays, 7 yards, punt; 7 plays, 33 yards punt; 5 plays, 40 yards, end of game. Not a very encouraging sequence of possessions.

Chauncey Washington had a good day and Stafon Johnson didn't see the rock much. Chauncey had some toughs runs and picked up good yardage on the nations best rushing defense. He scored on a screen pass that went for 26 yards. Stafon Johnson was held out for most of the second half by the trainers who supposedly didn't want him to re-aggravate his ankle sprain.

The use of the shotgun. We knew they had been working on it. Now we finally saw it. What does it mean? I am not sure; maybe give Booty more time to overthrow a receiver? That is being harsh. I was surprised by Booty’s lack of mobility. There was one play when he was had a defender rushing him so he starts backpedaling but his feet can’t keep up and he falls over backwards. I don’t think if Sanchez is in there he gets sacked twice.

Playcalling, some good, some bad. I don’t know why they chose the week Booty came back to throw the ball downfield more. Mark Sanchez did hook up with Hazelton for a 30 yarder in the last drive. Some questionable calls include the 2 third and long plays that gave the ball to McKnight and resulted in lost yardage. Maybe you can get away with those plays when Reggie was playing, but McKnight is no Reggie Bush, yet.Overall I can’t really complain. We got the win and our defense is playing great. As long as they keep that up and our offense can put some points on the board we should be okay. I still think there are areas for improvement, mostly on the offensive side, but Booty should be better the next time around. We have a tough match-up with Cal this weekend and even though they dropped three straight before beating Washington St. this past Saturday you know they will get geeked up to face the Trojans. Plus the game is in Berkeley. I think we are starting to peak at the right time and Pete Carroll has never lost a November game at USC so I think we should be all right. We will just have to wait and see.

Same old tune

2007-10-31T17:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was opening day for the NBA. It was also the first game for the Los Angeles Lakers. They played the Houston Rockets in the second game of a double header on TNT behind the Portland Trailblazers and San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs were awarded their World Championship rings before the game then proceeded to beat the Trailblazers 106-97.

The build-up for the Lakers game was bigger than normal with the Kobe trade talks and questions about whether he would play or not (he sat out practice with a sprained right wrist) getting most of the air time. All along Kobe has said that once the game started he would leave everything on the court like he always does. He was true to his word last night playing 43 minutes and scoring 45 points (most opening night points in history). Despite his usual tremendous performance the Lakers lost the game 95-93 after Shane Battier broke a 92-92 tie by hitting a 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds remaining. It was an off night for the Lakers in general with the team shooting 42% from the field and a dismal 60% from the line. (Kobe was repsonsible for half of the missed free throw attempts missing 9 of his 27 attempts.) The only other Laker to score in the double digits was vetern PG Derek Fisher, who the Lakers brought back this season to shore up the inconsistent play at that spot.

Despite the always impressive solo performance of Kobe the Lakers tune remained the same. With is roster that is essential the same as last years I don't see much improvement over the team that won 42 games and lost in 5 to the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs. The only changes they made were releasing Aaron McKie, Shammond Williams (two little used reserved) and Smush Parker (erratic starting PG) and signing previously mentioned Derek Fisher and draft picks Javaris Crittendon and Coby Karl. They also get Chris Mihm and Vladimir Radmanovic back from extended stays on the injured list. Well Valdy and Lamar Odom are still hurt and not on the active roster as of last night. I cannot understand why the Lakers would want to waste the prime years of one of the best players in history by surrounding him with sub-par talent. Let's look at it, our big men are soft, the two that played last year averaged 8 points and 6 rebounds, very average numbers, and we pay one of them $9 million a year! Our forwards are soft, with the exception of Ronny Turiaf. Brian Cook and Vlady can hit the open jumper but they are liabilites on defense and don't rebound. Lamar Odom is a good player but he has no heart and defers to Kobe when they are on the court together. He is definitely not worth the $13 million we are paying him. As for Luke Walton, he is a decent role player and a pretty good passer, I am okay with him. And Ronny has a lot of heart and is a good change of pace. He is still developing and should continue to get better. The guards, well we can tell by the complete overhaul that something was wrong there. I am happy to have Fish back but I think he is only a short term solution. Farmar is still improving and Javaris Crittendon is the big PG that Phil Jackson loves. I hear good things about him. I am not to sure where Coby Karl fits in but they say he understands the game (he should his dad is coach of the Denver Nuggets) and sees the floor well. I would say he is an improvement over Shammond or McKie, who wouldn't be an improvement over them?

Looking at the team is it easy to understand what Kobe is going through. All he wants to do is win, and all the Lakers want to do it is... actually I have no idea what the Lakers want to do. I have been baffled by their moves, or lack thereof, the last couple years and it doesn't seem like they are actively trying to get better. I understand why Kobe wants a trade. I would probably want one if I was in his position too. I almost want to see him leave so that the Lakers can start rebuilding. The only thing is, who will want to pay the exorbitant prices to go see Loul Deng and Ben Gordon play? People pay to see Kobe. I understand that the team is bigger than one individual player and the it will continue to be after a superstar leaves, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with what the management is doing right now. I want to see the Lakers win another championship. If they do it with Kobe, so much the better, but if we can get some good players and challenge for the Championship in a couple years, then I will be happy. The way things are now and have been going, even with Kobe they won't be in any position to win. They aren't even picked to make the playoffs this year! The one thing we don't need is to drag this out. I mean people were already booing Kobe during the pre-game introductions. What is up with that? Let's get Kobe some help or trade him. Changes need to be made and the sooner the better.

Holiday Bowl here we come!

2007-10-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

Let's just get this over with.

Trojans in the most important game up to this point and they come up short. They could never really get anything going throwing or running the ball. They got down 24-10 in the second half and put up a good fight. They drove 85 yards in :45 seconds in the fourth to get it within one touchdown. USC got the ball back with a couple minutes remaining and started driving down the field. The drive ended with Mark Sanchez throwing his second interception with :12 seconds remaining.

The Oregon offense lived up to its hype. The Trojan defense played fairly well but gave up some big third down conversions. The surprise was how well the Oregon defense played. They limited the running game and didn't allow any big plays to develop. They also were able to put pressure on Sanchez and force him to scramble and throw on the run. He was also sacked once.

Some of the same problems keep recurring for the Trojans. Again they lost the turnover battle with the two interceptions and a fumble. The interceptions were costly as they killed two important drives in Oregon territory. They were also unable to capitalize on the two fumbles by Oregon. Another problem is penalties. This game they had 6 for 80 yards with two of those personal fouls on punt returns. Another holding penalty negated a 60 yard touchdown run by Joe McKnight. Aside from the penalties the Trojans still cannot get anything going in the long passing game. They have no deep threat that can stretch the field. By the numbers it didn't look too bad but we were behind on the only one that counts, the score 24-17.

Now with two loses and big games against Cal and UCLA still coming up, the rest of the season doesn't look too bright for the Trojans. They are no longer in the running for a BCS bowl game (which would have been their sixth straight) and the only other bowl games they could make are the Holiday Bowl or the Las Vegas. Neither of which is very prestigious. Let's hope they can win out and finish the season strong. It is all about improving and getting more experience for next year when they will lose a lot of seniors. We can't give up hope and have to keep the faith.

Fight On!

First real test for USC

2007-10-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

The 12th ranked Trojans of USC head up to Eugene tomorrow to battle the 5th ranked Oregon Ducks. This will be one, if not the most important game of the season for USC. The loser of this game will fall 2 games behind UCLA for the lead in the Pac-10 as well as any hope for the reaching any decent bowl game let alone the Rose Bowl or National Championship game. The Ducks are lead by the senior Dennis Dixon, the versatile dual threat quarterback who is the heart of the team. He, along with running back Jonathon Stewart, has lead the Ducks to the second highest point per game average (46.6) and second highest total offense (550.9). They are probably one of the best at running the spread offense and have many different ways to hurt you. There only loss was by a late touchdown to Cal in week 5.

The only week spot for the Ducks is the defense. They allow on average 253 yards through the air and 143 on the ground. They allowed Stanford to 31 and Washington 34. The Trojans are going to have to outscore the Ducks (obviously) to win game and their defense will have to play like it did in the shut out win against Notre Dame. The focus of the Trojans is to stop the run and force Dixon to throw the ball to his injury depleted receiving corp. With Big Sed Ellis and Lawrence Jackson up front the Trojans definitely have the talent. The will also need the linebackers to step up and help contain Dixon when he decides to run. It will be the toughest test yet.

The offense needs to continue to evolve and grow. Mark Sanchez looked a lot more comfortable starting his second game and threw four touchdowns with no interceptions. Yesterday Pete Carroll announced that Sanchez will start this week as well. Hopefully we will see Sarkisian open up the play book a little more and figure out a good rotation for the running backs. Once again Chauncey Washington will start with Stafon Johnson and Joe McKnight backing him up. The RB's will have to do well in order to keep the Ducks high-powered offense off the field. Fortunately for the Trojans they are getting a couple key guys back. Sam Baker and Chilo Rachal are both set to return. The redshirt Freshman Butch Lewis who played for Baker will move over and play right tackle for Drew Radovich who sat out practice due to back spasm but will be available to play Saturday. The o-line will need to open some holes and protect the QB for the Trojans to have a chance. We know they have the talent, we have to see if they can execute now.

Autzen Stadium is known to be one of the most hostile places to play (at least in the Pac-10). The Trojans practiced with crowd noise playing on the speaker system to replicate the levels they may hear in Eugene. The Trojans know they have to win this game, and going in as underdogs will only motivate them more. Don't miss the game Saturday at 12:00p (PST) on FSN.

Fight On!

Celebrations on hold...

2007-10-25T18:24:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately for Ferrari and Kimi the celebrations could not begin in earnest due to the race stewards finding a discrepancy with the fuel temperatures in the cars of BMW Sauber and Williams Toyota. The rules stipulate that the fuel going into the cars must be within 10 degrees Celsius of the ambient temperature. The stewards found the fuel to be out by 12-14 degrees for both teams, however they decided that no penalty would be levied to do inaccuracies with temperature readings and where the it should be gathered. This is important since the two BMW Saubers of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld and the Williams of Nico Rosberg all finished in front of Lewis Hamilton. With the exclusion of those three cars, Hamilton would be promoted to P4 and thus World Driver's Champion.

Despite the decision of the stewards to not impose a penalty, McLaren filed an appeal on the findings. It looks like they have a decent case since if you read the rules it does stipulate where to take the temperatures from and what baseline temp to use. It seems the stewards did not want there decision to change the outcome of the race and thus the Championship. They chose to take a looser interpretation and not impose a penalty. I think the FIA will have to interpret the rules more strictly and will have to bring forth some sort of punishment. What I see happening is the FIA taking away the constructors points from BMW Sauber and Williams but not touching the driver's points. This will be a fair penalty and yet not affect the Driver's Championship.

On a side note, Lewis Hamilton took blame for his dramatic slowing in the race. He says his hand slipped and he pushed the button for the start sequence which cut power and it took him 30 seconds to reset the computers. Despite his desire to take the blame Ron Dennis came forth saying it was not driver error and some gearbox sensor failed. Who should we believe? Good questions. I am leaning towards believing Hamilton and that Ron is just trying to protect his protege and driver of the future.

In other news, there is no new yet on what Fernando Alonso's plans are for the future. Flavio Briatore of Renault (Alonso's former employers) have openly said they would take him back. Alonso has said Renault isn't his first choice if he was to leave and that he might stay at McLaren. Rumors have him going to any number of teams including Ferrari and Red Bull. Toyota has been ruled out due to their lack of competitiveness. The silly season is in full swing and it all hinges on Alonso. More updates to come.

Saving the best for the last!

2007-10-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

The last race of the season has been run, and a Champion has been crowned...for now.

The race strategy for Ferrari was pretty simple; finish 1-2. For McLaren is wasn't so easy. with the much publicized feud between Hamilton and Alonso, it was guaranteed they wouldn't be doing each other any favors. That was evident going into the first turn. The Ferraris got a great start with Massa moving in front of Hamilton and Raikkonen coming up the side. Massa and Raikkonen were side by side going into the Senne Esses with Raikkonen backing off and avoiding contact. While this was going on Alonso was able to get inside of Hamilton and after touching wheels he took P3 off Hamilton. This didn't go over too well and Hamilton tried to setup a pass on Alonso who moved over to block him causing him to locked and go wide. He ended up going off track and dropping back to P8 in the process. The race continued in this fashion with Hamilton trying to work his way back up through the field until the single most important event of the race took place.

On lap seven, during a commercial break no less, Hamilton suddenly lost power. It would take him 30 or so seconds to finally get power and get back up to speed, but the damage was done, Hamilton fell all the way back to P18. It looked like Hamilton's race was over, but he was a trooper and tried to work his way back up as quick as possible. He was aided by an unusually high rate of attrition, for a dry race, and was able to work his way up to P7. Back out front Massa continued to lead followed by Raikkonen and Alonso. With the McLaren of Alonso unable to keep up with the pace of the two Ferrari's they were able to put a gap between them that proved to be impossible to overcome. As the second round of pit stops approached Massa was the first stop for tires and gas. Kimi Raikkonen was able to stay out an invaluable two laps longer allowing him to put in some fast laps and barely beat Massa out after his stop. Ferrari had run the perfect race and put Kimi in the position to win the Championship.

With Kimi winning the race and Alonso finishing P3 and Hamilton P7, the points race for the World Driver's Championship looked this this: Kimi Raikkonen - 110, Lewis Hamilton - 109 and Fernando Alonso - 109. The closest finish in Grand Prix history. In what seemed like a very slim chance at winning, Kimi Raikkonen was able to do the seemingly impossible. Having been close to winning the Championship (losing by 2 points to Michael Schumacher in 2003 and finishing second to Fernando Alonso in 2005), his patience paid off and he was able to lay claim to the crown this year. Lewis Hamilton finished second in the Championship by having one more fifth place finish than Fernando Alonso who finished third.

In the post race news conference Kimi continued to live up to his nickname 'The Iceman' for his lack of emotion and loquaciousness. He did give a couple smiles and looked happy though. Felipe Massa on the other hand was slightly despondent. After starting the race from pole he desperately wanted to be the second Brazilian, along with Emerson Fittipaldi,to win his home GP two consecutive years. Being the good teammate, and the signee of a new contract till 2010 with Ferrari, he helped Kimi to win the Championship. That didn't mean he was pleased by it though. Alonso on the other hand was in a surprisingly jovial mood, congratulating Kimi for winning. He did not look the least bit put out, but I imagine he was happy that his rookie teammate did not win the Championship. Not hard understand knowing how well those two got along. Alonso is probably also happy that that was his last race with McLaren, since it is almost positive he will be racing with another team in 2008.

So congrats to Kimi and Ferrari for winning both Championships this year. Many thought without Michael Schumacher F1 would lose its edge and its identity. No one would have thought the Championship would have been this close or dramatic. And it looks like the off-season will be just as exciting with many drivers moving around.

The most important qually of the season!

2007-10-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

The Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, just outside of Sao Paulo, Brazil, was the sight for the Championship showdown. Three drivers had a shot at claiming the crown, but only one would emerge victorious. The protagonist were Championship leader, rookie, Lewis Hamilton for McLaren Mercedes with 107 points, double World Champion Fernando Alonso also of McLaren Mercedes at 103 points and former McLaren man Kimi Raikonnen of Scuderia Ferrari with 100 points. Hamilton lost his chance to seal the title at the previous race in China when he went off track on worn tires, but despite the added pressure he was still the Championship favorite. He only needed to run a conserative race and depending on the position of the other contenders, finish within the top 5 positions. (If Alonso won he would need to finish third or better. If Kimi won with Alonso second he would need to finish fifth or better.)

The weekends got started off on Friday with two practice sessions. It was raining lightly during the first session and many drivers only completed installation laps and did not log an official timed lap. Kimi Raikonnen was fasted in that session. The second session took place on a drying circuit and was completly drive by the end of it. The McLarens were the fastest in that session with Hamilton besting Alonso by .122 seconds. The Ferraris of Massa and Raikonnen clocked the third and fourth quickest times respectively right at the end of the session after languishing outside the top 10 for most of the 90 minutes. It looked like qualifying was going to be another tight battle.

Qualifying went about how most people expected. Renault struggled with Heikki Kovalainen not making it out of Q1. Both Red Bulls Renaults got into Q3 with Webber lining up P5 and Coulthard P9. The BMW Saubers slotted into P6 and P7 with Nick Heidfeld .04 seconds quicker than Robert Kubica. Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg rounded out the top 10. Ferrari and McLaren fought it out for the top four spots. Kimi Raikonnen was the first to do his fast lap and as he came around first complex of turns Hamilton came out of the pits right in front of him forcing him to go a little wide and lose some valuable time. He logged the quickest time so far but Felipe Massa was close behind and bettered it by getting a 1:11:931, the fastest time of the weekend. Hamilton was the next to cross the line, but the best he could do was P2 behind Massa. Alonso came around next, clearly off the pace for pole, and slotted into P4. It wasn't the front row start for Ferrari that most people were hoping for but at least both cars were starting on the clean side of the track.

USC furthers the humiliation of Notre Dame

2007-10-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

The green jerseys didn't help two years ago and they sure didn't help today. The USC Trojans dominated the Fighting Irish and handed them their worst home loss since 1956. The Trojans started slow though but were able to limit their mistakes and come up with big stops when the needed to. In the end the Trojans came out with the 38-0 victory and it seems that they have righted the ship in preparation for some tough conference games coming up in the next couple weeks.

More analysis to come... Fight On!

It was a beautiful day in Southbend and you could tell that the USC Trojans were pumped up and ready to play by the way the buses that pulled up to the stadium rocked back and forth. They weren't able to transfer all that energy into a fast start as they punted on the first three drives. Mark Sanchez, possibly still a little nervous starting his second career game, had to call two timeouts in the first four plays of the game to clarify some confusion. The Trojans got lucky on their third punt that hit and Irish player and was recovered by Vincent Joseph on the ND 10 yard line. The Trojans pounced on the opportunity and on the next play Sanchez threw a little fade to Fred Davis who made an acrobatic one-handed catch for the touchdown. The were able to get much done after that and gave the Irish great field position when a punt was blocked early in the second quarter. The defense, with Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing both back from injury, was strong and held them to a field goal attempt which was subsequently blocked by Clay Matthews Jr. The Trojans were able to put together a 79 yard drive later in that same quarter that was capped off my an 8 yard pass to infrequently used Allen Bradford who dove into the end zone while being hit to make the score 14-0. David Buehler would add a field goal near the end of the quarter to make the halftime score 17-0 USC.

The second half was all USC. Notre Dame deferred in the beginning of the game and received the kick off to start the second half. On the second play of the drive Cary Harris forced a fumble which was recovered by Keith Rivers on the ND 13. Two plays later and the Trojans added another 7 points to the board on an 5 yard pass from Sanchez to Stanley Havili. With ND's offense unable to get anything done their defense was forced to stay on the field longer and try to stop the rolling Trojan offense. The defense, one of the only strong points for ND this year, was unable to record a sack or an interception, although they did force a Herschel Dennis fumble in the fourth. On the other side in the third and fourth quarters the Trojans defense held the Irish to six three and outs. They were only able to put together one drive in the fourth against a Trojan defense consisting of mostly second string players. The drive ended on the SC 26 with the Irish going for it on fourth down and throwing an incomplete pass. The Trojans added another touchdown in the third on a 48short pass to Vidal Hazelton that he took 48 yards cutting through and bouncing off defenders before finding the end zone. Another highlight play took place in the fourth quarter when Joe McKnight broke a run to the left for 51 yards and a touchdown. The game ended when Evan Sharpley threw an interception to Kevin Ellison with 40 seconds left in the game. Michael McDonald, who had come in for Mark Sanchez earlier in the quarter, only had to take a knee and it was all over.

For how good the offense was the defense played a hell of a game. It is not easy to shut out a team and it looked like the Trojan defense was getting stronger later in the game. The stars of the defense was the defensive line lead by Sedrick Ellis. They were able to over power the ND front and put pressure on the quarterback the whole game. The official number of sacks they recorded is five, but Pete Carroll said in watching film there should have been two more. There was also a number of younger players like Everson Griffin and Averell Spicer that had a chance to play and show what they can do. Griffin has definitely lived up to his hype and will be another great defensive end for USC in the future. He made a couple ND linemen look like they were stuck to the ground. The linebackers also nee to be recognized for their efforts. It seemed that every catch that ND made the linebackers were there swarming them. They weren't able to get many yards after the catch on these guys. It was great to have Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing back. Thomas Williams and Kaluka Maiava also got a lot of playing time and did well. The secondary didn't have too much to worry about seeing as Sharpley was hounded all day and rarely had time to get a pass off. The DB's played a lot tighter on their man today and didn't leave a lot of open receivers. As mentioned earlier Cary Harris forced a strip and Kevin Ellison recorded an INT. In all the defense held ND to 165 total yards; 117 passing and 48 rushing. A dominant offense, and one we hope to see next week in Eugene.

The offense played well and there aren't many areas where we can fault them. There were a couple dropped passes but for the most part the receivers did a good job. Patrick Turner didn't have a big day but he caught some important catches helping to move the chains. Vidal Hazelton was the standout with his great run after the catch. He caught 3 balls for 80 yards on the day. Once again the leader in receptions was Fred Davis with 5 for 40 yards and a touchdown. The running backs were able to log 227 yards on the ground. Chauncey got the most carries again, 12, and they continue to Joe Mcknight his chances and they will continue to do so as he broke of another long run. His other six carries only netted him 14 yards. Stafon Johnson worked his way back in after injuring his ankle. It was good to have him back and he had eight carries for 48 yards. Stanley Havili chipped in 31 yards on 6 carries. Mark Sanchez was even able to run for 11 yards and get a first down on what looked like a broken play. The running backs couldn't have done their job with out the offensive line. They are still on the mend but they played well against ND. Red shirt freshman Butch Lewis played a great game filling in for Sam Baker. Next week the Trojans should get Chilo Rachal back and have Kris O'Down healthy. Sam Baker says he will be ready to play, but it is yet to be seen how effective he will be. The last position on offense is quarterback and Mark Sanchez played a good game. He went 21 of 38 for 235 and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Fairly impressive numbers for his second start and playing behind a banged up line. It is still uncertain if he will continue to start once Booty has recovered from his broken finger. It will be a tough decision for Carroll to make. It would seem that Sanchez has a little more upside with his mobility, strong arm, emotion and ability to rally the guys around him; but Booty has the experience and the poise. Booty want to play and has said so openly. Carroll has said Booty will start when he his 100%, they say they have a better sense of how to handle it and will see how he can handle more reps this weeks.

The only real troubling spots from this game are special teams and penalties. To win a national championship you have be good at both of those. SC has had a problem with kicks getting blocked. It was a field goal earlier in the year and a punt here. The also had 3 penalties on special teams and a punt that was dropped but fortunately covered up. In total SC had 8 penalties for 52 yards. Better than a couple games ago but still not ideal. Carroll has said there will be changes on some special teams units and they will continue to work on the penalties. Even though the Trojans came out with a good win we must remember how bad Notre Dame really is. They rank last or second last in most offensive categories and their defense hasn't been that great either. The win helped to give the Trojans the much needed confidence but they can't let it get to their heads. They still need to work on the long ball and get the o-line healthy. The defense is rounding into shape at the right time and will only get better. It will most likely be the best defense that Oregon has faced this year. If the Trojans play the same way they did this weekend they have a good chance at winning the rest of their games and getting back into the mix for the national championship.

It will be a tough game this weekend against a good Oregon team. It will be interesting to see who is named the stater, but it is a good think we have two great quarterbacks. I can't wait for the game!

USC prepares for Notre Dame... and overcoming injuries

2007-10-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

USC flew to Southbend Thursday night and had quite a scare as the plane suddenly lost altitude upon approach to the airport in Michigan City, Indiana. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt, but some passengers where thrown around and one player had a popsicle stick pierce the inside of his mouth. They practiced today and it was announced that Mark Sanchez will start his second consecutive while John David Booty continues to rest his broken finger. Booty can play however and will be able to step in if needed. Other players that will be available are Chilo Rachal and Sam Baker. Both suited up for practice but did not participate in drills and will be available for emergency use. Terrell Thomas, Shareece Wright and linebackers Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing will also be available but will most likely not start. Stafon Johnson, whose foot has taken longer to heal than expected, is still not at 100%, but will dress and play.

Earlier this week Charlie Weis announced that junior Evan Sharpley will start over southern California product Jimmy Clausen. It was also announced that the Fighting Irish will wear their green jersey's for the game. I don't know if that will be enough to help the hapless Irish though; they rank in the 100's in most offensive categories. This year has not gone well for third year coach Weis who was hailed as an offensive genius after coming from the New England Patriots and lead the Irish to 19 wins and 6 losses in his first two years. This year started out bad and hasn't gotten much better. They started the season 0-5 for the first time before beating UCLA 20-6 at the Rose Bowl. They couldn't build on that win though and lost to BC last week.

However, despite their bad play this year, we cannot overlook this game. With how we have been playing this year we need to come out strong in this game and establish a running attack. That will take the pressure off Sanchez and open up some deep routes. This is an important game and we need to play hard, minimize penalties and mental errors and come out with a decisive win. The schedule gets harder after this game with Oregon, Oregon St. and Cal coming up in the next three week. We need a good game here to gain some momentum to carry us through the rest of the season. With some players coming back from injury we should be able to do this. Don't miss the game, Saturday at 12:30p on NBC.

Fight On!

Trojans top Wildcats, barely

2007-10-16T15:12:00.001-07:00

The much anticipated hype behind Mark Sanchez's first career start probably didn't go as well as we all hoped. He did show the emotion and strong arm that he is known for but also the propensity for mistakes. He throw two interceptions on consecutive possessions to end the first half, fortunately it only lead to 3 Arizona points. The second INT was fumbled back to USC on the return. Sanchez was able to settle down in the second half and not make many mistakes. He made a great 25 yard pass to Fred Davis in the end zone for the go ahead score. Overall he had a decent game, 19 of 31 for 130 yards with 1 touchdown and two INT's. I don't think he did enough to convince the coaches to let Booty rest one more week. If he can throw accurately and without pain he will start, but that is yet to be seen.

As for the rest of the offense, once again Fred Davis led all receivers with 6 catches. Patrick Turner, Vidal Hazelton and Stanley Havili each caught 3 with Ausberry only getting 1. The pass offense was limited slightly to take the pressure off Sanchez so no one had a big game. The running did enough to move the ball on most occasions. Chauncey Washington got the start and had a powerful 18 yard run for a touchdown in the opening quarter. Joe McKnight also got a lot of carries although was limited for most of the game until he broke a 59 yard run late in the game to help set up the final field goal that forced Arizona to have to try and get a TD to tie or win the game. He also had a punt return that setup the toss to Davis for the touchdown. Despite those two brilliant plays he shows some good moves but also the desire to try to do too much. He only gained 16 yards on his other 12 carries, many of those for negative yardage.

Overall the offense played average. They did not look like the offense of a couple years ago that could score at will and rarely used the punter. Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian made a comment to that respect, "People have to learn this is the way it’s going to be for awhile, this isn’t Matt (Leinart), Reggie (Bush), LenDale (White) and Dwayne (Jarrett). None of them are going to be easy now. We have to play tight football games. Field position is a big deal now. We never talked about that before. We’re going to be a in a dogfight. We’re learning. We’re a different football team. The punter matters now.’’ It doesn't help the offensive line has been riddled by injuries. Matt Spanos played with 7 stiches on the inside of one hand. Third string Zach Heberer got hurt forcing Tiny Malu to play with a sore hamstring. All American Sam Baker was also injured and his spot was filled by Butch Lewis who hadn't taken snaps with the offense all week. It was a valiant effort by the o-line and they did well enough. We should get a couple players like Kris O'Dowd and Chilo Rachal back for next weeks game against Notre Dame. Stafon Johnson should also be available to boost the running game a little more.

The defense played a decent game. The d-line did a great job stopping the run; they held the Wildcats to 22 yard rushing on the day! They were able to put some pressure on the QB, but only got one sack on the day. The linebacker corp did a decent job for a unit that has seen its share of injuries. Brian Cushing is still out, but should be ready for ND this weekend, so Thomas Williams and Clay Matthews filled in for him. Rey Maualuga suffered a hip pointer in the game and had to come out. Sophomore Luther Brown subbed in for him and did a good job. As has been standard practice for the secondary they played to stop the big play, and they did that. They gave up a long pass for 32 yards but everything else was under 20. What did you expect when Tuitama comes out throwing 43 passes (completing 30) for 233 yards. After allowing a touchdown in the first half the defense pulled it together and held tough for the rest of the game. Carroll was also a little more aggressive with the defense this week calling more blitzes and going to man coverage in the second half. This was one of the complaints in the Stanford game, the defense played to conservatively and didn't blitz on the big 4th down plays. Hopefully the they keep it up.

Even though it wasn't pretty, this was a good win. A lot of guys have been thrown into the game and stepped up. We will need it to continue why people work on getting healthy. We should get a couple people back this weekend which will really help. As of now Pete Carroll says they will stick with Mark Sanchez unless Booty can come out and perform well in practice. I think with this first game and a win under his belt Sanchez will play better and stay more calm in the next game if called upon. USC faces 1 win Notre Dame this weekend in Southbend. You know Charlie Weis will get his players jacked up for this game. Even though ND hasn't played well this year we cannot underestimate them. It promises to be a great game so don't miss it, Saturday Oct 20 at 12:30.

Fight On!

Taking it to the limit...and beyond

2007-10-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

According to most extreme sports athletes if you are not pushing the limits you are not learning and getting better. That often means falling, wiping out, biffing, eating it or whatever other phrase you use to describe the act. If that is the case with racing, then I learned a lot this past weekend. As I mentioned in one of my blogs I went up to Buttonwillow Raceway Park near Buttonwillow California (go figure), which is about 130 miles north, or LA. I was going to participate in a High Performance Driving Event (HPDE) with NASA. Things got off to a slow start when on the way up to the track early Saturday morning I found myself in horrendous traffic through San Fernando. Apparently there was a large accident involving multiple big rigs and I think I heard something about an explosion as well as a herd of feral sheep running around. Needless to say I had to take a detour and got to the track over an hour late. I was able to sit in the last half of the class and get my car tech’ed in time for my first session. These events are set up with various run groups to accommodate the assorted skill levels of the drivers. NASA also runs a racing series so they had sessions for the race groups as well. The HPDE groups run 4 twenty-minute sessions through out the day.

I line up for my first session and since I was in group 2, advanced beginner, I got an instructor. Everything started out well, did the warm-up lap and promptly got stuck in traffic. Yes there is traffic even at a track event! Basically group 1 & 2 run together so there are a lot of first timers and less experienced people who tend to drive slowly. Passing is allowed but only in predefined zones. After a couple laps I was able to get by some cars and have some open track ahead of me. Since Saturday morning was cold and it was our first session I didn’t push too hard, plus I wanted to get used to the track again. One of the main pointers my instructor (Sarah, a Miata driver) told was to not shift till near the redline. I was fine with this in most situations when pushing hard but when I was behind a slower car I didn’t feel the to leave the car running that high. I did revise one section of the track though where I was shifting into 4^th and now leaving in it in 3^rd. She also advised that I turn-in a little earlier on a couple corners but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that quite yet. (A later turn-in is generally safer since you don’t need as much room to track out.) After each session the groups have a “download session,” or a debrief go over why people went off track and how we can better approach different corners where people or having trouble. The classes generally helpful but also mandatory since they will give you a track pass required to get back out on track.

This is the configuration we ran both days

Session Two. I am remembering the track better and pushing harder, things are going well. Coming out of the section called Cotton Corners I leave it in 3^rd as I was advised the previous session and it feels good. I can carry more speed into the Bus Stop and out of it… oh crap! Too fast and I lose the rear coming out of the Bus stop, I try to save it but my instructor say so just go straight off, so I exit track left and do a little off-roading before coming to a stop. Take a second to calm down, look for traffic, get back on the track and continue. Lesson learned: Brake a little more and less throttle on the exit. Coming out of that corner like I would in 4^th was fine because I didn’t have as much torque, but it 3^rd I needed to control it a little better. After you have an ‘off,’ you are required to go to the black flag station so they can look the car over and makes sure you are good to go mentally, I was. I get back out and finish the session with out incident.

Session Three. Now that I got my ‘off’ out of the way I was ready to settle in and push hard. I get through the warm up lap and have some good space in from of my on the first ‘hot’ lap. It is going well and I get through Cotton Corners (a right-left-right sequence up a slight incline) well and as I am coming out I there is another right. I take the turn a little late and I am wide of the apex, as I try to accelerate through and keep the car on track I feel the rear end get loose so instinctively I try to correct it and lift off the throttle, something you do not want to do in a case like this. Lifting the throttle shifts the weight to the front of the car, lightening the rear and reducing the grip at the rear even more. I spin and exit track right. Remember when I said the last time I went off my instructor told me to go straight? Here is why. The car is rotating clockwise and I go off driver side first. We continue to spin and do a 180 and slide passenger side first. This is not good since there is a huge wave of dirt that is dumped into the car, so much for my immaculate interior. After the dust settles I turn on the wipers to clear the dust from the windshield and clear the dust from my eyes and mouth and get back on track. I once again head back to the black flag station and talk to the guy in charge. He notices the driver side tires look a little low so I get out and have a look. It also appears there is some dirt and stuff in the bead on the rear tire. I need to get that looked at so my session is over. I ended up having to re-mount the driver side tires to re-seat the bead and get them balanced. Fortunately the tire shop was open and I was done fairly quickly. I was able to borrow a small shop vacuum and use an air hose to get out most of the dirt, but it will never be as clean as it was before. I was upset that it got dirty, but more so with myself for going off and not being able to control the car. In the past the car would be a lot more progressive at the limit and allow you to bring it back in. After the repairs and cleaning were done I talked to the chief instructor and let him know what happened then I got ready for the next session.

You never want to see a car like this.

You can't tell how dirty it really is

Session 4. Not much happening here. Last session of the day. I got out pretty early and worked on my line. I tried some different things, adjusting some turn-in points and stuff. Yes, I got through this session clean. After the last session was over we had dinner catered by a BBQ place. The food was good but they had a hard time keeping the meat stocked and we had to wait around a little to get some tri-tip. At 6:30 the three hour enduro race started. It was pretty amazing seeing these guys racing around in the dark. In terms of motor sports though night time enduro racing is the pinnacle. I didn't stick around for the whole race and went to sleep a little after 10 to so I could get up early and walk the track.

Here's a couple shots of the 3 hour night enduro

Sunday 10/14/2007

Today went fairly well. I went out by myself and tried to work on a couple things. For the second session I had Jon the chief instructor dry my car in group 3 so I could better see what my car is capable of and what line to take. It was a good experience and I picked up a couple things to try. He did point out that my rear tires were shot and it was hard to maintain traction coming out of certain corners. I went out in my group right after that session and had Jon ride with me. I was able to see some improvement and get some more speed in certain areas. I did drop two wheels coming out of the bus stop but it wasn't a big deal and I kept it on the track. He did make a point that I should keep the traction control on since the rear end didn't have a lot of grip. The next session I went out I was feeling a little over confident and promptly turned the traction control off. On the third lap or so I was trying to carry too much speed into Cotton Corner and lost the rear. I couldn't save it and went off, again! I wasn't going that fast and spun a little but no more dirt in the car this time. I got back on and stopped by the black flag station and was cleared to finish the session. The last session I always back off a little. I got in a good battle with a guy in a Crossfire. I was faster than him out of Riverside and into Magic Mountain and I was able to get by him but I couldn't open up a big gap on him. There were a couple corners that I couldn't quite get right and I lost some time, but overall it was a good session.

So if pushing hard and exceeding the limit is good for learning, then I learned a lot. It is hard to believe that I went off 3 times! Of track events I have done in the past year I have only been off twice and I no exactly what happened. This time I like to think the worn tires played a large part in it but I still need to learn better car control. It was a good weekend and it was good to do an event with NASA. I was able to meet some good people and talk about racing and cars. I was thinking of doing an event with the POC next month but I might do another NASA event instead. I will have new tires by then.

So the event is over and now the only thing left is pack up and drive back home. We were advised the I-5 south was still closed and they gave us a couple alternate routes to take. I took the 5 south to the 138 over to the I-15 and down to San Diego. In all it took me almost 5 hours to get home and I didn't get back till 11pm. It was a long day with a lot of driving but I made it out in one piece and drove my car back only a little worse for wear. Do I think I am a better driver, yes. Are there things I need to work on, definitely. I need to find a nice open lot (preferably wet) and practice some car control techniques. I need to learn not to lift and to control the car at the limit. I think the autocross this weekend will be a good opportunity to practice. I will use these tires up till I get a new set before my next track event in November.

IT'S OFFICIAL

2007-10-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Mark Sanchez will start his first came for the USC Trojans. After days of indecision, Pete Carrol finally came out and named Sanchez the starter for this weekends game at the Coliseum against Arizona. John David Booty broke his middle finger against Stanford last weekend and has not made sufficient progress to start. He threw about 50 passes on Tuesday but experienced swelling on Wednesday. It was decided that it would be best to let him rest and not risk damaging the finger more. He will be available in case of an emergency, but Michael McDonald will be listed as the back-up.

Other notable injuries and changes: Matt Spanos who is suffering from a cut on his hand will start at center. It was believed Jeff Byers would get the nod based on more practice snapping to Sanchez, but his thumb was smashed between two helmets in practice and cannot grip the ball well... Stafon Johnson is doubtful after it was determined that he also suffered a sprain when he was stepped on during the last play against Stanford. He will be a game time decision. Chauncey Washington will start with Herschel Dennis and Desmond Reed backing him up. Also available will be Allen Bradford and Joe McKnight... C.J. Gable had surgery for his sports hernia and will out for the season... Thomas Williams who was seen limping in practice will play and Clay Matthews Jr will also be available. Brian Cushing is still rehabbing his ankle and is hoping to be back in time for the Notre Dame game Oct. 20... Gametime is 12:30p and will be shown on ABC.

Hamilton feeling the pressure in China

2007-10-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

Heading into the penultimate race of the season, the Sinopec Grand Prix of China in Shanghai, Lewis Hamilton had a seemingly insurmountable lead in the Driver's Championship. Leading his closest competitor and and teammate, double world champ Fernando Alonso, by 12 points, Hamilton needed only to score 1 less point than Alonso to mathematically lock up the championship. Meanwhile Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was 17 points back and all but eliminated from contention.

The weekend started out well for Ferrari with Raikkonen leading the first three practice sessions. Alonso was a close second with Felipe Massa third and Hamilton fourth. All four continued to put up fast times in the first two qualifying sessions, but in the all important Q3 Hamilton was able to pull out a now trademark fast lap and claim his fifth pole of the season. Raikkonen came in second with teammate Massa (who had a fast lap but was slowed by a mistake) third and Alonso fourth, six tenths of a second off Hamilton's time. This lack of pace for previously quick Alonso set off more claims from the volatile Spaniard that McLaren is favoring Hamilton and trying to ruin his shot at the title. (Update: Spanish newspaper La Nueva Espana is reporting that the FIA has opened an investigation to determine if sporting fraud was evident in Alonso's qualifying due to unusually high tire pressures.) It is reported that Alonso was so angry that he kicked a down a door in the paddock. This episode is only more fuel to the fire that is raging between Alonso and Ron Dennis, the McLaren team boss. It has been assumed for many weeks now that Alonso will not race for McLaren even though he has a contract for next year. Hopefully the race would be as interesting as the drama swirling in the paddock.
The race did not disappoint. Due to rain in the morning and damp surface, all cars started the race on the intermediate wet tires. Hamilton got off to a good start followed by Raikkonen and Massa with Alonso making an move up the outside. Alonso was able to get by Massa only to be passed back a couple turns later. Hamilton started to put a gap between him and the rest of the field, but that wouldn't last too long. The front runners pitted between laps 15 and 19 for fuel only, choosing to stay on the worn inters until it was determined what the weather will do. The order remained the same after the stops but Raikkonen was able to close the gap as well as take on more fuel. A little under midway through the race teams started to switch to dry tires which proved to be much faster on the drying circuit. At the same time Raikkonen was closing in on Hamilton and Alonso was reeling in Massa. Alonso was able to pass Massa and claim P3 at which point Massa dove into the pits for dry tires. As he left the pits it promptly began to drizzle again. The other leaders stayed on inters a little longer. Raikkonen was able to pass Hamilton when he went wide in a turn and Alonso was continuing to gain ground on his teammate. McLaren finally called Hamilton in to change his frightfully worn tires (you could see the cords wearing through on the rears!). He had been lapping the circuit almost 15 seconds slower than the fastest drivers on the course. As he entered the pit entrance he was carrying too much speed and with his worn tires and the damp entrance he went wide and into the gravel, his race was done. After Alonso's final stop he was able to exit the pits right in front of Massa who had lost time with a bad timed tire change. Alonso was able to maintain second even with cold tires and they finished in that order behind Raikkonen who claimed the 200th Grand Prix win for Ferrari.
Some other noticeable events of the race: Robert Kubica, who was on a one stop strategy, was leading the race on lap 32 when he was forced to retire from the lead with hydraulic problems. Jenson Button was back challenging for points. At one stage he overtook Sebastian Vettel for P4 but he still had to stop for fuel. He ended the race in a respectable P5. The big winner of the weekend was Scuderia Toro Rosso. Sebastian drove an error free race and atoned for his mishap in Japan to score the highest ever finish for STR with a P4. His teammate Tonio Liuzzi showed that is wasn't a fluke either by finishing P6. This finish boosted STR into 7th position in the Constructor's Championship ahead of Spyker, Super Aguri and the Honda Works team. The biggest loser was Lewis Hamilton who made the Championship battle much more interesting. There is now only 7 points that separate the top 3 drivers. Hamilton is still in P1 with 107 points followed by Alonso with 103 and Raikkonen with 100. It all comes down to the last race in Brazil in two weeks. Ferrari won last year with Felipe Massa and showed good speed on the track. Hamilton has never raced there before, but his record on first time tracks is rather remarkable. The Championship is still his to lose but the fight will be all the more intense with his teammate and fiercest rival Alonso desperately wanting to win it only to spite McLaren by taking the #1 with him to another team. Raikkonen still has a very real shot as well and with the help of Massa can put himself in position to win the Championship. Ferrari is promising to be aggressive and do what they need to do to finish 1-2. The buildup will be intense and hopefully the racing will be too. See you in two weeks in Sao Paolo!

Fantasy loss and letdown

2007-10-09T08:01:00.001-07:00

Overall it was a fairly disappointing weekend in sports. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were swept by the Red Sox, the SC Trojans lost to the Stanford Cardinal, their first loss at home since 2001, and my fantasy football team got blown out by Kyles team 93-47! The only bright spots were the SD Chargers beating the Broncos and Kimi Raikkonen winning the Chinese GP and keeping his hopes alive for the Driver's Championship.

Going back to my fantasy team, I expected a let-down from my previously undefeated record, but I wasn't expecting it this week. I was trying to make some moves and prepare for next week when most of my regular starters have a bye. What I wasn't prepared for was Joseph Addai sitting out to get an extra week of rest and Santonio Holmes pulling a hamstring in warm ups and not playing. I also failed to switch out Vince Young for Jay Cutler but that wouldn't have helped me much. In the end I had to sub Selvin Young (Travis Henry's back up) in for Addai and I was forced to play Holmes despite the fact that he didn't actually play in the game. I also got a sub-par performance from Roy Williams and Travis Henry. The Packers Defense I picked up couldn't stop the formerly inept and turnover prone Chicago bears; I guess Brian Griese is good for something. My top scorer of the week was Neil Rackers. That is right, my PLACE KICKER Neil Rackers. That is never a good sign when he is the highest scoring player.

I will bounce back next week, not because I will field a good team but because I will go up against Adam who is notorious for playing guys on their bye week. He played two last week and 3 are scheduled this week. Let's hope he doesn't have time to update his roster! Here's to Adam and a good week of Fantasy Football.

F1 Update: Japan

2007-10-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I have been slacking on F1 updates. Since my last post we have had the two fly-away races in Asia. Two weeks ago it was the Grand Prix of Japan at the recently renovated Fuji Circuit and this past weekend was the Grand Prix of China in Shanghai. I will put the updates in two separate posts.
The race in Japan was a rain soaked affair that effected both qualifying and the race. Many teams were not sure how to set the car up due to the unpredictability of the weather; do you expect dry running on race day and set-up the car for dry or set it up to do well in qually? Many teams had to compromise but it didn't effect the top teams too much. Lewis Hamilton won pole with Alonso lining up next to him and the two Ferraris on the second row with Raikkonen third and Massa fourth. The weather ended up getting worse on race day. So much so the stewards sent an email to all the teams notifying them that they must start on the extreme wet tires and that the race would commence behind the safety car. For some reason Ferrari decided to start their cars on the intermediate tires (they say they didn't get the memo) but you could right away that at least Massa was having trouble staying on the track. He soon had to come in and get the extreme wets and a couple laps later Kimi had to come in for the same after being threatened with a black flag. So the race started off bad on all accounts for Ferrari, but they were able to fight their way back up once the safety car came in. In the end Hamilton was able to cruise to victory increasing his points lead over Alonso and Raikonnen. Hiekki Kovalainen was able to hold off Raikkonen and finish second, his best result so far in F1. Massa had an exciting last lap battle with Kubica for sixth place and was able to finish just ahead of the Pole. Fernando Alonso ended up crashing about half way through the race when his car aquaplaned and he lost control and hit the wall. At the end of the day the championship standings looked like this. Hamilton 107, Alonso 95 and Raikonnen 90. With two races left it looks like the Championship is Hamilton's to lose.
UPDATE: Later in the week Hamilton was brought under investigation by the steward for his behavior behind the safety car. At one stage of the race he was leading behind the safety car with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in second and third respectively. At one corner, supposedly trying to keep heat in his tires and brakes, he pulled off to the right and slowed down a lot. Thinking he was retiring from the race Vettel watched to see what was happening. Visibility was very low at the time and he ended up running into the back of Webber. After the race Vettel was given a 10 spot grid penalty for the next race. They both blamed Hamilton for erratic driving and causing the accident. After the investigation the stewards released Hamilton of any wrong doing and also retracted the penalty to Vettel.

SC stumbles, then falls to Stanford.

2007-10-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

I have no comment on the game.

If you want some analysis, check out these links:

USC Football News
WeAreSC

Fantasty Update

2007-10-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

This time of year starts to get interesting for fantasy football owners. Injuries are starting to pile up and teams are coming up on their bye weeks, so rosters need to be shuffles and holes filled, but is there anyone out there worth getting? That is the question I have to ask myself since it appears no one in my league wants to trade.
Here are my two big problems: 1) Injuries. Joseph Addai is a little banged up and may not play this week. Odd are in his favor that he does play but there is still the chance he doesn't. Travis Henry is hobbled with a sore ankle and bum knee, but on top of that the NFL is investigating a possible violation of the substance abuse policy that may end up in a 1 year suspension. Those two are the big ones but Anquan Boldin is still hurt so i can't sub him in for an ineffective Steve Smith. Brandon Jacobs lost his starting job when he hurt his knee and now has to fight his way back to starter. And Calvin Johnson sat out the last game with a sore back.
The other big problem is teams having a bye week at the same time. Of all the players on my roster 8 have a bye in week 6. That is HALF my roster that will not play in the same week. So right now I am hustling trying to get backups and trade people before they hit their bye. I think i have it worked out though, so hopefully I can pull off a trade and get a decent receiver. I should be okay in the end.
Last week turned out well. I am currently 4-0, with the only perfect record in my league. Last week it was a little close. I was going up against Kurt for the second time in a row. The teams seemed fairly evenly matched. All my players played Sunday, so by the end of the day I had a 40 point advantage, but he still had two big time players that were playing on Monday night, Carson Palmer and TJ Houshmandzadeh. That duo is definitely capable of putting up 40 points in a night, but they were facing the New England Patriots so I wasn't too worried. Final score was 99 - 84.
Players of the week were Santonio Holmes with 24pts, Joseph Addai with 20 and Dallas Clark with 19. Another disappointing week for Steve Smith who can't seem to get on the same page as new QB David Carr. Hopefully another week of practice will help them out. The Chargers Defense (the Chargers in general) continues to disappoint. They have not been dropped from my roster in favor of the Packers Defense. I have made some other changes as well but I will post up the starting roster Sunday morning once I hear about who's playing and who's not. I face Kyle this week and he is in second place with a 3-1 record. My points total has been dropping as of late but we match up fairly well. It will be an interesting week, let's see who steps up and gets it done.

Trojans do everything but give the game to the Huskies

2007-09-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

Well it is Sunday once again, that means time for the football update. First lets start off with the SC Trojans. I have to say I only saw the first quarter of the game. I was traveling yesterday and forgot to record it. So SC faced the University of Washington Huskies in Seattle. Going in it didn't seem to be a very difficult match up for the Trojans, but the Huskies, led by Ty Willingham and freshman phenom Jake Locker (the west coast Vince Young) are an improving team. The weather was typical Seattle, but the Trojans, unfortunately, were not there typical selves. Although they ended up winning the game 27-24, it almost feels like a loss. In some respects it was a loss, due to more injuries to key players. In one play we lost two offensive linemen, Center Kris O'Dowd with a dislocated knee and Guard Chilo Rachal with a sprained MCL. Fortunately Senior Matt Spanos was cleared earlier this week to play and he was able to step in, but he was a little rusty and botched a snap to JD Booty. CB Shareece Wright also pulled a hamstring and Stafon Johnson got stepped on but should be okay next week. On top of the injuries the Trojans were called for 16 penalties adding up to 161 yards. John David Booty didn't help his Heisman campaign going 20 for 37 for 236 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He later complained that the ball was slippery and he couldn't get a good grip on it.

The only two good things were the defense and the rushing game. The defense put pressure on the QB and after a hard hit on the opening drive by Shareece Wright (for which he was giving a personal foul) he never locked comfortable. As for the running game this was the first time since 2005 that we had to 100 yard rushers in the same game. Stafon Johnson continued to impress with 122 yards and an 8.7 yard average. The other tailback was Chauncey Washington would had 106 yard on 21 carries. They each had a touchdown as well.

Overall we just have to be happy to get out of Husky Stadium with a win. It wasn't pretty but a win is a win and we will take it. The Associated Press apparently saw the game too and decided to vote LSU number one by 2 points. It would be nice to maintain the number one ranking but that isn't too important. We need to prepare for Stanford next week at home. Even though Stanford is 1-3 overall you know that Jim Harbaugh will have the team ready to face the Trojans. We will need some players to step up and fill in for the injured players and we will have to cut back on the penalties. We almost gave one game again, we may be be so lucky again.

Fight On!

Week 3 Starting Line-up

2007-09-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

Here it is. I got a lot of early games so I should jump out to an early lead but you never know how things will end up. Now on to the starting line-up:

QB Vince Young
RB Joseph Addai
RB Travis Henry
WR Calvin Johnson
WR Steve Smith
WR Roy Williams
TE Dallas Clark
DEF Panthers
K Neil Rackers

Here is the starting line-up for the OC Bonecrusher (Kurt's team)

QB Carson Palmer
RB Shaun Alexander
RB Duece McAllister
RB Derrick Ward
WR TJ Houshmanzadeh
WR Chris Chambers
TE Alge Crumpler
DEF Jets
K Jeff Reed

The preview gives Kurt the advantage, but I feel I match up better than that. It will be close but I think overall I have more talent and big plat guys. I am not worried. We'll see how it ends Monday.
Let's hope for the best!

SC blasts Wazzu

2007-09-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

The game plan looked a little different last night when the Trojans faced the Washington St Cougars in the Coliseum. Pete Carroll and Steve Sarkisian came out with a mind to establish the passing game. After an lackluster passing performance last week the Trojans came out throwing. In their opening drive they threw the ball 11 times compared to two runs. John David Booty went 10-11 with a 6 yard pass to Fred Davis for a touchdown on 4th and 2. Most of the passes were quick outs, the ones that didn't go for a lot last year and everyone started to hate, or passes into the flat to the backs or tight end. This time the receivers were able to make some moves and pick up some good yardage, with Patrick Turner doing a good job sliding tackles and picking up a lot of yards after the catch. The next possession was a little more balanced with 4 passes to 3 runs. They were aided by having excellent field position thanks to a 44 yard kick off return by Desmond Reed. In the end the Trojans came out on top 49-14.

This week the focus was on the passing game but the running backs put in a solid performance as has become expected of them. Chauncey Washington, finally at 100%, got the start over Stafon Johnson this week. He also got the bulk of the carries after starting off well in the first quarter. Washington carried the ball 11 times for 84 yards (7.6 average) with a long of 22 and a touchdown. Stafon Johnson continued to impress with 9 carries for 48 yards with a long of 19. Towards the end of the game we were able to get a look at some of the lesser used backs. Joe McKnight say some good action and showed some good moves. He carried the ball 7 times for 48, a lot of that coming after having to make a move first. He had a long of 16 and also returned a punt for 11 yards. CJ Gable saw limited action with only 1 carry and a kick return. Someone I was glad to see get some carried was Hershel Dennis, a sixth year Senior. He got 4 carries for 14 yards.

The offense showed a pretty balanced attack throwing 39 times to 33 rushes. Most of those rushes coming late in the game when the outcome was not in doubt. It was enough to keep the Washington St defense guessing, so much so the Trojans never had to punt the ball! They only faced 4th down 3 times, twice kicking a field goal and once going for it and getting a touchdown. Comparing total yardage for both teams the Trojans logged 507 yards of offense with the Cougars getting 247.

I can't not mention the defense which played their usual nasty selves. They once again controlled the line of scrimmage holding Wash St to 64 yards rushing on 27 attempts. They also put good pressure on senior QB Alex Brink who was only able to get 167 yards on 17 of 31 passes. He was also sacked once by Keith Rivers. The secondary held together and didn't let many balls get behind them. The longest pass went for 44 yards. There were only a couple of negatives from the game on the defensive side, one being the turn over battle. Kyle Moore once again showed athletes ism and speed intercepting another pass this week. There were two other opportunities for the Trojans to intercept the ball but they failed to hang on to it. Granted it was by the 2nd string defenders. The defense failed to force a fumble this week. Counting the 2 interceptions thrown by our offense and we lost the turnover battle. Another point is injuries. Brian Cushing tried to come back and play but had to limp off the field with the ankle still bothering him. Clay Matthews Jr started in his place again despite playing with a soft cast protecting his broken thumb. He was also banged up later in the game giving more playing time to Thomas Williams. Cary Harris also got hurt when he suffered a separated shoulder protecting against a pass in the end zone and landing atop the receiver.

Overall another great game. The offense is really starting to come together and Booty is looking very comfortable with the play calling. A lot of players are getting to touch the ball and contribute. The main stalwarts though are the linemen on both sides of the ball. They don't get a lot of the credit but they are ones making it all possible. The Trojans travel up north next week to face to 2-2 Washington Huskies of Ty Willingham. Even though they started fast the Huskies lost their last two games to Ohio State and UCLA respectively. That does not mean this will be an easy game though. It is never easy to go into Husky stadium and Ty Willingham is a good coach, he will get his players ready. Being the #1 team in the nation means we have a target on our back and every team we play will be bringing their best. We just have to go up to Seattle and keep doing what we do. Go Trojans!

Fight On!

Fantasy Update - Top Scorer of the week!

2007-09-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes. I was top scorer last week. It really wasn't much of a challenge going up against Bensky for the second straight week. I did make some changes to the starting line-up to better take advantage of his weaknesses and lo and behold I score the most points of the week.

Here was the starting line-up, I usually point up the box score but I don't want to embarrass Bensky:

Jay Cutler...............10
Joseph Addai..........14
Travis Henry..........12
Santonio Holmes.....5 - (Bust of the week)
Steve Smith............33 - (MVP)
Roy Williams..........15
Dallas Clark............12
GB Packers DEF....10 - (got the start over the Chargers who scored a big -1)
Neil Rackers...........13

TOTAL................124

It was a good week and the outcome was hardly ever in doubt. I benched the Chargers D since they were going against a high powered New England offense, and I played the Packers D that was going against an injured NY Giants team. The Santonio Holmes start should have paid off but the Steelers got an early learn and started pounding the ball. I am not sure if I will play him this week or not.

Most of my regulars are locks for this week. I am putting VY in since he is going against a weak New Orleans D. I am also looking at another defense; with the Chargers going against pass-happy Green Bay in Green Bay, Favre may be able to take advantage of the poor defensive backfield for San Diego. I will put out the starting line-up later. Let's hope for a good week!

The Highs and Lows of Formula 1

2007-09-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

I wish I had gotten another post out there about the recent events in F1 but I was out of town most of last week and didn't have the chance. I will give a brief overview starting with the race in Monza last week.

The sole GP in Italy this year with San Marino taken off the calendar due to the needed updates and renovation. So Monza is Ferrari's home race as well as the last high speed circuit on the calendar. Every race team prepares special, low-downforce bodywork just for this race. The previous week the teams held a 4 day practice session which was dominated by McLaren, so Ferrari knew that they had their work cut out for them. It didn't get any easier when in Friday practice Raikkonen was braking for a left hander when his car jerked to the right and hit the wall then slid at high speed into the tire barriers. He would be okay though and fit for the race. In Qualifying on Saturday McLaren continued to display their speed and they locked up the front row with Alonso nipping Hamilton for pole. Massa was able to slot into P3 but Heidfeld in P4 split the Ferrari drivers with Raikkonen ending up P5.

In the race things didn't improve much. Massa challenged Hamilton early for 2nd but dove for the pits after only 9 laps. Most thought he was super light on fuel to start the race but after straight-lining a chicane and coming back in it was obvious something was wrong and he ended up retiring. Raikkonen ran a one-stop strategy which paid off by putting him in 2nd after the second round of pits stops but it didn't last long. Hamilton was able to get close and in the braking for the first chicane he dove in deep and stole back 2nd place. There wasn't much Kimi could do since after his crash on Friday his neck was extremely sore and hard for him to hold up his head under heaving braking. He did well to finish P3 with Alonso finishing P1 and Hamilton P2. Heidfeld lead his teammate Kubica home P4 and 5 respectively with Rosberg, Kovalainen and Button rounding out the top 8. Not a good weekend for Ferrari on home soil, especially with Massa's damper issue that forced him to retire and many speculate caused Raikkonen's crash as well. Everyone left hoping Spa would be more kind to Ferrari the next week.

Well next week was today. After being left off the calendar last year for renovations Spa was back this year. One of the favorite tracks of the year for most drivers most commented that the changes took some of the challenge out of it. They also complained of the very narrow pit entrance. That wouldn't effect the racing though. Coming into the weekend Ferrari were confident that the higher downforce requirements of Spa would give them an advantage. In practice McLaren still showed a slight gap but Ferrari was definitely closer. In free practice Saturday before qualifying Raikkonen showed the pace of the Ferrari and finished fastest. It would be a suspenseful qualifying. Raikkonen won the last two races here while he was with McLaren and he wasn't going to let being in a new car change his results. The usual suspects made their way to Q3 with Hamilton leading the Ferrari's out of the pits at the start of the session. He got caught snoozing going up Eau Rouge and Massa was able to get around him and pace the fuel burn off stage. He was also the first to log a fast lap on sticky tires when he claimed P1 with a couple minutes remaining. His time held for a little with Hamilton not able to beat it, but it was soon bettered by his teammate Raikkonen. Alonso came in last and just a little short as he ended up P3. This was to be the first time both Ferraris started the race side by side. They are followed by the two McLarens then Kubica, who will have to move back 10 spots due to an engine change. Rosberg got P6 followed by Heidfeld, Webber, Trulli and Kovalainen rounding out the top 10. Raikkonen mentioned a weird feelininf in the rear, could those dampers be acting up again? Would it effect the race?

No. Raikkonen lead from start to finish as both Ferraris were dominant and never really challenged by the McLarens. Massa was able to gain on Raikkonen a little in the last stint but still finished about 4 seconds back. Alonso led Hamilton home P3 and 4 with Heidfeld a distant 5th ahead of Rosberg and Webber. Kovalainen had to hold off Kubica to earn the last point in P8. The win for Ferrari sealed the Constructors Championship for them thanks to the World Motor Sport Council decision that I will explain about in the next post. They only needed to finish 6 points ahead of BMW to lock it up and they did. As it stands in the Driver's Championship Hamilton leads with Alonso only 2 points down and Raikkonen down 13. Massa is 20 behind Hamilton with only 3 races remaining. There is still a chance for a Ferrari driver to win the championship but it will be tough. You can guarantee that that they will fight to the finish.

Next race will be the GP of Japan on the Fuji circuit that most drivers have never seen. Should lead to some exciting racing!

Trojans shuck the Cornhuskers

2007-09-16T17:48:00.000-07:00

The final score doesn't convey the dominance that the #1 ranked USC Trojans exerted on the Nebraska Cornhuskers. We definitely saw more from the offense in this game with some great looks thrown in. The Trojans started out great with a opening drive. Started from their own 4, they drive the length of the field in 4 plays, scoring on 5 yard pass to Stanley Havili. That was one of the great looks, Stanley Havili. Forced to sit out all last year after breaking his leg in the first game, Havili showed why we missed him so much. In this game he caught 3 balls for 22 yards and had 2 carries for 52 yards. That doesn't look like a ton of yards, but having a fullback that can run hard and make catches, opens a new crease to the playbook that we lacked last year. Look for Havili to continue to impress.

Another great look was the running game in general. We are able to gain gain 313 yards on the ground which really helped out a passing game that never really got going. C.J. Gable started for the second game in a row, but the star was Stafon Johnson. Carrying the ball 11 times Stafon gained 144 yards for a 13.1 yards per carry average! I have to admit to being impressed by Stafon. He doesn't seem to have the quickness of Gable or moves of McKnight, but he has great vision. We have to give credit to the offensive line that opened some pretty big holes for the back to run through. We also need to give a high five to Kris O'Dowd who did a great job starting in his second career game ever and first road game. Another high five goes to Sark for opening the playbook a little and getting a lot of people involved including Fred Davis who led all receivers.

John David Booty had a decent game going 19 of 30 for 144 and 2 touchdowns. Most of the passes where short with the longest going for 21 yard but David Ausberry doing a lot of the work. Without the running game this win wouldn't have been so easy. Patrick Turner, who was the heir apparent to Dwayne Jarrett didn't show any flash or pop. He only had 3 catches for 24 yards and drop that fell out of his hands. I have never been impressed by PT and if he doesn't step up Ausberry or Hazelton will have to. Another player that failed to impress was Joe McKnight, the top recruit with Reggie Bush-like moves. Something else he has in the inability to hang on to the ball, losing the only fumble (although there 5 total fumbles for the team). Mark Sanchez got in for the last possession but was only charged with handing the ball off although he did cough it up once but recovered it.

The defense showed a little life with the front line and linebackers holding the Cornhuskers to a total of 31 yards rushing on 28 carries. They also got a sack on Sam Keller. Kyle Moore had a big game tipping a pass that caused an interception then later intercepting one himself and returning it to the 1. Both lead to Trojan touchdowns. The secondary did look a little porous. Sam Keller went 36 of 54 for 389 yards and 2 touchdowns. The defense did hold Nebraska to only 10 points through three quarters before giving up 21 in the fourth when the game was way out of reach. For the most part it was a great game that solidified the Trojans as the #1 team in the nation. Aside from some additional work with the secondary we don't have many weaknesses.

Up next we face 2-1 Washington State at the Coliseum. Wash St is on a two game win streak and beat Idaho 45-28 yesterday. It would not be a good idea to underestimate this team. If we keep running the ball it will open the passing game if the receivers can step up. The Cougars have put up 45 in their last 2 games with 307 yards passing against Idaho. They will once again test the secondary. Lets see if the Hit Squad can't put some pressure on Alex Brink. It will for sure be another good game.

Fight On!

Fantasy Football Update

2007-09-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

WOW, What a close week! I went into the weekend feeling pretty good about my line-up. Joseph Addai had a good game on Thursday when the Colts handled the Saints. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to watch any games on Sunday. My family had a family reunion so I spent the day with the fam. When I got home that night I checked the stats things looked pretty good. I was down a little with a couple players playing on Monday night. I had some pretty good output from most of my players, however there was one player whose output was surprisingly low. Brandon Jacobs of the New York Giants logged a total of 2 points. Not what you would have expected from a starting running back. Turns out he injured his knee and will out a couple weeks. By the end of Sunday I was down 13 to Bensky with 3 guys playing Monday. I was fairly confident that I would come out on top. Well Monday rolls around and I happen to be in Indiana for work. I catch most of the 49ers - Cardinals game and thing aren't looking too good. Neither team is playing very well. Alex Smith doesn't seem to be able to get any passes to Vernon Davis and Leinart didn't look comfortable all not and can't get Anguan Boldin many balls. Rackers was able to get a field goal and an extra point before I had to head back to my hotel. There was about 7 minutes left in the 4th when I got back to my room and not a minute later Anquan Boldin catches a touchdown pass. That and Rackers' extra point were enough to put me on top. I was able to pull out the 1 point win, 102-101, even with Vernon Davis laying the goose egg. What a relief. Here is the scoring

My Team Bensky
Jay Cutler.......... 15___ Peyton Manning...... 23
Joseph Addai...... 19___ Laurence Maroney.. 7
Travis Henry...... 17___ Marion Barber ....... 14
Brandon Jacobs... 2___ Adrian Peterson ...... 22
Steve Smith........ 17__ Andre Johnson ........ 18
Anquan Boldin..... 9___ Muhsin Mohammad.. 0
Vernon Davis....... 0 __ Chris Cooley ............. 1
Chargers Defense 18__ Broncos Defense ....... 5
Neil Rackers........ 5___ Adam Vinatieri ........ 11

TOTAL .............. 102 ________________ 101

As you can see I probably shouldn't have won, but I did and I don't care how I did it. But I can't just accept this performance. Week 2 is tomorrow and I have made some big changes. I haven't finalized the roster yet so I will post it when I do. I have Bensky again and he will put up a fight. Should be good!

The Rush of Racing

2007-09-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

I meant to update this sooner, but it is harder than I thought to take the time to write a post.

As I specified in my mission statement, this blog will cover racing and football. Well, I have covered some of the football, but not much of the racing. It is 7:41 in the morning and I am watching Formula 1 Qualifying for the Belgian Gran Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. There are a lot of new developments in F1 including the results from the Gran Prix at Monza and a historical World Motor sport Council hearing, but I think I will wait until after the race tomorrow and dedicate a full post to F1.

Last weekend, where has this week gone?, I went up to Willow Springs Race Complex in Rosamond California. There is not much out there but Willow springs is a great complex with 3 different tracks all using the great natural terrain for some elevation change. This weekend I was out with the Porsche Owner's Club (POC) for a Driver's Clinic. In the POC you must obtain a competition license to compete for points in the various events. The entry level of competition is the Short Track Series (STS) which is basically a Time Trail event set-up for novices so that they can work with an instructor and gain experience to move up to the actual Time Trial events. To obtain your STS license it is necessary to participate in 3 STS events and a Driver's Clinic. Since most STS events are at the Streets of Willow track, a shorter more technical track, the Driver's Clinic was also held at the Streets.

Before the event it is mandatory to have a tech inspection done on the car. I take mine to Black Forest Motor sports, a POC authorized tech station. I also flushed my brake fluid since the current fluid had about 9 months and 10-12 track days on it. I put in ATE Super Blue Race fluid. With everything ready to go I drove up to my parents house in Fullerton where I spent the night and drove up to Willow Springs that next morning. As I mentioned before this event was a Driver's Clinic and the purpose was to help novice drivers learn about technique and car control. The students were split into 3 groups, each of which would rotate through different instruction session. I being in group "C" starting the training with a tech session where we covered a lot of basic track etiquette, the different flags, passing zones and driver positioning within the car. The next session we were able to do some laps with a couple instructors in SUVs to see the "racing line." We also had the opportunity to get out at various corners to walk the track and talk about corner entry and exit and pick landmarks to help us find these points, very helpful. The last session was on the skip pad. This allows you to learn how your car behaves at the limit and how to use the throttle to steer the car. The skip pad is large concrete area with cones set up in a large circle, when driving around it you do sort of an oval, coming in tight at two points but going wide at the other two. By making the oval you are able to get more speed on the short straights so that when you turn in and let off the throttle ideally it should loosen the rear end since the weight transfers forward, this is called oversteer. I had a little trouble with this part, largely due to the fact that my car is so balanced, but it didn't want to break the rear wheels loose. This exercise is infinitely easier in a rear drive Porsche that has so much weight over the rear axle. I tried to add a couple pounds to the rear tires but it didn't help a lot. Finally I had to resort to using the handbrake. Not the ideal method but useful in helping me learn. Although I was able to save a couple spins, I did lose it once. I needed to control the loose condition better and use the throttle to help the rears gain traction again.
All in all the sessions were very helpful and gave us the opportunity to learn more about our cars and the track. After lunch we were finally able to get some track time. Due to the fact that we didn't have corner workers we were told to drive at 7/10th and to not pass. That resulted in some slow laps and plenty of traffic, but it also allowed us to work on our line. For 2 of the three sessions I had an instructor with me. It is helpful to get their input on the "line" and places for improvement. I had previously done 4 track days here so I knew the line fairly well. My second instructor had me doing it a little differently though. I don't know what he normally drove but I didn't feel that it was the best line for my car. I think it did help to learn a different way and now I can use some of those ideas the next time out. Before we knew it the day had come to an end. Normally for an event they have an awards ceremony but since this was just a clinic we had a little get together and had some drink. It was a great day, I learned some valuable tips for the track and had fun. I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday.

Fantasy Football!

2007-09-07T09:29:00.000-07:00

The NFL season has just gotten started and with it comes the ever popular Fantasy Football Leagues. I heard yesterday on NPR that something like 30 million people participate in fantasy sports or something and that number could very well be a lot higher than that. This year a my group of buddies from college decided to start our own league. Most of us had never done this before and we all figured it would be a good way to stay in touch while giving us a reason to watch more football. We had our live draft last Saturday night at 10:30pm and picked our teams. I had thrown together a draft board ranking the players and I think I did fairly well, but as we go into the later rounds I think I got a little flustered and made some bad picks. Here is how my draft played out:

1. Joseph Addai, RB, Indianapolis Colts
2. Steve Smith, WR, Carolina Panthers
3. Travis Henry, RB, Denver Broncos
4. Roy Williams, WR, Detroit Lions
5. Brandon Jacobs, RB, NY Giants
6. Vince Young, QB, Tennesee Titans
7. Anquan Boldin, WR, Arizona Cardinals
8. Vernon Davis, TE, SF 49ers
9. SD Chargers Defense
10. Jay Cutler, QB, Denver Broncos
11. Calvin Johnson, WR, Detroit Lions
12. Dallas Clark, TE, Indianapolis Colts
13. Neil Rackers, K, Arizona Cardinals
14. Mike Furrey, WR, Detriot Lions
15. Ted Ginn Jr, WR, Miami Dolphins
16. JJ Arrington, RB, Arizona Cardinals

Since then I have made a couple changes. I waived JJ Arrington and picked up TJ Duckett. I also dropped Mike Furrey (I didn't need 3 Detriot Lions WRs) and I added Santonio Holmes, WR from the Pittsburgh Steelers. I will see how Ted Ginn does but I am thinking of dropping him too.

Here is my starting line-up for this week:
QB Jay Culter
RB Joseph Addai
RB Travis Henry
RB Brandon Jacob *
WR Steve Smith
WR Anquan Boldin
TE Vernon Davis
DEF SD Chargers
K Neil Rackers

I feel pretty comfortable about this. Joseph Addai had a good game last night agains the New Orleans Saints. But I am going up against my buddy Bensky and he has Peyton Manning who put up some big numbers last night. Looks like it will be an interesting season!

*UPDATE (9/07/07, 5:32p)- I took out Roy Williams and put in Brandon Jacobs. I don't know how the Lions will fair against a top rated defense like the Raiders

USC's NOT blow-out of Idaho

2007-09-03T20:56:00.001-07:00

First game of the season is in the books and I have to admit USC did not look very impressive. Okay, they won the game 38-10 but they were playing the Idaho Vandals, IDAHO a Div 1-AA school! I know you are all saying, well look at Appalachian State, they beat 5th ranked Michigan. Well Michigan shouldn't have been ranked 5th, Lloyd Carr needs to be replaced and Appalachian State was the Div 1-AA champs, not that that means much. But this is USC, they were favored to win by 46, and granted the outcome was never in doubt thanks to 2 quick scoring drives, most people expected more, I expected more. I am not too worried about the offense so much. JD Booty had a good game, threw for 206 yards and completed 65% of his passes with one interception. He also tossed 3 touchdowns, one to Vidal Hazelton who made a fantastic one-handed grab. The tailbacking corp looked decent. C.J. Gable had some nice carries. Stafon Johnson showed some good moves as he tries to earn a spot in the rotation and top recruit Joe McKnight showed why he has been compared to Reggie Bush, although he did cough up the ball once. The receivers were without Patrick Turner who got a stinger in practice after a hard hit from Rey Maualuga. Aforementioned Vidal Hazelton along with David Ausberry were able to fill in and do a respectable job. It was great to see Stanley Havili back who broke his leg at the beginning of the season last year and was a medical redshirt. The offense did struggle at times with the 90,000+ crowd on hand booing them after the had to punt on two consecutive drives in the second quarter. They were also unable to score in the fourth .

We new they offense would put up points and they have a lot of new players including freshman center Kristofer O'Dowd who did a good job replacing All-American Ryan Kalil. The big surprise, for me at least, was on the defensive side. With 10 returning starters from one of the nation's best defenses last year I expected USC to destroy Idaho. Yet they were able to move the ball with a freshman quarterback and a freshman running back, Deonte Jackson, who ran for 99 yards. We were only able to record 2 sacks (one on the second string qb) and force 1 fumble while turning the ball over ourselves 3 times (2 int's and 1 fumble). So much for making an effort to force more turnovers. We also needed to resort to the blitz to get pressure on the quarterback. A low point happened early in the game when Brian Cushing suffered a low ankle sprain. Clay Matthews III was able to do a good job filling in for him. The diagnosis is a low ankle sprain, and with two weeks until the next game he should be ready to go. The defense need to work harder on getting pressure on the qb because the next game will be against Nebraska and the west coast offense of Bill Callahan with recent ASU transfer Sam Keller throwing the ball.

Hopefully in these next two weeks we can get people healthy and get ready for the Cornhuskers. It should be a tough match up, even more so since it will be in Lincoln. I know we have the talent to win, we just need to put it all together and play 4 quarters of football. I can't wait.

Fight On!

Since you wanted to know...

2007-09-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

what goes on inside my head this blog will cover about 55% of it. The remaining 45% can be split up between the Lakers, Fashion and other miscellaneous thoughts that we won't go into. Basically this blog will cover Formula 1 and any other important events in the world of racing, with limited, if any, coverage of NASCAR. It will also cover my exploits as I endeavor to get into competitive racing. That is the part related to race fuel, the pigskin part will contain my expert analysis and any current events regarding the USC Trojans football program in their quest for another national championship. It will not be up to the second coverage, for that you can check out Scott Wolf's blog for The Daily News here. I will also include updates on my fantasy football team. I am in a league with a bunch of my college buddies. A lot of us are first timers so it should be interesting. We had our live draft the other night and I will put the info on my team up soon.

So is anyone going to read this? I don't know. If you do, I hope you like it. So thanks for stopping by, and stay classy.