Back then there the “characters” were still around NASCAR too, because it hadn’t become corporate. It was easy for me to root for a guy like Darryl Waltrip, because he was still winning a couple of races each year. He had that awesome Western Auto Chevy running around (after the Tide #17 which I thought was great too). There were tons of Dale Earnhardt fans around. There were names like Sterling Marlin and even Dick Trickle that made the whole experience a lot of fun. But, as I grew up, so did NASCAR and it became more and more corporate.

When I went to Talladega for the first time, there was still a June race and July race. It was perfect to head up there since I was on summer vacation from school and my Dad could take the time off. It was easy to make a week of the trip when leaving from Naples. We’d meet up with some of my father’s police friends from CT, and head to the middle of nowhere Alabama for the races. We’d hit up Zinn Park for some autographs, and the awful Courthouse Cafe in Anniston, where’d they’d be out of whatever I tried to order. At the end of the day it was always a fun time. However, the last time I went to a race (Daytona 500 about 5 years ago), it was obviously corporate, obvious about product promotion and most obviously no longer about the common fan.

I always respected NASCAR because they were about consistency and not about the most wins. What other major sport could have a champion with the best “average” but not the most wins? None. It was refreshing. The cars looked like cars (sort of) and the fans were normal. Then NASCAR got the hair brained idea to change some things to keep fans interested when the NFL returns in the fall. What a horrible idea. They threatened the characters with fines and point reductions. They changes the cars too much. They changed point system. They sold out to major networks that don’t cover the races as well. They started having 3 hour “pregame” shows.

I might start watching it again, if they deliver on what’s promised. Supposedly, the drivers are allowed to have some personality again, and we’ll see how the new / old spoiler works out on the Car of Tomorrow. But so far, I haven’t seen enough of it to judge if the new OLD NASCAR is worth my time.

To win back my time they’d have to accomplish everything on this list:

• Change the point system back to the old one, where consistency is rewarded over the entire season.
• Let the characters be “characters” within reason. I’m not asking for Days of Thunder, but there was a reason why Dale Earnhardt was so popular, you loved him or hated him. There was no in between. I need guys that I can both root for during a race AND root against if my driver is out.
• Stop trying to compete with the NFL. Racing is racing, the NFL is America’s most popular sport. NASCAR should be happy with its niche.
• Go back to racing on a lot of southern short tracks. Remember North Wilkesboro? Races like that are where NASCAR was at it’s most popular and best. The short tracks make for fun, and relatively safe bump and grind racing.
• Make Sprint Cup the Majors, and Nationwide the Minors. That’s it, you get to be in one of them, not both on the same weekend. It’s not like a baseball player in Triple A can play in the majors at the same time too.
• Get rid of the green / white / checker crap. The race is 400 / 500 /600 miles long. Not 502. Not 504. Fans of the sport understand if a race finishes under caution.

What a nice early 6th birthday present from Mom & Dad.

Their points:

1. FSU Football gets X amount of dollars from the Boosters
2. FSU Academics doesn’t get that money from the Boosters / Alumni
3. FSU Academics isn’t getting that from the Florida Legislature either
4. Professors making $80,000 aren’t getting raises, so they leave for greener pastures
5. The only way to facilitate change is for everyone to push money towards FSU

The arguments are horribly, horribly flawed.

First and foremost the football team has nothing to do with FSU Academics. I bet that most people don’t worry about donating back to FSU Academic programs because of a few reasons. Either they don’t use their degree so they don’t donate back to a program that hasn’t done much for their career, they choose to put their charity money elsewhere or as in my case their program disappeared (MIS was merged into Management at the College of Business). The football team is completely outside of whether or not FSU Academics are up to par.

Looking at point #4, it’s rather hard for me to be sympathetic to professors that make $80,000 here in Tallahassee. Boo hoo for you. One of my favorite professor in college could be considered a victim of the brain drain at FSU. He chose to leave for the University of Michigan after I graduated. He chose to make more money there, but he also chose to live in Ann Arbor and deal with those winters. Money isn’t the only reason to teach or not teach at FSU. It’s only part of a problem.

On top of that, the Democrat’s editorial missed the biggest point in it’s argument that FSU Academics needs money like FSU Football. Look at the numbers folks, FSU Football does MORE with LESS than most highly competitive Division I football teams in the nation. While $1.8 million to Jimbo Fisher might look like a lot, it’s a whole lot less than Urban Meyer gets paid at the University of Florida. Sure we can all argue about HOW the Booster money is spent at FSU and if it could be used more efficiently, but the point still remains that it’s unrelated to the Academic money.

If change is to happen at FSU, there needs to be a clear vision of the future. That is the ultimate problem. There’s been growth at FSU for the last decade, expansion, divergent ideas, but as an alumnus I have no idea about the final vision for FSU. Perhaps the new FSU president will accomplish that. Maybe FSU is happy being a good undergraduate value, or maybe it wants to be a new Harvard. I have no idea, but it’s up to the “Academics” there to figure that out, promote that to the alumni and push the local and state government to help them achieve that vision. Bringing the FSU Athletic programs into the argument wastes time and energy that would be better used getting Tallahassee to accept controlled growth (much like Austin, TX) and move on from being a solely government based economy. Leadership is always the problem at most institutions and companies, if FSU solves that THEN we can have a “better” FSU.

Things they need to do:

• Trade Jose Reyes for a bunch of young talent
• Consider Carlos Delgado lost to the ages and start hunting for a power hitting first baseman
• Give up on Oliver Perez
• Trade Pedro Feliciano while he’s worth something in the market
• Replace Brian Schneider
• Consider replacing Jerry Manuel at the end of the season

Why Jose Reyes? Because he’s worth a lot in the market, and I’ve never liked how he blends with the team. He’s a great player, I’d just like him to be a great player somewhere else.

Why Carlos Delgado? He’s too old and too injured, and Daniel Murphy isn’t the answer at first base for the Mets. Murphy was supposed to be in the lineup for his bat, but at .242 he’s not worth the defensive liability right now.

Ollie Perez is always Ollie Perez. He looks like he has the stuff for an inning or two, but never puts it all together. Let him be someone else’s problem.

Pedro Feliciano? Don’t get me wrong, I love Pedro, but I think he’s good trade bait right now where the Mets can get a lot of players for the future for him.

I say “consider” because Jerry couldn’t have predicted all of these injuries.  I’m just not sure that the “Zen Master” managing philosopy works in NY.

Go check out Block-C.com. They have an obsession with Willy Korn that is so fun, even I now believe in Willy Korn.

But in reality, it’s been rough to be a Mets / Jets fan… for the Jets fans… we had to watch a Giants – Patrios Super Bowl… and now as the Mets fan I had to watch the Phillies win the World Series. Lovely.

Anyway, the more I look at sports blogs in general (and more heavily many Seminoles blogs out there) I’m getting more and more disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that ScalpEm.com is the end all be all of FSU blogs, but all too often the other places I look, I get more of the same. More reader mailbags, more game summations, more drive summaries, etc. etc. I can read all of that in a whole bunch of places to begin with, ESPN, Yahoo, Warchant.com, etc. I want something different from a blog.

Andrew Carter is getting the idea. His Orlando Sentinel blog is like the bonus footage from a DVD. It’s behind the scene, or extra stuff that doesn’t make it to the full on production (his articles in the Sentinel) but for a major fan it’s fun reading. He also uses it to get information out ahead of the traditional print, since that wait would make it old news in many cases.

FSUncensored Tomahawk Nation should stick with the “stats” guys. It looked promising as FSUncensored, and I’m sure they’re very enthusiastic over there about the new digs. Congrats on that guys. SB Nation is a good place to start. But, I get the feeling that they’re falling into the trap of doing what everyone else does. Q&A, mailbag, drive summaries, etc. That’s everywhere, even Andrew Carter is considering a mailbag.

Block-C is another example of a great blog in my opinion. It’s different. Why? They mix the funny and the serious, but they present Clemson football in a different way than most. It’s not meant to be hard hitting commentary all the time, but it is when the situation calls for it.

I guess my big question is, what is everyone’s ultimate goal here? If it’s to make money, then the Seminole bloggers should unite under a common site. If it’s for personal pleasure then status quo is good. But, I often wonder why there aren’t some fresh angles out there? All the chatter is starting to sound the same to me after 4+ years of doing this.

Sorry guys… I might not have made the difference last night, in fact probably not but I wish I could have been there!

Watching an RBI Baseball reenactment of it with the announcers dubbed on it.

In other news, softball practices for rec league have started. Yay!