The Price is Right: Ted's Indy 500 Preview

My brother-in-law Ted is back with, as promised, a look into the Greatest Spectacle in Sports (is that what they call it), the Indy 500. As usual, I will be heading out there tomorrow for the events, highlighted by the auction/boozefest at my brother-in-law Larry's house tomorrow night. So without further ado, here's Ted....
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In May 2000, my girlfriend (now wife) brought me to her hometown of Indianapolis to meet her family. Among the many items on the agenda that weekend was attending my first Indy 500. Now, admittedly, I had zero interest in car racing. Never followed it. Never watched it.
I thought it quite inane - what with all the left turns and everything. But hey, when in Indianapolis.... Everything about the Indy Motor Speedway is big. There are 250-300,000 people in the stands and if you look at the grandstands opposite you on the track, they are a mile away! Even the kitch-factor is high: Jim Nabors AND Florence Henderson sing! C'mon - it doesn't get any better than that! (Editor's note: That's me, Dils, second from left in both pictures in the blue hat!)











Just before the green flag dropped, my soon-to-be-brother-in-law Bob leaned over to me and said. "I wish I could be you right now. You are about to experience something you've never experienced before." Then, I heard it - the high-pitched whine of 33 engines revving to full throtle. Then, I saw it - 33 high powered machines screaming around turn one racing to turn two. Then, I felt it - 33 Indy cars zipping by at 220 miles per hour. It has been a hard sensation to describe until last year when I brought my mom to the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing," and as soon as all 33 cars passed us for the first time, she turned to me and said, "I can't catch my breath!"

Since then, I have been hooked. Not just on the 500, but on the Indy Racing League in general. My favorite driver: Sam Hornish, Jr. Mostly because when I first started watching IRL races his bright yellow car was easy to pick out, and he won a lot - so that didn't hurt. He has since signed with Penske Racing which is kinda like routing for the Yankees, but still, Sam's my guy. There is nothing else like it. The speeds are incredible and the strategy intense.
And they have changed my views on the whole "are race car drivers athletes?" debate. When you are going 3-wide around a corner at 200+ mph knowing that if you touch, you are out (unlike that bumper car league), that takes a lot of skill and a lot of strength.

This year's 500 mile race is intriguing mostly because every team and every driver is using the exact same Honda engine. This creates what the NFL likes to call parity (others call it mediocrity), but in theory, now more than ever, it's about the driver and the team behind him or her. For most of the month, the attention has been on Team Penske - this year's pole sitter Hornish and two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, and Target Chip Ganassi Racing - last year's winner Dan Wheldon (that's right, Danica did NOT win the 500) and former IRL champion Scott Dixon. And for good reason. Those four drivers have been the fastest all month and occupy the top four positions on the starting grid. But the great thing about Indy is that not everything goes according to script. Last year, Wheldon started 16th and worked his way up to win. in 2002, Scott Sharp started on the pole then proceeded to wreck on the first lap of the race.

With that in mind, here are a few other drivers who have a chance to ruin the Penske/Ganassi Coronation:

Vitor Meira - he came in second last year - in fact, he came in second A LOT last year and is way past due. Panther Racing isn't as big or flush with cash as they used to be, but they still have the talent in the garage to pull off the victory.

Tomas Scheckter - I don't think anyone has led more laps at Indy without ever finishing a race. He has a reputation of being a little reckless on the track especially in traffic, but over 500 miles, you need to have that delicate balance between patience and taking chances.

Tony Kanaan - last year's pole sitter is the one driver in the field that you can never count out. He could start 33rd and you would still have to put money on him winning the race. He seems to find his way through traffic, and he has the best re-starts in the league.

Also, don't be surprised if teammates Scott Sharp and Kosuke Matsuura make some noise. They've been running well all month and have quietly qualified in the top 10.

If you are looking for a Rookie of the Year - all the attention is on Michael's son and Mario's grandson Marco Andretti - he did qualify 9th. But he has only finished one race all year. I would look at Townsend Bell. He's been a winner in the Indy minor leagues and I have a little more faith in Vision Racing at this point than I do with Andretti Green Racing (never would have said that a year ago).

And, if you are like us and enjoy betting on who will be the first out of the race, you can't go wrong with Foyt or Luyendyk (that's Larry and Arie, Jr. by the way).

A word about Danica - we saw Dils comments earlier in the week about her, and I would respectfully disagree with some of his points. Yes, she is with a strong team, but I also think she has the talent to be in the field. I don't think she is some gimmick the Rahal Letterman team cooked up to help them out sponsor-wise. I do agree she needs to win something - anything - to justify all the attention, and she acknowledges that. I am more interested in her teammate Buddy Rice this year. He did not get a chance to defend his title last year because of a crash during a practice session - so he will be out to prove something.

The Indy 500 is on every sports fan's list of things to experience before they die list. And it is unlike anything else you will ever see - race fan or not. At the very least, catch a little on TV. You will see more highs and lows, more out of it then back in it again more compelling storylines than in just about any other sporting event out there. You may not become a fanatic, but you will want to watch again next year.

Jolly Chollie

So the Phillies lost in 16 innings last night, when Jolly Chollie strengthened his bid to be unemployed by October by throwing a relief pitcher in there for OVER 100 pitches. I know Madson was used as a starter earlier in the year, but he has not made a start in almost three weeks, and there is no way his arm (or his abilities) were good enough for Chollie to throw him out there for an eighth straight inning. Hell, he never went that long as a strater for cyring out loud.

Coming Thursday: Indy 500 preview

Some Predictions for the Weekend

• Barbaro will win the Preakness, and will then go on to win the Triple Crown. The Preakness will not be close (5+ lengths), and once the horse wins the Belmont and wins the first Crown since Affirmed in 1978 (I am still amazed Spectacular Bid and Afleet Alex, the two most dominant horses since 1978, did not complete the feat), horse racing will get a nice shot in the arm in popularity, which is important since most fans of the Sport of Kings are about as old as Fish was in the old Barney Miller re-runs.
• The Dallas Mavericks will win tonight and close out the Wolrd Champion Spurs in 6 games. That is, of course, unless David Stern decides he really does not like Mark Cuban and has Dick Bavetta ref the game for him.
• In other series, Detroit will make LeBron wait a little longer for more playoff success and win games 6 & 7, while Phoenix will win their game 7 for the second time against an LA team this playoff season.
• Look for Carolina and Edmonton, that's right, Edmonton, to meet for the Cup. Michael Peca is just a winner, period.
• As mentioned earlier in the week, Sam Horish, Jr. will win the pole at Indianapolis, and Danica Patrick will get the most attention.

Have a great weekend everyone. I will try to post Sunday as I am out Monday and Tuesday...

Bronx Bomber 30-Day Look Ahead, Charlie Manual Opinion, the NBA, and Danica Patrick

The New York Yankees overcame two nine-run deficits (that’s right, they were behind by 9 runs, which is a lot) to beat Texas 14-13 last night. They did this despite getting a horrific start from Shawn Chacon, who has been their best starter over the past 100+ games for this team, and despite their formerly untouchable closer Mo Rivera giving up the go ahead run in the top of the 9th (when a team fights back from a big deficit, take the lead, and then fall behind again, they almost always lose). The Yanks have been shaky all year long, their starting pitching has been abominable (especially Randy Johnson, who is pitching can be compared to a gallon of milk out in 100 degree heat for six hours, in other words, not good), their closer has been human, their left and right fielders have missed significant time, and their third baseman is playing defense like it is October and not May. But they somehow won this game. They are 22-15 now. This will propel this team to a 23-7 run over the next 30 games. You mark my words, in five weeks this team will be 45-22. You heard it here first. Then you can tell people Dils called this on his blog before it happened when Fox Sports does a retrospective of the first half of the year and they point to May 16th as they day that turned the Bronx Bombers season around.

Speaking of the Yanks, has anyone besides Mr. Stitzer noticed that Derek Jeter is having far and away his best season of his first ballot Hall of Fame career (note: you know I do not throw HOF inductions around lightly, but this guy is my FIRST CHOICE for the Hall of Fame among ALL ACTICVE PLAYERS, including Clemens, Maddux, Johnson, Bonds (only because he cheated), A-Fraud, and Pujols; if you care to debate this, I would be more than happy to, just let me know)….

The Phils dropped a game for the 2nd time in 15 games last night. I attribute this loss to two main factors. First, they ran into a graduate of Duke University toeing the opposing mound. That is right, a rarity, a professional baseball player from Duke. And a good one. So what can you do there? Second, Jolly Chollie Manual had to make a decision for one of the few times in the past couple weeks, and of course it basically costs the Phillies the game. When the game was tied 2-2 in the 9th inning, the Brewers had their closer in the game, while the Phillies, coming off a day off yesterday, had their, best case scenario, fourth best reliever in the game. You have Rheal Cormier, who has yet to give up a run all season, plus your set up man and closer, and you go with Ryan Freaking Franklin. That would be like George W. Bush going to Iraq and telling the soldiers that even though guns were available, we were going to fight the war with knives only. Now you know if I am making a negative comparison to GWB what I think of Jolly Chollie…..

The NBA playoffs are going on right now. It seems as though there are some close games and series going on. If I cared about the NBA as much as I care about watching paint dry, I might be able to comment on the playoffs with some level of insight. However, it seems as though the NBA product is now more unwatchable than The New Adventures of Old Christine.

Did anyone buy that new Edwin McCain record I recommended, Lost in America (http://www.edwin.com/). If not, go buy it, it rocks!

Has there ever been more of a win-win trade than Jim Thome for Aaron Rowand. Ever? I am serious with this question.

I know I said I do not care about the NBA, but I do like reality television. I would watch every episode (maybe even re-runs) of a reality show involving the New York Knicks. I really want to know whether Isiah Thomas has pictures of one of the Dolans (the Knicks owners), or whether Marbury has something on Isiah, or if Isiah took an IQ test, whether he would actually score a negative number. Based on some of his writings in the past, I know the Sports Guy Bill Simmons would support this idea. I think it would be a ratings bonanza. You know ABC would run it, their ratings cannot get any worse….

Look for Sam Hornish, Jr. to capture the pole this week at Indianapolis. Look for him to win the race as well. My brother-in-law Ted will be happy if I am right (and look for an Indy 500 preview from him next week). Speaking of Indy car racing, I am ready to officially go out on a limb and say that despite having a very funny ESPN commercial with Dan Patrick, Danica Patrick is the most over-rated driver in the IRL or Nascar. By far. She has the best equipment money can buy, the best team that can be assembled, great car owners, and she is nothing more than average. If she were on a mediocre team, she would be near the bottom of the barrel. I know this is not the popular opinion right now, but this girl is getting all this credit because she is an attractive girl, and for that reason only. She cannot drive well. Period. And yes that means you should open an online gambling account and put all the money you can on her to win Indy!

Note: picture courtesy of www.espn.com

Phils Looked Classic Philly Last Night, the Cole Hamels era is IN, the Peter Forsberg era is OUT...PLUS, an American Idol Tidbit

In typical Philadelphia sports fashion, they get you high on excitement and then knock you down hard. After winning nine in a row, I was excited to watch the Phils go for a double digit win streak for the first time in at least 15 years against the 78-year old Tom Glavine and the Mets last night. After dinner out with the family and some bedtime stories for the kids, I turned on the game, hoping that the Phils might have edged ahead by a run or two. 10-0 Mets. The good news was that Bobby Abreu was in the process of earning an all important walk. Bottom line: Phils are back to where they started this series, but with all momentum from the nine gamer gone in the wind. They need to immediately get back on the horse and win the rubber game tonight. This is an important start early in the year for a young kid like Gavin Floyd, who is going up against the also 78-year old (i.e., savvy veteran) Steve Trachsel).

Speaking of the Philberts, they called up Cole Hamels yesterday. This kid has a chance to be a bonfide #1 starter. The Hamels era begins Friday in Cincinnati. Look for him to be in the rookie of the year conversation this year. His stuff is electric, and was was virtually unhittable in Triple A. As long as he stays out of bar fights (he broke his hand in one two years ago), this kid could be amazing.

While Philadelphia ushers in one superstar, one other is in bad shape. Peter Forsberg needs ligament surgery on both ankles, and will miss half of the regular season next year. For a guy who when healthy is the best in hockey, but has not been completely healthy since donning the orange and black, could this be the beginning of the wheels literally coming off the bus? My guess is yes.

Speaking of hockey, remember how I said that the Stanley Cup playoffs are the greatest professional sports playoff format, and how exciting the NHL playoffs. Clearly I had not yet seen this year’s second round of the playoffs. All these series are OVER. Except maybe Edmonton/San Jose, which had a great three overtime thriller last night, with Edmonton becoming only the 5th of 8 remaining teams to win a game in this round, despite the fact that everyone has had three tries at it. That’s right, three of the series are over at 3-0. That is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

I do not watch American Idol. Not that I think it is a bad show, it is just that in my priority order of stuff to do, it comes in after stuff like chasing my three year old back to bed for the 23rd time of the night. But I do know one thing. America is ready for a guy with all gray hair to be its American Idol no more than it is ready for $5 a gallon gasoline. This is not a knock on having gray hair. After all, my hair is in a race to see if it can turn gray before it falls out. Or his singing ability, stage presence or anything else. I am just telling you that this is a popularity contest and America resonates to good looking, young, and NOT GRAY. Look at this guy, he looks like a Vegas lounge singer, and one on the way down at that. It would be like a really ugly girl winning on American Idol, it just is not going to happen. What? That Fantasia girl won a couple seasons ago? Never mind what I said, scratch this paragraph. I will stick to putting my son back to bed. It is bad enough I cannot handicap sports, I should not even try to guess what will happen on shows I don’t watch.

Dilshemer on the Radio? And a Look at Jimmy Rollins, Aaron Rowand, Ryan Howard, Tom Gordon and the Red Hot Fightin' Phils..

I am tentatively (i.e., they may "better deal" me if they can find someone better!) scheduled for my first appearance of what could be a weekly occurrence on WCCP FM in Greenville, SC (Tuesday morning, around 8:15 am). Estimated 100,000 listeners. They are looking for a Man on the Street take, and have asked me to appear. You can listen live at the following link, or I will try to get a link to the broadcast afterwards if you are interested. Here is the link: http://www.wccpfm.com/. Now onto the hottest team in baseball, the Fightin’ Phils….

8 wins in a row. For the Phillies. In May. This is both good news and bad news. The good news is that the Phils are liable to play themselves into contention in the NL East and Wild Card races if they keep this up. The bad news is that this spurt pretty much guarantees that Jolly Chollie Manual, that man that manages his food intake better than a baseball game, will be with us all season.

The Phils are doing it by basically playing a lot better baseball than they had for the first month of the season. The hitting better, hitting for more power, hitting better ni timely situations, fielding better, and pitching better.

Jimmy Rollins is playing his usual magnificent shortstop, and even though he is not hitting as well as you would hope coming off that hitting streak, he is looking more like a leadoff guy than he ever has. In fact, he is on pace for a career low in strikeouts and a career high in walks. Look for his batting average to creep up toward .300 if hhe is able to maintain this selectivity.

Aaron Rowand for Jim Thome is a classic example of win/win trade scenario. The Phillies had to get rid of Thome to make room for Ryan Howard, but they were able to get Rowand, who in addition to playing gold glove center field, has hit the ball great, batting over .300 with some speed and some power.

In addition to The R&R duo, you have to love the heart of the lineup with Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard all legitimate threats. Utley and Howard both have superstar written all over them. Gotta love it.

Even David Bell and Lieberthal/Fasano have been serviceable at their positions.

The starting pitching seems to be getting better. I wonder if any of these starters are seeing the phenomenal stats that Cole Hamels is putting up in Triple A. Wouldn’t it be nice for him to come up and be a stud? Anyway, Lidle has pitched pretty well for him, Floyd and Lieber are doing better, and Brett Byers is almost at the point where he is a legitimate #1 (but not quite yet).

Finally, best pick-up of the offseason has to be Flash Gordon, who has given up one run all season, and is 10-for-10 in save opportunities. Again, it shows that I have no clue what I am talking about, as I bashed that move pretty strongly in the offseason.

The Philberts have a huge series coming up against the first place Metropolitans. It is in the comfy confines of CBP. They absolutely have to win two-for-three in this series to start really making it a race. This is the spot where typical Philly teams have choke written all over them. Play well when the spotlight dims, then get the faithful’s hopes up and fade badly. If we can keep Jolly Chollie in the dugout with no tough decisions to make, this just might be a different ballclub, especially when inspired by big-mouth Billy Wagner over the weekend with his comments.

We will see where we are on Friday when the Phils head to Cincinnati for a weekend series.

Edwin McCain, Jack Bauer, Bobby Clarke, and Charlie Manual: The Entertainment is Good, the Sports are Bad

I just picked up the new Edwin McCain record, Lost in America. If you are familiar with Edwin and his mix of rock/blues/soul, and enjoy his outstanding songwriting, this CD will be no different for you. The album features a great mix of tunes, from the whimsical Gramercy Park Hotel to Welcome to Struggleville, which rocks the house. The title track may be the best of the bunch. If you are unfamiliar with Edwin’s music, I could not recommend anyone more highly. The singer’s hits in the past include I’ll Be, Solitude, and I could Not Ask For More, and Lost in America will not disappoint you. You can order direct at http://www.edwin.com/, or of course pick up the whole album or individual songs on itunes. Enjoy.

Edwin McCain certainly serves as a nice diversion from the debacle which is Philadelphia sports. The Flyers completed just a disastrous series against Buffalo, losing the series 4-2 (great call, Ted Price, you were right, I, the homer, was wrong) when they lost a game by 6 goals for the second time in the series. Just brutal. Buffalo was so much quicker and faster than Philadelphia, it was painful and embarrassing to watch. The Sabres scored the first goal in every game of the series and pretty much dictated the pace throughout. Of course, the rumors today are all around how Ken Hitchcock is out as the Flyers coach. Why is it that Bobby Clarke, who has spent gobs and gobs of Comcast shareholder dollars over the year, more than almost any team in the league, can never put a winner on the ice? Why is it that Ed Snider, his boss, somehow lets him get away with it? Why is it that the coach is always the scapegoat? It is time to get rid of Bobby Clarke, and get someone in there who can make decisions. Snider, who also runs the 76ers, is certainly loyal to his General Managers.

Similarly, the Phillies are the same old bunch of underachieving players that they have been for the last few years now. Their offense is woefully underperforming, the starting pitching is inconsistent and flawed, and ultimately, their manager may be the worst in the big leagues. Here is a case where a quick trigger from the GM would be welcome, but, alas, seems nowhere to be found. Please, Pat Gillick, can Jolly Chollie Manual so he has plenty of time to audition for Santa Clause jobs this holiday season. Do not make us watch another 130+ games of maddening baseball completely devoid of managerial strategy. Make it go away Pat. I know you want to win now, and that a mid-season change at the skipper spot is not an ideal way to get to the Fall Classic, but I promise you that Manual will not get you there. He will increase booing levels at your home park, but not attendance. He may increase alcohol consumption, but not win totals. Please, Pat, make it stop.

The Durham, North Carolina DA basically won re-election yesterday. I do not even have an appropriate response here. Was it not enough that the alleged victim cried rape before and no charges were filed, on top of the Black Panthers setting up shop in your town, on top of clear lies and inconsistencies, to cause a desire for change in the town I called home for four years in the late ‘80s? Mike Nifong, despite his crusade that evidently has some public support in a racially divided town (kind of like some people still think OJ did not kill anyone), has zero, I repeat, zero, chance of a conviction, and should drop the case and apologize immediately. He has already destroyed enough lives through his irresponsible and unjustified actions.

I just realized that ‘24’ only has 4 more episodes. This is heartbreaking. This show is so good. I know it might tax Keifer Sutherland’s schedule, but would it be possible to covers two days each year (48 new episodes every 52 weeks) instead of just one? I guarantee that if you gave Jack Bauer three minutes with the alleged rape victim and Mike Nifong, all charges would be dropped and order would be restored in Durham. Couldn’t you see an episode where he destroyed the entire Black Panther organization single-handedly if they refused to go in peace? I am already going through withdrawal, and I still have four episodes left. This must be like a heroin addict whose inventory is almost empty. Painful, just painful.

picture courtesy of www.edwin.com