Week 17: IndyCar will not return to Vegas in 2012

Just announced as of today, the Izod IndyCar series will not return to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2012.  This decision was made after a few month of meetings, considering that one of the stars, Dan Wheldon, lost his life.  Many people think this is a good decision, but others believe that it is a wrong one.

http://www.indycar.com/news/show/55-izod-indycar-series/51021-series-wonand-39-t-return-to-vegas-oval-in-and-39-12/

In my opinion, which has absolutely no say, I believe this  is a very wrong decision by the Izod IndyCar Series.  Everyone is saying that the bad event happened because of the track and how many cars were involved in the race.  Yet, what people do not know is that the incident happened in the rear of the 33 or 34 car field.  Yes, the track is fast, but that is kind of the point of racing.  Every racecar driver, including myself, thinks about his/her life before getting in a racecar, but we do what we do because it is a sport we love. And each and every one of us would lose our life doing what we love, without a doubt.

Week 16: Newman-Haas Racing Closing the Doors

On December 1, 2011, Izod IndyCar Series team, Newman-Haas Racing decided to close the doors of their shop after 28 years of being in the racing industry.  After having a successful 2011 season, team owner, Carl Haas, said the economy has hit them to hard to continue.  Newman-Haas has racked up 107 race victories and 8 world championships in those 28 years of operation.

http://www.indycar.com/news/show/55-izod-indycar-series/51007-newman-haas-to-sit-out-2012-season/

Being in the racing industry myself, I see this as a wake-up call.  The sport that I love can flip in no time at all.  One of the "true" teams of the Izod IndyCar Series that has history to it, is no longer.  In my opinion, I hope to see the Newman-Haas team back in years to come, but the probability of that is very slim.  The IndyCar series in general had been doing very well, and hadn't lost a team due to the economy in 3 years (Roth Racing).  The team had ordered 4 of the 2012DW IndyCars, which will now be distributed to other teams awaiting the arrival of their new car.

Week 15 Blog: Ndamukong Suh (Detroit Lions) Thrown Out

On Thanksgiving day, the Detroit Lions played the Green Bay Packers in a rivaled game.  In the end, it was the Packers leaving with an undefeated record of 11 and 0, but it wasn't that simple.  Ndamukong Suh was thrown out during the game.  He slammed the head of a Green Bay offensive lineman into the ground and then proceeded to step on/kick him as he walked away.

 http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/story/2011-11-27/nfl-pregame-shows-ndamukong-suh/51426980/1

In my oppinon, there is a time to play, a time to act professional, and a time to fight.  During the middle of a nationally broadcasted NFL game is definitely not the time to slam another player's head into the ground and starting kicking him.  I believe that Suh should be benched for the season.  Really, if someone wants to fight and mess with another person, do it on their own time in a right place.

Week 14 Blog: Duke Coach Gets 903rd Win

On November 15, 2011, Coach Mike Krzyzewski claimed his 903rd win as a head coach in college basketball.  This record was previously set by long-time Indiana University coach Bob Knight.  Throughout coach "K"'s career, many people have claimed he cheats, recruits players, and buys things for them.  No matter what, 903 wins is still a very large goal to set.


http://coachk.com/

In my opinion, Coach Krzyzewski has set a record that may never be beat in college basketball history.  What he has done is simply amazing.  Throughout the past years, I have stayed up to date on all of his "cheating" accusations and believe all of them to be false.  If a coach is good enough to hit 903 victories, why do you think he needs to recruit his players.  If I were a high-school basketball player, I would want to go to Duke to play for a coach as gifted and as talented as Coach "K."  So plain and simple, all of these accusations should be thrown out.  He is one of the best and will never be stopped.

Week 13 Blog: F1 in New Jersey

A few weeks ago, Formula One announced that it would have a race on a temporary street-circuit in New Jersey, along the Hudson River.  Many people think this is a good move for the country, yet others believe this is going to be one more way to put us even more in debt.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/10/gov_christie_announces_first-e.html

In my opinion, Formula One coming back to the states is a great move.  Races like these bring hundreds of thousands of fans that will spend millions of dollars during that week.  When Formula One raced in Indianapolis, their fans were said to spend more money than fans that came to watch the Indianapolis 500 mile race.  Also, being so close to a large city, this is going to be one of the most "Green" races in history.  People will be walking to the temporary track across from Manhattan and will be taking Ferry boat rides across the Hudson River.  Races like these are ones that show who the true "drivers" are.  They also teach the driver a lot about his/her abilities in a racecar.  Basically, if the United States turned this opportunity down, they would be stupid.  Also, since the decision to have this race in New Jersey in 2012, a permanent race track has been built in Austin, Texas. 

Blog: Week 12

The point came up in class in the show "What would you do if..." and the scenario was if someone slipped a drug into their dates drink.  It was very cool to see others step up to help the woman that was drugged.  It was just absolutely wonderful to see people take the woman under their wing as a daughter.

 http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Drink_spiking?open

In my opinion, there is nothing better than someone stepping up to help another.  In today's world, I do not believe that there is is anything better than that.  In fact, I wish it would happen more.  If something like this were to happen to me, I would really hope that someone would step up and help me.  If they didn't, I would be very disappointed. I know if I were in the situation, I would step up and help a random stranger.

World Series: Week 11 Blog

For the past few weeks, preceding the World Series, no one thought that the St. Louis Cardinals would have a chance at victory.  The Cardinals were expected to lose the series in just 5 games.  Also, there are people and reporters saying that these were "boring" baseball games. Really? Albert Pujols hit 3 homers in one game. Who did you want to succeed?  Did you think this was an eventful series?  Is Albert Pujols the next baseball "Great"?  Is this the "under-dog" year?

http://baseball.about.com/b/2011/10/19/world-series-predictions-cardinals-a-decided-underdog.htm

First of all, I have always been a St. Louis Cardinals fan.  So, i wanted the Cards to step it up and take another series back home.  I believe that the series was filled with exciting games.  I mean, who doesn't like an 11 inning baseball game to keep the World Series alive.  Albert Pujols is simply amazing.  He ceases to amaze me.  Hitting a homerun in the World Series is one thing.  Then there is hitting three in one, yes one, game.  I believe he is "The" baseball Great and there will never be anybody better.  Going into the World Series, St. Louis was the under-dog.  They were 10 games back in August.  Their comeback was practically unheard of.  Starting with the Packers winning the superbowl, a single0car team winning the Indy 500, a twenty year old winning the Daytona 500, Sarah Fisher Racing winning Kentucky, and now St. Louis winning the World Series.  That's all I have to say about that.