Commenter Newbie does his thing and tries not to get us in trouble. Newbie? --------------------
Talladega Days
In a photo finish not seen since Ricky Bobby and Jean Girard, Jimmie Johnson beat Clint Bowyer by .02 seconds. The new cars that NASCAR uses essentially takes the S out of NASCAR, there is nothing stock about them. They all have the same body style and essentially the same engines. That has lead the racing at the Super Speedways to become "safer" if not boring. Pairs of cars hook up to drive around the track and eventually the last couple laps become exciting. Not everyone, including Dale Jr., likes the new style. I think the problem is these races are too long. Most cars ride around for 2.5 hours until they get to the end and then turn it on. NASCAR should go to a Saturday night heat style event, like they do once a year in the "All-Star" event and force drivers to race their way in. Perhaps that would bring in some more fans. Or maybe they just need a Talladega Nights 2.
Lacrosse Legal Cases You may remember 5 years ago when a woman accused members of the Duke Lacrosse team of rape. They were acquitted, the prosecutor disbarred, and several counter-suits happened. And now, the accuser now has even bigger issues. It seems she has had a rough go since the trial.
Marathon-ing
Kenyan's are fast, but that's only because the Boston Marathon is, like, the easiest of all marathon's. Right? I mean if I had to run 26.2 miles, that would be the place to do it. I kid, of course. Knowing my limitations, I looked to our resident running expert, roughkat (who does not show up on the list of entrants, and I'm beginning to think that's not his real name) to shed some light on this for us: Kenny Powers would say that Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai and Caroline Kilel were the best at exercising Monday at the Boston Marathon. Mutai ran a "world best" 2:03:02 (4:41 per mile) which the IAAF won't recognize as a world record because they think the course is akin to coasting down a hill on a bike for 26 miles. I ran the marathon in 2006 nearly an hour slower than Mutai and the course was so "easy" that I couldn't run for a month after because the hills thrashed my legs.
In reading comments about the results both at the worldwide leader and here at the Strib, there still seems to be the sentiment that people aren't interested as long as Americans aren't winning. Desiree Davila was only 2 seconds behind the women's winner and Kara Goucher (one of us!) was 5th. Ryan Hall was 4th for the men. Americans might not always be winning races but they're competitive. I could easily go on as to why running remains a niche sport but I better stop. The popularity of mainstream sports in America is more about entertainment than athletic achievement. Maybe runners should toss t-shirts into the crowds as they run by.
The t-shirt thing would definitely help, also I think it turns people off that it is impossible to do the wave with most of the crowd standing. And honestly, if you can't do the wave why even go to a sporting event? Am I right?
Roughkat is running a marathon this summer and said he will give 'Niche' an exclusive report. Let's hope he becomes the first person to run a sub 2-hour marathon.
Elsewhere
Not to be outdone by the Madden cover excitement, the UFC did it's best to get DeMarco Murray on the cover of EA Sports NCAA 12. He lost to Mark Ingram. So did your next Vikings quarterback, Jake Locker. Why did the UFC care? Apparently, they have some extra money and like the kid.
Your thoughts on Talladega, marathons and how to make them more exciting, or video game covers are welcome.
