Miss Food City 2009

This blog is an unabashed supporter of the greatest venue in sports: Bristol Motor Speedway. And to that end, there is an obligation to report the elevation of this year’s Miss Food City- destined to reign over this year’s race activities and ride in the giant grocery cart. We all loved Jennifer- but all things must progress. To that end, Miss Food City is:

When the moment arrived, it was Lindsey Lorraine Blevins of Wise, VA who was crowned 2009 Miss Food City. Lindsey is a 21 year-old student at the University of Virginia at Wise. “It’s an honor to be crowned with such a prestigious title” Blevins commented. “I’ve worked hard for this opportunity and I can now testify that the ‘third time’s a charm’. I am excited and looking forward to spending the next year with Mr. Steve Smith and the Food City family.”

Lindsey will represent Food City during the Food City 500 and the Food City 250 NASCAR events at Bristol Motor Speedway during 2009. In addition to those responsibilities, Lindsey will represent Food City at various other company events.

Lindsey enjoys fishing, running, water and snow skiing, attending church, volunteering, NASCAR racing and UT Football. Her volunteer efforts include helping to raise a great deal of money for the Speedway Children’s Charities. She is the first traditional college student in her family, and is currently completing an internship at Norton Community Hospital. She plans to graduate with honors in May 2009 with a B.A. in Biology and to pursue a second degree in nursing to become a health care provider in the Southwest Virginia area.

Can't wait for August!

On Vacation

Folks, Frank Helps You Think It All Out is going on vacation for a bit. It is time for my annual trek to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500 and to see Miss Food City, Jennifer Whittington, in person.

Next week I’ll be back with the 2008 Tulane football preview- still the most accurate prediction service going!

Hopefully, the Phillies can hang in there until I get back. I'm increasingly doubtful- as no one hits! Somehow we've managed to get back to where Myers is the most reliable starter.And frankly, Billy Wagner leaving their 'pen can only help the Mets.

Frank Kimmel Street Stock 150

As Philadelphia battens down for Game 3 tonight- where can we get a taste of the chaos and noise that awaits the Capitals in the City of Brotherly Love?

Why- Bristol Motor Speedway of course! As Miss Food City, Jennifer Whittington continues to have to be pleased by her reign.

Check out the start of the Frank Kimmel Street Stock 150 below. Way too many stock cars on way too small a track. They even manage to turn a few laps before the inevitable 15 car wreck. Watch the crash with the sound up!

Take The Barriers Out

Jennifer Lizotte writes for the Portland Press Herald- and runs a newsy site that summarizes the day's NASCAR news. She's on to this SAFER barrier thing: a device that makes the walls "softer" when race cars imapct them inadvertantly. Honestly, I think she misses the point. If I were President of NASACAR, the first thing I would do is remove the safety barriers. Seriously.

Look, no one is anti-safety. But the number of cautions and red flags has turned this product into week-after-week of four- plus hour marathons. There was- not too long ago- a time where a real NASACAR event could be run in three hours with a mere handful of cautions routinely. Heck, they've run Bristol in the past without a single caution flag.

Frankly, NASCAR has a hockey helmet problem. The NHL mandated helmets to protect players’ heads- and "surprisingly" stick fouls and injuries to the head sky-rocketed. Putting the helmet on players’ heads removed the collective responsibility to police your stick to keep your peers from getting hurt. If you are increasing safety, while decreasing responsibility to keep one another safe, you aren’t advancing anything.

NASCAR’s never ending emphasis on safety has achieved a similar effect. They’ve made everything ostensible “safer”- and accidents are through the roof.

Even Miss Food City knows the bad lick Jeff Gordon took this weekend was because of the safety improvements- not in spite of it. Face it, everything "racing" is sacrificed to safety mandates: the endless cautions for debris, the prolonged cautions for clean up, etc. And for what? These guys simply don’t race with that respect generated from fear anymore. Daytona isn’t marred by endless crashes because of the plates or competition- but by the fact these guys don’t think they can get hurt. You wouldn’t see half the craziness, the running with wounded, ill-handling cars- if these guys thought they could get seriously injured.

Remove the safer barriers and drivers would drive with “respect”: fewer cautions, fewer accidents, better safer racing.

What Passes For Tulane Chat These Days

There is a post on a Tulane chatboard that sort of piqued my interest. I agree with the facts presented- but draw different conclusions- which is sort of indicative of why C-USA football is a complex derivative of the college football played by our peers.

A relevant excerpt (ed. note: I corrected spelling):

Tulane will not miss Forte nearly as much as nearly everyone thinks. He is a very good back who will probably start in the NFL at some point and he is better than all the backs that Tulane has now.... The reason (Forte) was consistent was that the offensive line consistently blocked well, better as the season progressed. The line will be better this season, as will the fullback and tight end, so instead of having one 2,000 yard running back we will have a combination of backs rush for 1,500 yards. Plenty enough if the quarterbacking improves and the ECU and Tulsa games proved that even the 2,000 yard rusher was not enough if the quarterbacking is as erratic as last season.

The poster goes on to suggest seven wins isn’t outlandish with improved qb play married to this rushing attack.

I dunno. If Tulane rushes for 1500 next year- recent history suggests that will put them in the bottom two, maybe three, in the C-USA League. Suggesting 1500 yards team rushing is “good” or even “okay” in C-USA intimates a fundamental misunderstanding of how the League works.

Last year, SMU rushed for 2100, finished in the bottom half of the League in rushing, and stunk. Memphis rushed for 1800 and finished 9th in League rushing. In C-USA, to have a real plus rushing attack- say merely Top 4, i.e. good not dominant- you need something around 2500 yards, not 1500.

Plus, no C-USA defense allowed fewer than 1500 yards rushing last year. So how much of a bar indicative of success can that forecast be.

The funny thing is that I actually agree that Tulane will rush for something like 1400-1500 yards next year. On that point, the post is correct; his number seems very fair. But rather than helping them play .500 ball against the ten games Tulane can “win sans miracle”, 1500 will be a huge determinant of why the Wave is 2-10.

Sure, stats don’t matter. But again, this isn’t even close. I bet this decade there has NEVER been a C-USA team with a winning record with 1500 yards rushing. The two teams that had 1500 or less last year were a combined 5-19.

So let's just say we'll be passing a lot. And Tulane will be right around that aforementioned level too: 2-10.

When Does Rice Get Here?

Ugh.

The stupid New York Post puts the stupid Tulsa Golden Hurricane -5 over Tulane. Now, Tulsa is by no means a disaster. They feature a decent road win at Colorado in the last two weeks, a tough road loss in multiple overtime to UCF.

But the line surely indicates the good bloom is off the Wave’s quality start. At 0-2 in League play, tonight game in Oklahoma is probably the proverbial “must win” for either the 20-win season or 10-win conference season expected after Tulane roared to a 10-4 start- with positive wins over St John’s, Georgia, Auburn and Louisiana State

The schedule certainly lightens up some; Rice and SMU frankly can’t get here fast enough. But .500 in C-USA could be a fifty-fifty proposition with a loss tonight.

Tulane finished fourth in the League last year, winning ten games. But obviously, C-USA is up from the utter train wreck it was last year. Concerning the NCAA tournament, they’re probably on track to get back to being a multiple bid League: UTEP or Houston could join Memphis with a 14-2 League mark. One will get there. Another outfit might get in the NIT- which leaves the League in the running for four post-season teams.

As indicated above, Tulane was in that top four mix last year- but obviously was no where near NIT level- so the League is better. It’ll be hard to march that ten win mark from last year- even though this year’s team is clearly better- for example: 3-0 versus the SEC- than last year’s outfit. Only this casual image of Jennifer Whittington- the reigning Miss Food City- is of solace.

Good Bye Aaron

Look, the Phillies can’t guarantee sixty million dollars to Aaron Rowand- a huge payday that is really off one really admittedly superior year in a hitter’s park- to an increasingly thirty-something player who gets hurt a lot. Read your Bill James and Moneyball people. The surest road to ruin in pro-sports is huge contracts to players in their thirties- and ultimately the Phillies will be glad they did not pay this bill. I’m not saying this will make them better- but a lot of choices in pro-sports are between getting worse (losing Rowand) or making a bad contract mistake (see the Phillies’ veteran starting pitching).

Frankly, the Phillies have a infinitely cheaper and accomplished outfield option: Shane Victorino. They don’t lose much defensively with the Flyin' Hawaiian out there. The offense the Phillies lose over the next five years might be mitigated by the fact that a fair over/under on “how many games more does Victorino actually play than Rowand between now and 2012 might be 150?

$60M bills Rowand as a "can't miss" middle-of-the-order hitter- pretty big talk about a 30 year old player with 90 career home runs and 300 or so RBIs. Think Rowand will have 150 dingers when he retires? I don't. You wanna pay David Wright money to find out?

Being honest, and I am sure Jennifer Whittington would agree, once Rowand walked away from three years at crazy money from the Phillies, I thought it was a no-brainer to let him walk. They simply will not lose much vis-à-vis Victorino over the total five years (although what they do lose will be front-loaded- and will hurt). Frankly, the marginal improivement of Victorino versus Rowand isn’t worth ten million annually: fairly projected .280 hitting outfielders with decent-to-good power and good defensive skills are not deserving of that sort of premium.

More Rowand blogging here!

Miss Food City

This blog is an unabashed supporter of the greatest venue in sports: Bristol Motor Speedway. And to that end, there is an obligation to report the elevation of this year’s Miss Food City- destined to reign over this year’s race activities and ride in the giant grocery cart. Miss Food City is:

When the moment arrived, it was Jennifer Whittington of Pounding Mill, VA who was crowned 2008 Miss Food City. Jennifer is a 23 year-old student at the Quillen College of Medicine in Johnson City, TN. “I was completely shocked when the announcer called my name, but it has been an incredible honor and a blessing to be crowned Miss Food City 500. I would like to personally congratulate all of the other contestants on a job well done and thank them for the friendship and memories that we have all made,” Whittington commented.

Jennifer will represent Food City during the Food City 500 and the Food City 250 NASCAR events at Bristol Motor Speedway during 2008. In addition to those responsibilities, Jennifer will represent Food City at various other company events.

Jennifer enjoys relaxing with family and friends, going to church, volunteering in her community, hiking, running, playing with her dog, and is a NASCAR enthusiast. She is looking forward to the opportunity to use her medical experience to care for her patients and at the same time make them feel valued and comfortable. She plans to graduate from medical school and complete a residency in General Surgery/Trauma Surgery.

Can't wait for August!