What Super Bowl? Gatorade Duel, and, um, well,.....

Only my third entry and I've already missed the biggest sporting event of the year. I am of course referring to The Super Bowl. It's worth noting that my predictions came true: I wanted the Colts, but both teams played just like they had the two weeks leading up to the big game and New Orleans came out with the win. On the whole, it was a well played game, and an asonishingly clean game. Early on I was complaining about the lack of holding and other penalties called, but by the end, I decided it was well officiated, both teams simply played a very clean game. I think that's about all that needs to be said about it now that we are nearly a week afterwards and two more major sporting events coming up.

Two sporting events you ask? Yes, two. The Daytona 500 of course is rolling around this Sunday; I finished watching the qualifying races only a few hours ago, and the 2010 Winter Olympics get underway tomorrow. I'll start with Daytona.
The Gatorade Duel, the current encarnation of what I grew up calling the Twin 125's, took place this afternoon with a little exitement, some good beating and banging, and the average amount of confusion as I tried to figure out who was in and who wasn't.

At this point, I still haven't figured out who will start where, but this much is certain: Martin and Earnhardt have the front row. In the qualifiers, Martin showed that he's been doing this longer than anybody as he ran long enough to figure out his car, get his sponsor some air time, and give it a good shot at winning. When he was shuffled back near the end of his race, he simply slid down to the apron and quit. A wise decision when you already have the front row and people are going three wide with nothing to lose. Also certain is that Jimmy Johnson still has the best crew chief on the planet. Chad Knaus gambled and Jimmy stayed out at the end when all but one other driver pitted for tires. The result? Jimmy won one of the tightest qualifying races in history.

Tony Stewart finished second in a car that may or may not have been handeling well, proving again that he can do more with less than most anyone on the track. Juan Pablo finished third in the same race with a happy surprise. It took him a while, but apparently he has finally learned how to bump draft without causing "The Big One."

Finally, Michael Waltrip is in the race somewhere because Scott Speed finished 14th. Mike got in the hard way after wrecking in his own race and having to hope and pray for the correct finishing positions of several drivers in the secodn race.


I'll have a more in depth look at the starting grid for the 500 on Saturday with my own picks for drivers to watch. At this point, I've decided to break this entry into two parts, so if you're interested in the Olympics, please, continue to part two. If you're not, then feel free to go play with the ducks: Duck.