insightsports

For all of you armchair athletes, ESPA has come up with the remote to solve all your viewing problems. Dubbed the ESPN Ultimate Remote, this little gadget is packed with features. And no, I’m not getting a cut on any of the sales, but I thought you would want to know about it. For a mere $300, you can get all of this: wireless connection to the Internet that allows you to text message, send and check e-mail plus watch television via the 2-inch screen. It will even turn itself on when it senses nearby movement and automatically adjusts the brightness of its screen based on surrounding light. How could you possibly get along without it?

Brian France, chairman of NASCAR, said sexual and racial harassment claims against the auto racing league by Mauricia Grant, NASCAR’s only black female inspector, will be thoroughly reviewed. Grant had worked the NASCAR Nationwide Series from January 2005 until being fired in October. She has since sued NASCAR and several NASCAR officials for $225 million in damages. One of those named in the lawsuit was former NASCAR official Mike Wilford, who says Grant has twisted events and never complained about how she was treated. “Graphic and lewd jokes? She participated in them. She laughed. She would never say it was inappropriate,” Wilford was quoted as saying. The whole thing is a mess and it isn’t anything that NASCAR needs right now.

I’ve been playing fantasy sports on Yahoo since the start of the new millennium, dating back to 2000. If you’ve never tried it, you should give it some serio9us consideration. There are both public leagues and private leagues. I don’t recommend the public leagues because there are many participants who flake out after the start and it takes the fun out of it for everyone else. The best thing to do is to go to Yahoo Sports, click on Fantasy Sports and choose the one you are interested in. Then go to the message board where you will find dozens of private leagues that are looking for a few more participants. Find the one that appeals to you and join up. Pretty soon you’ll find yourself with a group of guys who stay active. I’ve been playing with the same people for seven years or more and we come from every corner of the United States. Give it a try—you’ll be glad you did.

Kasey Kahne has re-entered NASCAR’s Top-12 Power Ratings in eighth position following his strong finish at Pocono. The way he’s been driving he can easily move into the top five after another race or two. Kyle Busch retains the number one spot, and that certainly is no surprise. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that he is the hottest driver on the circuit right now. Carl Edwards holds down second place, and after his display of driving at Pocono, it’s where he should be. In case you missed it, Carl drove through the field with a flat tire during the race—a brilliant piece of driving. Dale Jr. holds down the third spot, followed by Jeff Burton, Danny Hamlin and Greg Biffle. Jimmie Johnson, who continues his quest for a third straight driving title, is in seventh place, followed by Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Brian Vickers. Buckle your seatbelts and prepare for a good old-fashioned shootout at the LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

My May 31 post is called “NASCAR’s Monster Mile Is 400-Mile Ordeal,” and in it I predicted that the one-mile concrete oval would claim it’s share of drivers. Sure enough, a massive 10-car pileup early in the race took a heavy toll on many of the favorites. Luckily no one was hurt, but two drivers—Danny Hamlin and Elliot Stadler—were knocked completely out of the race, and eight other drivers managed to get back in the action, but they were out of contention. Dale Earnhardt Jr., for example, was 10 laps down when he got back in the race. Other big guns who suffered included Tony Stewart, Kevin Harwick and Clint Bowyer. Race winner Kyle Busch was sensational, cruising to his fourth Sprint Cup win this year. He has dominated NASCAR all season. Consider this fact: Busch earned his fifth straight top-three finish and hasn’t finished outside of the top 10 in any of the last seven races. With the win, Kyle increased his points lead over Jeff Burton from 94 to 142. Next up for NASCAR is the Pocono 500 in Long Pond, PA on June 8. Last year’s winner was Jeff Gordon, who managed a fifth place finish in Dover on Sunday.

NASCAR drivers at this Sunday’s Best Buy 400 will have to be totally attentive from the dropping of the green flag to the waving of the checkered flag. The one-mile high-banked oval in Delaware will require near perfection on the part of the drivers—not just to win, but also to simply survive. The concrete track will require mashing on the gas on the straights and slamming on the brakes when entering the corners. Get lulled into a false sense of security and the wall will reach out to grab you. That’s why the drivers call this track the ‘Monster Mile.” One driver who has mastered the track is pole-sitter Greg Biffle, who turned the fastest lap on Friday morning at 153.879 mph. Biffle has two wins and four top-five finishes in the Nationwide Series, along with a win and three top-five finishes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. In second and third are the Busch brothers, Kurt in second and Kyle close behind. Jimmie Johnson qualified in fourth with Jamie McMurray grabbing the fifth spot. NASCAR favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be way back in 25^th at the start of the race, but will be moving up fast once things get under way. Look for lots of excitement and plenty of crashes.

Sunday will be a real challenge for the American sports buff. Start out with a full slate of MLB games—15 games in all. Then toss in game three of the NBA Western Division finals, with Kobe Bryant’s Lakers leading 2-0. With this game being in San Antonio it’s time for the Spurs to get back on track. They lose this one and it’s all she wrote. They would have to win the next four straight and that isn’t going to happen. Also on tap is auto racing, starting with the Indianapolis 500 and then NASCAR’s Coca Cola 600. Add it up, that’s 1,100 miles of racing this Sunday. Perhaps golf is your forte. No problem, the final round of the Colonial in Fort Worth is on tap with fan-favorite Phil Mickelson leading the pack. I haven’t really been a big Mickelson fan, but I’m starting to come around a little bit, plus I picked him to win in my fantasy golf league, so I guess I’ll be rooting for him tomorrow. Oh, and did I mention tennis? It’s one of the big four starting tomorrow at Roland Garos—the French Open, this year’s second Grand Slam. Favorites Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova will be taking on a formidable group of challenges led by Roger Federer and Ana Ivanovic. The only major professional sport that won’t take place tomorrow is NHL. First game of the Stanley Cup final between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penquins takes place tonight in Detroit. Sunday is an off day and then they will all be back out on the ice on Monday. So good luck in choosing what to watch. Personally I’ll be toggling back and forth between the Indy 500 and the French Open, with quick checks of basketball and golf during commercials. Baseball can take a back seat at this juncture in the season.

Stock up on the beer and pretzels because there will be 1,100 miles of auto racing on Sunday. Even though it’s Memorial Day Weekend and not the Fourth of July, I can promise you plenty of fireworks. Things get going early with my personal favorite, the Indianapolis 500, which is hands-down the best motor sport in the world. You NASCAR fans might try to argue the point, but give me a break—you just can’t compare NASCAR events to open-wheel racing. And this year at Indy we have the added attraction of 11 first-time drivers at the brickyard. Track veterans will have to be especially alert to even make it through all the carnage, let alone arrive unscathed to the winner’s circle. That bottle of milk will taste especially good this year. Then comes the Coca Cola 600. Yep, 600 miles on a “cookie-cutter” track. This will be one of NASCAR’s patented endurance races. Unfortunately with NASCAR, the best driver doesn’t always win. In fact, the best driver seldom wins. There are so many intangibles—freak blowout in car right in front of you, missing lug nut, a poor pit stop and the list goes on. So pull up a chair, position the ice chest just right and grab the remote. It’s race time!

Fully a third of the 33 drivers in next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 are rookies, which to me equates to some unprecedented excitement. Their inexperience at the Brickyard, particularly at the start of the race, could spell trouble. While many of these drivers are experienced in other venues—Formula One for example—driving in the Indianapolis 500 is a horse of a different color.I think the start of the race is one of the most breathtaking moments in sports. Picture 33 drivers in supercharged open-wheel rockets roaring down the straightaway with eyes locked on the flagman as they anticipate the green. Imagine 11 rows of three abreast at over 200 miles an hour and every driver aiming for that first turn. There have been some tremendous crashes at the start in previous years, and this year with 11 rookies in the field the atmosphere will be taut with tension. Let’s hope no one gets hurt. I can’t wait until Sunday! You won’t find this kind of racing in NASCAR.

Kyle Busch was the big winner at Darlington last night, overcoming some tough competition and the difficult track. He managed to get the “Darlington stripe” on the side of his Toyota a few times, and he even overcame a penalty lap for some stupid NASCAR infraction.  But he’s the real deal. Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove a great race too and I predict that he’s going to win one soon. The bad luck guy in all of this was Martin Truex Jr. who managed to lead for 11 laps…something he hasn’t done for a long time.  His only NASCAR win came almost one year ago. May 19, 2007 to be precise, when he won the Nextel Open in Concord, N.C. That race is now called the Coca Cola 600 and it’s coming up in two weeks. Keep an eye on Truex for a repeat win.  But that’s not the big race. For me it’s open-wheel racing at the Indianapolis 500. The Indy 500 is the best of all racing worlds. I’ll be watching!