The world according to gunther

The Kyle Busch Dilemma

thegunther77 — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 07:17:43 +0000

In my daydreams I wished that I had the talents to rule the world, to have unmatched strength, intelligence, stamina and cunning. No one and nothing could stop me. Reality on the other hand didn’t afford me such a life, so much like everyone else I stand on the sidelines and watch people that I consider heroes do something that I can’t do but damn sure wish I could. This leads me to the topic of this discussion, Kyle Busch.
Kyle Busch is without a doubt in my mind the single most talented stock car driver I have seen since Jeff Gordon and Tim Richmond. The boy can flat out drive. Long tracks, short tracks, road courses, Cup, Nationwide and truck, he’s a contender. He is the kind of guy that’s so talented you can’t help but be in awe of. No one can be that good at everything right? Well as it turns out, he’s not good at everything. He’s got the driving down for sure, he runs a truck team that wins races and he gives back to the sport in the form of helping small teams out. Talent, check. Business savvy, check. Understands NASCAR’s foundation for future stars, check. So what can I complain about a man that I have spent the last 222 words complimenting? He has the maturity of a spoiled 12 year old boy. Since he has been in Cup racing, he has been a source of controversy. He has a brash personality and an aggressive driving style that has rubbed many people the wrong way. In a sport of alpha males, testosterone and ego’s, he takes the cake. I don’t feel the need to go into detail about what he has done. Google his name and his rap sheet of controversy spills out onto the screen. What I want to discuss is what can be done….if anything? Does something need to be done? Is NASCAR hypocritical in it’s “have at it boys” approach to racing while still suspending Kyle for his actions at Texas?
As a serious fan of motorsports as well as a paying spectator at NASCAR races I feel it is important to keep a few things in mind. First, intentionally wrecking someone is bullshit. Pardon my language but it’s not fair to the crews, the owners and the sponsors to settle scores by bending sheet metal. Dale Earnhardt’s “chrome horn” technique of winning chapped my ass for many years as I feel it negates the leading driver’s ability to drive and bring home a win through tactics rather than having the out and out fastest car. NASCAR turned a blind eye to this however and an image and a marketing icon was born, the man in black. While I disagreed with his tactics I do have to give Dale Sr. this much credit, he never cried when someone paid him back. In fact he never showed that much frustration. He usually would shrug at the camera and say “that’s racing”. He never appeared rattled or angry on camera. Contrast this with Kyle Busch who whines anytime he doesn’t win. He will talk trash about his car, the strategy, his fellow drivers, etc. His unfortunate habit of throwing people under the bus has given him the iconic status of a cry baby, a sore loser and a spineless weasel.
So what can be done? His actions in fact have lead his sponsors to pull their colors off his car. That’s a start. When those that pay the bills have had enough and don’t want to be associated with you anymore, wake up because you’re about to be on the curb with yesterdays garbage too. He has stated he is going to go through therapy to help with is anger management issues. That’s fine but I don’t think a shrink is going to grow him a spine. My take on it is simple, he doesn’t appreciate the talent he has been given. He doesn’t understand that while in his short career he has made more money than he can spend in his life, there are people that work behind the scenes on his team living paycheck to paycheck. The sponsors bail on the team and they close their doors, men and women are going to struggle to put food on the table. That is the harsh reality of life.
NASCAR’s responsibility in all this is to be consistent. They started the “have at it boys” approach in response to drivers, teams and fans being frustrated at NASCAR micromanaging every little action on the track. I feel that this is a good course for the sport as stock car racing is the most physical of the major professional racing series. The drivers however need to change their approach to the sport. I feel that in the last 2 decades the drivers have gotten softer. Drivers use the media to call people out instead of letting the results speak for themselves. With this said it is more important than ever that drivers be media savvy. This isn’t one of Kyle’s better attributes. As I said before, he is known as a bit of a crybaby when things don’t go his way. Kyle needs to step up to the plate as a man and learn when to shut the hell up. He did a good job at Texas of keeping a low profile after the events during the truck race transpired. However this is the exception and not the rule for Kyle. No one is perfect and I feel that even our hero’s need a mulligan to set things back right from time to time. I feel that we as fans need to give Kyle the chance to make amends for what he has done. We need to give him the time and space he needs to grow as a person and a professional. In the next year or two hopefully we will see a change in him that allows his talent to do the talking. Whether you love him or hate him, this is what the sport needs.

Basketball is a waste of time

thegunther77 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:25:33 +0000

So the changing of the seasons, the holidays and the first snowfall of the year can only mean one thing. Basketball season. Ok so I’m not really all that excited about it. Not like football season or hockey or car racing were I’m practically frothing at the mouth. It’s not that I hate basketball as a sport, it’s just that you don’t need to watch a whole game. You only need to watch the last 2 minutes wich in real-time takes about 15. The reason why you only need to watch the last 2 minutes is because for the first 46 minutes (or 38 in college) there isn’t the possibility of the big game changing play. The reason for this is that the point increments are too small and the scores are too high. In basketball the point increments are 1; 2 and 3 in a game were the winning score will probably be in at least in the 80s if not higher. Compare that to football were the point increments are 1; 2; 3 and 6 in a game were the winning score will be in the high 20s to low 30s. Generally speaking the points in football come in groups of 3 and 7 with the occasional 2 and 8 point scores being posted.

So lets look at how points are scored in these two different games and see how this affects the action. Like I said basketball lacks the ability to have a major game changing play in the first 95% of the game. Lets look at this scenario. A player for the Detroit Pistons shoots the ball for 3 and makes it. Ok good for him. His teammate steals the inbounds pass, passes it to a teammate who once again scores a 3….oh but wait a minute, he was fouled! He gets the 3 and makes the free throw. So in a period of say 15 seconds 7 points have been scored. 7 out of 80-90 it will take to win. Now lets look at football. Lets say Joe Montana passes the ball to Jerry Rice, Rice breaks a tackle and out runs the rest of the hapless defense to score a touchdown. The extra point is good, the 49′ers kickoff and Jim (dont call me Chris) Everett takes the field. First play from scrimmage he drops back, passes the ball…..to Ronnie Lott. Lott takes it all the way to the house for a pick 6. We’ll assume the extra point is good once again for a total of 14 points scored in a 45 second time frame in a game were the 49′ers will go on to score 31 points in route to victory. 14 points out of 31 compared to 7 points out of 80. Do you see now what I mean by basketball not having a true game changing series of plays? So lets say you tune in to the game with 2 minutes to go. The second problem with basketball rears its ugly head. To the best of my knowledge each team has 15 time outs to use and they save most of them for the last 2 minutes. (ok so it’s not 15 a piece but it is still too many) Every time someone scores, they call a time out. Every time someone inbounds the ball, they call a time out. Between the time outs, the fouls and the commercial breaks the last 2 minutes is an event in and of itself. It really is the only part of the game you have to watch. Otherwise basketball is just guys with pituitary gland issues running up and down the court.

Harley Davidson biker posers

thegunther77 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:40:57 +0000

This past weekend was the Biketoberfest in Daytona Beach Florida. It’s a fun event, I’ve been to it before. There are lots of bikes obviously. You have everything from West Coast Choppers and OCC custom jobs, crotch rockets and everything in between. I’ve never been to Bike Week but I’m told it’s a wild party too. One day I’ll make that event but before I do I need to get something off my chest. I think a lot of the Harley people who show up at these events are posers. I say this because I see more Harley’s trailered in then all other brands of bikes combined. What I don’t get is this. Aren’t Harley Davidson’s cruisers? Weren’t they designed to be ridden down the road for hours on end? Now before I begin my crucifixion of Harley people let me set some ground rules for what constitutes a “poser”. You are not a poser if any of the following apply to you. 1: You are part of a motorcycle gang. Lord knows I dont want any of these guys getting pissed at me. 2: You have bought a washtub Harley and turned it into a ride-able machine. 3: You know the difference between a knucklehead, a panhead and a shovelhead. 4: You don’t watch the weather the night before a ride because it doesn’t matter how rainy or cold it is, you’re riding anyway. 5: You ride more miles then you drive. Now then, you are a poser if any of the following apply. 1: You have a “Harley Davidson Edition” truck with a black trailer with Harley Davidson stickers on the side and this rig is how your bike gets to and from Daytona and Sturgis. 2: Your garage is adorned with over priced Harley Davidson crap. Crap like Harley Davidson edition cabinets, floor stickers, “Harley Davidson parking only, all others will be smashed” sign on the wall, etc. 3: You own his and hers “if you can read this the bitch fell off; this bitch doesn’t fall off” t-shirts. 4: Your 1-year-old truck has more miles than your 7-year-old Harley thats riding in the bed. 5: Your bike is spotless clean. Real Harley’s have road grime acquired by miles of being ridden.

Real bikers don’t annoy me. I am friends with several of them. Some are Harley guys, some are crotch rocket guys. Some do a little of both. Some ride a basic Honda or Suzuki to and from work because it’s what they can afford, it saves them gas and they like to ride. I don’t discriminate because it’s all different sides of the same love. The love of riding. Posers on the other hand, annoy me a great deal. Mostly because these guys (mostly middle-aged and married) do it for the appearance of being a bad ass, tough guy, rebel, motorcycle gang member. This same “bad ass” biker on weekends lives in fear of his boss Monday thru Friday. This same “bad ass” only rides when the weather is nice and he has completed his man chores around the house and the wife gives him the ok to ride. This same “bad ass” has never turned a wrench on his own bike because he takes it to the dealer to get the oil changed.

So now that I have defined what a poser is and some of the poser things they do, I want to take this time to help them. Here are some things posers can do to not annoy me. (and presumably everyone else that sees what they are) I have to admit there is a certain charm to that V-twin rumble. (you haven’t lived until you have heard that V-twin rumble powered by nitromethane) So instead of buying an over priced bike that you never ride, how about you take the muffler off your Toro and ride it around the yard. This will kill two birds with one stone. You get to hear a loud engine noise and get the lawn mowed. Instead of buying a bunch of over priced Harley Davidson crap to clutter your garage, take that money and go to a local art gallery and buy something from a local artist. Again this kills two birds with one stone. It’s something artsy-fartsy that women like to do and your purchase will help some starving artist. (again most posers are ”>middle aged married men that live in constant fear of their wife) Finally if the need to ride is too great on a nice sunny day, how bout this. How about you go down to the local bike dealer and buy an overpriced Trek or Gary Fisher mountain bike? Again this kills two birds with one stone. You get to go out and ride, while burning fat and not polluting the enviroment with harmful greenhouse gasses! (ok that might be 3 birds with one stone) If fashion and a look is what you are after, you can get the riding shoes and bicycle tights! This will end the needless killing of cows to make all that leather Harley Davidson crap.

So in conclusion I just want to say for you real bikers, ride on! For you posers out there, get out and actually ride that damn thing or sell it to someone who will. All the leather and chrome in the world won’t change who you are and you aren’t fooling anybody. Also I want to give props to the Goldwing and BMW people who ride to Daytona. I can count on one hand the number of Goldwings and Beemers I’ve seen hauled into Daytona on a truck. March in North Florida can be filled with blustery, cold rainy days and you guys are out there with your slickers riding on, like a biker should.

Nascar isn’t real racing

thegunther77 — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:05:24 +0000

Nascar isn’t real racing. Not in the sense that the drivers aren’t really racing each other. They really are trying to win, the risk they take is real and the outcome isn’t predetermined. I mean it’s not WWE…..exactly, but it’s getting close. I say this because as a child I watched “million dollar” Bill Elliot, Darrell “jaws” Waltrip, Dale “the intimidator, ironhead” Earnhardt race everything from the big track at Daytona to the bullring at the Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway. (i know im dating myself there) They raced in cars that actually looked like Monte Carlo’s, Thunderbirds, Regals, Grand Prix’s and Delta 88′s. (anyone remember Buddy Baker in the Crisco Lard machine?) I have fond memories of watching ESPN every sunday at noon for the race. As the series progressed, more money got dumped into the sport. More money equals more technology to beat your opponent. More technology means finer engineering. Given that all cars no matter what make have to obey the same laws of physics, ultimately all the cars took the same shape more or less. In an attempt to gain an advantage, teams began to whine that some manufacturer’s had an advantage. So nascar would give some makes some spoiler here, lower front ride height there, etc. This was when they lost control of the sport. At some point in the middle 90′s nascar rules makers slipped up and didn’t make the cars actually look like the cars they were supposed to represent. Instead all cars went to the wedge design to maximize downforce in the front and team lobbyist cried to nascar for rules changes so teams could work the grey area more and more. ultimately everyone thought that different rules for different cars at different race tracks was stupid. So nascar’s answer was the COT. The COT is another sign that nascar doesn’t really have a clue. The COT is a car that is so ugly it makes the Edsel look like a sexy ride. The COT looks like a shoe box with a punk boy racer rear wing. If I was a manufacturer I’d be pissed that my logo would be put on such a graceless looking car. I hate the COT not only because it’s hideously ugly, but because every car is mandated to be the same now. This negates creativity and outside the box thinking. Now teams have to hide their cheating to gain an advantage. How often do we hear of fines and suspensions for rules violations following pre/post qualifying/race inspections? Nascar doesn’t have the balls to take a perennial cheater like Chad Knaus and tell him ”buh bye douchebag, you got caught one too many times.” The NHRA and Formula 1 don’t have a problem telling cheaters to take a hike. Last season a funnycar team was told to pack up and leave after a post qualifying inspection revealed that ballast was not properly bolted down. This past weekend at Virgina Raceway the NHRA banned a team for not using a safety device that keeps the spark plugs from getting launched into the stands. They will have to sit out the last 2 races of the season. The FIA banned team principal Flavio Briatore for life because the team he was in charge of got caught staging a wreck with one of their cars to the direct benefit of the other team car. Nascar has no interest in justice or fairness. They want headlines. They want people constantly talking about their product. How many times when Chad Knaus gets caught cheating do you see video of Chad, or the car with the “Lowes” logo prominently displayed. How does that saying go, there is no such thing as bad publicity? This leads to my next complaint with nascar. All the damn “debris” cautions. Seriously nascar, if the cars are such pieces of crap that parts keep falling off them, do something to fix it. They won’t, however. Reason being that cautions are the perfect segway for commercials. Cautions also bunch up the field and give more opportunity for wrecks that make all the highlight reels. These debris cautions also can be used to help keep drivers in contention that make nascar a lot of money in merchandise sales. (cough dale jr cough)

Before I continue I want to make something clear. I don’t think class=”hiddenSpellError” pre=”think “>nascar nascar “>rigs races. (not since july 84 anyway) My point is that nascar is more racing related entertainment then pure out and out racing. Nascar is too political and too interested in making money. So you may ask, Gunther who does pure racing the best? I mean I just spent a little over 700 words dumping on nascar so you have the right to ask. Well, before I get into that I have to say all racing has some level of politics and bullshit. There is too much money involved even at the minor league levels to not have politics and BS. However while I believe nascar revels in it, groups like the NHRA and American Lemans Series try their best to at least keep the politics behind closed doors. The debacle at the US Nationals this year were John Force threw a race so his teammate could win and get into the countdown to the championship didn’t sit well with many at the NHRA. However the class=”hiddenSpellError” pre=”the “>NHRA couldn’t prove John threw the race so they couldn’t do anything to him. That whole deal was BS, but what can anyone do? So the NHRA isn’t perfect. The ALMS has had its share of politics too. Sportscar racings history is a cycle of manufacturers trying to outspend one another to win leaving the small privateers to give up. This reduces car count and makes the series not viable so the big factories pull out and you are left with nothing. The sanctioning body won’t take a hard ass approach to the manufactures and either write rules that keep the well funded privateer in the hunt or make the manufacturers make their cars available for a set price to anyone that wants to buy them. (You could say Rolex Cup racing is just what I’m talking about, but there are no true factory teams. There is no Rolex Cup equivalent to Audi Sport/Joest Racing, the Peugeot team, Corvette Racing etc. At best a chosen few teams get factory support, but are not thru and thru factory teams) I believe that all the hyped BS and politics are the main reason ticket sales and ratings are down for nascar races. As a child I used to plan my weekend around Sunday afternoon nascar races. Now I only watch the start and the last 10 laps. I’ve seen all of nascar’s dog and pony show tricks too many times. Now I spend my Sunday’s watching the IRL (note they didn’t make the lack of BS and politics part of my rant, IRL/CART/Indycar BS and politics is worthy of its own blog), the ALMS and spending Sunday evening with the NHRA. If you are, or were, a nascar fan but are fed up with nascar’s crap. Give one of the afore mentioned groups a chance. If you like American thunder, NHRA is for you. If you have the patience to watch a race for 3 to 24 hours and don’t care if all or most of the drivers are foreigners, try the ALMS. If you want to see a display of speed and action that will leave you on the edge of your seat, try the IRL when they are a high banked speedway. In short, if you have developed a taste for the finer things motor sport, I think you will find what you like in another series. Even in stock car racing. There is a bullring next to most of our towns and cities that have excellent racing. Support the local track that promotes racing for the love of racing. Not a group that looks for endorsements and huge profit margins.

The USC football media bias

thegunther77 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:03:23 +0000

I really like college football a lot. I think football rivalries are far better than basketball or baseball rivalries. And for better or worse college football uses a complex ranking system to determine the 2 best teams in the sport and they meet in the national championship game. Ok, fine, I suppose. What chaps my ass about this system is that it showcases obvious media bias’. Case and point, USC Trojan football. Now before I go off on my rant, I want to say that I don’t personally hate USC, or Pete Carroll. USC and Pete Carroll run a pretty clean program. That’s more than I can say about my beloved Texas “pass the bong” Longhorns, the Free Shoe U Criminols (thats FSU Seminoles by another name) and the Miami Thugs….I mean Hurricanes. So it’s nothing personal, yall USC fans just chill. So back to my rant. Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit love USC football. They talk so lovingly about how good the Trojans are. How great a coach Pete Carroll is. Personally I think if Pete Carroll and “the mighty USC Trojans” came to a sudden stop, Brent and Kirk would go half way up Petes ass. If you don’t believe me, watch a game that Brent Musburger is commentating that USC is not playing in. At some point he will talk about USC football. Kirk Herbstreit will always pitch that USC is in title contention, even with 1 loss. Now this in and of itself doesn’t get to me too bad. What gets me is that I don’t agree with them and I have facts and logic on my side.

Here’s how I figure it. USC plays in the PAC-10 conference. Thats not exactly a football powerhouse. As of week 6 there are exactly 2 PAC-10 schools in the AP top 25. USC at number 7 and the mighty Oregon “don’t talk trash to me I knock you out” Ducks at number 13. Lets compare that to the SEC, a real football powerhouse conference. The SEC has 3 teams in the top 5! They have 6 teams in the AP top 25 as of week 6. Lets talk about the 3 schools in the top 5 for a second. Florida is number 1, Alabama is 3, LSU is 4. The reason I want to high light these schools in particular is because they all have 1 thing in common. They all play each other. Thats right, each of these schools will play at least 2 opponents that were either in the top 10 (or 5) or spent a good part of the season in the top 10. (until they were knocked out, prolly by losing to another top 10 school) Then there is the minor detail of LSU and Alabama playing numbers 17 Auburn and 20 Mississippi, while Florida has to play 25 South Carolina in conference and a tough grudge match against usually ranked Georgia. (they got knocked out of the top 25 with a tough loss to 4 LSU, they also lost to 9 OK State week 1) On the other hand, who has USC played? Well I have to hand it to them, they beat Ohio State on the road, so big props to them for that. They killed Cal last weekend and they will play 13 Oregon in a few weeks. Theres a small problem though. They beat Cal, but Cal was overrated. Cal lost in consecutive weeks to Oregon and USC, both ranked schools. So I don’t put a lot of stock in that win. Who else does USC play? Napa Valley Nurses College? Thousand Oaks Highschool? Lets face it, compared to any SEC team, USC’s schedule is a cake walk. USC has a tradition of getting up for the big game, but when you only have to do it 2 or 3 times a season, its easier to do. Again, think of Florida, LSU and Alabama, they all play each other not to mention several other ranked schools throughout the season and a bowl game.

So back to my media bias theme. For as much as my buddies Brent and Kirk talk about how great USC is, the numbers don’t prove it. USC isn’t a bad team, but I don’t think they deserve the constant recognition they get. I can think of a lot of teams that are just as good this season and have had an excellent last decade and have a tradition of winning.(Texas, Oklahoma, LSU and Florida come to mind) Media bias isn’t new, and it doesn’t just favor USC. Notre Dame bias under Lou Holtz was almost intolerable. Free Shoe U and the Miami Thugs have just as obnoxious a media bias when they play decent. Like I said, this isn’t a USC thing, it’s a media thing. In a few years Brent and Kirk will be kneeling before some other coach and some other team.

Failure is not an option

thegunther77 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:23:44 +0000

Failure is not an option makes for a great movie line. It’s great for motivating individuals to achieve. When life and death is on the line, it’s a nessecity for living. What if it’s not possible to fail? I mean literally, it’s not possible to fail as in everyone passes, everyone succeeds. This is what is happening in our schools. In an effort to not crush the hopes and dreams of our children, schools are promoting an enviroment of “so long as you tried you are a champion.” They do this by not using red ink to mark papers. Red ink isn’t considered “self esteem” building. They use purple instead because it’s a softer color. Every child receives ribbons of achievement, even if they didn’t achieve anything. The idea being you don’t want to leave anyone out. The curriculum is dumbed down to meet the needs of the lower achieving students to the detriment of the higher achieving ones.

What I want to know is, when did failure become such a God awful horrible thing? Some of the best lessons I’ve learned in life came from skinned knees, bad grades and broken hearts. Surviving failure is what builds character. How many of you reading this remember a time you did something dumb and you paid the price? You said to yourself “I’m never doing that again”. If we take moments like that away from our children we are dooming them to failure. I don’t know about the people who make educational policy, but I live in the real world. I live in a world were expectations are set and if they are not met there are repercussions. What is going to happen to this generation when the first time they experience failure is when they are in there 20′s and are no longer under the security blanket of the school system? Seriously, if you have never failed a spelling test, never been told something wasn’t good enough or never had that “back to the drawing board” moment, how do you expect someone to cope with a boss chewing their ass about not cutting it? How can you coach someone if they have never made a mistake? How do you expect boys to become men and girls to become women if they are sheltered? We are doing our children a disservice by not preparing them for the real world. Maybe I’m wrong. A pink slip filled out with purple ink may make them feel better about getting fired, I don’t know.

State of the NFL according to a fan

thegunther77 — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:22:34 +0000

There has been a lot of talk about TV stations blacking out games in local areas due to poor ticket sales. Living in Jacksonville Florida, this stands to hurt my area the most. Jacksonville is a small market, with a large stadium and a crappy team. I would go to more games but who has the money? When money was good I couldnt afford to go. After I pay 55 bucks for a nose bleed seat, a few beers, some food and travel expenses I’m out almost a hundred bucks. If I stay at home I can buy 2 cases of Bud for 40 bucks and buy enough food to feed 4 people for another 40-50 bucks depending on how fancy i want to bbq. For under 100 dollars, me and 3 of my buddies are set for a day of football, beer drinking and bbq. All for less money then the cost of me going out to the game myself. Sure my living room isn’t the stadium and no big screen is a substitute for watching the game live and in person. However in times like these sacrifices must be made. I just wish the NFL, NFLPA, the owners, the players and everyone that has their hand in the pocket of professional football would do the same. Most of the people I know have taken some form of compensation cut. I know a lot of people out of a job. I have yet to see any of the afore mentioned groups make any significant effort to meet the needs of the fans in these hard times. The result of this is empty stadium seats. Instead of lowering cost of tickets, concessions and other assorted expenses the fan has to pay attending the stadium, the games are blacked out. I see this as a slap to the face to all the dedicated, die-hard fans that have supported and helped the NFL to grow. The NFL needs to take a look at how Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have treated there fans in recent years. They need to see the damage caused by putting money and profits over the fans and there needs. Baseball recovered and is strong again. The NHL is still wobbling after losing an entire season to a work stoppage. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the entirety of the NFL and everyone that benefits from them make a small sacrifice. Those of us in the real world have, now it’s your turn NFL.

Tony Romo is overrated

thegunther77 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:08:43 +0000

Tony Romo is overrated, there I said it. I’m a Cowboys fan, but I’m unimpressed with Mr Romo. It seems to me he is more interested in the stardom that being the Cowboy’s QB brings him then actually being the Cowboy’s QB. Sure his regular season stats are pretty good, among the leagues best. He has heart. When he broke his finger he toughed it out and played very well. He has a decent arm strength, good accuracy and a good understanding of the system he works within. What he lacks is focus. Lack of focus is what cost the ‘Boys a win against Seattle when he let the ball slip through his fingers on a rather straight forward field goal attempt. Focus is what he lacked when they played Carolina the week after him and his girl Jessica Simpson spent the weekend in Mexico. What do these two losses have in common? They were both playoff games. The playoffs are when superstar athletes earn that huge paycheck. So far when it counts, Mr Romo is 0-2-2. That is 0 wins, 2 losses and 2 chokes. To roughly paraphrase George Steinbrenner about winning important games, he said “I don’t pay you to hit home runs in May and June, I pay you to hit them in September and October.” I forget who he was talking about when he said that, but it’s true. If Mr Romo is to be considered one of the leagues elite quarter backs he needs to win playoff games. The media seems to have forgotten this and are enamored with someone whose celebrity will sell newspapers and magazines every time hes the cover story. Perhaps I’m too hard on Mr Romo. Perhaps a decade with Troy Aikman at the helm has spoiled me by allowing me to see what a Hall of Fame QB can do when he puts his heart and mind to it.

My first blog entry

thegunther77 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:23:35 +0000

Hello blog world! I’m new to this and using this as a test to see how all this works. Even though I’m hardly an ace at the computer; I’m managing to figure this out pretty well. In the future I will use this service to voice my opinions on sports, politics, music and anything else that chaps my ass or gets me fired up.