Time for a liver break!

Now that was some weekend! From the lasagna dinner at Mom’s on Wednesday evening to coming home and absolutely dropping from being exhausted last night it was a great time start to finish!

First of all thanks to my mom and pop for having everyone over for dinner. We had a really nice time. Got to meet my niece’s boyfriend. I thought I put a moratorium on her growing up;) Had some cake and ice cream and got some nice gifts. Now at some point today I have to get those thank you cards out!

Thursday was cloudy and cool, but not cold. I headed out to the track and saw a couple of hours of practice before we got some sprinkles. We were heading out that night for a birthday party so I decided to head home. I got home, got a shower, fed some cats and headed over and got my annual May manicure. Being on my feet all day, they needed a little TLC! Best $25 I spend a couple of times a year.

Then I drove down to Brandon’s on the south side for my birthday party. What a turnout. My wife billed it as a “Girls Night Out” but it was all about me;) I tried to count the number of attendees but could only recall 32! Thanks to everyone who turned out and for the birthday beers and shooters! It was a good thing I only had a couple at the track or I would have been face down on the table at the bar.

Friday, however, I was feeling it. But, being the trouper that I am I chewed up a couple of aspirins, drank a beer and was fine. Me and Linda headed out the Speedway about 10. It was another cloudy and cool day. Costanza didn’t show saying the rain was coming at noon. It didn’t and we enjoyed nearly a full day of practice. Linda even managed to stalk Graham Rahal long enough to get his autograph. I want to get Tomas Scheckter’s but that slippery shit is proving to be quite elusive!

We headed out about 4 from the track when we got some slight precipitation. I knew it was going to be a long couple of days coming up and it was supposed to get hot and sunny so leaving early wasn’t any big deal. I hit the rack early in anticipation of having to get up at 6 the next morning.

Welcome to Pole Day for the 2010 Running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing! At home the day dawned bright, but a little chilly yet. The lady on TV said not to worry that the heat was coming. Okay Nicole, I’ll buy it. We pack up and head out and the closer we get to the Speedway the darker it looks. We stop and get gas in Linda’s car and when I get out I’m cold. Nicole didn’t say I would need a sweater to start the day!

When we get to the track we are parked about where we would park every day. Close to the shuttle stop, so that was a bonus. When we get to the seats we head out to get a bite to eat. We watched practice and honestly, I would have bet against sunshine ever happening on this day.

Finally, after all the festivities we were set for qualifying. The complete story of qualifying can be found at many online sites so I won’t bore you with all of the details, but there were some highlights not the least of which was Princess Poutypuss and her asinine comments.

To no one’s surprise Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing were fast. A little more surprising was that Rahal Letterman got Graham in at 7th and that Alex Tagliani showed he wasn’t faking all week when he had the second fastest speed of Q1. “Special’ Ed Carpenter was the biggest shocker coming out of nowhere to take the final spot in the “Fast Nine” and advance to Q2. For those of you unaware, they qualified 24 on Saturday and the fastest nine went back out at 4:30 in the afternoon and see who could post the fastest speed and sit on the pole. It was a new concept this year and there were some monetary enticements to get teams to participate. That “Fast Nine” session was Q2 or qualifying round 2. To make things more interesting, the fastest time in Q1 would get the first pick of pit location. That made it so guys wouldn't sandbag or hold out until the Q2 session to show what they had.

Anyway, Q1 played out pretty much to chalk. The biggest team surprise was that the Andretti Autosports team struggled so mightily. None of them were particularly fast and team leader Tony Kanaan crashed on his attempt. They weren’t great all week, but generally they are considered to be just a step down from Penske and Ganassi. Well ol’ Danica just couldn’t help throw a hissy fit after her run. If there is a bigger bitch in sports I sure don’t know who it is.

Obviously I am no Danica Patrick fan, but she is, for whatever reason, extremely popular. But this time Dunce Cap Danica stepped on her own wiener. Clearly agitated by not being the fastest and no where near the Fast Nine Danica got out the car and complained that it was all wrong and that she was scared and that the car didn’t deserve to be that far back and finally that her run was “not my fault”. You could hear the boos cascade down all over the Speedway and “the World’s Largest PA System”. It was classic! This bitch who refuses to ever accept any blame for any mistakes she makes threw her team and crew under the bus and pissed off her fan base in one small sentence. It was the line of the day or maybe even the Centennial era. She was derided and made fun of her the rest of the weekend. Her crew was jokingly told it was their fault as they went up and down pit lane and in the ultimate indignity she had the line yelled at here as she made her way down pit lane and there were even several “fuck you bitch!” epithets yelled at her. Poutypuss was as dour as ever and just couldn’t understand why her fans would boo her. Maybe she hasn’t figured out what we fans know. It’s a team sport and when an individual puts themselves ahead of the team, bad things happen.

Of course her staunchest supporters are still defending her saying she has a right to say what’s on here mind, or that guys like AJ Foyt were loved for speaking their mind because they were guys and not a woman in a mans sport. Well sorry but I have to call bullshit on that. Sure she has a right to say it, but just because you have the right doesn’t mean you should. This should have been handled in the privacy of the garage or motor home, not over the PA system. Yeah, I bet her crew was fired up to help her get her car ready for next Sunday. Second the Foyt, or any other guy comparison doesn't hold water. Foyt was a winner. I don’t like Tony Stewart but he is a winner as well and these guys have earned that right, yet they still don’t ever eschew all blame. Besides, when Foyt called his car a tub of shit, it was his team and his crew, the guys he hired and directed. It was a tub of shit because AJ had created a tub of shit. Danica hasn’t done shit, yet still acts like she if God’s gift to racing. What a bitch!

With all of the Danica excitement over we hardly noticed that the skies had cleared and it was not only sunny, but getting much warmer! Scheckter went out but they had some problem and wouldn’t get in until after 3:30. Helio was the fastest in Q1 after retaking the top from Tagliani. We got our beverages and settled in to see how this Fast Nine would shake out.

It turned out to be pretty fun. I don’t think they did a great job of explaining it, but all in all it was pretty exciting. Unfortunately Graham lost a position, but he still starts in the first three rows. Tomorrow is Bump Day and there are some big names still to try to get in. Paul Tracy, Vitor Meira, John Andretti and Tony Kanaan to name a few. It’s also supposed to be sunny and 90 degrees. Nicole? Is that accurate?

It was! 94 in fact. Hotter than a pepper fart. I was dousing my head down and then soaking may hat in the sink in the bathroom. The beer didn’t work and my hand is even sun burnt but it was a good day anyway!

Linda decided not to go as her back was hurting her a little. She ran me down to Neils to go with Keith and him. We headed out and it was obvious it was going to be a beautiful day. There was 2 hours of down time between practice and qualifying for Armed Forces day events. We got to hear the Army band play their usual assortment of military songs and had a nice flyover by some F-16’s. But the real show would be on the track and it didn’t disappoint and neither did that slippery shit Scheckter. Still don’t have that autograph! And Tomas, if you're reading this, nothing but love for you and your effort this month. Just sign my damn hat!;)

With the track heating up several drivers went out for qualifying attempts before the heat really set in. A few had some good runs but Bump Day is always about the 5 o’clock hour and it was a good one. I have to tell you, the heat almost ran me out to the shade, but I stayed and was rewarded with a spirited final hour of qualifying! Drivers pulled their speeds and retried, some bumped their way back in and some made questionable decisions. Of those, some worked out, some didn’t. I was sad to see Sarah Fisher’s team miss out putting their second driver in, but their decision backfired on them. Same thing happened to Paul Tracy and now the self-proclaimed winner of the 2002 Indianapolis 500 will have to wait until next year to even try.

Milka Duno was the only woman at the Speedway to fail to make the field although I expect to hear that she will take over her teammate Alex Lloyd’s car but the time the race rolls around. Money talks people. Nowhere louder than the racetrack I’m afraid.

So the field was set, the beer was drank and it was time to head home and rest up for a couple of days before I head back to work for a couple and then it’s Carb Day on Friday and Sunday is Race Day! My liver is happy for the break and honestly, the thought of a beer today just isn’t very appealing!

Peace out and thanks again to everyone for all of their Birthday wishes!!

A Season Ticket No More. For Now;)

Well the NFL draft is now a few weeks past, mini-camp is over, it’s May and we are at the point on the calendar that is about as far away from NFL football as you can be.

So why am I writing a piece about the NFL and the Indianapolis Colts at this time of year? I guess with a week or so until the track opens, just a couple of other racing events and no other real sports news that grabs my attention I started thinking about the upcoming season. I mean, I love to follow the Yankees and the Reds but baseball has five months UNTIL the playoffs. I want to follow hockey more but just can’t really make myself. The NBA playoffs, uggh! No thank you.

This isn’t an entry about how I think the upcoming season will go although there may be a little of that thrown in. Nor is it going to be my assessment of past events such as the loss in the Super Bowl or the 2010 Draft. No, this is about my personal experience as a 25-year season ticket holder.

Sadly, I’ve made the choice to not renew my Indianapolis Colt season ticket for the 2010 season. Frankly it just wasn’t in the budget this year and I felt it was time to make the right decision regarding the ticket. I’m not saying it is in any way permanent; it was just the right thing to do this year. Hell, I’m hoping something happens that allows me to go to most of the games this year, but only time will tell if that happens. Even if I don’t make it to the games I’ve had more fun over the past 25 seasons than most fans can dream of.

I’ve seen what amounts to the birth of a franchise. Sure the Colts had been in Baltimore for years, but they were new to Indianapolis and what a welcome they received. Of course the newness wore off quick as we sat through some crappy seasons with what we thought were marginal NFL players and coaches. 3-13 season records were the norm rather than the exception for most of the first 15 years the team was here. But the team had their moments.

We drank Old Style beer, maybe a little too much, at the games. We laughed at the inept play of some of the Colts. Eugene Daniel was “the Toast of the Town”. Mike Pagel was a horrible quarterback and we always wanted Art Schlichter to play, but truth be told he was even more of a nightmare. There was Jeff George and the whole train wreck that he was.

We stole the famed “Steel Curtain” banner the Steelers fans had the audacity to hang in OUR room. Of course the police made us give it back, but it didn’t go back up! We wore tuxes to the game the day after one of the guys in our row got married. We ran the fans in front of us off. I kind of regret that but I guess they had had enough beer spilled on them. The Bears fans wanted to fight us for no reason other than they are just jerks.

And lest you think that the first years were ALL bad there were some shining on field moments and memories that I’ll never forget. Jack Trudeau was a defensive, arrogant prick but he gave his all on the field and I will always be thankful for that. Number 29 Eric Dickerson provided many thrills most notably his dominating performance against the Broncos on that Halloween night in 1988. The Dome literally rocked that night as it did a week later when the Colts came back from a halftime deficit to beat the Jets. There was Rosie Potts blocking and catching the ball. Brief glimpses of greatness from linebackers such as Barry Krauss, Duane Bickett and Jeff Herrod. Bill Brooks catching most anything that got in his area, although with some of the QB’s, that wasn’t much! And of course the short, but brilliant career of Steve Emtmann.

But going to the games was ultimately more social than it was about being a serious fan. Of course we were and are serious fans, but to mock and deride those around us who were only there for the “event” was misguided as the team gave very little to get enthused about. In fact, for the first 10 years we only had one playoff appearance and that came in the strike year.

Then there was 1994. The Colts drafted Marshall Faulk and we had OUR first real superstar. Sure 29 was here in the 80’s but he was acquired in a trade and will always be known more as a Ram than a Colt. With Marshall running and Captain Comeback Jim Harbaugh at QB and a solid defense the team seemed headed in the right direction. After a revolving door at head coach the team had their old coach Ted Marchibroda back on board with some solid help at key coaching positions.

With Harbaugh, Faulk and a decent team we saw a deep run in the playoffs for the first time. None of the games were at home, but after 10+ years we had a team the city could rally around. Unfortunately the feeling nor the success lasted. A couple of short years later and we were watching the same old 3-13 Colts, but we still loved them and still had a great time at the games.

Finally, in 1998, the Colts turned the corner for good, or at least as good as for 12 years of success. With Peyton Manning at QB and a laundry list of stars on offense the Colts started putting up gaudy numbers for wins, yardage and points each season. For the past 10 years the Colts have been in the conversation for Super Bowl champion. Sure we’ve only won the one, but there is little reason why this team can’t win another or more.

More importantly is how the whole experience of going to the games has changed. From the “ho-hum, I’m here, where’s my book” days of 15 years ago to the fever pitch we have today. More than anything I will miss that. The whole “fuck you, this is our house” mentality that has come with winning is awesome to experience. Sure we get fans of the other teams, especially those jackass Patriot fans, but their numbers are small and getting smaller all of the time.

I’ll miss hanging at Tom’s before the games. Drinking my RBV before the game and my four Bud’s at the game with a couple after thrown in for good measure. I’ll miss seeing the Colts try to improve upon last seasons incredible 13 wins in a row stretch and make it through unscathed and culminating in a Super Bowl win. I’ll miss the camaraderie of the fans around us with whom we’ve become game friends.

It has been a great 26 years and like I said, I wholly expect this to be temporary and am already making arrangements for my return. It’s just something that has been such a part of my life over the past generation that I feel like I am losing a great friend. Just know, I’ll see you again old friend.