A culture of racers

Who's your race car?

I was a Jeff Gordon fan just because he's the only one I ever knew, until last weekend while attending the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, NC I learned that Gordon is the pretty boy pansy of the NASCAR circuit. What did Gordon ever do wrong?

Wait stop! I'll answer that for you. The only thing Jeff Gordon ever did wrong was being born beautiful. Is that his fault?

Sure, he's from California and his family was at no loss for funding for their son's racing career, but when he's behind the wheel he might as well have been born on a strung together raft while charging down the Mississippi.

And in the Coca-C0la 600, he was knocked out of the race in a wreck that sent his pretty little rear air born. Don't worry, he was OK.

I was secretly pulling for the guy. He doesn't deserve all this bullshit. He gets tee-boned in a borderline cheap shot and still booed. And answer me this - what school of hard knocks did Dale Earnhardt Jr. ever go through to avoid the torment of growing up in privilege?

So last weekend, I hung with about 150,000 folks that would have beat my ass silly if I told them I drove an Audi. It's an amazing culture of racing fans in Charlotte and it's not a surprise that they boo Gordon for no reason other than being a "Yankee". I apparently got off scott free - whew.

So now, in the safety and comfort of a seat behind the shield of cyberspace, I can say it - Go 24!

Nothing like a clean pair of Hanes

I found myself in the middle of a discussion this weekend that I've certainly had before, but still remains unresolved.

I have a friend, who will of course remain anonymous, but likes to steal things. And this isn't stealing in the sense of using somebody's jokes or downloading the occasional pirated MP3. My buddy walks into stores and jacks items then walks out (probably more briskly than he walked in). There is little argument about whether this is stealing, but the argument is about whether it's a detriment to the world. If so, is it any more of a detriment than ripping off an MP3 or DVD from the web?

After all, if nobody stole shit from department stores there would be an entire labor force of security personnel and surveillance camera manufacturers out of work. I think Ben Bernanke would be more upset over an estranged group of skilled workers than the minuscule price increase caused by petty shoplifters. And if these upstanding citizen's didn't get their jollies from lifting Hanes underwear in what other, possibly more hazardous, mischief would they find themselves?

I'm sure my illustrious readership will solve this debate once and for all. But if not, I may soon be sporting some new Fruit of the Looms - real cheap.

Boot camp backfire

If you’re a casual professional golf fan, you probably heard of the win this past weekend by the seasoned Phil Mickelson at the revered Players Championship on a hallowed track in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. If you’re a moderate professional golf fan, you probably caught some of the final round which paired Phil with a lanky 24 year-old prodigy named Sean O’Hair who held the lead on Sunday morning of the tournament that is often considered the fifth major. If your interest in profession golf is slightly above moderate, you may have seen young Sean hand the tournament to Phil with two water balls at the gimmicky island green 17th hole. While the sight of a youngster among veterans throwing $750,000 in prize money into a man-made lake was excruciating, the story of Sean O’Hair makes any monetary debacle seem inconsequential.

There are probably many folks who don’t know a nine iron from a curling iron, but caught the “60 Minutes II” special a few years ago about the rigorous training regimen Sean was put through by his domineering father. Marc O’Hair opened the segment with a jaw dropping statement, “I was in business 20-plus years and I know how to make a profit. You've got the same old thing - it's material, labor and overhead. He's pretty good labor."

Marc would make his human investment run a mile for every shot over par after a tournament. A 79 after a particular junior tournament sent Sean on a seven mile post-round treadmill excursion to nowhere. After Sean turned pro at 17 years old he signed a contract with his father promising 10% of his profession earnings for life. And though Sean and his father haven’t spoken in five years, Marc has plans of revenge.

"As soon as he gets famous, I am going to lower the boom," Marc says. "I am going to show everybody what he did to me. I have no intention of suing him. I intend to crucify him in the media, because what he did to me is not right."
Nice Marc.

It looks like Sean’s dad remains self-interested and heartless while his son gains confidence and strength with every day outside of his ruthless shackles. Marc saw dollar signs and the whole thing backfired. To most this probably isn’t a surprise but in the skewed mind of Marc O’Hair he’s still getting the short end of the gap wedge.

Fortunately, the O’Hair story will most likely end well, at least for Sean, but it rears the head of an age-old debate about how much kids should be pushed by their parents. I’ll admit that I could have used a little kick in the rear at 15 years old to spend more time playing golf instead of jamming three chord power ballads with an out of tune Fender Squire in my bedroom. But even if I was given a boot camp of golf training, I’d now be in the same spot of playing company scramble tournaments and jamming three chord power ballads on Guitar Hero – definitely a step up from an out of tune Squire.

Finally an explaination

Another weekend and another PGA tour win for Tiger Woods. The dude is unbelievable. He's up there with Allen Iverson as the best athlete on Earth. Nobody responded the last time I asked why he's so good, so I'll have to take it upon myself to explain.

The guy is a phenomenally gifted human being. His gifts are equally physical as they are mental. His mental gifts were certainly helped along by having a sports psychologist since his early years. And his physical gifts were brought to their peak by the best golf instructors in the World. He was told from an early age that he was the best golfer ever. And his play did nothing to debunk that belief.

But it isn't only the God given talent and childhood reinforcement that makes him the best. He also has the strongest work ethic of anyone on Tour. Unlike other athletes who are used to being the best, Tiger pushes for improvement when he's already there. Think about all the Heisman Trophy winners who faded in the NFL. Could this be because they didn't have the drive to push beyond their perceived superiority?

Maybe. But Tiger will never stop. He'll break the major record of Jack Nicholas by 5-10. Not too shabby.