A Few Quick Hits

· David Ragan parked at Atlanta.
This is probably a good move by Nascar as I consider the Atlanta Motor Speedway the fastest and more 'racy' over-all track in the series. But the issue or problem that I see is the reason why David might not have the ‘experience’ needed to make this jump to Cup. Some say he should stay in Busch and get more experience and that is probably a fair statement, but there lies the problem. His owner has had a knack for putting his CUP drivers more often then not in his cars rather than the development drivers. Yep, I said it, the BuschWacking maybe the real problem here. This is not only limited to Roush Racing, but have seen it at Robert Yates as well. David Gilliland has shown that he also could use some more ‘seasoning’ before making the jump to Cup as well. Of course the RYR situation is a bit different.


· Dear “Beto’s” in Grand Prairie
Your Southwest Skirt Steak and fixins es muy bueno. Not to mention one of the best Happy Hours in the DFW area.


· Price of Poker is going up
I see that the “Southern Gentleman’s” fan club annual dues are increasing in ’07 to $20 for a single and $25 for a family of four. That is a 25% jump from ’06 and a 100% from ’03. This now puts him in line with other fan clubs like Michael Waltrip and Sterling Marlin, which are still cheaper than most, but then again, you get what you pay for. Maybe since Sadler has had a couple of engine failures lately, there is a greater need for those Gonkulators he used to use with such success, and was the subject of many jokes and captions (If you have to ask…… well never mind) or maybe it is needed to help pay for the endless 'under construction' Foundation Website!


· Stoops losing his ‘Magic’?
Hearing some rumblings in the press concerning Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops has lost that ‘magic’ that he brought to Norman from the early 2000 seasons. While the over-all success of the Football program is not at the level it was back then, it is not that far off. Even with losing your starting QB and a starting Offensive Lineman a day before fall practices were to start, and losing Heisman hopeful Adrian Peterson to injury, the Sooners are still a pretty good football team (when they don’t turn the ball over). But looking back on a few other Sooner coaching legends, they too, had some ‘down’ years just about at the same point in their careers. Bud Wilkerson, after going 31-2 in his 3rd, 4th, and 5th seasons (and a National Championship in 1950), had a span of 3 seasons where the Sooners lost games early in the season (sometimes two losses) only to follow up with a NCAA record 47 straight un-beaten games and three undefeated seasons (with two more National Championships). Barry Switzer also had early success but by his ninth season, fell to some hard times, and had 3 Four-loss seasons in a row only to win another National Championship in ’85. So Coach Stoops is in good company.

· How much did you say?
Had a brief cool spell last week, and decided that I should be safe, and have the fireplace cleaned professionally. Of course there was the extra up charge for having two fireplaces, but the final bill for about 30 minutes of actual work was $234 dollars! I guess that is a small price to pay rather than having your house burn down.

· Bold prediction
Its Wednesday, Oct 25th 6:30 CST. Just a few hours before Season Three, Episode IV of LOST. I get the strangest feeling that tonight will be a ‘shark jumping’ episode. We will see in a couple of hours. I hope I am wrong!

· And lastly
for a special friend, another TIMEWASTER from Africa. enjoy!