Thursday, October 23, 2014

The Resurgence of a Legend: Jeff Gordon in position to win 5th title

Last week at Talledega Jeff Gordon barley squeezed himself into the Eliminator round with a 26th place finish. With four races left in the season Gordon will be the flagman for Hendrick Motorsports.  His teammates Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, and fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr did not qualify for the eliminator round.

The new NASCAR playoff format resets the points every three races so once again the points are at equal 4,000 for all drivers; Keslowski, Harvick, Newman, Edwards, Hamlin, Logano, Kenseth, and Gordon.

It's a even playing field. Everyone has a equal chance.

But were headed to Martinsville this weekend and the Big Bad wolf there is Jeff Gordon. Owning 8 grandfather clocks, Gordon is tied with Jimmie Johnson for the most wins at Martinsville.  Last year Jeff Gordon won this race passing Kenseth with 21 laps to go. Kenseth led a race high 202 laps in the race but when it mattered most he couldn't keep Gordon at bay.

"Jeff's experience here got me,  I'm just not that experienced running up front here" Kenseth said at the time. Gordon's driver rating of 119.9 is the best of all Chase drivers at Martinsville.

Look for Gordon to capitalize on that experience Sunday. He may not lead the most laps as was the case a year ago, but when it counts he'll be in the mix. At the end of the race when its Driver vs. Driver there's no one better at Martinsville than Jeff Gordon.

If Gordon can punch his ticket to Homestead with a win Sunday he'll be heading to a track where he has a history of showing of speed; he won there two years ago in 2012.

But this year his team is better, faster, and mentally stronger.

Out of all the drivers left in the chase Gordon is the best driver. That's why Brad Keslowski wrote a blog on why to win this championship, he has to beat Jeff Gordon.

Watch out world, Wonder boy can see the crown once again.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Just Let Kobe be Kobe

This week the internet universe exploded over the controversial publishing of a scathing article by ESPN's Henry Abbott who claims Lakers star Kobe Bryant is the cause of the teams recent slide over the past few years.

Too make a long story short, Abbott made claims that Bryant's ego was scaring away stars from playing in the bright lights of LA. Abbott sights various anonymous sources in the article which has come under some criticism. In his article he blames Kobe for driving away stars such as Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Paul George in the latest Free agency period for the NBA.

Paul George obviously doesn't agree with article tweeting "Now how crazy does that Kobe story sound to you? #MediaReachingAgain".

Well respected Bleacher reporter Kevin Ding tweeted "Don't like to criticize other's work, but many asked me on  Henry Abbott's ESPN article. Entitled to opinion but so many facts wrong".

 Red Hot Chili's pepper's Flea also took to twitter to defend the LA star. He tweeted "Henry Abbott your espn kobe article is absolute garbage and a blatant irresponsible attack".  11 time NBA head coach Phil Jackson backed the musician on social media as well saying "Go get em flea".

It's no secret Kobe rubbed his teammates wrong over the his career but that's just because of his uncontrollable desire to win.

Shaq and Kobe had many disagreements and fights. Shaq and Kobe also won three NBA Championships three straight years in a row. Andrew Bynum and Kobe often butted heads but they too popped champagne bottles to celebrate the back to back championships they won in 2009-2010.

Bryant expects greatness from his teammates and if he feels there not giving the best they can give he'll call them out on it. Maybe those the bright lights were too bright for Dwight after all?

Maybe ESPN was butt hurt and  published this bogus article because Kobe called them idiots for ranking him 40th in there NBA rankings?

If anything Bryant's greatness has become his weakness as the stars body begins to fail him. His mind still wants to be the Kobe of old but perhaps that Kobe has passed away after 19 seasons in the NBA.

Or perhaps not.

As Kobe enters his final season in the league we should do more appreciating than criticizing.

Just let Kobe be Kobe.