The road to Charlotte actually started the weekend before I left. I had a lot to do before leaving and had made a mental agenda of everything I wanted/needed to accomplish during the weekend – laundry and packing among them. Fortunately I managed to stay on schedule and was ready to leave for Charlotte after work on Tuesday.
On Tuesday I got out of work at 3PM. I had a few last-minute things to do and buy – a bit of food shopping, pack the food in the coolers and get ice. By the time I was done it was getting close to rush hour so I decided to take a nap before leaving and let traffic die down. Up at 8:45PM, I took my shower, got dressed, did a last check of emails and was on the road around 9:40PM for the drive to Charlotte. This time I would be staying in Statesville instead of Gastonia, so I wasn’t totally sure of where I would be going, but still the same general route. And at least this time I wouldn’t be battling my way through a blizzard.
As planned, my first stop was at McDonalds in Erie, PA. I didn’t eat before departing, leaving this as a good time for a break and to get something to eat. After the break it was back on the road to get to I-79 south just a few minutes away. Having done Route 19 to I-77 through West Virginia on several occasions, I found it’s better to stay on I-79 even though it takes me a bit to the west to get to I-77. Route 19 can be a bit of a speed trap and you have to slow down going through all of the towns. At least on the interstate you can pretty much maintain your speed. On this trip I would learn that I DID NOT want to fill up the gas tank too much in West Virginia as gas prices were actually higher than at home in the New York State of Taxation. Although my night vision is bad I’ve found that I actually prefer to do most of the driving during long trips at night. I don’t seem to get as drowsy and don’t have to fight as much traffic either. This trip I was good to go with just two one-hours naps along the way.
I finally arrived in the Charlotte area around noon and while talking with Susan on my cell phone I debated whether I was going to make the trip to Food Lion in Concord for Elliott’s appearance. He was scheduled to do a signing there from 2:00 to 4:00PM. I had directions and this location was not too far away from Lowes Motor Speedway so I pretty much knew where I was going. I just wasn’t sure if, after driving all night, I wanted to drive past my hotel to go to the signing. I finally decided to drive the extra miles (turned out to be 50 miles each way from my hotel) and check things out at Food Lion.
When I got there, the line of people wasn’t extremely long so I decided to stick around for an hour or so to see Elliott. I chatted with the people around me, most of whom had never met Elliott before so they were quite anxious to meet him. I happened to overhear some of the conversation between some people just a bit behind me in line and asked where they were from. The lady said Buffalo-Niagara Falls and I said “No, where are you REALLY from?” She said they were from Tonawanda and when I asked “City or Town?” they knew I was from the same area – nobody from outside of the area would know to ask that question. I told them I’m from Niagara Falls and we all laughed – travel all that way from Western New York just to meet up with someone living just minutes from you. Around 1:45PM some girls came around and handed out wristbands for the autographs and I assumed that we would be limited to one or two items per person so I was trying to decide what to get signed. We noticed the #19 Dodge trailer come into the parking lot and shortly afterward there was the #19 car vroom vrooming through the parking lot. What a lovely sound and it was just a preview of what I’d be hearing all weekend. The line was moving pretty quickly even though I found out when I got up to the front that Elliott was pretty much signing as many things as you wanted. When it was my turn I had decided that I was going to get one of the pictures from TMS signed, along with the Doofus Skwad flag that I had printed out. I put the picture of Elliott at TMS on the table and asked “So. Have you learned how to play the guitar yet”? He replied adamantly, “No sweetie. I TOLD you I’m not playing it, I’ll break it!” I just laughed. Then I put the Doofus Skwad flag on the table. Elliott quietly snickered and said “Doofus Skwad?” I told him that was what we called our little group, the ones who gave him the guitar at TMS. He laughed quietly and signed the pink bunny. After Elliott signed the picture and flag, I got my picture taken with him and took pictures of some other people for them. I talked to Brett, wished him a happy belated birthday, and asked if he had watched the TMS video he took. He said he didn’t get it. I knew that I’d emailed it along with the pictures, but told him I’d send the link again when I got home. He wanted to know if he did okay and I said yes. Elliott asked me if I was going to be there all week. If I hadn’t been so tired I probably would have thought faster and replied, “Nah. I just drove 14 hours to see you here. Now I’m going back home.” As I walked away I noticed that there weren’t many people still in line so I decided to go back to the van and get the picture of my friend’s son and have Elliott sign it. It’s a picture of Shelby in his little league uniform sitting in a wheelchair (he blew out his knee motorcycle racing). 
When I got back there were only a dozen or so people left in line and when I got back to the table Elliott told me, “Sweetie you didn’t have to get back in line. I would have signed everything for you.” I told him that this picture was in my van and I had to get it. He looked at the picture and said, “Boy that really sucks that he’s missing little league season.” I thanked Elliott and walked back to the van. I got in, started up the van and started to leave. As I was driving out I noticed that there were only a couple people in line so I parked the van again, got more of the TMS pictures out and walked back to the table. By the time I got there nobody was in line so I walked right up. Elliott was signing hero cards, looked up and waved me over. I gave him the rest of the TMS pictures to sign, thanked him again. This time when I got in the van I really did leave, to find my way to my hotel for a shower and some much needed rest before dinner. When I booked the hotel in Statesville I didn’t realize that it’s 50 miles from LMS. No problem though; it’s really not a bad drive.
I finally got to the hotel and got checked in. I decided the shower could wait, the nap couldn’t. I got my stuff into the room and crashed for a couple of hours. When I got up I took a shower and tried to figure out what I wanted to eat. I decided to go to the Crossroads Shopping Center as there is a WalMart there, along with several different restaurants. I did the requisite trip at WalMart, then stopped at KFC to get something for some takeout dinner. I ate my dinner back at the hotel, relaxed and watched TV for a while. Then it was off to bed to get some much needed rest for the upcoming weekend.
The NLL Champions Cup game between The Arizona Sting and Rochester Knighthawks was played earlier today. Early on it looked like Rochester was going to run away with the game as they took a 7-2 lead in the second quarter before Arizona scored a couple goals to make it 7-4 at the half. The score was 10-6 for the Knighthawks at the end of the third quarter but the Sting never quit. They kept fighting their way back, but in the end Rochester was just too strong. They prevailed in the end. winning 13-11 and their first championship since 1997. It was nice to hear the Arizona crowd respond and acknowledge the champions by cheering. Their cheering was in stark contrast to the reception given to the Buffalo Bandits and Bandits fans in Rochester two weeks ago and I applaud them for that. Many of the NLL players will be in Halifax, NS next week for the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships, then there will be the summer leagues starting at the end of the month. In the Major Series Lacrosse league, the Six Nations Chiefs begin their season on May 24, with their first home game on May 27. Unfortunately I'll miss the first home game as I'll be in Charlotte for NASCAR races. However, I hope to be there for their second game on June 2.
The Stanley Cup playoffs are not as interesting for me now that the San Jose Sharks were eliminated by the Detroit Red Wings. Our local team, the Buffalo Sabres, is still in the hunt for the Stanley Cup but lost the first game of the their Eastern Conference final series at home on Thursday. They were outplayed by the Ottawa Senators and will look to even the series when they play at home again tonight. In the Western Conference final series, Detroit took a 1-0 series lead at Anaheim on Friday night, winning the game 2-1. I have no favorites in either series. I’ll probably wait till the conference series are over and see who is playing in the Stanley Cup finals before I decide who I’ll cheer for.
In the span of about 10 days both of my teams have been eliminated from the playoffs. Both teams were up against tough opponents and came up short.
First, the Buffalo Bandits were eliminated from the NLL playoffs by the Rochester Knighthawks on April 27. The Knighthawks will play the Arizona Sting at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, AZ on Saturday May 12 to determine the 2007 NLL champion. I’ll be watching the game at 4PM ET on Versus.
On Monday the San Jose Sharks were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by a very tough Detroit Red Wings team. There were high expectations for this San Jose team especially after the way they played during the regular season. The first round of the playoffs, against Nashville, seem to confirm that the team was on the way to a long run in the playoffs. The second round against the Red Wings started off quite well, with a win for San Jose in the opening game in Detroit. It still looked okay when they won the first game in San Jose to take a 2-1 series lead. However, Detroit took control in game 4 and never looked back. The Sharks played tough, but it wasn’t enough. The Red Wings won the last three games to win the series 4-2. They now move on to play in the Western Conference finals vs the Anaheim Ducks starting on May 11. The Eastern Conference finals begin on May 10 with Ottawa playing at Buffalo.
1. you refer to the car in front of you as your drafting partner2. you see a Waste Management truck and think of Sterling Marlin3. you pass by a Lowes or Home Depot and immediately think of Jimmie Johnson/Tony Stewart4. you tell your spouse not to slide the tires when pulling into a parking space5. you're not tailgating, you're bump-drafting6. you're not speeding, you're qualifying7. when somebody is trying to pass you, you refer to them as "inside, inside"8. and when they get by it's "clear, clear, all clear"9. people aren't braking, they're "checking up"10. when traffic is slow you "back it down"
I've been sitting on this thought since Friday night, waiting till I could think more with my head than with my heart. In an earlier blog I reported going to the Buffalo Bandits playoff game in Rochester, NY. Rochester is only 90 miles from Buffalo so I've always considered it to be a "friendly rivalry". After Friday I have begun to reconsider that thought. Over the years my friends and I have gone to many of our teams' away games and have always expected the friendly reminders that we were in enemy territory. However, what we encountered upon arriving at the Blue Cross Arena was rather disturbing. One of the first people we saw when we entered the arena was a child (I'm guessing 10-12 years old) in a wheelchair holding a sign that said "GO HOME BANDITS FANS". Are you kidding me??? I don't have a problem with cheering for your team, but this? I have to ask the parents of this child "Is this really the kind of behavior you want to teach him?" It's certainly not teaching him to respect other people and when he grows up he'll wonder why people don't respect him. Remember that respect is earned and this is not the way to earn it. Once we got our tickets and made our way to our seats we heard some of the Knighhawks fans complaining that the Bandits fans were taking all of "their" seats. If we were taking seats from the Knighthawks fans I have to wonder where they were when the tickets were on sale. If they're season ticketholders, obviously they opted NOT to buy the tickets. If not, they didn't bother to buy the tickets when they became available. I ordered the tickets as soon as the Bandits won their previous game and we knew they would be playing in Rochester. And it's not like there weren't seats available either. During the game we noticed one of the Knighthawks cheerleaders was holding a sign that said "GO HOME BUFFALO". Of course, all of the Rochester fans cheered when this was shown on the scoreboard. You can't really control an individual fan having this kind of sign; but to have an official representative of the team holding it really makes me wonder. And all of this wasn't what REALLY caused me to take issue with the Rochester Knighthawks and their fans. In HSBC Arena where the Bandits play their home games, the PA announcer will yell "Buffalo WHAT???" to which the fans respond "BANDITS!!!". No real putdown of the other team or their fans there. However, many of us Bandits fans noticed a sign in the arena that said "Buffalo What??? ....... Sucks!!!" This wasn't a homemade sign made by a fan. This was an official, illuminated arena sign. To say that we were shocked is an understatement. In all of my years of going to sporting events I have never before seen a team/arena not only condone, but promote, something so no-class as that. Considering the close proximity of the two cities there is always a large contingent of Bandits fans at the games in Rochester. On this night that was nearly half of the 8000 in attendance - people who had purchased tickets, food, beverages. If this is the way the Blue Cross Arena, Rochester Knighthawks and their fans feel about the fans from Buffalo I think we should seriously consider saving our money and staying home in the future. However, please feel free to come to HSBC Arena to enjoy a game and cheer on your team. We enjoy the rivalry and you will receive a warmer welcome than we did.
Another race weekend at Talladega has now come and gone. Everyone I know who has been there says it's really exciting and they all want to go back. As for me, Talladega scares me. In the short time I've been watching NASCAR I've seen the crashes that can (and usually do) happen. On Saturday I was watching the San Jose Sharks-Detroit Red Wings hockey game and changing over to the Busch race during commercials. Unfortunately I turned on the race just in time to see Kyle Busch crash into the wall, spin off into the into the grass and begin to flip. It was reminiscent of Elliott Sadler's 2003 flip but this one was worse. Elliott didn't crash into the wall and I think Kyle actually flipped more times. I was extremely relieved to see him get out quickly and walk away from what was left of his car. Then today he must have been having flashbacks when he once again crashed into the wall. I've lost track of how many times he's crashed this year already, most of them not really of his own doing. I can't say that I'm a big Kyle Busch fan, but I feel sorry for him - he seems to have some really bad karma going. Elliott started near the back but always seemed to find drafting partners and was able to move up. The one time that he lost the draft he was fortunate enough to be able to get back to the pack when a caution came out. In the end all three Evernham cars finished in the top 15 - Scott Riggs 11th, Kasey Kahne 12th and Elliott 15th - and all three in one piece. And contrary to the lap-by-lap report on nascar.com, Elliott did NOT clip Greg Biffle, causing him to collect Johnny Sauter. Elliott's in-car video clearly shows Biffle coming down across the front of Elliott's car. I also take exception with Tony Stewart's post-race comment, calling David Gilliland a "no-talent". It's funny how it's okay when Tony is taking people out, but the other driver is a "no-talent" when it happens to him. Tony is starting to sound like Jeff "It's never my fault" Gordon and it's becoming very tiresome. I hope other people remember the "no-talent" comment the next time Mr. Stewart takes somebody out. All in all, I'm just happy that everyone, especially Elliott, made it out of Talladega in one piece. Oh yeah, to all of those "fans" who throw debris at Jeff Gordon, I hope that that you don't ruin it for the rest of us. If this behavior continues I think that soon we will no longer be allowed to bring in our own food and beverages. It's expensive enough to go to the races without being forced to pay inflated prices for food and beverages.
Well, this weekend had mixed results for my teams in the playoffs. It actually started on Thursday evening as the San Jose Sharks played their first game in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Red Wings in Detroit. The Sharks were able to score two quick goals in 24 seconds in the first period and make that hold up for the entire game. It wasn’t an easy game, but they stuck to their game and managed to win the game. Saturday afternoon’s game was another tough one. Once again the Sharks got off to a 2-0 lead and dominated early. However, the Red Wings scored a goal late in the first period to make it 2-1. The second period was scoreless, but the Wings tied the game early in the third period. Most of the third period was played almost like overtime and essentially that’s what it was as the next goal would be the eventual winner. Detroit scored with 1:24 left and despite pulling the Nabokov for the extra attacker, San Jose wasn’t able to tie the game to put it into overtime. These are two tough teams and it isn’t going to be easy for whoever wins the series. Next game is Monday in San Jose.
My other playoff team is the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League. They traveled to Rochester, NY on Friday for their playoff game against the Rochester Knighthawks, the league champions. Having lost their final two regular season games to Rochester it looked like it would be a tough time to beat the Knighthawks. After the 85-mile drive to Blue Cross Arena we parked and walked to the arena to pick up the tickets we ordered. It we didn’t know better we almost would have thought this was a home game for the Bandits. There was a huge contingent of Bandit fans attired in orange and black, with pom-poms, orange wigs, etc. Once the game started it was hard to tell if there were more Bandits fans or Knighthawk fans in attendance. Although we had some Bandits fans around us, we were pretty much surrounded by Knighthawks fans. No problem for me – I don’t mind being the “rebel”. The Bandits got off to a good start, scoring two shorthanded goals, but this game would pretty much go back and forth for four quarters. Neither team was able to take control of the game and the lead changed hands several times. The Bandits had a 11-8 lead going into the fourth quarter, but Rochester was strong and took a 13-12 lead with only 2:23 left. Delby Powless scored with 1:43 left to tie the game at 13-13. John Tavares had a chance to win it for the Bandits, but was stoned by Rochester netminder Pat O’Toole as time expired. The game went into overtime and Rochester ended it with a goal at 26 seconds. Although this kept Buffalo from advancing to the championship game for the second year in a row, this loss was a lot easier to swallow than the loss in the championship game last year, where they played probably played their worst game of the year. This was a hard-fought game against the league champions and certainly had the potential to go either way. And, while talking to some of the Rochester fans after the game, we learned that we may get the championship game in Buffalo despite the Bandits loss. The circus is going to be at the Blue Cross Arena the day of the championship game so it may get moved to HSBC Arena in Buffalo. Regardless, the game is on Saturday May 12 at 4PM ET/1PM PT and will be televised on Versus.
