Where is the thrill?

If you have read my previous posts, you know I am a Cubs fan. I do like the Chicago Cubs. I went to my first ballgame in Wrigley Field so long ago, I don't remember when it was. But I remember seeing a lot of games there after that first one.

I remember going to Stan Musial's last away game before he retired. I remember seeing Maury Wills steal two bases in one at bat. I remember seeing Lou Brock play in his first game before he was traded. I remember watching Kenny Holtzman take a no-hitter into the ninth and watched as Maury Wills spoiled it with a single. I remember a lot of games Wrigley Field.

It's been a long time since I watched a game live at Wrigley. Twelve years ago, I spent six weeks in a brownstone only three blocks away from Wrigley. It was during the hottest summer Chicago ever had. Temperatures rose to 105 or more and with the humidity, felt like 125 or more. Coming from a desert climate, I could take the heat, but that humidity I couldn't. More than 500 people passed away during the heat spell.

One day when the Cubs were in town, I decided I would walk up to Wrigley, buy myself a ticket and watch a game. I never made it. I got halfway there and the heat and humidity had drained me. I stopped in at a bar I passed by and since they were showing the game, I ordered myself a Fosters, leaned back in booth I was sitting in and enjoyed not only the game, but the beautiful waitress taking care of the area I was sitting. The Cubs lost the game, but I didn't care. Cubs fans get over losses quickly. It's simple...there's always tomorrow in their mind.

Earlier this evening, I watched a movie called Fever Pitch. The male lead in the movie was an out-of-the-envelope Boston Red Sox fan. His apartment was wall-to-wall Red Sox. I've seen that before in other sports fans. They let anyone and everyone know who they root for. Walk into my place, and you'd wonder if I was a sports fan of anything. Hanging on my wall is a laminated poster a friend gave me back around 1988. It's an outrageous depiction of a Cubs game in Wrigley Field. Look closely and you'll see Dorothy and Toto...the Tinman and Scarecrow...Waldo...and many other characters. I'm sure the Cowardly Lion is in the crowd somewhere, but I haven't found him yet.

And on top of my desk you'll see a Jimmie Johnson pad of paper.

That's it. Two of the three sports I really enjoy...baseball and NASCAR racing. The third sport is air racing, especially the Red Bull World Series of Air Racing. I don't have a particular favorite pilot, but if I did, I think it would be Peter "The Hungarian" Besenyei.

What about other sports, you ask? There aren't any other sports in my mind. Everything else is a timed competition...football - 60 minutes; basketball - 48 minutes; ice hockey - 60 minutes...and other so-called sporting events. Baseball and racing...those are sports.

A baseball game can theoretically last forever. As long as the home team ties the game in the bottom of the inning, it goes on. It's a team sport where nine players do their best to overcome the capabilities of nine other players. There is no clock for the teams to watch, and use...just a scoreboard. And to top it all off, the offense is one person facing nine others with a wooden stick...so to speak. There could be as many as three more offensive players involved, but the main thrust is the one man in the box waiting for the pitch. The team will live or die by his actions. Now that's a sporting competition. The goal, of course, is to win the game.

Racing, though not really "timed," does have specific goal. That goal is to be the first person across the finish line at the end of a set amount of laps around the track. For the most part, the only time a clock comes in to play is when a driver goes to his (or her) pit for fueling or fixing bad parts. A clock is also used to check how fast a driver is going, but that information has very little to do with the actual race. Auto racing is another sport where one team does their best to overcome the capabilities of another team. A pit crew can win or lose for a driver just as easily as a driver can win or lose the race himself. It's the driver's skill in negotiating his vehicle around the track, combined with the pit crew's ability to quickly refuel, change tires and in some cases, make minor adjustments to the vehicle, that make a winner. And if either one is not at the top of their game, someone else will cross the finish line first.

Red Bull Air Racing also uses a clock. But it pits each pilot against each other using the clock as a means to determine the best. In previous years, eight pilots would qualify to fly the final day and each one would be put up against the seven other pilots. When all qualifying pilots have flown their final time around the course, the one with the best would be the winner. This year is a bit different. The pilots with the eight best qualifying times are in the final day of racing. Based on their times in their final qualifying run, they are seeded against each other. The fastest pilot is seeded against the eighth fastest, the second fastest against the seventh and so on. As each seeded race in finished, the pilot with the fastest time goes on to the next level. In the final race, it's the two pilots with the best times in their previous races against each other for the top spot on the podium. It's skill versus skill in the end.

I haven't been to the Reno Air Races, but I have seen the race on television. It's the pilot's ability for the most part which wins the race, but the people behind the scene who fix the aircraft, tune the engine, wax the surfaces and generally make sure the bird is ready to fly at it's peak performance have a lot to do with it also. There, heat races are held with a number of aircraft flying a circuit with the first to cross the finish line advancing and in the end, winning.

Those are real sports in my eyes. They get my blood pumping and my heart pounding. Not football or any of the other timed competitions. If one team gets ahead and the clock is close to the end, there is very little chance for the other team to win. Not like in baseball where the home team could go to their final inning on offense 12 runs behind the other team and still win the game.

Look at it this way...there are nine innings in each baseball game. Divide that into the 60 minutes of a football game and you get just over six and a half minutes. Take those minutes and divide it in half again and you get just under three and a half. This represents the time in football equal to one team's offensive action in baseball...or a half inning. In those roughly three and a half minutes, might be able to score a game tying or game winning touchdown...they might even be able to score two touchdowns to win the game. But it would be very difficult for them to score 12 times in those three or so minutes if they have to give the other team a chance after they score. The team which is ahead will always have the advantage in a timed event when the clock is close to the finish line.

Not so in baseball and not so in racing. It is skill and ability from beginning to end.

I know some will argue that those limitations were fixed with play clocks and the like, but those only make sure an offensive play is run quickly. Get to 23 seconds on the clock in a football and basically the game is over. The team ahead and with the ball only need "spike" the ball and everyone is walking on the field congratulating each other while the clock is clicking down the final seconds. Basketball games, some will argue, have been won "at the buzzer," but that only happens when the "winning" team works the clock in their favor to place them in the position to win the game if the buzzer beating shot goes through the hoop.

Don't get me wrong here...football players, basketball players, hockey players and all the other timed competition team members are great athletes. They have to be, to do what they do. But what they do just doesn't thrill me as much as the home team coming from 12 runs down in the bottom of the ninth to win the game, or a home team batter hitting a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 22nd inning to win game. Nor does it thrill me as much as watching two drivers side-by-side heading towards the finish line and one of them winning by two thousandth of a second, or watching one pilot fly three hundredths of a second faster than another pilot over a closed course. Those are exciting.

Payton Manning tossing a "Hail Mary" pass in the final seconds of a football game in the hopes his team will win, just doesn't thrill me at all.

Fantasy Football Time!

Tomorrow is draft day for the fantasy football league I joined a couple of seasons ago. It's something I enjoy doing, but not something that means that much to me.

It's like fantasy NASCAR racing. I belong to two leagues in that. In one league, I am either in last place or next to last. In the other, I am currently in first place. I really don't care where I am...I am having fun playing.

I know there are die-hards in all fantasy sports. I just ain't one of them. I'd rather do something I really enjoy, in place of watching a football game, and that includes the Superbowl.

So, tomorrow morning, 10 am PDT, I will be sitting in front of my computer drafting my 15-man team that I will use to play in my 12-team league of the TCBOO Fantasy Football League, instead of doing something else. But it will only last a couple of hours. Besides, the weather could cool off tomorrow by 15 degrees over what today should bring in the high desert of central Oregon.

I know several members of our league who probably got up this morning and began getting things ready for the draft. I did that a while ago. I pick seventh in the draft (last year I picked first and stupid me went with Larry Johnson instead of L.T.) and a week or so ago, listed what position I would be drafting in the various rounds of the draft. I also made a list of players I would like to get if they are available at the time their position comes up in my draft. I did that during last year's draft and ended up with a decent team. I did take my division title in only my second year of fantasy football. Whether that is good or ho-hum, I don't know, but at least I can say it...hehehe.

This morning I got up and instead of working on my draft plan, went out on photo safari at 7 am. I went to one of my favorite places to shoot and wasn't disappointed. I managed to get shots of one, maybe two new damselflies. I also photographed two new birds. And a photo of something I have wanted to get for a long time...a dragonfly in flight. It was a good morning.

It even started out good before I got to the lake to start shooting. I stopped by a store to get some water to drink and a snack and saw a friend of mine I hadn't talked to in a long time. When she worked at another place, I would stop in their for a bite to eat and if it was a slow time, she would come over and we would talk. I like talking with her, and really enjoy the sound of her voice. So, it was a real pleasure to start my safari today.

But it's all fun...fantasy sports...shooting photos...wandering around. It is what I like to do.

What to say...what?

I was sitting at my computer desk working on some of my digital images when I got to thinking about this blog site I set up. I decided it is time I started putting something here for folks to read.

So, prepare to be astounded 8v) (<-- my own smiley since I wear glasses)

Yesterday was the first race of the NASCAR cup series. Like any race fan, I look forward to the Daytona 500. I also look forward to the first Formula One race, the first Indy Car race and the first Red Bull World Series of Air Racing competition. However, the Daytona 500 is the one which starts a good season of sporting events I enjoy.

The Daytona this year, was a bit boring. I watched the first 20 laps and realized the car changes mandated by NASCAR appeared to affect one of the greatest races of the year. I found myself wondering, "What happened to three-wide racing?" It seemed drivers were stringing out single file, just going along for the ride. But then, in the last 30 laps or so, things started to look more like Daytona.

Now, I also operate two NASCAR fantasy teams. Last year was the first year I did fantasy racing. It was fun, even though I ended up on the tail-end of the standings in both. So this year, I hope to do better. In one league, I participated in an auction for drivers. You get 100 points and bid on a four-driver team. My team this year is Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Reed Sorenson.

As the race progressed, I watched Busch crash out, Kahne fall back and Harvick slowly make his way to the front. With two laps to go in the race, I looked at my first fantasy race of the season and saw that not only was I losing my head-to-head matchup, but I also had the lowest point total of all six teams.

Then there was the final turn of the final lap. Mark Martin and Harvick were side-by-side, drag racing for the win. I could almost see a big grin on the face of both drivers as they glanced towards each other. And then it happened...the Daytona big one. Less than a 1,000 feet to finish line, cars start slamming into each other, one slides toward the finish on its top, some are out in the grass, some along the wall, smoke is everywhere and there, heading to the win are the two leaders.

Harvick won the race, by one of the closest margins in decades. And then, with all the crashing behind them, I looked at my standings. I suddenly went from last to first! I won my H2H and scored the highest point total of all drivers. I am on top in one league. In my other league, I picked five drivers using the same 100 point maximum. Three of them crashed out long before the final lap. In that league, I ended up second to last. But I don't care, it was still fun...and will continue to be fun.

And now, I am even considering joining an Indy car league if I can find one I like. If I do, it will probably be the only way I could ever say, "I had Sarah Fisher."