UT Lady Vols 2006 SEC Champs, March 05, 2006

Congratulations to the University of Tennessee Lady Vols
2006 Southeastern Conference Womens Basketball Champions

Today the 8th ranked Lady Vols defeated #3 LSU 63 to 62 to win the title game that was hard fought until the final buzzer. The Lady Vols take a 27-4 (11-3) record into the NCAA Womens Tourney which starts later this month. Seeds for the tournament are expected to be announced sometime this week.

In other weekend sporting news, the NASCAR Busch Series took its show south of the border again for its second race in Mexico City. Denny Hamlin held off Boris Said to win the Telcel-Motorola 200. Nextel Cup veteran and current Busch Series points leader Kevin Harvick finished third driving the US Coast Guard Chevorlet. Other service teams also fared well in Mexico City. The #25 Marine Corps Ford piloted by Ashton Lewis finished 13th and the #88 Team Navy Chevorlet driven by Mark McFarland had its best race of the year so far finishing 15th.

And finally, don't be suprised if you wake up tomorrow morning and find that one or more superstars from your favorite NFL team is standing in the unemployment line. Tonight, contract talks broke down between the players union and team owners. Long story short is that if an agreement isn't reached by midnight, it's expected that owners will start dumping the contracts of high priced veterans before they go into free agency in order to meet a salary cap that will be as much as 10 million dollars lower than it would have been if an agreement had been reached. It looks like they didn't learn much from the NHL fiasco of a couple years ago. Get the whole NFL story here.

(originally posted 3-5-06 on Yahoo 360)

NASCAR 2006 Underway!, February 12, 2006

For only the 4th time in the races history, a first time participant has won the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway. With the help of teammate Tony Stewart and fellow Shootout competitors Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, 2006 Rookie of the Year contender Denny Hamlin took the #11 Fed Ex Monte Carlo to victory lane in the Bud Shootout. The win was Hamlin's first cup win and his first restrictor plate race. Not bad rookie!

Qualifying for next weeks Daytona 500 also took place today with Jeff Burton in the #31 Cingular Chevorlet grabbing the pole posistion for the Great American Race and Jeff Gordon turned in the second best qualifying time to snag the number two starting spot.

BUT WAIT!!!!!

After the completion of the Shootout, NASCAR inspectors DQ'd Jimmie Johnson's earlier qualifying run and announced they were looking at several drivers for rules infractions. Those drivers included both Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon. So as it stands at this moment we might not know who the pole sitter is. Thus the drama begins. I guess it's appropriate that a lot of the Speedweeks activities are being broadcast on TNT........after all they're the ones who always say...."We know Drama."

No matter what happens with Burtons qualifying run, since his arrival at Richard Childress Racing, the Cingular Wireless team has been able to turn their fortunes around bringing RCR back to the forefront among NASCAR teams.

Another team on the verge of resurrection is Petty Enterprises. With the addition of Bobby Labonte behind the wheel of the #43 Cheerios Dodge and Todd Parrott as crew chief, big things could be on the horizon for King Richard. Today the turned in the 6th fastest time in their attempt to qualify for the "Big Show" next weekend. Look for huge improvments this season at Petty Enterprises.

Another of my personal favorites looking to have a breakout season is the 01 US Army team and driver Joe Nemecheck. With the US Army as their primary sponsor, Nemecheck and his teammates are always a big hit with servicemembers around the world. With a little luck and some sharp driving......Joe and friends can make all us vets proud this season.

Finally, for those of you interested, the twin Gatorade 150's will be on TNT on Thursday afternoon (east coast) or morning on the west coast.

GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(originally posted 2-12-06 on Yahoo 360)