Omaha Steaks

A surprising first weekend of the College World Series. Who would have thought Florida would be 2-0 and able to beat Nebraska (OK, who outside of Gainesville)? Or that Arizona State would still be alive?

The biggest surprise has to be that Texas beat Baylor in the first round. Baylor went 4-0 against the Longhorns during the season, including a win in the Big 12 Tournament, so most everyone expected the Bears would beat the Horns again.

True, Texas had experience, but I tend to regard past experience, especially with college athletics, much like Curt Schilling regards "aura" and "mystique".

Maybe there is something to it.

As I'm typing this, however, Baylor just scored in the 10th inning and has Oregon State on the ropes. So Baylor may get another crack at Texas soon if Tulane beats Texas

Bad weekend for Formula 1 at Indy

F1 has an uphill climb in the United States. First off, it's considered a "European" sport like soccer, and despite soccer's growth from nothing until having a pro league that's lasted as long as it has, it will never be a major sport because of the "European" perception. Second, the popularity of NASCAR is just so dominant that despite a lot of recent missteps (abandoning Rockingham, not promoting it's other drivers that are outside the Earnhart family), it's still one of the highest rated TV sports, second only to football.

However, in the Sissphyusian effort to roll the F1 rock up the American hill, the rock may have rolled back on them last weekend at the U.S. Grand Prix

First, the CEO of the F1 circuit compared women drivers to domestic appliances. You'd think someone from Europe, which is even more politically correct than the United States, wouldn't make this kind of misstep, but they did.

Second, several drivers quit the US Grand Prix because they were upset with the quality of their tires. This was essentially the auto racing version of a labor dispute. If they knew anything about the American market, they would have known that labor disputes are non-starters with fans.

Besides, if they were having problems with tires, they could have fixed it prior to the season, not waited until Indianapolis.

Tomorrow: Traveling day