Mr. Sparkle Saturday
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Welcome to Mr. Sparkle Saturday. My name is David Arnott, and I'll be bringing you at least four posts today on whatever the hell I damn well please (as long as Zach doesn't kill me first). If you are interested in distributing Mr. Sparkle in your home prefecture, or if you want to contribute an item, shoot an email to mrsparklesaturday at gmail dot com.
Ready?
4:00am -- Tomorrow, I will attend my first NASCAR race. My buddy, Brent, and I are headed out to Martinsville, Virginia, at the buttcrack of dawn, and we hope to get there with plenty of time to wander the premises and then sample the famous red hot dogs. Amazingly, we got our tickets just this week, yet they're located right by the finish line and across from the pits, and also high enough in the grandstand to see the entire track. You can expect a full recap, with photos, on Wednesday right here at Sportszilla.
As someone who is definitely not a NASCAR fan, but who likes it more than the average city kid, I always liked short track racing more than either superspeedways or road courses. There's something about the tighter turns and short straightaways that appeals to me. It seems like there's more skill needed to gain position when there's less road to work with.
The clip below is from Bristol, the other short track on the NASCAR circuit, but it gives an idea of what racing is like at Martinsville. It's a long video, but the climax comes about three minutes in.
1:50pm -- The first time one goes to watch a sporting event is a momentous occasion. If the person is a child, how well he or she takes to the game can have lifelong implications. As teenagers and then adults, I get the feeling most of those deep connections have already been locked in place.
My parents took me to a lot of San Francisco Giants games when I was a baby and then a toddler, so I have no memory of my first baseball game. However, I definitely remember other firsts.
*** FIRST NFL GAME
I'd been to a few preseason 49ers games, but never a regular season NFL game until the Dennis Erickson Era, when people started giving tickets away like it was ordered by neighborhood bosses. Let's just say my first game was uninspiring. The AJ Feeley-led Dolphins won perhaps the most brutal game in recent memory (at least until that wind-plagued game the Niners played at Chicago).
*** FIRST NBA GAME
When I went to Seattle to visit Zach this past New Year's Eve, we took in the Celtics-Sonics game at Key Arena with his dad and roommate before heading out for the debauchery. With Brian Scalabrine playing significant minutes, and Rashard Lewis out with an injury, the game itself was tough to watch. Unquestionably, the highlight of the experience was Zach's impromptu retelling of the famous Christ Returns to NBA article from The Onion. From that point on, we couldn't stop giggling whenever anyone said "Clifford Robinson".
*** FIRST ARENA FOOTBALL GAME
Nobody believes me when I say this, but the San Jose Sabercats were really fun to watch.
*** FIRST NCAA BASEBALL GAME
Stanford. NCAA Tournament Super Regional. Hosting UNC-Chapel Hill. The closest MLB team to Charlotte is four hours away in Atlanta, so I'm planning on seeing plenty of minor league and college ball this year. If you've never gone to a college baseball game, I highly recommend going to an NCAA Tourney game, especially if you can catch the home team. The energy was amazing that first time, when Joe Borchard roamed right field, and then the next few times I went to games and saw the likes of Jered Weaver and Ryan Garko.
College football thoughts coming up this afternoon, and baseball this evening.
5:37 -- I'm watching the Notre Dame-USC game right now, and I've been flipping back and forth between that one and Kentucky-Florida. Andre Woodson needs a lot of work if he's going to be a pro quarterback prospect, but there are at least four quarterbacks on those teams that, as of now, I think are going to be first-day picks in the NFL draft someday. All of these guys read defenses well for a college kid; the differences between them are mostly physical.
Unless he impresses during the workout cycle, John David Booty doesn't strike me as a first round prospect, but a team with an aging QB might take a chance on him in the second or third round. He's probably in the Kellen Clemens tier of prospect, with good mechanics, a reputation for being a hard worker, and solid surface statistics. He's going to have trouble at the next level because he simply doesn't have any plus physical tools, except perhaps his accuracy. That's important, but I can't imagine any team picking him ahead of Brohm, Brennan, or even Matt Ryan. Maybe I'm wrong, but he just doesn't seem like a guy teams would feel comfortable handing the reins quickly.
I'm convinced Booty's backup, Mark Sanchez, will be a franchise quarterback someday, though. Sanchez can run, he's got a very strong arm, and people seem to forget that there was actually some talk during last season's spring practices that he might win the Trojans' starting job. Next year, Mitch Mustain will be eligible to play, but he'll will have an extra year of eligibility after Sanchez because he's sitting out this year due to transfer rules, leading me to think he'll take over for his senior year after Sanchez dazzles for two seasons.
For Notre Dame, it's still early, but, as with Sanchez, I'm convinced Casey Clausen is the real deal. Once Charlie Weis installs a line that can actually block, Clausen will show why he deserves to start in Division 1A as a true freshman. Replace Matt Flynn with Clausen, and that LSU offense would actually have a passing game that could take advantage of teams stacking against the run, because, while his arm strength is unquestioned and he hasn't had enough time to demonstrate his accuracy, I've been impressed with his composure in the pocket and under pressure.
Finally, Tim Tebow is probably the number one pick after next year. He doesn't have the greatest arm strength in the world, but he's a big guy who is still getting stronger. Just from watching several of his games this year, I imagine him in the pros as a Matt Leinart type in the pocket. I don't know that there's a good analogue for a guy who throws that well and yet runs like a fullback. Maybe young Daunte Culpepper, with not as strong an arm.
1:07am -- Not much to say about the Red Sox game. Only this: Hanging out with a Sox fan after a playoff win is fun, because he's more likely to insist upon celebratory car bombs.
