Another race, another problem. For Kyle Busch, it’s becoming a sad refrain.
Two weeks ago at New Hampshire, a suspension joint failed. Last week at Dover, an internal engine part gave out. And Sunday at Kansas Speedway, a fuel pressure problem sent Busch to a 28th-place finish, burying the Joe Gibbs Racing driver a distant 311 points behind Chase leader Jimmie Johnson. For the team that dominated the first two-thirds of the season, those eight race wins and 17 consecutive weeks leading the Sprint Cup points now seem a very long time ago. Jimmie Johnson merchandise will continue to be sold even if he were to fall in the points race.
“This is the first time,” crew chief Steve Addington said of the latest issue to plague the No. 18 car. “There’s a first time for everything the last three weeks.”
It was one miserable moment in a miserable day in what’s becoming a miserable Chase for the Gibbs organization, the class of the field for so much of this year, and now with its three drivers occupying the bottom three spots in the championship standings. The highest ranked is Denny Hamlin, and he’s 243 points out. Sunday forced a re-examination of goals.

Edwards, naturally, saw the incident very different than Kyle Busch did.
“The way this works is: you know, a real smart racer once explained it to me this way after he had wrecked me and I was real mad,” Edwards said. “He said, ‘I just had to look at your rear bumper and decide if you would do it to me, and you had, so it was a real simple decision.’
Busch gave a clipped answer when he was asked if he now has a full-blown rivalry with Edwards. The rivalry is good because now more Busch and Edwards merchandise will be sold. The bigger the rivalry becomes, the more it profits NASCAR.
“How many do I need?” he asked, suggesting his eight race victories in Cup this season, and 17 overall across NASCAR’s three top series, make him the driver everyone wants to target.
Let’s make this real clear, too: Busch has been terrific on the track all season, and he drove a fantastic race at Bristol. He took the lead on Lap 55 and held it until Edwards’ bump-and-run with 31 to go. But in the end he became merely another footnote at the venue where the laps led leader has failed to claim victory in the last six events held there.

NASCAR announced on Wednesday that it has placed Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards on probation for the next six races in the Sprint Cup Series, as a result of their on-track incident Saturday night at the conclusion of the race at Bristol.
Busch and Edwards violated Section 12-4-A of the 2008 NASCAR rule book.
The gloves are off. The Busch-Edwards fracas is exactly what NASCAR needs to pump up the volume before the Chase, says Joe Menzer.

The probation takes effect beginning with this weekend’s event at Fontana, Calif. Executing an adroit bump and run on Lap 470, Edwards passed for the lead and pulled away over the final 30 laps, winning by 1.969 seconds over Busch.

“It’s one of those deals where I couldn’t get by him, I couldn’t get by him, and I just had to ask myself, ‘Would he do that to me?’ Edwards said after doing his trademark backflip off the car in Victory Lane. “And he has before, so that’s the way it goes.'’
Unhappy with the way Edwards passed him for the lead, Busch bumped Edwards’ No. 99 Ford after the checkered flag. Edwards bumped back, and Busch’s No. 18 Toyota went spinning. Busch’s merchandise is still selling regardless of the tension of his opponent.

Minneapolis, Minnesota is home to the Minnesota Vikings, and has been since 1961. Many consider the Vikings to have one of the most colorful, if not the most colorful, team history of any team in the NFL. They have one NFL championship that they have won to their name and are the first team to play and to lose 4 Super Bowls. They have won their division 16 times however, and this ranks them as third among NFL teams to have done so.
 
Before 1981, the team played home games at Metropolitan Stadium. They have played at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome since 1982. They were officially dubbed the Vikings on September 27, 1960. The name is supposed to reflect the fact that Minnesota is considered to be the center of American culture that is centered on a Scandinavian heritage. The team’s first head coach was Norm van Brocklin, who had just finished as a player with a high reputation having just defeated the Green Bay Packers in 1960 with the Eagles. Fran Tarkenton was their first quarterback and they won their first regular season game by beating the Chicago Bears with a score of 37-13 in 1961.  Tarkenton began his career with a flourish by throwing four touchdown passes and running for another in that opening game. However, the first season did not end up with such a great showing as they lost the next seven games and finished the season with a 3-11 record.  1967 found quarterback Tarkenton traded to the New York Giants and a new head coach with Bud Grant. Van Brocklin had resigned after the NFL season of 1966. Grant was from the Canadian Football League and had a record of leading teams in Canada to Championships. It was during the 1960s that the Vikings became known with their powerful defense as the Purple People Eaters. It was with this defense that they won their first Central Division Title and a place in the playoffs for one of those years.
The Vikings had the best record in the NFL for 1969 with a 12-2 record. They had 12 straight victories which was their longest winning streak in 35 years. They went all the way to the Super Bowl that year and then lost to the Kansas City Chiefs with a score of 23-7.

In 1973 the team finished the season again with a 12-2 record and earned their second Super Bowl berth, Super Bowl VIII. Again the Vikings were defeated in the great game by the Miami Dolphins in Houston, Texas at Rice Stadium falling to Miami with a score of 24-7.

1974 was pretty much the same with the Vikings winning the Central Division again with a record of 10-4. They made it to the big game again only to lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-6 in Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. 
They made it to the Super Bowl again for the 1976 season, this being their third try in four years, and lost again to the Oakland Raiders in Pasadena, California at the Rose Bowl. They lost that game 32-14.

One of the biggest blunders that many say the Vikings have ever done was in 1989 when the Vikings took Herschel Walker from Dallas with a final result that Dallas got Emmitt Smith and Darren Woodson. Herschel did not really perform as well as the Vikings expected while Dallas won three Super Bowls in the 1990s with their prize draft picks of Smith and Woodson.

The Vikings are one of the most impressive teams to have ever graced a pro football field to have never won a Super Bowl. They have won 9 Divisional Playoffs, won 4 NFL Conference Championships, and lost 4 Super Bowls that many say they should have won at least one of. Many say they are due their day with the amount of talent that graces the team on a constant basis. Maybe that is true. They play with heart and fire and surely that counts for something.

 

Kyle Busch was called into the dreaded NASCAR officials’ hauler following Saturday night’s Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
No one was saying what exactly transpired behind the sliding glass doors of the hauler after Sprint Cup Series director John Darby crooked his finger toward a group that included Busch, his crew chief Steve Addington and the owner of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs. It was pretty obvious, however, that Busch was delivered a tongue-lashing after he ran into the side of race winner Carl Edwards’ No. 99 Ford during the cool-down lap.
Darby and his fellow NASCAR officials should have delivered Busch some high-fives instead. Maybe even a pat on the back, followed up by a note of thanks to the entire No. 18 team for spicing things up.

Suddenly, the 2008 Sprint Cup season is dripping with drama — and perhaps NASCAR’s next great rivalry has moved from the incubation stage into full-blown adulthood.

Sure, Busch’s move was childish and his post-race comments came off as the whiny complaints of a poor loser. He was upset because Edwards had passed him for the lead with 31 laps to go by rapping him from behind and essentially moving him out of the way — you know, like lots of guys used to do at Bristol, much to the satisfaction of crowds that have been sellouts for 53 consecutive races. Busch’s merchandise will sell no matter if it is Kurt Busch’s merchandise or Kyle Busch’s merchandise.

NASCAR suspended seven crew members of Joe Gibbs Racing and stripped drivers Tony Stewart and Joey Logano of 150 points each Wednesday for cheating after last weekend’s Nationwide Series race.
Crew chiefs Jason Ratcliff and Dave Rogers were suspended indefinitely and fined $50,000 each, but NASCAR decided not to bar the cars from future races.
Owner Joe Gibbs will not appeal the penalties, among the most severe handed down by NASCAR. He indicated he also will fine all crew members involved and suspend them the rest of the season. Tony Stewart merchandise will sell regardless because he is a national icon.
“We want to apologize to NASCAR, all of our partners, all of our families at JGR, and all of our fans for the unfortunate incident that took place this past weekend in Michigan with our two Nationwide teams,” Gibbs said in a statement. “A poor decision was made by some key members of our organization, and 100 percent of the blame rests with us.”
No. 18 car chief Dorian Thorsen, engine tuner Michael Johnson and crew member Toby Bigelow as well as No. 20 car chief Richard Bray and engine tuner Dan Bajek also received indefinite suspensions. JGR was docked 150 owner points for each car and the teams were put on probation the rest of the season.

Miami Dolphins

March 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment

This pro football team began play in 1966 in the American Football League as an expansion team. Their home field is the Dolphin Stadium located in the suburbs of Miami in Miami Gardens. Their headquarters are in Davie, Florida and are called the Miami Dolphins Training Facility. Founded by Joseph Robbie in 1966, they belong to the Easter division of the American Football Conference of the NFL. They were a part of the original AFL-NFL merger. They are the oldest pro sports franchise of any type of major league sports club in the state of Florida.

Their history is a colorful one. In 1965 the AFL awarded a team franchise to a lawyer by the name of Joseph Robbie and the actor Danny Thomas for $7.5 million dollars. A contest in 1965 was held to determine the new name for the as-yet unnamed team. 19,843 entries made it into the pot with over a thousand different names proposed. There were a dozen finalists that make it to the last pile. The names were the Marauders, Missiles, Mariners, Mustangs, Moons, Suns, and Sharks. However, the number 622 entrant was the one chosen – The Dolphins. Mrs. Robert Swanson, for her effort, won lifetime passes to all the future Dolphin games because of the strangest of reasons. Her nickname entry was chosen because she successfully predicted the score and the winner of the football game in 1965 between rivals the University of Miami and Notre Dame – which was a scoreless tie.

The first four seasons for the Dolphins were winning ones under their first head coach, George Wilson. Then Shula was hired and hard work ensued for the team. He was a stickler for early training camps, four workouts a day, and punctuality. But the entire Dolphin’s hard work paid off immediately because his first year as coach of the team saw them finish the year with a 10-4 record. They also had their first playoff appearance that year in Oakland and only lost by one score, 21-14.
 
Their first Super Bowl appearance was in 1971. They played in Super bowl VI and lost to the Dallas Cowboys that year. The next year was a different story. They completed the first ever NFL’s perfect season record which ended in a Super Bowl win. They accomplished this by winning all of their 14 regular play season games followed by two playoff games and then won Super Bowl VII. They are the only team to have ever done this feat to the present. In 1872, the Dolphins held the fourth most perfect regular season record in the history of pro football.

The team also won Super Bowl VIII and this made them the first team to make an appearance in three consecutive Super Bowls and the second team ever to win back-to-back championships. They also made appearances in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XIX, but lost both games.

For almost all of the Dolphins years of play, they were coached by Don Shula. He is considered by most to be the most successful pro football head coach in history. His team had only two losing seasons in the twenty six years that he was with the club. There have been 6 Hall of Famers that played for Miami during the 1970s and these include quarterback Bob Griese and running back Larry Csonka. In the 1980s and 1990s their quarterback Dan Marino was touted as being the most prolific passer in NFL history. He broke numerous passing records established in the league and he led the Dolphins to a lot of playoff berths and to Super bowl XIX. The Dolphins are considered by many to be Florida’s team. Maybe that is true, maybe not. But they are surely the best so far as their record stands.

Paul Godfrey can recall the moment like it was yesterday. About thirty years ago, he walked out onto the field at old Exhibition Stadium and thought of something that every player, fan, or manager thinks and that’s winning a championship.
Godfrey wanted to bring Major League Baseball to Toronto. At the time, he was serving as the chairman of Metropolitan Toronto. He wanted the San Francisco Giants to become the Toronto Giants.
That was going to happen. That was until the mayor of San Francisco got a restraining order against the move. That quickly stopped Godfrey’s vision. He eventually got what he wanted because Toronto was awarded an expansion team in the American League, the Blue Jays. Godfrey was chosen as president and CEO about twenty years later.
Recently, he said that he will step down from that position at the end of this year. When he leaves that will be eight years that he has worked. During his time with Toronto, Godfrey has helped the franchise earn money and helped the team to win.
Godfrey announced his resignation after this season in which the Blue Jays had an 86-76 record and fell to fourth place in the division after they had playoff hopes. Toronto Blue Jays merchandise has been not selling as good once they fell further and further behind in the standings. Godfrey will continue to have his own job until December.

There is no winner in the American League Central division yet. The Rays have to wait to find out who their opponent will be in the first round of the playoffs.
The White Sox are currently tied with the Twins for the American League Central Division. The White Sox beat the Tigers 8-2 to force a one-game playoff.
“Detroit has to play the White Sox; the White Sox win and they have to play Minnesota on Tuesday; interesting,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said.
Since the Rays won their vision, they will host the winner of the game between the White Sox and the Twins. That game will be played Thursday afternoon.
Maddon said the organization has done its due diligence in preparing for both teams. They only have to know which team they are playing to get added preparation. 
“There’s nothing for us,” Maddon said. “We’re prepared. We’ve scouted both teams. It would just impact the day that we have the meeting.” The fans are prepared too. Some have recently bought Tampa Bay Rays merchandise because this is the first time their team has made the playoffs.
There is a big advantage for the Rays because they have more time off.

The Jacksonville Jaguars is one of the youngest football teams of the National Football League. They call Jacksonville, Florida their home and play in the updated and renovated former Gator Bowl. They came about in 1995 and have pretty much been a fair football powerhouse since their first season. The stadium that they play in is an historic landmark. Built in the Great Depression out of steel trusses, the mammoth Stadium is now called Jacksonville Municipal Stadium but most people around the Northeast Florida area still call it the Gator Bowl.

Florida had not seen any new NFL teams since the Tampa Bay Bucs were added in the 1976 season. Even though the state of Florida already had 2 pro football teams, the state was and still is such a football-crazy area of the USA, adding a third team to the state’s NFL roster posed no problem. Jacksonville, Florida is the largest land-area city in the US and the fan base for the Jaguars is spread out over about 1000 square miles of territory. It includes all of Northeast Florida and a large part of Southeast Georgia.

Jax was in the running in the 1990s for their team against North Carolina, Missouri, Maryland, and Tennessee. Many thought that since Florida already had 2 pro teams that is really was not fair that the state should get a third pro football team. But a group was formed in Jacksonville to bring a team to town and in 1991 they placed a formal application with the NFL. Governor Jeb Bush was included in the original ownership group along with Tom Petway. They had already named the team the Jacksonville Jaguars and with the leadership of Wayne Weaver, the founder of shoe company Nine West, the city of Jacksonville was destined to get their pro football team.

A few hurtles had to be overcome in the beginning with the renovation of the Gator Bowl being one and the selling of the first season’s tickets being the other one. A first drive to sell the not-so-cheap season tickets resulted in over 10,000 seats being sold in 10 days. On November 31, 1993, the day after Jax was announced as the 30th winning NFL franchise; there were 25,000 fans on hand at the Gator Bowl to celebrate the official announcement. That day, official season ticket sales were a kick off and within ten days, sales for season tickets had passed the 55,000 mark.

The Gator Bowl game at the end of 1993 was the last game in the old stadium. The revered Bowl was pretty much demolished and replaced. The replacement consisted of reinforced concrete superstructure status and all that really remained of the old stadium was the West upper deck and a small portion of the ramping system.  The first game played in the new stadium happened in the 1995 season with a preseason game of the Jacksonville Jaguars against the St. Louis Rams.

Jacksonville’s first 1996 season was a big success. They were winners of 6 of their final seven games in the season and ended up with a 9-7 record. This got them the 5th seed in the AFC playoffs where they would face off with the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo. They beat the Bills 30-27. Then they faced the Denver Broncos who had a 13-3 record for that year and were the powerhouse of the AFC. Even though Denver was a super team that year, the Jags, lead by mark Brunell, beat the Broncos 30-27 in Denver. When the team returned home, they were greeted by over 40,000 devoted fans at their home stadium.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are set up to have a very illustrious future and if the fan base around Northeast Florida has anything to say about it, Jacksonville will have a pro football team for a long time to come.

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