August 2008 Archives

This theory has about as much substance to it as a Honda Center hot dog, but the New York Post floats the idea that Brian Burke is interested in signing 39-year-old winger Brendan Shanahan.

In a possible preview of tomorrow night's Sprint Cup race, Kyle Busch is leading Carl Edwards by just over 2 seconds in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Camping World 300 at Auto Club Speedway with 29 laps to go.

Busch has led all but 4 laps of this race and is making it look easy. Only an accident, a big mistake, or a strong finish by Edwards - the only other driver within shouting distance - will prevent a Kyle Busch victory at this point. If you're a NASCAR fan, chances are this is either a dream or your worst nightmare.

I'd tell you keep your eyes on this blog for updates, but ESPN2 is covering the race with a southern accent. Take your pick.

Belongs to Carl Edwards, who last week was likened to Mr. Ed by nemesis Kyle Busch.

The Ontario Reign announced changes Friday to their inaugural season schedule. The Reign will host the Bakersfield Condors and Las Vegas Wranglers on Oct. 10 and Oct. 12, respectively, in two preseason games at Center Ice Arena in Ontario. The Reign have also moved their Dec. 10 home game against Phoenix to Feb. 6, and a Dec. 12 home game against Las Vegas to Feb. 11. Center Ice Arena is located at 201 S. Plum Ave., east of Euclid and south of Holt Blvd.

Big Bear Lake native Ryan Hall has updated his personal blog for the first time since finishing 10th in the Olympic marathon on Sunday. If you watched him race, here's what you might find interesting:

- He figured he had a chance to catch the leaders until the 30-kilometer (almost 19-mile) mark, a little more than two-thirds of the way through the race.
- In hindsight, Hall wished that he'd gone out too fast, like a number of the leaders did, even though he might have had to settle for a lower overall finish.
- Hall conceded that his training hadn't been "nearly as quality" as for previous marathons, "for whatever reason."
- The quick conclusion stateside is that he wasn't as ready for the Beijing heat as the African runners. Hall throws out a few hypotheses for finishing 10th, and the heat is one.

...and Big Bear native Ryan Hall finished 10th. Read the full report from the Associated Press here.

Big Bear native Ryan Hall will run for the gold medal in the men's marathon tonight. It's scheduled to be part of NBC's primetime package tonight but, since it will take about 2 hours, 8 minutes to crown a gold medalist, don't expect them to show it start to finish.

This morning I asked Joey Logano if he knew whether or not he'd be driving full-time in Sprint Cup in 2009. I will repeat his answer here, but his tone of voice was the key to understanding it. Keep in mind, Joey Logano is 18. The manner in which he spoke reminded me less of the asshole drivers I've interviewed over the years, than the high-school students I once encountered as a substitute teacher.

His answer: "I'm pretty sure I know. I'm not telling you though."

Not my words ... rather the words of Ryan Hall in his first blog entry from the Games. I've been clicking nearly every day for an update on Hall (a Big Bear native) from Beijing -- it's cheaper than calling him -- but it turns out there's a good reason he hasn't been blogging voraciously: Resting in a hotel room isn't a very blog-worthy activity. And everyone is nice. Darn.

The average sports fan isn't aware of their team's annually updated biographies, probably the most revealing pieces of propagandic literature this side of Mao's Little Red Book, known as "media guides." Provided for the local and national media members who might write/say anything about them over the course of the upcoming season, media guides range from the humorous to artistic to informative - well, they're all at least informative. Reaching around the desk here for a random one ... I see from the 2007 Sobe NoFear/Samsung/Honda Motocross media guide that "Billy Laninovich has the speed to be a Supercross champion." I guess some media guides are more informative than others.