Penalty Upheld

Today, NASCAR made it's decision on Richard Childress Racing's appeal on the penalties handed out to Clint Bowyer's #33 team, and decided to uphold the decision. Full article can be read here.

Now this is quite common for NASCAR to do, but I would just like to comment on a few things from the article.

First, this stat:
"According to NASCAR, in the past decade there have been 132 appeals heard:
• 92 decisions were upheld;
• 28 penalties were reduced;
• 10 penalties were overturned;
• 2 penalties were increased."


Very rarely does NASCAR ever overturn appeals. I have been closely following the sport since 2005 and can't recall off hand one incident where a major penalty was repealed. Nearly anytime I have ever heard someone was going to fight a penalty, my first reaction was "Oh that's not gonna change".


Second, the face that NASCAR would not listen to the accident reconstruction specialist that RCR had brought in to argue their side. They would not even give them a fair shot, it was as if they had already made up their mind about the situation and were simply going through the motions with the hearing.


NASCAR has gotten a bad reputation amongst fans about not really caring or having solid reasons for doing something. Continuing to have accusations such as these is definitely not helping this reputation.

Early Chase Controversy

Only one race in NASCAR's chase to the Sprint Cup championship, there is already major controversy.
After Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, race winner Clint Bowyer's car failed inspection due to an infraction that was less than 1/16 of an inch off during post-race inspection. Car owner Richard Childress claims the infraction is due to the car being pushed to the winner's circle by a wrecker truck and other cars tapping Bowyer's bumper on his victory lap in congratulations. The team was docked 150 points, his crew chief, Shane Wilson was suspended for the next 6 races and fined $150,00, and his car chief, Chad Haney has also been suspended for the next 6 races. Both men are on probation until December 31st. Childress says they plan on appealing the punishments.

After winning the race, Bowyer had been leading the point standings for the championship race. After the point reduction, he has been knocked down to 12th place. Considering there are only 12 drivers who qualify to compete for the championship each fall, the loss of points could really hurt Bowyer with only 9 races remaining before the 2010 champion is crowned.




Source: NASCAR.com

While it is good to see NASCAR actually handing out punishments for teams that break the rules, they are showing just how much they limit the teams in their ability to change features of the cars in the sport today. Crew chiefs used to have much more flexibility when it came to setting up the cars, which allowed teams to have to work hard each week to stay competitive. While teams still have to work hard to have to win each week, with the new rules, the cars are virtually the same each week and it can be frustrating for the crews because they can't make their car better without being told they are cheating.

I'm all for making NASCAR more competitive, believe me, I'm sick of Jimmie Johnson winning championships each year. But there has to be a different way to make the field even. As for Bowyer, I feel bad they were caught for only being less than 1/16 of an inch off, but that's just how NASCAR seems to work sometimes.

The next 9 weeks will definitely be interesting to watch.

An Idea to Memorialize an Icon

This past week, a Pittsburgh sports icon was voted to be demolished by the Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority. The Civic Arena, built in 1961, has been home to the Pittsburgh Penguins since 1967. With the Penguins moving across the street into the beautiful & much more modern Consol Energy Center this season, there was much debate on what would happen to the "Igloo"

Some wanted to preserve the entire building and convert it somehow. Others want to just save the iconic arch. Many city officials want to demolish the entire building & re-work the land it sits on. 
On Thursday the 16th, city officials voted to demolish it.  This has been met with much outcry, as supporters of keeping the arena feel it should be labeled as a historic landmark due to its unique architecture.


One fan however, has a unique idea about how to memorialize the Igloo.
Let the arena be torn down, but etch the image of it faintly into the glass windows of the Consol Energy Center, so that fans will forever be able to remember where "home" was for so many years.


Current technology has helped this idea spread like wildfire.


I first saw the idea on twitter, as I follow the person who came up with it. Next thing I know, it was on a very popular Penguins blog, Pensblog (a site that has been mentioned by players & coaches on the team). They posted the idea, asking those who also thought it was a good idea to help spread the word, to get the idea out. 
As I already said, it spread like crazy.
Later that day,Pensblog had to add another post. The idea was being mentioned on local radio stations such as 105.9 The X & 93.7 The Fan. It has gained support of those who could get it well known within the local area.
A Facebook group was created by the originator for the idea (at the time of this posting it had 1,258 members).
All this within a matter of days.
This is not only an example of how current technology has allowed an idea to spread, but also the passion of a fan base wanting to remember a location we have called home for so long.


I am behind this idea as much as it is possible to be. I realize unless a miracle happens, the Igloo is gone. And that is alright with me because the new arena is beautiful and I can't wait to attend games in there for the next 30 plus years.
But the Civic Arena deserves to be remembered. Too many memories and amazing hockey moments have happened there for it to be destroyed without some sort of remembrance. 

Introduction

Hey everyone! This is my first post on this blog, so thought I would introduce myself real quick.

My name is Chelsea, I'm from a small but not too small town in western PA about an hour north of Pittsburgh. I am currently a sophmore at Slippery Rock University, where I am majoring in Sport Management and minoring in French. This blog is an assignment for my Sport Communications class.

I'm a huge sports fan (obviously) and my favorite sports to watch are hockey, NASCAR, & football. I cheer for the Penguins & the Steelers (sometimes the Pirates), & as far as racing, I root for Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch & Denny Hamlin.

I plan on using this blog to talk about current news in sports, as well as new technology that may appear that could affect the sport industry.

Hope you all will find this interesting & that I don't bore you to death.